第五章 欢迎来到人类世(第7/7页)

在我这次前往苏格兰的时候,扎拉斯维奇已经把人类世这件事推到了一个新的高度。国际地层学委员会(ICS)是负责制订地球历史时间表的官方组织。ICS决定了诸如“更新世确切的开始时间是什么时候”这种事情。事实上,最近经过了一场非常激烈的辩论之后,这个委员会把更新世的开始时间从180万年前向前推到了260万年前。扎拉斯维奇已经说服了ICS考虑正式承认人类世。顺理成章的是,他本人将会负责相关的工作。作为“人类世工作组”的负责人,扎拉斯维奇期望能够在2016年出一份提案,供全体成员投票。如果他取得成功,人类世被正式确立为一个新的地质世,那么世界上所有的地质学教科书都将立即过时。


[1] 令黑桃与红心的形状保持不变,颜色变为相反,成为实际上并不存在的花色。——译者

[2] Jerome S.Bruner and Leo Postman,“On the Perception of Incongruity:A Paradigm,”Journal of Personality 18(1949):206-223.感谢詹姆斯·格雷克(James Gleick)引发了我对这项实验的兴趣,参见Chaos:Making a New Science(New York:Viking,1987),35。

[3] Thomas S.Kuhn,The Structure of Scientific Revolutions,2nd ed.(Chicago:University of Chicago Press,1970),64.

[4] Quoted in Patrick John Boylan,“William Buckland,1784-1859:Scientific Institutions,Vertebrate Paleontology and Quaternary Geology”(Ph.D.dissertation,University of Leicester,England,1984),468.

[5] William Glen,Mass Extinction Debates:How Science Works in a Crisis(Stanford,Calif.:Stanford University Press,1994),2.

[6] Hallam and Wignall,Mass Extinctions and Their Aftermath,4.

[7] Richard A.Fortey,Life:A Natural History of the First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth(New York:Vintage,1999),135.

[8] 又译为七弦琴,像是缩小版的竖琴,可手持演奏。这种琴在西方古典文明中有着重要的地位,常见于描绘希腊神话的绘画作品中。——译者

[9] David M.Raup and J.John Sepkoski Jr.,“Periodicity of Extinctions in the Geologic Past,”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 81(1984):801-805.

[10] Raup,The Nemesis Affair,19.

[11] New York Times Editorial Board,“Nemesis of Nemesis,”New York Times,July 7,1985.

[12] Luis W.Alvarez,“Experimental Evidence That an Asteroid Impact Led to the Extinction of Many Species 65 Million Years Ago,”Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 80(1983):633.

[13] Timothy M.Lenton et al.,“First Plants Cooled the Ordovician,”Nature Geoscience 5(2012):86-89.

[14] Timothy Kearsey et al.,“Isotope Excursions and Palaeotemperature Estimates from the Permian/Triassic Boundary in the Southern Alps(Italy),”Palaeogeography,Palaeoclimatology,Palaeoecology 279(2009):29-40.

[15] Shu-zhong Shen et al.,“Calibrating the End-Permian Mass Extinction,”Science 334(2011):1367-1372.

[16] Lee R.Kump,Alexander Pavlov,and Michael A.Arthur,“Massive Release of Hydrogen Sulfide to the Surface Ocean and Atmosphere during Intervals of Oceanic Anoxia,”Geology 33(2005):397-400.

[17] 即前文所说产生硫化氢的细菌,因为从硫到硫化氢是一个化学上的还原反应,其所释放的能量能够被该类细菌加以利用。——译者

[18] Carl Zimmer,introduction to paperback edition of T.Rex and the Crater of Doom(Princeton,N.J.:Princeton University Press,2008),xv.

[19] 原产于德国的中型短毛猎犬。——译者

[20] Jan Zalasiewicz,The Earth After Us:What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks?(Oxford:Oxford University Press,2008),89.

[21] Jan Zalasiewicz,The Earth After Us:What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks?(Oxford:Oxford University Press,2008),240.

[22] Quoted in William Stolzenburg,Rat Island:Predators in Paradise and the World’s Greatest Wildlife Rescue(New York:Bloomsbury,2011),21.

[23] Terry L.Hunt,“Rethinking Easter Island’s Ecological Catastrophe,”Journal of Archaeological Science 34(2007):485-502.

[24] Zalasiewicz,The Earth After Us,9.

[25] Paul J.Crutzen,“Geology of Mankind,”Nature 415(2002):23.

[26] Jan Zalasiewicz et al.,“Are We Now Living in the Anthropocene?”GSA Today 18(2008):6.