Anthropocene Working Group
To understand and communicate what the Anthropocene is, and what it means for the Earth System and the human endeavour
What is the Anthropocene?
Thousands of scholarly articles and millions of mentions on the internet reflect a wide variety of ideas about what the Anthropocene actually is. A scientific reality is that hundreds of signals preserved in geological deposits, myriad data from other scientific fields, and societal norms indicate that since the middle of the 20th century, human impacts have been substantially different with respect to the rest of human history. It is this last seven decades or so that justifiably can be recognized as the Anthropocene epoch
Unprecedented planetary change in the 20th century
Planetary geology has always changed, why the fuss?
Exploring the Anthropocene
Humans have altered their environment since forever, what’s so special about the last 70 years?
The Anthropocene Curriculum
The Anthropocene Curriculum was initiated to develop experimental and experiential approaches to knowledge formation in a rapidly changing planetary situation.
Anthropocene Commons
The Anthropocene Commons (AC) is a network of researchers, educators, activists, artists, scientists, and partner groups from all over the world working on the Anthropocene, the current time period in which human activities have fundamentally changed the planet.
CONFERENCE NEWS
The INQUA Congress, held once every 4 years, is an extremely important venue for all Quaternarists to share their research and ideas. The next INQUA session is in Lucknow, India, January 28 to February 3, 2027. See: https://www.inquaindia2027.in/
An entire theme is devoted to the Anthropocene, and we have a special session on:
The Anthropocene epoch: geology, the Earth system, and relevance to society (Conveners: Martin J. Head, Jan Zalasiewicz, Colin N. Waters, Simon Turner)
The Anthropocene epoch, while rejected as an official unit of the geological time scale in 2024, remains a widely used concept and descriptor of Earth’s geological history from the mid-20th century to the present day and beyond, with planetary functions increasingly departing from Holocene norms. Quaternary science must account for this recent, unprecedented and planetary-scale change to remain relevant to wider society. Accumulated fossil-fuel-derived carbon dioxide in the oceans and atmosphere has already ensured that a changed planetary state will continue for hundreds of millennia, and its novel geological signature is indelible, with the biosphere irreversibly altered. But the Anthropocene epoch is more than this, representing a new way to engage with the humanities, social and educational sciences, law, politics and many other branches of enquiry and policy-making. We invite presentations on all aspects of the Anthropocene epoch, and on its transition from the Holocene.“
Please consider submitting an abstract to this special session. The deadline is 15 February, 2026,
AWG Member Papers
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A 7000-year record of human influence on Global River Deltas: Geomorphology, stratigraphy, the Anthropocene overprint and future
Anthony, E., Syvitski, J., Cohen, K.M., Saito, Y., Zăinescu, F., Vespremeanu-Stroe, A., Nicholls, R.J., Marriner, N., Amorosi, A., Maselli, V. and Minderhoud, P.S.J., et al. 2025. A 7000-year record of human influence on Global River Deltas: Geomorphology, stratigraphy, the Anthropocene overprint and future. Earth-Science Reviews, p.105302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2025.105302
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Response to Damianos—Anthropocene angst: Authentic geology and stratigraphic sincerity
Waters, C.N., Zalasiewicz, J., Head, M.J., Schäfer, G.N., McCarthy, F.M. and Turner, S.D., 2025. Response to Damianos—Anthropocene angst: Authentic geology and stratigraphic sincerity. Social Studies of Science, 55(3), 465-478.https://doi.org/10.1177/03063127251343046
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Reply to Edgeworth et al.(2024): The Anthropocene is a time interval, and more besides
Zalasiewicz, J., Head, M.J., Waters, C.N., Summerhayes, C., Turner, S., Wagreich, M., Aquilina, L., Cearreta, A., Chakraborty, A., Gałuszka, A. and Hajdas, I., 2025. Reply to Edgeworth et al.(2024): The Anthropocene is a time interval, and more besides. Earth’s Future, 13(9), e2024EF005612. https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EF005612
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High-resolution analysis of the varved succession at Crawford lake across the base of the proposed Crawfordian stage and Anthropocene series
McCarthy, F.M., Patterson, R.T., Walsh, C., Lafond, K.M., Cumming, B.F., Cundy, A.B., Hain, K., Gaca, P., Steier, P., Boom, A., Hamilton, P.B., et al. 2025. High-resolution analysis of the varved succession at Crawford lake across the base of the proposed Crawfordian stage and Anthropocene series. The Anthropocene Review, 12 (2), 243-272 https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196251315454
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Paper: Anthropocene Literacy for Science Education
Lee, Sg., Park, B.S. Anthropocene Literacy for Science Education. Science & Education (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11191-024-00541-z (open access)
Other Curated Papers
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Why the Anthropocene Epoch is a more pertinent concept than the Anthropocene event for understanding ongoing Earth system transition.
Chakraborty, A. (2024). Why the Anthropocene Epoch is a more pertinent concept than the Anthropocene event for understanding ongoing Earth system transition. The Anthropocene Review, 12(1), 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196241270665
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The Evolving concept of the Anthropocene: A reply to Zalasiewicz et al.
Edgeworth, M., Bauer, A. M., Ellis, E. C., Finney, S. C., Gibbard, P. L., Maslin, M., et al. (2025). The Evolving concept of the Anthropocene: A reply to Zalasiewicz et al. Earth’s Future, 13, e2025EF006882.https://doi.org/10.1029/2025EF006882
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Global change pattern of sedimentary nitrogen isotope during the Anthropocene epoch.
Li, X., Lu, M., Wu, J. et al. Global change pattern of sedimentary nitrogen isotope during the Anthropocene epoch. Commun Earth Environ 6, 809 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43247-025-02773-5