Since the first prehistoric people started to dig for stone to make implements, rather than pick up loose material, humans have modified the landscape through excavation of rock and soil, generation of waste and creation of artificial ground. In Great Britain over the past 200 years, people have excavated, moved and built up the equivalent of at least six times the volume of Ben Nevis. It is estimated that the worldwide deliberate annual shift of sediment by human activity is 57 000 Mt (million tonnes) and exceeds that of transport by rivers to the oceans (22 000 Mt) almost by a factor of three. Humans sculpt and transform the landscape through the physical modification of the shape and properties of the ground. As such, humans are geological and geomorphological agents and the dominant factor in landscape evolution through settlement and widespread industrialization and urbanization. The most significant impact of this has been since the onset of the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth century, coincident with increased release of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The anthropogenic sedimentological record, therefore, provides a marker on which to characterize the Anthropocene.

Abstract:The deliberate anthropogenic movement of reworked natural and novel manufactured materials represents a novel sedimentary environment associated with mining, waste disposal, construction and urbanization.

8A geoelectrical investigation of a slow moving earth slide-earth flow in Lower Jurassic Lias Group 9 rocks of the Cleveland basin, UK, is described. These mudrock slopes are particularly prone to failure 10 and are a major source of lowland landslides in the UK, but few attempts have been made to 11 spatially or volumetrically characterise the subsurface form of these slides. The primary aim of this 12 study was to consider the efficacy of fully three-dimensional geoelectrical imaging for landslide 13 investigation with reference to a geological setting typical of Lias Group escarpments. The approach 14 described here included a reconnaissance survey phase using two-dimensional electrical resistivity 15 tomography (ERT), resistivity mapping, self-potential (SP) profiling and mapping, followed by a 16 detailed investigation of an area of the landslide using three-dimensional (3D) ERT and self-potential 17 tomography (SPT). Interpretation of the geophysical data sets was supported by surface 18 observations (aerial LiDAR and differential GPS geomorphological surveys) and intrusive 19 investigations (boreholes and auger holes). The initial phase of the study revealed the existence of a 20 strong SP signature at the site consistent with a streaming potential source and established the 21 relationships between the main geological units, the geomorphologic expression of the landslide, 22 and the resistivity of the materials in and around the study area. The 3D SPT model generated during 23 the second phase of the study indicated drainage patterns across the landslide and preferential flow 24 from the low permeability mud rocks into the underlying more permeable sandstone formation. 25 Manuscript Click here to view linked References

The transformation of the Earth's land surface by mineral extraction and construction is on a scale greater than natural erosive terrestrial geological processes. Mineral extraction statistics can be used as a proxy to measure the size of the total anthropogenic global sediment flux related to mineral extraction and construction. It is demonstrated that the annual direct anthropogenic contribution to the global production of sediment in 2015 was conservatively some 316 Gt (150 km 3 ), a figure more than 24 times greater than the sediment supplied annually by the world's major rivers to the oceans. The major long-term acceleration in anthropogenic sediment flux started just after the Second World War and anthropogenic sediment flux overtook natural fluvial sediment flux in the mid-1950s. Humans are now the major global geological driving force and an important component of earth system processes in landscape evolution. The changing magnitude of anthropogenic sediments and landforms over time are

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

The landscape of many historic cities and the character of their shallow subsurface environments are defined by a legacy of interaction between anthropogenic and geological processes. Anthropogenic deposits and excavations result from processes ranging from archaeological activities to modern urban development. Hence, in heritage cities, any geological investigation should acknowledge the role of past and ongoing human activities, while any archaeological investigation should be conducted with geological processes in mind. In this paper it is shown that 3D geological and anthropogenic models at different scales can provide a holistic system for the management of the subsurface. It provides a framework for the integration of other spatial and process models to help assess the preservation potential for buried heritage. Such an integrated framework model is thus contributing to a decision support system for sustainable urban (re)development and regeneration in cities, while preserving cultural heritage. A collaborative approach is proposed to enhance research and implementation of combined geological and archaeological modelling for sustainable land use planning and heritage preservation, using York and Bryggen as prime examples. This paper presents the status of 3D framework modelling at Bryggen in Norway as an example.