The annually deposited laminated sediments at Crawford Lake, Ontario, provide a perfect record of indigenous farming in the area in the Middle Ages, the arrival of the first settlers in 1822, and a nuclear testing radioactive bomb spike peak in 1950, which is proposed to mark the beginning of this new epoch; The Anthropocene, a proposed geological epoch that encompasses the commencement of significant human impact on Earth’s geologic record and associated systems.

This time period coincides with the start of the Great Acceleration, a post-WWII time period during which dramatic socioeconomic changes, as well the Atomic Age, have left and continue to leave a permanent signature in the geologic record. The AWG has identified 12 potential GSSP candidates; a leading candidate of which is Crawford Lake, within the Golden Horseshoe, at the western end of Lake Ontario.

The lake is protected within the Crawford Lake Conservation Area and is of additional cultural significance as the sedimentary record of the lake also preserves evidence of habitation history of indigenous villages that were on the lake edge from the late 13th to early 16th centuries. The AWG will reveal its choice of the Anthropocene GSSP on December 8th, 2022.