Interconnecting Anthropocene records

The Anthropocene has aroused considerable interest in the past two decades among both scientists from various fields and the general public. The term symbolizes the rising and dominant human- technological influence on the Earth which departed significantly from the stability of climate and natural landscapes for more than eleven millennia that allowed human civilization to develop and flourish. Despite the huge human impact on the environment observed on a planetary scale, defining the Anthropocene in the geosciences is challenging. Regional comparative studies on this Anthropocene transformation of the Earth are rare, especially for urban areas. The project looks at this growth of human influence by analyzing soils from boreholes, well cores, and excavations, comparing sites in the cities of Vienna (Austria) and Krakw (Poland). The project aims to compare the historical development of various chemical and particulate pollutants and tests their reliability, formation, and the distribution as signals for the evolving Anthropocene, and to uncover quantitative differences in industrialization`s imprint on the geological urban record. A second aspect focuses on establishing comparability between different man-made markers within and across sites and cities, especially considering Krakw`s slower industrialization versus Vienna`s extensive development as capital. Utilizing multiple high-resolution analytical tracer methods the project aims to identify and quantify various particulate, molecular and isotopic markers, and their persistence, fate and behaviour in human-made urban soil environments. The comprehensive approach seeks coherence in the Anthropocene records within urban areas and across specific sites, and address the reliability, universality, and distribution of key Anthropocene traces and signals in the last centuries, and link them to available environmental monitoring data and other historical and archaeological records to determine the record of pollutant deposition history in evolving cities.