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Papers
61,005 resultsShowing papers similar to Climate change? Archaeology and Anthropocene
ClearPor uma arqueologia do antropoceno: tempo, identidade e novos artefactos numa nova era
This Portuguese-language archaeology paper discusses the emergence of 'Anthropocene Archaeology' — the study of human artifacts and materials from the current geological era of human dominance. Plastics, including microplastics, are among the defining material markers of the Anthropocene that will be part of this archaeological record.
Human-environment interactions in the Anthropocene – a case study on reservoir sediments in Central Europe
Researchers analyzed sediment cores from Central European reservoirs to reconstruct a century of changing sediment fluxes, heavy metal contamination, and microplastic inputs linked to human land use change and climate-driven erosion. Microplastics appeared in cores beginning in the mid-20th century, with accelerating accumulation rates tracking regional industrialization and plastic production growth.
Antropocen : vad, när och hur?
This Swedish-language thesis examines the concept of the Anthropocene — the proposed geological epoch defined by human impacts on Earth — reviewing its scientific definition and potential stratigraphic markers. It provides context for understanding how plastic pollution is one of the defining markers of human influence on the planet.
Waste Journeys
This multidisciplinary study examined plastic waste as a material of the Anthropocene by tracing the journeys of plastic objects across cultural, natural, marine, and terrestrial landscapes, exploring how plastic's resilience makes it a defining and problematic artifact of modern civilization.
Particle sources and transport in stratified Nordic coastal seas in the Anthropocene
Researchers examined how particles of biogenic, lithogenic, and anthropogenic origin — including microplastics — are distributed and transported in stratified Nordic coastal seas, exploring their roles as vectors for microorganisms and as components of carbon cycling.
CORE 100 The Anthropocene
This university course introduces the concept of the Anthropocene, examining how human activity has fundamentally altered Earth's atmosphere, oceans, and land surfaces. Microplastic pollution is one of the defining markers of the Anthropocene, present in sediments and ecosystems worldwide.
Anthropocene Antarctica
This chapter outlines how Antarctica is both essential to understanding Earth's past climate and deeply threatened by human-caused changes, including microplastic pollution and ocean acidification. It situates Antarctica within broader Anthropocene debates about the planet's future.
Potential role of microplastic in sediment as an indicator of Anthropocene
Researchers reviewed global data on microplastic deposits in lake and ocean sediment cores, arguing that microplastics have the potential to serve as a geological marker for the Anthropocene — the human-dominated era — because they are widespread, persistent, and tightly linked to human industrial activity. Alpine lake sediments are recommended as ideal sites for this research due to their stable, high-resolution depositional records.
Anthropocene Antarctica: Approaches, issues and debates
This essay examines Antarctica in the context of the Anthropocene, highlighting how the continent has become central to global environmental discussions including climate change and pollution. Antarctica, once considered pristine, now shows evidence of microplastic contamination in its waters and wildlife.
Geochemical Fingerprint and Stratigraphic Marker
This chapter explains how the global spread of plastic pollution — from ocean floors to mountain glaciers — makes plastic particles useful as geological markers of the Anthropocene era. The accumulation of microplastics in sediment layers provides a distinctive chemical and physical signature that will be readable in the geological record for millennia.
Why do plastic debris forms matter for the Anthropocene?
Researchers described the first documented outcrop composed of plastic debris forms on Trindade Island in the SE Atlantic Ocean, identifying both plastiglomerates (melted plastic cemented with volcanic lithoclasts and sand) and a newly defined category termed plastistones (homogeneous melted plastic). FTIR confirmed PE and PP composition, and the ongoing erosion of the outcrop was found to supply microplastics to the adjacent beach sediment.
Anthropocene Ouroboros
This ethnographic study explores how plastic objects on an Indian Ocean island shatter and disperse into microplastics, complicating our understanding of geological time. Researchers argue that because microplastics can migrate through sedimentary layers and infiltrate earlier geological strata, they disrupt the very framework used to delineate the Anthropocene. The paper examines the cultural and temporal implications of plastic pollution as a defining material of the modern era.
