科學家提出人類對地球的影響程度之大已經改變了地球歷史的進程

原文網址：http://www2.le.ac.uk/news/blog/2017-archive/october/scientists-suggest-significant-scale-of-human-impact-on-planet-has-changed-course-of-earth2019s-history

科學家提出人類對地球的影響程度之大已經改變了地球歷史的進程

人類世工作小組的科學家發表了正名新地質年代的提議。

由萊斯特大學的科學家領導的國際科學家團隊，提出人類對地球的影響程度之大已經改變了地球歷史的進程。

「人類世」(Anthropocene)的概念係由諾貝爾獎得主Paul Crutzen於2000年即席提出，而研究人員提出人類造成的諸多影響已經改變了地球歷史的進程，其程度足以構成正當理由，促使他們擬定人類世應該成為地質年代表一部份的正式提案。

人類對地球造成的急遽變化包括侵蝕和沉積速率加速；大規模擾動碳、氮、磷和其他元素的化學循環；開始對全球氣候和海平面造成顯著變化；以及在生物方面的影響，包括物種侵入至全球各處的速度達到史無前例的程度。

以上是此國際工作團隊的發現和暫定提案的結論。該團隊自2009年開始研究人類世，並在2016年於南非開普敦舉辦的國際地質研討會中首次發表這些發現和暫定提案，最近則刊登於期刊《人類世》(Anthropocene)的線上版。

萊斯特大學地理、地質和環境學院的教授Jan Zalasiewicz表示：「全新世代表的是自從末次冰河期消退之後，從11700年前開始環境相對穩定的地質年代。但我們的發現顯示我們進入了地球歷史上一個更加不穩定且迅速演變的階段，因此應該在全新世之後獨立出人類世。」

包括萊斯特大學的地質學家Jan Zalasiewicz、Mark Williams和榮譽主席Colin Waters，以及考古學家在內Matt Edgeworth的人類世工作小組成立自2009年，他們分析各種案例來正名「人類世」的存在，這段時期因為人類對地球造成的影響主導地球歷史而有望成為新的地質年代。

Scientists suggest significant scale of human impact on planet has changed course of Earth’s history

Anthropocene Working Group scientists publish recommendations for formalising new geological epoch

The significant scale of human impact on our planet has changed the course of Earth history, an international team of scientists led by the University of Leicester has suggested.

The researchers suggest that a multitude of human impacts have changed the course of Earth’s geological history, and the scale of these justifies developing a formal proposal that the Anthropocene  – a concept improvised by the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen in 2000 – should be made part of the Geological Time Scale.

Rapid changes to the planet include acceleration of rates of erosion and sedimentation; large-scale chemical perturbations to the cycles of carbon, nitrogen, phosphorus and other elements; the inception of significant change to global climate and sea level; and biotic changes including unprecedented levels of species invasions across the Earth.

This is a summary of the findings and interim recommendations of the international working group that has been studying the Anthropocene since 2009. Initially reported to the 2016 International Geological Congress at Cape Town, South Africa, the findings and recommendations have just been published online in the journal Anthropocene.

Professor Jan Zalasiewicz from the University of Leicester's School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, said: “Our findings suggest that the Anthropocene should follow on from the Holocene Epoch that has seen 11.7 thousand years of relative environmental stability, since the retreat of the last Ice Age, as we enter a more unstable and rapidly evolving phase of our planet’s history.”  

The Anthropocene Working Group - which includes Leicester geologists Jan Zalasiewicz, Mark Williams and honorary chair, Colin Waters, and archaeologist Matt Edgeworth - has been active since 2009, analysing the case for formalisation of the Anthropocene, a potential new epoch of geological time dominated by human impact on the Earth.

原始論文：Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin N. Waters, Colin P. Summerhayes, Alexander P. Wolfe, Anthony D. Barnosky, Alejandro Cearreta, Paul Crutzen, Erle Ellis, Ian J. Fairchild, Agnieszka Gałuszka, Peter Haff, Irka Hajdas, Martin J. Head, Juliana A. Ivar do Sul, Catherine Jeandel, Reinhold Leinfelder, John R. McNeill, Cath Neal, Eric Odada, Naomi Oreskes, Will Steffen, James Syvitski, Davor Vidas, Michael Wagreich, Mark Williams. The Working Group on the Anthropocene: Summary of evidence and interim recommendations. Anthropocene, 2017; 19: 55 DOI: 10.1016/j.ancene.2017.09.001

引用自：University of Leicester. "Scale of human impact on planet has changed course of Earth's history, scientists suggest: Anthropocene Working Group scientists publish recommendations for formalizing new geological epoch."