title: The Anthropocene: a new epoch of geological time?
abstract: Anthropogenic changes to the Earth's climate, land, oceans and biosphere are now so great and so rapid that the concept of a new geological epoch defined by the action of humans, the Anthropocene, is widely and seriously debated. Questions of the scale, magnitude and significance of this environmental change, particularly in the context of the Earth's geological history, provide the basis for this Theme Issue. The Anthropocene, on current evidence, seems to show global change consistent with the suggestion that an epoch-scale boundary has been crossed within the last two centuries.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology, University of Leicester, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK. jaz1@le.ac.uk
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zalasiewicz
authors.forename: Mark
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Williams
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Haywood
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ellis