Spheroidal Carbonaceous Fly Ash Particles in the Anthropocene

Spheroidal carbonaceous particles (SCPs) are a component of fly ash and are formed solely from the high-temperature combustion of fossil fuels such as coal and oil. As a consequence, they form an unambiguous indicator of contamination from these sources. A rapid increase in SCP accumulation in the mid-20th century is observed in lake sediments around the world indicating a synchronous global stratigraphic marker for this period. Data from other natural archives such as ice cores and marine sediments suggest that this signal is also present in these records and so could provide a reliable marker for the start of the Anthropocene.