To define a new epoch, a significant change in the stratigraphic composition with one characteristic component that defines that specific epoch. Many scientists believe that the presence of radioactive isotopes in the soil since the 1950s is a good indicator to prove that we are indeed in a new geological epoch. The atomic age begun following the detonation of the first nuclear bomb on 16 July 1945 at Trinity Site, New Mexico, United States, releasing radioactive isotopes into the environment. Code named trinity; it is a part of the Manhattan project to produce the world’s first nuclear weapon. Ever since then, it has been an arms race around the world with different country testing out their own nuclear weapons in the attempt to out compete the others. Since these radioactive isotopes will take millennia or more to decay, they are the perfect indicator for scientist to prove that humans have indeed resulted in the dawn of a new epoch.

Click here to learn about the difficulty and criticism in officiating the new epoch. 

 

Header credit: Photo by Frédéric Paulussen on Unsplash