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The Anthropocene: epoch, event, historical phase or nothing at all?

The Anthropocene: epoch, event, historical phase or nothing at all?

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Authors

Valentí Rull

Abstract

After its recent rejection as a geological epoch of the Geological Time Scale, t he Anthropocene is a concept in search of a definition, and action in this regard is urgently needed. Following its rejection, we can no longer speak of the Anthropocene in a general sense, as if everyone understood what it means. The greatest precision we can currently achieve is to state that the term refers to the time during which humans have globally transformed the Earth system. However, we still do not know its beginning, its duration, or whether it constitutes an epoch, an event a historical phase or nothing at all.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.31223/X5BV04

Subjects

Earth Sciences

Keywords

Anthropocene, Geological Time Scale, geological epoch, geological event, historical phase

Dates

Published: 2025-11-10 05:43

Last Updated: 2025-11-10 05:43

License

CC BY Attribution 4.0 International

Additional Metadata

Conflict of interest statement:
None

Data Availability (Reason not available):
No new data produced for this manuscript