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Crawford Lake is a small, deep and beautiful body of water near the city of Toronto in Canada. But its meaning changed dramatically after scientists symbolically established this site as ground zero for the start of the Anthropocene era.

This symbolic designation, made by several scientists at a conference in France, marks the beginning of a geological epoch defined by the massive impact of humanity on the planet.

Crawford Lake, 29 meters deep and 24,000 square meters wide, was chosen over 11 other locations because the annual effects of human activity on the soil, atmosphere and biology of Earth are so evident in its layers of sediment.

The sediments of the lake reflect the evolution of times: they contain debris linked to pollution, the combustion of fuel, the use of fertilizers, pesticides… ultimate testimony to the power of man who is perhaps to be the most important geological force on the planet.

Called the Anthropocene Era – and derived from the Greek terms for “human” and “new” – this era began between 1950 and 1954, scientists say.

This puts human power in the same class as the meteorite that crashed into Earth 66 million years ago, killing the dinosaurs and starting the Cenozoic era, or “age of mammals”.

But not enough.

As the meteorite ushered in a new era, a working group of scientists pointed out that mankind had only just begun a new epoch, which was a much shorter geological period.

Geologists measure time in thousands of years, epochs, periods, epochs and ages. The Science Working Group states that the Anthropocene Epoch follows the Holocene Epoch, which began about 11,700 years ago at the end of the Ice Age.