Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in geological record?
Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in geological record?
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The Silurian hypothesis: would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record? | International Journal of Astrobiology | Cambridge Core
There is a discussion on Hacker News, but feel free to comment here as well.
Given the vast amount of pollution and at the same time very specific pollutants... I assume so, yes.
Specifically you'd see these in a core sample, or a large column of dirt showing the sediment that's a cumulated and settled from the atmosphere. We can see when large fires occured, volcanic eruptions, when the industrial revolution started, etc. Anything that's affected our atmosphere, you'll find layered in the soil somewhere.