Doctor Mud Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I haven't read the paper yet, but this seems to be interesting. It talks about the traces that humans might leave behind after Homo sapiens becomes extinct. They call the remains of human technology "technofossils". After we become extinct and perhaps cultures from other planets come to earth and explore its natural history perhaps they will find these technofossils which would provide a glimpse into our world. I guess this would be similar to what archaeologists are already doing with "technofossils" form earlier cultures. I wonder what types of technology would or could be preserved and how long they would survive in the fossil record? I guess this would depend on the depositional environment just like other fossils. Food for thought..... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/03/140325094806.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 I've actually given thought on how our civilization would appear in the stratigraphic record. I imagine there would be a global horizon akin to the K-T boundary, with remnants of buried artifacts and infrastructure preserved at and beneath this horizon.... On a day in the distant future, a group of explorers is hiking above the tree line in the great chain of mountains in the western part of the supercontinent. The best evidence of a long-vanished civilization tend to be preserved in sedimentary rocks deposited by rivers, and those spotted in a mountainside during a reconnaissance showed some promise. As they approach the outcrop, they encounter pieces of strange matter in the talus. They climb the slope until they come across a telltale mottled layer. Bits of the matter can be seen weathering out here and there. In places, there appears to be pillar-like structures in the rock. From studies in other areas of the planet, the explorers recognized these as the remnants of building foundations.... Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 It will probably like all those shows that plots in the far future where they get everything wrong like a jukebox being called an Ipod. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oxytropidoceras Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) Dr Jan Zalasiewicz has written a book specifically "about the traces that humans might leave behind after Homo sapiens becomes extinct." The book is: Zalasiewicz, Jan, 2008, The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? Oxford University Press. 251 pp. ISBN 978–0–19–921497–6 http://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/publications/2000-2009/2008/09/nparticle.2008-09-25.html The paper being discussed is: Zalasiewicz, I., M. Williams, C. N. Waters, A. D. Barnosky, and P. Haff, 2014, The technofossil record of humans. The Anthropocene Review. vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 34-43. DOI: 10.1177/2053019613514953 http://anr.sagepub.com/content/1/1/34 Yours, Paul H. Edited March 31, 2014 by Oxytropidoceras Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xonenine Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 thanks Paul "Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun; so is your crocodile." Lepidus Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) This 'hill' is 250' higher than any thing for miles. Dig here to find out more than you need to know about our long departed civilization. Edited March 31, 2014 by squali It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 We'll leave some spectacular middens, like Mount Trashmore in Virginia Beach. "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mediospirifer Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Mining and quarrying also leaves long-lasting traces. And our radioactive waste will show signs of intelligent (?) manipulation for millions of years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpc Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 One word... Plastics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 So if there was a full-scale civilization like ours back in, say, the Pennsylvanian or Cretaceous, what would still remain? I would think metal and plastic artifacts would be reduced to oxide and carbon, if anything at all. Perhaps we'd have to depend on casts and molds in the sediment (i.e. rock), just as we do now. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) I guess it all really comes down to 'how we go'. There would be different traces of things left behind in different extinction scenarios. I would say space junk and anything left on the Moon, Mars rovers, etc would last most end-time scenarios. Edited March 31, 2014 by fossilized6s ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFOOLEY Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 One word... Plastics. yessir. "I am glad I shall never be young without wild country to be young in. Of what avail are forty freedoms without a blank spot on the map?" ~Aldo Leopold (1887-1948) New Mexico Museum of Natural History Bulletins Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted March 31, 2014 Share Posted March 31, 2014 Actually some plastics become very brittle and break down quite easily after only a few months of exposure. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RyanNREMTP Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Coprolites. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Auspex Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 What if they find Piranha's fossil collection?! "There has been an alarming increase in the number of things I know nothing about." - Ashleigh Ellwood Brilliant “Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” - Thomas Henry Huxley >Paleontology is an evolving science. >May your wonders never cease! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilized6s Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Any metals fashioned into things that do not tarnish (gold, SS, etc) would still be around. There would be trace fossils of beams, electrical wires, Jimmy Hoffa, you know anything poured into concrete. Id also say anything underground that isn't near a fault line, dirt and rock are great insulators against fire And they say McDonald's burgers last forever. ~Charlie~ "There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask why.....i dream of things that never were, and ask why not?" ~RFK ->Get your Mosasaur print ->How to spot a fake Trilobite ->How to identify a CONCRETION from a DINOSAUR EGG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 What if they find Piranha's fossil collection?! Chalk it up to 'time averaging'. