An immense disruption is still only a brief moment in a much larger story.
Chapter 1

The golden spike debate

Chapter 2

The era of technofossils

Chapter 3

The great acceleration

Chapter 4

Designing the future

YOUR GOAL

Master of How humans rewrote Earth's rock history

Ch 1 · The golden spike debate
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007skaty Ontario's Crawford Lake contains perfectly preserved layers of history.

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007skaty The Golden Spike Debate

Golden spike, golden spike, We changed the Earth but they said no.

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An immense disruption is still only a brief moment in a much larger story.

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007skaty Scientists search for a golden spike to mark a new geological epoch

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The secrets of Crawford Lake

007skaty In 2023, scientists selected Ontario's meromictic Crawford Lake because its annual varves clearly preserve radioactive plutonium-239 from early

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Searching for the golden spike

007skaty Animated characters search through colorful sediment layers for a golden spike.

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Spike the Age
BETA

007skaty Place the golden spike in Earth's timeline to discover when the Anthropocene epoch began.

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Fun Fact

Golden spikes: The actual geological marker is not made of gold, but is usually a bronze plaque or steel disc hammered directly into a rock face.

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Glossary
golden spike (noun)
A physical reference point in geological strata that officially defines the boundary between two different epochs. In 2023, scientists proposed Canada's Crawford Lake as the marker for the new human-dominated epoch.

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Gossip

Should geologists officially name a new epoch after human impact?

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Quiz

Which Nobel Prize-winning atmospheric chemist popularized the term 'Anthropocene' in the year 2000?

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007skaty Geological epochs outline the major chapters of Earth's history.

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Quiz

Why did scientists propose Crawford Lake in Canada as the primary marker section for the Anthropocene?

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007skaty The official rejection of the Anthropocene as a geological epoch.

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Quiz

What does the geological term GSSP stand for when defining the boundary of a new time period?

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Quiz

What unique physical feature of Crawford Lake prevents its bottom waters and sediment layers from mixing with the surface?

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Quiz

How do geologists physically mark an agreed-upon boundary between two geological time periods in the real world?

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Quiz

What is the geological name of the current, official epoch that began after the last Ice Age around 11,700 years ago?

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Quiz

What radioactive element, released during atmospheric nuclear bomb tests in the mid-20th century, is used as a primary marker for the Anthropocene?

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Quiz

In March 2024, which international scientific organization voted against formally adding the Anthropocene to the official Geologic Time Scale?

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