Climate Change and Anthropogenic Impact on Coastal Environments
This special issue introduction covers research on how climate change and human activities are transforming coastal environments including deltas, lagoons, and mangroves. These coastal zones are important sinks for plastic pollution, and changes to their physical and ecological structure affect how microplastics accumulate and impact local biodiversity.
Greenland in the Anthropocene: an archive of microplastic pollution
Researchers investigated whether glaciomarine sediments from Greenland's melting ice sheet contain microplastics that could be released as the ice retreats. The study developed purification methods to extract microplastics from fine glacial sediment. The research suggests that ice melt in Greenland may be releasing microplastics previously trapped in glacial deposits back into the ocean.
Rapid Landscape Changes in Plastic Bays Along the Norwegian Coastline
Researchers documented rapid changes in 'wreck bays'—Norwegian coastal sites where ocean currents deposit floating debris—finding that plastic accumulation in these bays is increasing significantly. The study shows how coastal landforms can concentrate plastic pollution and how monitoring these sites tracks broader changes in ocean plastic loads.
The impacts of climate change on eroding coastal historic landfills
This paper examines how climate change — sea level rise and increased storms — is accelerating erosion of coastal historic landfills, releasing legacy waste including plastics into marine environments. The findings raise concerns about new sources of microplastic pollution as coastal erosion worsens.
Candidate sites and other reference sections for the Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point of the Anthropocene series
This paper reviews 12 proposed sites around the world that could serve as the official geological marker for the start of the Anthropocene, the proposed new epoch defined by human impact on the planet. Among the key markers of human influence found at these sites are microplastics, which appear in sediment layers starting around the mid-20th century. The widespread presence of microplastics in geological records underscores just how profoundly plastic pollution has altered the planet.
Are microplastics the ‘technofossils’ of the Anthropocene?
Researchers reviewed dating methods and microplastic data from sedimentary cores globally, establishing a chronological sequence of microplastic polymer types in sediment records and validating it against 39 published dated cores, demonstrating that microplastic composition can serve as a supplementary dating tool for Anthropocene sediments on a centennial scale.
Anthropocene
This review examines how anthropologists have engaged with the concept of the 'Anthropocene', identifying four main disciplinary approaches to the phenomena of human-driven planetary change including climate change and mass extinction. Researchers found that the term functions both as a scientific descriptor of Earth system disruption and as a politically and morally loaded concept within and beyond academia.
Palaeontological evidence for defining the Anthropocene
This paper argues that palaeontological methods — including biostratigraphic analysis of fossil assemblages — can be used to formally define the Anthropocene as a geological epoch, as human impacts have created a distinct stratigraphic signature in the rock and sediment record. The presence of novel markers including plastic particles and industrial pollutants supports this designation.
Anthropocene
This work examines the Anthropocene through historical case studies connecting industrial coal extraction in Wales with ecological observations at the poles, illustrating how human industrial activity has reshaped planetary systems and providing a narrative framework for understanding the scale of anthropogenic environmental transformation.
The decaying stuff of the Anthropocene: exploring contemporary trashscapes through ruination
This paper is not primarily a scientific study of microplastic pollution. It is a humanities/social theory article that uses the concept of 'ruination' to philosophically examine how waste and trash are transforming landscapes in the Anthropocene era, arguing that collective wastage is turning natural environments into 'trashscapes.'
Microplastics in Arctic Sea Ice: A Petromodern Archive Fever
This cultural studies essay examines microplastics found in Arctic sea ice as a form of archive — recording human pollution and reducing the ecological agency of the ice itself. The paper applies philosophical frameworks to plastic contamination, arguing that microplastics in sea ice represent both a record of human impact and an erasure of natural ecological processes.
Lake sedimentary archives of medieval mining and smelting in Sweden : tracking environmental changes from site to landscape
This thesis used lake sediment records to track environmental changes caused by medieval mining and smelting in Sweden, demonstrating that human-caused pollution predates the industrial era. The research contextualizes modern microplastic pollution within a longer history of human environmental impact.