Zalasiewicza, et al., report that the rise of plastics since the mid-20th century, both as a material element of modern life and as a growing environmental pollutant, has been widely described. Their distribution in both the terrestrial and marine realms suggests that they are a key geological indicator of the Anthropocene, as a distinctive strata component. Most immediately evident in terrestrial deposits, they are clearly becoming widespread in marine sedimentary deposits in both shallow- and deep-water settings. They are abundant and widespread as macroscopic fragments and virtually ubiquitous as micro-plastic particles. These are dispersed by both physical and biological processes, not least via the food chain and the faecal express route from surface to sea floor. Plastics are already widely dispersed in sedimentary deposits, and their amount seems likely to grow several-fold over the next few decades.
They will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over coming millennia as temporary stores and landfill sites are eroded. Plastics already enable fine time resolution within Anthropocene deposits via the development of their different types and via the artifacts (technofossils) they are molded into, and many of these may have long-term preservation potential when buried in strata.
I2M WP Notes ...Orrin Pilkey, et al., conducted research on using plastic refuse from vibracore to look at historic El Nino cycles as well as tsunami event-timing presented at GSA in New Orleans in 1998.
Colin Waters, et al., produced a paper titled The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene, December, 2015. A really great paper that incorporates a multitude of different disciplines to argue for an Anthropocene epoch.
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