What if the ‘Anthropocene’ is Not Formalized as a New Geological Epoch?

Dear Colleagues,

In the coming years, the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) will submit its proposal on the ‘Anthropocene’ as a new geological epoch to the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) for approval. If approved, the proposal will be sent to the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) for ratification. If the proposal is approved and ratified, the ‘Anthropocene’ will be formalized and the Holocene Series/Epoch will be officially terminated. Currently, the ‘Anthropocene’ is a broadly used term and concept in a wide range of scientific and non-scientific situations and, for many, the official acceptance of this term is only a matter of time. However, the AWG proposal, in its present state, has been criticised from different angles, notably by some ICS and IUGS officers. Therefore, the possibility of rejection at these instances should be seriously considered. There is abundant literature on the ‘Anthropocene’ and the convenience or not of its formalization. Rather than insisting on the topic, the aim of this Special Issue is to offer a different perspective by asking a rarely addressed question: what would happen if the ‘Anthropocene’ is not formalized by the ICS/IUGS?

• Should the proposal be reformulated or should the initiative be abandoned?
• If reformulated, should the AWG insist on the Series/Epoch rank or they should downgrade the concept to a lower category (e.g. Stage)?
• If abandoned, should we stop using the term and concept of the ‘Anthropocene’?
• Given the popularity of the term and its common use in many scientific and non-scientific disciplines, would this be possible?
• Can the ‘Anthropocene’ be considered a historical phase of the Earth’s history devoid of any stratigraphic meaning?
• Should we choose a different term with no stratigraphic connotations, that is, avoiding the termination ‘-cene’ (also ‘-zoic’ or ‘-gene’)? Does formalization matter only for stratigraphers?
• Is formalization a cumbersome process that is slowing progress towards better environmental policies?
• Can we ignore stratigraphic formalization and keep using the term ‘Anthropocene’ with a variety of meanings?
• What about fields such as archaeology, history, environmental activism, philosophy, politics, art, etc., where the term and concept is already firmly rooted?

These questions and many others will be considered in this Special Issue. Potential contributors are encouraged to contact the guest editors for different proposals within the topic. The Special Issue is open to any scholars interested on the matter, regardless of their field of research. All types of papers published by Quaternary will be considered.

Dr. Valentí Rull
Editor-in-Chief

• Anthropocene
• Holocene
• human impact
• humanized Earth System
• chronostratigraphy
• geochronology
• International Chronostratigraphic Chart
• geological time scale
• chronostratigraphic units
• series/epoch
• formalization.