The new Meghalayan Age: What does it Imply for the Anthropocene Age?

Abstract

In July 2018, it was announced by the International Commission on Stratigraphy that the Executive Committee of the International Union of Geological Sciences has ratified the proposal that subdivides the Holocene Epoch into the Greenlandian (11,700 yr b2k), Northgrippian (8326 yr b2k), and Meghalayan (4200 yr before 1950) Ages or Stages, and that these stages correspond to the Lower, Middle and Upper Holocene subseries. In this communication the conceptual and stratigraphical differences between the Anthopocene and the Meghalayan Age and the consequences of the formal division of Holocene are discussed. In spite of the different opinions of scientists, there is a clear distinction between them: the Holocene subdivision (including the beginning of the newer Age, the Meghalayan) was defined considering natural climatic/environmental changes in which the humankind was not the driver but was subjected to them. The Anthropocene concept rests on the evidence of human impact on the environment as a geological force which can alter the biogeochemical equilibrium of the Earth System. Then, the Holocene and Anthropocene Working Groups considered that the Anthropocene definition would be benefit in a certain way, from the prior establishment of a formal framework of Holocene division using the concepts of natural environment.