According to geologists, we are living in a new age

Geologists have redefined the current age in which human civilization lives, deciding to call the last 4,200 years Meghalayan age. This new classification will help scientists better understand the events of the last few thousand years.

Geologists break down the history of our planet into epochs, periods, eras and ages. Our current era is the Cenozoic, itself broken down into three periods. We live in the most recent period, the Quaternary, which is then broken down into two eras: the present Holocene and the previous Pleistocene, which ended 11,700 years ago.

The Holocene began at the end of the last Ice Age, when glaciers began to retreat. At that time, humans learned to farm, built cities, and started launching rockets in space. From a human point of view, the end of the Holocene seems very different from the beginning. But from a geological point of view, has it really changed much?

The new announcement of the International Stratigraphy Commission is an admission that there are, in fact, significant changes on Earth. Although the general trend of warmer temperatures and retreating glaciers is as true today as it was 11,700 years ago, there are other changes in geological data.

About 4200 years ago, a devastating drought lasted at least a hundred years. collapse of civilizations around the world. It put an end to the pyramidal construction of the Old Kingdom, the Akkadian Empire in Iran and today 's Iraq, the civilization of 39; Indus in modern India and Liangzhu civilization in modern China. The effects of drought have been felt around the world

Not only has this drought changed human civilization, but it has even left its mark on the rock record. Drought can be observed in stalagmites in India, where lower monsoon levels are represented by changes in oxygen isotopes. The global nature of the drought, the permanent record visible in the rocky layers and the lasting effects on life on Earth mean that this moment in history is enough to be considered the beginning of a new age.

The Meghalayan is not the only one new age has been identified by the International Stratigraphy Commission. They also named Greenland as the earliest age of the Holocene, 11,700 years ago at 8,200 years ago. This age ended when the planet suddenly cooled from the melting glacial waters flowing into the North Atlantic. There is also the new age of Northgrippan, which is between Greenland and Meghalayan.

These new divisions of geological time will probably bring order and clarity to an era defined by monumental change. the best way to reclassify recent history. In particular, some geologists are working to define a new era to succeed the Holocene, called the Anthropocene, or "human era."

"They suddenly announced [the Meghalayan] and pasted it on the chart," geography professor Mark Maslin told the BBC: "It's official, we're in a new era, we We have many new definitions that may contradict the Anthropocene working group and run counter to what most scientists perceive as the most important change in the last 10,000 years. "

But it is possible that the Anthropocene and the Meghalayan may exist at the same time and, whatever it may be, the Anthropocene is difficult to define precisely – many very intelligent people are struggling with the definition

It's hard to say how this geological debate will unfold: Defining the past is clearly quite difficult, what happens in the future, it's the guesswork of somebody .