Anthropocene

Question 1

Anthropocene

Answer 1

unofficial geological unit of time defined by human activity, describes human impact

Question 2

geological units of time

Answer 2

defined by fossils

Question 3

whats present day

Answer 3

holocene

Question 4

what are units of time named after

Answer 4

places rocks are found

Question 5

when did idea of anthropocene start

Answer 5

from ecological/environmental perspectives not geological, things that may have seemed quick might have taken thousands of years

Question 6

when it started

Answer 6

megafauna extinction, farming, rice cultivating, new-old world collision, industrial revolution, nuclear, industrial chemicals

Question 7

megafauna extinction

Answer 7

large animals went extinct 50,000-10,000 yrs ago, due to humans/climate change or both

Question 8

farming

Answer 8

started roughly 11,000 yrs, identified by fossil pollen, linked to high co2 due to vegetation clearance

Question 9

rice cultivating

Answer 9

6500 BP, increase of methane/co2, identified by ice cores

Question 10

new-old world collision

Answer 10

when europeans arrived in south america, mixed plants/animals, identified by fossils

Question 11

industrial revolution

Answer 11

mass use of machines, increased co2 levels

Question 12

nuclear weapons

Answer 12

causes radioactivity in wild, first tested in 1945

Question 13

industrial chemicals

Answer 13

plastics/long lived pollutants

Question 14

most likely causes

Answer 14

rice cultivating/new-old world collision/nuclear weapons

Question 15

anthropocene working group

Answer 15

looks at how/when it should be defined, said it should be defined due to plutonium spike in 1952 by hydrogen bomb testing but was rejected as human impact is so big it cant be pinned to one thing