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Stratigraphic and Earth System Approaches to Defining the Anthropocene (2016)

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Paul J. Crutzen and the Anthropocene: A New Epoch in Earth’s History

Part of the book series: The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science ((APESS,volume 1))

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Abstract

StratigraphyprovidesinsightsintotheevolutionanddynamicsoftheEarth Systemoveritslonghistory. WithrecentdevelopmentsinEarth Systemscience, changesinEarthSystemdynamicscannowbeobserveddirectlyand projected into the near future. An integration of the two approaches provides powerful insights into the nature and significance of contemporary changes to Earth. From both perspectives, the Earth has been pushed out of the Holocene Epoch by human activities, with the mid-20th century a strong candidate for the start date of the Anthropocene, the proposed new epoch in Earth history. Here we explore two contrasting scenarios for the future of the Anthropocene, recognizing that the Earth System has already undergone a substantial transition away from the Holocene state. A rapid shift of societies toward the UN Sustainable Development Goals could stabilise the Earth System in a state with more intense interglacial conditions than in the late Quaternary climate regime and with little further biospheric change. In contrast, a continuation of the present Anthropocene trajectory of growing human pressures will likely lead to biotic impoverishment and a much warmer climate with a significant loss of polar ice.

This text was first published as: Steffen, W.; Leinfelder, R.; Zalasiewicz, J.; Waters, C.N.; Williams, M.; Summerhayes, C.; Barnosky, A.D.; Cearreta, A.; Crutzen, P.; Edgeworth, M.; Ellis, E.C.; Fairchild, I.J.; Galuszka, A.; Grinevald, J.; Haywood, A.; do Sul, J.I.; Jeande, C.; McNeill, J.R.; Odada, E.; Oreskes, N.; Revkin, A.; de B. Richter, D.; Syvitski, J.; Vidas, D.; Wagreich, M.; Wing, S.L.; Wolfe, A.P.; Schellnhuber, H. J., 2016: “Stratigraphic and Earth System Approaches to Defining the Anthropocene”, in: Earth Future, 4: 324–345. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is a contribution of the Anthropocene Working Group. The complex systems interpretation of Earth System dynamics has drawn heavily on the work and insights of Tim Lenton and Marten Scheffer. We are grateful to Greg Heath for assistance with Figs. 17.4 and 17.6. We thank the anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that have contributed to improve this paper. All data for this paper are properly cited and referred to in the reference list.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fenner School of Environment and Society, The Australian National University, Acton, Australia

    Will Steffen, Reinhold Leinfelder, Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin N. Waters, Mark Williams, Colin Summerhayes, Anthony D. Barnosky, Alejandro Cearreta, Matt Edgeworth, Erle C. Ellis, Ian J. Fairchild, Agnieszka Galuszka, Jacques Grinevald, Alan Haywood, Juliana Ivar do Sul, Catherine Jeandel, J. R. McNeill, Eric Odada, Naomi Oreskes, Andrew Revkin, Daniel de B. Richter, James Syvitski, Davor Vidas, Michael Wagreich, Scott L. Wing, Alexander P. Wolfe & H. J. Schellnhuber

  2. Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

    Will Steffen

  3. Department of Atmospheric Chemistry, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany

    Paul Crutzen

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Correspondence to Will Steffen .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

    Susanne Benner

  2. Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Berlin, Germany

    Gregor Lax

  3. (deceased), Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

    Paul J. Crutzen

  4. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

    Ulrich Pöschl

  5. Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (MPIC), Mainz, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany

    Jos Lelieveld

  6. Free University of Berlin (Ret.), Hans Günter Brauch Foundation on Peace and Ecology in the Anthropocene (HGBS), Peace Research and European Security Studies (AFES-PRESS), Mosbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

    Hans Günter Brauch

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Steffen, W. et al. (2021). Stratigraphic and Earth System Approaches to Defining the Anthropocene (2016). In: Benner, S., Lax, G., Crutzen, P.J., Pöschl, U., Lelieveld, J., Brauch, H.G. (eds) Paul J. Crutzen and the Anthropocene: A New Epoch in Earth’s History. The Anthropocene: Politik—Economics—Society—Science, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-82202-6_17

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-82201-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-82202-6

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

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