![]() ![]() These lunar landmarks could not have been made by a species without world-changing technology. Those boot marks will fade in a few million years as micrometeorites grind them into the dust, but signs of our presence, including the alien artifacts we left, will be detectable for as long as there is an Earth and a Moon. If we must choose one geological deposit that announces the human presence, I would suggest the area of Mare Tranquillitatis where Apollo astronauts first stepped onto another world, leaving a flag, machines, and footprints. ![]() So let me offer my own modest proposal for a “golden spike” to mark the Anthropocene. Finding the Golden Spike in the Rock Recordīut if geologists are going to formalize the definition, they need to pin it to a specific stage in the rock record. Looked at in this way, there is no single, correct moment of genesis. I view them as a series of waypoints, each proposed origin marking a different stage in the “hominization” of the planet. These arguments are most valuable if we read them as a protracted dialogue on how humanity has journeyed from being just another hominid species in East Africa to the global force we are today. Others place the onset of the Anthropocene at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, or thousands of years earlier when we first undertook large-scale modification of landscapes. This provides what geologists call a “golden spike,” a unique time stamp associated with an event or transition. We began to see what we’d become, and it left an indelible isotopic signature. Did it arise with the first atomic bomb explosions in the 1940s? If there was ever a time when we started to realize we were all in the same boat, shooting holes in the hull, it was the dawn of the nuclear age. There’s no consensus over when exactly this humanized age began. Within geological and other academic circles it’s been contentious but fruitful - sparking interesting debates about how we humans should regard, and attempt to guide, our own planet-altering presence. I’ve written before about the proposal to formally rename our current geological epoch the Anthropocene (see S&T's April 2013 issue) to acknowledge the fact that humans have become a major force of global modification. Could this be a type of transition that other planets also go through, when cognitive systems begin to influence global systems? S&T: Patricia Gillis-CoppolaĪ far-future geologist studying Earth history would observe that our time was one of sudden and unprecedented planetary changes. For most of the next two decades, this land remained open range.A modest proposal: the golden spike that marked the beginning of the Anthropocene was the first lunar landing in Mare Tranquilitatis. It also favored the free and unlimited coinage of silver.” To gain the votes of workers, the Populists backed an eight-hour workday and limits on immigration.īy 1870 only small portions of the Great Plains remained unsettled. It called for the government to own railroads and telephone and telegraph systems. Instead, farmers grew more hardy crops like red wheat. House made of sod (dirt,mud) that western settlers lived in.Ī new method of farming that shifted the focus away from water-dependent crops such as corn. Nickname given to anyone that claims free land and farms on the hard soil (sod). etc.)įormer slaves who leave the south and move west to claim land. (attracted: african americans, former slaves, pioneers, farming families, single woman * unmarried women*. Gives away 160 acres of free land to any American settlers willing to farm on it. Sioux forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull surrounded and defeated Custer and his troops. Also allowed Native Americans to own their own land.Ī piece of land that was set aside for the Native Americans to live on.Īdapting to American culture and society. ![]() This allowed funding to teach Native Americans to learn how to read and write English. Passed Laws that helped with Native American assimilation. They also sold land to settlers, which encouraged people to move West. Railroad companies provided better transportation for people and goods. The transcontinental railroad increased both economic growth and the population in the West. On May 10, 1869, a golden spike was used to connect the railroad tie joining the two tracks. The Great Plains from Texas to Canada, where many ranchers raised cattle in the late 1800s, became known as the Cattle Kingdom.Ī railroad that would cross the continent and connect the East to the West.Ĭongress required the two completed rail lines to connect at Promontory, Utah. This made settlers move west since they all wanted to get GOLD. In 1859 miner Henry Comstock discovered a huge deposit of gold and silver in Nevada. Click here to study/print these flashcards.Ĭreate your own flash cards! Sign up here. ![]()
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