Anthropocene Working Group. A Scientific Forum

A three-day forum on the findings of the twelve research sites from which the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) will nominate their candidate Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) to define the start of the geological Anthropocene.

During the program Unearthing the Present, the AWG and its associated research groups invite the public to attend as observers the AWG’s internal meeting and to witness a milestone in the process of defining the geological Anthropocene. On May 18 and 19, the research teams will present findings from twelve sites and discuss the results with fellow AWG researchers; on May 20, in an open forum, the public will be given the unique opportunity to ask questions and enter into discussion with members of the AWG and the scientific teams.

The discussion will be focused on the diverse human-generated markers preserved at these sites and the suitability of each site to host a GSSP. Special attention will be paid to the practical circumstances and difficulties of collecting the samples and analyzing the human-generated signals found within them.

The Scientific Forum initiates the final phase of a decade of research to formalize the chronostratigraphic Anthropocene. After evaluating the findings presented at the Scientific Forum, the AWG will announce which of the twelve GSSP candidates they have selected to provide evidence for the new geological unit at a press conference at HKW in December 2022.

Program:

9 am
Welcome
Bernd Scherer & Colin Waters

Presentations

9.30 am
Flinders Reef, Australia
Jens Zinke

11 am
Searsville Reservoir, USA
Anthony D. Barnosky, Elizabeth A. Hadly, Allison Stegner

12 noon
San Francisco Estuary, USA
Mark Williams, Stephen Himson

2 pm
Antarctic Peninsula, Antarctica
Liz Thomas

3 pm
East Gotland Basin, Baltic Sea
Jérôme Kaiser, Juliana A. Ivar do Sul

4.30 pm
West Garden Flower Bank Reef, USA
Kristine L. DeLong

5.30 pm
Crawford Lake, Canada
Francine M. G. McCarthy

6.30 pm
Wrap Up
Simon Turner, Colin Waters