2018/02/13 by Chris Turney, Jonathan Palmer, Mark Maslin +14 · 1 citation
Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Geology and Paleoclimatology Research #Tree-ring climate responses #Geological and Geochemical Analysis
paper · pdf · doi:10.1038/s41598-018-20970-5
openalex publication_date 2018/02/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
Abstract Anthropogenic activity is now recognised as having profoundly and permanently altered the Earth system, suggesting we have entered a human-dominated geological epoch, the ‘Anthropocene’. To formally define the onset of the Anthropocene, a synchronous global signature within geological-forming materials is required. Here we report a series of precisely-dated tree-ring records from Campbell Island (Southern Ocean) that capture peak atmospheric radiocarbon ( 14 C) resulting from Northern Hemisphere-dominated thermonuclear bomb tests during the 1950s and 1960s. The only alien tree on the island, a Sitka spruce ( Picea sitchensis ), allows us to seasonally-resolve Southern Hemisphere atmospheric 14 C, demonstrating the ‘bomb peak’ in this remote and pristine location occurred in the last-quarter of 1965 (October-December), coincident with the broader changes associated with the post-World War II ‘Great Acceleration’ in industrial capacity and consumption. Our findings provide a precisely-resolved potential Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) or ‘golden spike’, marking the onset of the Anthropocene Epoch.