Jan Zalasiewicz, Professor of Palaeobiology from the University of Leicester's Department of Geology explained: "Plastics were more or less unknown to our grandparents, when they were children. But now, they are indispensible to our lives. They're everywhere -- wrapping our food, being containers for our water and milk, providing cartons for eggs and yoghourt and chocolate, keeping our medicines sterile. They now make up most of the clothes that we wear, too.
"Plastics are also pretty well everywhere on Earth, from mountain tops to the deep ocean floor -- and can be fossilized into the far future. We now make almost a billion tons of the stuff every three years. If all the plastic made in the last few decades was clingfilm, there would be enough to put a layer around the whole Earth. With current trends of production, there will be the equivalent of several more such layers by mid-century."
The study suggests that plastics have such a long-lasting impact on the planet's geology because they are inert and hard to degrade. As a result, when plastics litter the landscape they become a part of the soil, often ending up in the sea and being consumed by and killing plankton, fish and seabirds.
Plastics can travel thousands of miles, caught up in the 'great oceanic garbage patches', or eventually being washed up on distant beaches. Plastics can eventually sink to the sea floor, to become a part of the strata of the future.
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 stratal component.
Professor Zalasiewicz added: "Plastics will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over coming millennia as temporary stores -- landfill sites -- are eroded. Plastics already enable fine time resolution within Anthropocene deposits via the development of their different types and via the artefacts, known as 'technofossils', they are moulded into, and many of these may have long-term preservation potential when buried in strata.
"Once buried, being so hard-wearing, plastics have a good chance to be fossilized -- and leave a signal of the ultimate convenience material for many million years into the future. The age of plastic may really last for ages."
The study was carried out by an international team of scientists including the University of Leicester's Professors Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams and PhD student Yasmin Yonan from the Department of Geology and field archaeologist Dr Matt Edgeworth who is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.
Dr Edgeworth said: "It may seem odd to think of plastics as archaeological and geological materials because they are so new, but we increasingly find them as inclusions in recent strata. Plastics make excellent stratigraphic markers.
Jan Zalasiewicz ศาสตราจารย์ Palaeobiology จากมหาวิทยาลัย Leicester แผนกของธรณีวิทยาอธิบาย: "พลาสติกได้มากหรือน้อยไม่รู้จักให้ปู่ย่าตายายของเรา ขณะที่เด็ก แต่ตอนนี้ จะโชยชีวิตของเรา พวกเขากำลังทุก - ห่ออาหาร ถูกบรรจุให้กล่องช็อคโกแล ต การให้ยาของเราเป็นหมัน และ yoghourt ไข่ นมและน้ำของเรา ตอนนี้พวกเขาทำให้ค่ามากที่สุดของเสื้อผ้าที่เราสวมใส่ เกินไป"พลาสติกสวยดีทุกที่บนโลก จากท็อปส์ภูเขาพื้นมหาสมุทรลึก - และสามารถ fossilized ในอนาคตไกล ตอนนี้ได้เกือบพันล้านตันของสิ่งทุกสามปี ถ้าพลาสติกทั้งหมดที่ทำในสองสามทศวรรษที่ผ่านมา clingfilm จะเป็นพอที่จะใส่ชั้นทั่วโลกทั้งหมด กับแนวโน้มปัจจุบันของการผลิต จะมีความหลายมากขึ้นเช่นชั้นโดยช่วงกลางศตวรรษนี้"การศึกษาแนะนำว่า พลาสติกมีดังกล่าวมีผลกระทบยาวนานบนธรณีวิทยาของโลกเนื่องจากความเฉื่อย และการลดลง ดังนั้น เมื่อพลาสติกครอกภูมิทัศน์ ที่มีส่วนของดิน มักจะสิ้นสุดขึ้นในทะเล และถูกใช้โดย และฆ่าแพลงก์ตอน ปลา และนกพลาสติกสามารถเดินทางพันไมล์ จมในมหาสมุทรขยะดี 'ปรับปรุง' หรือกระทั่งล้างขึ้นบนชายหาดที่ห่างไกล พลาสติกสามารถจนจมถึงพื้นทะเล เป็น ส่วนหนึ่งของชั้นในอนาคตThe 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 stratal component.Professor Zalasiewicz added: "Plastics will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over coming millennia as temporary stores -- landfill sites -- are eroded. Plastics already enable fine time resolution within Anthropocene deposits via the development of their different types and via the artefacts, known as 'technofossils', they are moulded into, and many of these may have long-term preservation potential when buried in strata."Once buried, being so hard-wearing, plastics have a good chance to be fossilized -- and leave a signal of the ultimate convenience material for many million years into the future. The age of plastic may really last for ages."The study was carried out by an international team of scientists including the University of Leicester's Professors Jan Zalasiewicz and Mark Williams and PhD student Yasmin Yonan from the Department of Geology and field archaeologist Dr Matt Edgeworth who is an Honorary Visiting Research Fellow from the School of Archaeology and Ancient History.Dr Edgeworth said: "It may seem odd to think of plastics as archaeological and geological materials because they are so new, but we increasingly find them as inclusions in recent strata. Plastics make excellent stratigraphic markers.
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