Human impact on landscapes

Abstract

Even if our bones and the debris of civilization soon become diagnostic fossils of one of the briefest biostratigraphic zones in geological history, our effect on land surfaces of the world already is conspicuous and irreversible. Modern cities, dams, parking lots, and highways are reshaping the landscape. The pace and scope of human activity are now altering elemental cycles that have sustained life on this planet for millions of years. The burning of oil and coal, for example, is reintroducing carbon into the atmosphere as carbon dioxide, diluting breathable oxygen in the atmosphere, and creating a global warming by the greenhouse effect.