tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644183700798263875.post5896377052365926676..comments2024-03-28T12:13:48.438-04:00Comments on Hudson Valley Geologist: The Anthropocene?Stevehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14397810357022541561noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1644183700798263875.post-89357712336846976542012-06-26T16:36:44.033-04:002012-06-26T16:36:44.033-04:00The Anthropocene is basically useless as a geochro...The Anthropocene is basically useless as a geochronologic or chronostratigraphic unit. Geologic time and time-rock units were developed because we don't have calendars and historical writing going back that far. They were not coined to honor/recognize particular phases of evolution or geological events: rather, those paleontological/geological transitions became proxy markers of time.<br /><br />That said, the term "Anthropocene" is very useful. Not as a time or rock-time unit, but as a biogeochemical event. In that context, it shares more in common with such events as the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) or the Permo/Triassic Extinction or the Cambrian Explosion or the like.Thomas R. Holtz, Jr.http://www.geol.umd.edu/~tholtznoreply@blogger.com