On Tuesday, the Anthropocene Working Group is expected to announce its choice for the epoch's "golden spike" location, selecting the site that most clearly represents how humans have changed the world
When scientists drilled deep below the Pine Island glacier's ice in Antarctica a few years ago, they found traces of plutonium—lingering fallout from nuclear weapon tests that began in 1945, leaving behind a radioactive presence unlike anything before.
Image: AFP
As scientists make the case that humans have fundamentally transformed the planet enough to warrant our own geological epoch, another question arises: is there anything left untouched by humanity's presence?
Soaring greenhouse gases, ubiquitous microplastics, pervasive "forever chemicals", the global upheaval of animals, even old mobile phones and chicken bones—all have been put forward as evidence that the world entered the Anthropocene, or era of humans, in the mid-20th century.
Jan Zalasiewicz, a British geologist who chaired the Anthropocene Working Group for over a decade, paused for a moment when asked if there was anywhere on Earth that lacked signs of human influence.
"It's hard to think of a more remote place" than the Pine Island glacier in Antarctica, Zalasiewicz told AFP.
Yet when scientists drilled deep below the glacier's ice a few years ago, they found traces of plutonium.