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The San Francisco Estuary, USA as a reference section for an Anthropocene series

Himson, S; Williams, M; Zalasiewicz, J; Waters, C; McGann, M; England, R; Jaffe, BE; ... Cundy, A; + view all (2023) The San Francisco Estuary, USA as a reference section for an Anthropocene series. The Anthropocene Review 10.1177/20530196221147607. (In press). Green open access

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Abstract

A San Francisco Estuary core was analysed at high resolution to assess its component stratigraphic signatures of the Anthropocene in the form of non-native species, Hg, spheroidal carbonaceous particles, δ13Corg, δ15N, radiogenic materials, and heavy metals. Time series analysis of the core using Ti data provides a chronology to depth 167 cm into the 1960s. Below this, to depth 230 cm, the lowermost part of the core may extend to the 1950s or potentially a little earlier. The earliest anthropogenic marker recorded in the core is the excursion in Hg (beginning at 190 cm) which may denote the early 1960s and is the closest stratigraphic marker in the core to the proposed mid-20th century timing for the onset of the Anthropocene. Biostratigraphical signatures of non-native species arriving in the 1970s–1980s are widespread key markers and are significant tools for the correlation of Anthropocene deposits across the estuary. The absence of signals that indicate pre-1950s deposits precludes the use of the core to mark the Holocene–Anthropocene boundary. However, the core provides an important reference section to demonstrate the palaeontological distinctiveness of Anthropocene series deposits.

Type: Article
Title: The San Francisco Estuary, USA as a reference section for an Anthropocene series
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1177/20530196221147607
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1177/20530196221147607
Language: English
Additional information: © The Author(s) 2023. Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0) This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the SAGE and Open Access page (https://us.sagepub.com/en-us/nam/open-access-at-sage). Request permissions for this article.
Keywords: Anthropocene series, biostratigraphy, non-native species, San Francisco Estuary
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL SLASH > Faculty of S&HS > Dept of Geography
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10166953
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