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 And what will last the longest? Twinkies, or their plastic wrappers? Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 I've actually given thought on how our civilization would appear in the stratigraphic record. I imagine there would be a global horizon akin to the K-T boundary, with remnants of buried artifacts and infrastructure preserved at and beneath this horizon.... On a day in the distant future, a group of explorers is hiking above the tree line in the great chain of mountains in the western part of the supercontinent. The best evidence of a long-vanished civilization tend to be preserved in sedimentary rocks deposited by rivers, and those spotted in a mountainside during a reconnaissance showed some promise. As they approach the outcrop, they encounter pieces of strange matter in the talus. They climb the slope until they come across a telltale mottled layer. Bits of the matter can be seen weathering out here and there. In places, there appears to be pillar-like structures in the rock. From studies in other areas of the planet, the explorers recognized these as the remnants of building foundations.... Nice piece of writing Missourian. Its like an excerpt from a good sci fi novel. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 Dr Jan Zalasiewicz has written a book specifically "about the traces that humans might leave behind after Homo sapiens becomes extinct." The book is: Zalasiewicz, Jan, 2008, The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? Oxford University Press. 251 pp. ISBN 978–0–19–921497–6 http://www.le.ac.uk/ebulletin-archive/ebulletin/publications/2000-2009/2008/09/nparticle.2008-09-25.html The paper being discussed is: Zalasiewicz, I., M. Williams, C. N. Waters, A. D. Barnosky, and P. Haff, 2014, The technofossil record of humans. The Anthropocene Review. vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 34-43. DOI: 10.1177/2053019613514953 http://anr.sagepub.com/content/1/1/34 Yours, Paul H. Thanks Paul! Thanks for the link to the book and for clarifying the paper that the news article that I linked to discusses. I think I will try and get a copy of this book. I wonder if this is the same book I remember a friend of mine reading a while back. One of the chapters was discussing how we might warn future civilisations of the location of our toxic waste dump sites (e.g radioactive waste) using universal symbols or devices. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 This 'hill' is 250' higher than any thing for miles. Dig here to find out more than you need to know about our long departed civilization. Major bioturbation or megascale trace fossils! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doctor Mud Posted April 1, 2014 Author Share Posted April 1, 2014 So if there was a full-scale civilization like ours back in, say, the Pennsylvanian or Cretaceous, what would still remain? I would think metal and plastic artifacts would be reduced to oxide and carbon, if anything at all. Perhaps we'd have to depend on casts and molds in the sediment (i.e. rock), just as we do now. Hard to imagine what might be left. Also depends on how we go like fossilized6s was saying. I guess a nuclear holocaust or meteorite impact might wipe out some evidence but I imagine there would still be remains preserved in some deposits. I guess it would depend on the depositional environment - anoxic or oxygen rich, the presence of micro-organisms etc. I just think of the deposits where impressions of soft bodied organisms are preserved, like the Ediacara fauna and Burgess shale. I guess there would also be chemical traces of human life akin to the traces geologists have used to study the evolution of life on earth - the proliferation of photsynthetic organisms and increase in atmospheric oxygen in the past. What would we see from humans? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scylla Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 We will leave a chemical signature too. Changes in isotopic ratios, radionuclides, some synthetic organic molecules, etc. Anything in higher orbits or on the moon should last a while too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squali Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 (edited) One word... Plastics. Lets hope JPC. in the picture I previously posted the area in the foreground is under construction to extend the landfill in the background. The base consists of 6 geosynthetic layers- the top has 2 section reads from bottom up Thickness Description Application Varies Engineered structural fill to grade foundation ~10mm GCL (Geosynthetic Clay Liner) a combination of bentonite and geosynthetics permeability 1x10^-8cm/sec 60 mil HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Geomembrane Secondary geomembrane ~13mm Geocomposite -a combination of non woven geotextile and polyethylene net. Secondary liquid collection ~10mm GCL (Geosynthetic Clay Liner) a combination of bentonite and geosynthetics permeability 1x10^-8cm/sec 60 mil HDPE (High Density Polyethylene) Geomembrane Primary geomembrane ~7mm 16oz/sqyd nonwoven geotextile puncture resistance ~460mm clean subrounded stone 1" max -with pvc collection piping protective cover-liquid collection Varies If you can think of it you will find it prevent disease and pestilence ~310mm Intermediate cover (soil with 1" max particle size) subbase for geomembrane ~50mil Textured HDPE Geomembrane Final Cap geomembrane ~5mm 12oz/sqyd nonwoven geotextile puncture resistance-drainage ~610mm Soil cover with top 6" capable of supporting vegetation UV protection The trend has been to turn the mega landfills to bioreactors where the gas production is expedited by recirculating liquid collected in the bottom throughout the disposal area. About the only thing left after the bacteria are done are plastics and glass Edited April 1, 2014 by squali It's hard to remember why you drained the swamp when your surrounded by alligators. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Missourian Posted April 1, 2014 Share Posted April 1, 2014 Most landfills will completely erode away with the landscape and end up as detritus in deltaic deposits. Some near coastlines (New Orleans, South Jersey?) may be preserved at least partially intact. It's funny and ironic to think that paleontologists in the distant future would consider landfills, of all things, to be lagerstätten. Context is critical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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