A STRATIGRAPHER’S PERSPECTIVES ON THE ANTHROPOCENE

Stratigraphy is founded on the premise that the strata preserved on Earth tell its history. One tool stratigraphers use in telling history is the International Chronostratigraphic Chart. This chart is made of adjectives, such as Quaternary, which can be used either with the noun “System” to convey the strata; or with the noun “Period” to convey the time during which strata were deposited, and also during which a variety of past events occurred and can be placed in sequence. The International Commission on Stratigraphy is charged with overseeing the formal definitions behind the Chart.

Time is a continuum. Humans like to compartmentalize time and to choose specific words to do so. A goal is to make it easier to communicate information about strata, events, and patterns in time.

The International Chronostratigraphic Chart is a tool for unambiguous communication. Each horizontal line on it indicates a boundary that is studied, deliberated upon, and accepted as a physical point at a specific location to serve as an agreed-upon standard. Once chosen, no transition is allowed.

The word “Anthropocene” is very popular now. Is it a concept? Is it a philosophy? Is it a hypothesis? Is it an adjective that conveys a stratigraphic record? Is it an adjective that conveys a specific segment in the continuum of time? Does it include the future?

The short answer is that, currently, the word “Anthropocene” sits at a crossroad. It could be used exclusively for that interval of time that includes the present and a little bit back in the past; it could be used exclusively for a concept of human domination over environment.

Who owns the Anthropocene? If one’s premise is that humans have so profoundly altered the planet on which they live that a new geologic epoch has begun, then geologists get to define it and own it. If one’s premise is that humans have so profoundly altered the planet on which they live that these same humans need to stop, think, and perhaps change their ways, then maybe geologists shouldn’t own it.

The question is not “Can the Anthropocene be put on the International Chronostratigraphic Chart?” but rather “Should it?” Putting it as an adjective on the Chart comes with rules and regulations. This presentation will help Quaternarists see both advantages and disadvantages of these limitations with respect to their varied perceptions of the Anthropocene.