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Concept

Anthropocene

A large, glowing celestial body rises over a barren landscape with jagged mountains and scattered rocks, symbolizing the impact of human activity on Earth's systems during the Anthropocene epoch.

Proposed geological epoch defined by human alteration of Earth's systems at a scale visible in the rock record. The Anthropocene Working Group has identified candidate markers including plutonium fallout from 1950s nuclear tests, fly ash from coal combustion, and microplastic particles in sediment. In 2024 the International Union of Geological Sciences declined to formalise the term as an epoch, but its informal use across the sciences has only grown.

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