Crawford Lake: A Key to Unlocking the Anthropocene Epoch?

Crawford Lake in Ontario, Canada, is being considered as the "golden spike" or formal starting point of a new epoch called the Anthropocene. The lake has a unique combination of attributes that make it a bellwether of global change, including an upper layer of water and a cold, dark deeper layer under which sediment is perfectly preserved. By examining the sediment, researchers can trace telltale signs of human activity, such as the burning of fossil fuels and the rise of acid rain. The International Commission on Stratigraphy will decide in months which of various candidates around the world gets the "golden spike" designation.