The Great Acceleration of Humanity

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The great acceleration is a term which describes the extraordinary changes that happened after the Second World War. When geologists set about trying to find one location that defines this new epoch, what sort of things are they looking for? It's a good question. Geologists call it a golden spike. What they mean by that is they want something really big and obvious and global and synchronous - so it happens at the same place everywhere. In Crawford Lakes the sedimentation has different colours on different times of the year, so that was certainly helpful.

Plutonium from nuclear weapons, industrial waste, and human activity more broadly have left such a mark on the Earth that a new epoch called the Anthropocene has been proposed. Scientists are debating the specific geological site to define this epoch, with the frontrunner being an unassuming lake in Canada: Crawford Lake. What is it about this spot that holds the secrets to this period of history? From hydrogen bombs to hens’ bones, how do we define the Anthropocene, the beginning of the human era on Earth? Ian Sample asks Damian Carrington. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/sciencepod