Table of Contents
BEST IELTS Academic Reading Test 495
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST 495 – PASSAGE – 2
IELTS ACADEMIC READING TEST – 495
READING PASSAGE – 2
The Anthropocene
The human epoch
A. The geological time scale is used to classify the periods of the development of the Earth. It is done by observing layers of the rock and ice formations of the Earth and the fossils within them, and relating them to events that have occurred. The smallest division of these time periods is an epoch and we are currently in the Holocene, which began about 12,000 years ago at the end of the Paleolithic ice age.
Usually, the way a new geologic epoch is defined is by identifying a global signal that can be seen in the future geological record. The extinction of the dinosaurs 66 million years ago, which ended the Cretaceous epoch and began the Paleogene, is one such example. This is signalled by the presence of the metal Iridium in the geological layer of that time. It is thought to have been released from the meteorite that collided with Earth and caused the mass extinction.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
B. In the last twenty years there has been scientific debate as to whether a new epoch has begun. This period has been called the Anthropocene and is measured from the time human activity began to seriously impact the climate and ecosystems of the planet, which was around 1950. The word Anthropocene contains the root anthropo, meaning human and cene meaning time.
The term has not yet been officially recognized by the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) and the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS), though the Anthropocene Working Group (AWG) of the ICS has proposed it. The geological feature which is being suggested as the global indicator of the new epoch is the layer of radiation that was embedded in the earth during the period of nuclear testing in the second half of the last century.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
C. The two previous epochs, the Pleistocene and the Pliocene, each lasted around two and a half million years, and one of the criticisms of the suggestion is that switching to another epoch from one that has been in existence for only 12,000 years is premature. However, the environmental impact that man has had on the planet in the last seventy years is not only overwhelming but irreversible. The climate change that is currently occurring is likely to lead to mass extinctions not unlike that which ended the Cretaceous.
D. The presence of a radioactive strata is just one indicator of human impact on the planet. Further evidence of the onset of the Anthropocene includes the unburned powdery soot emitted by power stations, which consists largely of carbon, produced by the incomplete burning of organic matter. There is a permanent layer of airbome black carbon now embedded in sediment and glacial ice.
We have also put so much plastic into our waterways and oceans that plastics are certain to leave identifiable fossil records for future generations to discover. Levels of CO, in the atmosphere are increasing at the fastest rate for over 60 million years, which will affect the geological record by warming the atmosphere and cause climate change events such as rising sea levels.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
E. in the 700-million-year history of complex life on Earth, we are currently seeing the sixth mass extinction of animal life. This though, is less likely to be regarded as a signal as the animals at risk are those that are particular to regions of the planet and not dispersed worldwide.
This is despite the fact that the Earth will experience the loss of 75 per cent of species in the next few centuries if current trends continue. On the other hand, some species have had human help to spread rapidly across the world. The domestic chicken may be a fossil that defines the Anthropocene for future geologists. Its bones will be fossilized in thousands of landfill sites and rubbish tips around the world.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
F. The thirty-five scientists on the AWG voted 30 to three in favour of formally designating the Anthropocene (two absented themselves) are now determining which signals are the clearest. They also need to decide on the location that defines the start of the Anthropocene. Though changes in climate and widespread pollution are clear indicators of human impact, a geological marker of a change is technically required and it needs to be reflected as a division in rock or ice strata.
The search for this is currently underway in mud sediments off the coast of California and the Ernesto cave in northern Italy, where stalactites and stalagmites accumulate annual rings. Sediments in lakes, coral reefs, tree rings, ice cores from Antarctica and even layers of rubbish in landfill sites are also being examined.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
G. The push for the change to the new epoch was first suggested in the year 2000 by the Nobel prize-winning scientist Paul Crutzen, in the hope that it might force the world to take responsibility for what is happening to our planet. However, geologists are unlikely to agree to such a change for political reasons alone, no matter how worthy they are. Whether we remain in the Holocene, or find ourselves in the Anthropocene, it will not affect the critical state our planet’s global ecology currently finds itself.
Questions 14-18
Reading Passage 2 has seven paragraphs A-G.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter A-G.
You may use any letter more than once.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
14. other factors that could be considered signals
15. the damage cannot be undone
16. places that show where the epoch began
17. the person who named the epoch
18. an animal that has multiplied
Questions 19-22
Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
A new era
The Earth has been in the Holocene era for the last 12,000 years, but some scientists believe we have entered a new epoch that has been called the Anthropocene. This geologic time period is called this because the earth has been unquestionably transformed by the 19……………… of its human population. The change of an epoch is always marked by a 20……………… that is visible in a geological layer of the planet. An example of this is the presence of a 21……………… that came from the meteorite that struck the earth at the end of the Cretaceous period. The defining factor for the Anthropocene is the geological evidence of the 22……………… that occurred from the 1950s.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Questions 23-26
Look at the following statements (Questions 23-26) and a list of terms.
Match each statement with the correct term A-D.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-D.
23. It is what the population of the world will have to accept blame for.
24. It is not regarded as a global signal as it effects local populations.
25. It is the physical place where an epoch is said to begin.
26. It is part of the geological record due to energy production.
IELTS Academic Reading Test
Terms used to discuss the Anthropocene
A. black carbon layer
B. mass extinction
C. geological division
D. environmental damage
IELTS Academic Reading Test
IELTS Academic Reading Test
ANSWERS
14. D
15. C
16. F
17. G
18. E
19. IMPACT
20. GLOBAL SIGNAL
21. METAL
22. NUCLEAR TESTING
23. D
24. B
25. C
26. A
IELTS Academic Reading Test