科學家們投票提議，地球進入全新地質(zhì)時代“人類世”。如果通過，歷史書或?qū)⒏膶憽?/strong>
還在回味侏羅紀？人類也有以自己物種命名 的地質(zhì)學時代了！
據(jù)英國著名科學雜志《自然》雜志21日報道，一組科學家投票選出了一個新的地質(zhì)時代——人類世 。
A panel of scientists voted this week to designate a new geologic epoch — the Anthropocene — to mark the profound ways in which humans have altered the planet. That decision, by the 34-member Anthropocene Working Group (AWG), marks an important step towards formally defining a new slice of the geologic record — an idea that has generated intense debate within the scientific community over the past few years.
一組科學家投票選出了一個新的地質(zhì)時代——人類世，以標志人類對地球做出的深刻改變。由34名成員組成的人類世工作組(AWG)做出的這一決定，標志了朝著對地質(zhì)記錄新片段的正式定義邁出了重要一步——過去幾年，這一想法在科學界引發(fā)了激烈的辯論。
The panel plans to submit a formal proposal for the new epoch by 2021 to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, which oversees the official geologic time chart.
該小組計劃在2021年之前向國際地層學委員會提交一份關于新紀元的正式提案。該委員會負責制訂標準的地質(zhì)時間表。
Twenty-nine members of the AWG supported the Anthropocene designation and voted in favour of starting the new epoch in the mid-twentieth century, when a rapidly rising human population accelerated the pace of industrial production, the use of agricultural chemicals and other human activities. At the same time, the first atomic-bomb blasts littered the globe with radioactive debris that became embedded in sediments and glacial ice, becoming part of the geologic record.
AWG的29位成員支持人類世的定義，并投票贊成新紀元始于20世紀中期，當時迅速增長的人口加快了工業(yè)生產(chǎn)、農(nóng)用化學品的使用和其他人類活動的步伐。與此同時，第一次原子彈爆炸使地球上散落著放射性碎片，這些碎片嵌入沉積物和冰川冰中，成為地質(zhì)記錄的一部分。
▲ Anthropocene now: influential panel votes to recognize Earth’s new epoch (via Nature)
