Pleistocene-Holocene changes and the Anthropocene

This research topic includes Pleistocene to Holocene climate and palaeoenvironmental changes and the growing anthropogenic influence on geological processes and on the geosphere as a critical interface of the Earth System. This also relates to the "Anthropocene" debate, about the definition and the beginning of the Anthropocene as a new and youngest unit of the Geological Timescale.

The Anthropocene is covered by projects on Pleistocene-Holocene continental archives and projects on anthropogenic deposits and signals for anthropogenic influence of the "Wiener Wissenschafts- und Technologiefonds" WWTF, projects ESR17-040 and ESR20-027.

The wider Anthropocene debate fosters multi- and interdisciplinary projects involving Humanities and Arts, and also relates to contributions to the International Working Group on the Anthropocene (AWG), a body of the International Stratigraphic Subcommission of IUGS.

Current Projects:

The Anthropocene Surge - evolution, expansion and depth of Vienna’s urban environment. (WWTF ESR17-040)
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Urban-CVie. From Romans to the Anthropocene, from Carnuntum to Vienna: An Urban Anthropocene Field Lab (WWTF ESR20-027)

LANGUAGE of the Anthropocene. Lessons in anthropogenic impact: a knowledge network of geological signals to unite and assess global evidence of the Anthropocene. Present and future Geology – the global scale evidence of the Anthropocene. Austrian Academy of Sciences, International Programs, UNESCO/IUGS IGCP 732
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Karlsplatz, Vienna

The base of the 1950s atmospheric artificial radionuclide fallout layer at Karlsplatz, Vienna (© M. Wagreich)