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Nuclear bombs set off new geological epoch in the 1950s, scientists say

Live Science, By Sascha Pare, 14 July 23

Nuclear testing in the 1950s marked sediments at the bottom of a lake in Canada to such an extent that scientists are calling for it to become the symbol of a new geological epoch: the Anthropocene.

Nuclear weapons testing in the 1950s and early 1960s left the first obvious and indelible marks of “overwhelming” human activity on Earth, and these events may signal the beginning of a new geological epoch known as the Anthropocene, geologists say. 

Fallout from these tests snowed down from the atmosphere and became trapped in the earth as layers of sediment rich in a radioactive form of plutonium, called plutonium-239. 

Scientists argue that blankets of plutonium-239-rich sediment at the bottom of a small lake in Canada present the earliest tangible record of human activities shifting the balance of natural systems — which is why they’re naming this potential new epoch “anthro” after humans.

“The presence of the plutonium mark is a simple tool to allow us to define that boundary,”

……………………………………….The AWG’s latest results are published in a special issue of the journal The Anthropocene Review.   https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/nuclear-bombs-set-off-new-geological-epoch-in-the-1950s-scientists-say

July 16, 2023 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized