ACE funded project collaborating with Prof Jan Zalasievicz and Prof Sarah Gabbot.
Technofossils is a term coined by Professor Jan Zalasiewicz and colleagues at the University of Leicester to describe the future geological record of human activity. As raw materials are transformed and displaced through industry and consumption, then lost again to landfill and deep infrastructure, they begin a new metamorphosis: bonding with the Earth to create entirely new, hybrid strata.
I reached out to Jan and Sarah after reading their book Discarded as part of my research during a residency at MOLA. It their book they cover in some detail some of the likely processed and transformations that our rubbish is likely to
I have started collecting research objects that begin to tell a story about out relationship with the ground below us and hint at some of the unpredictable outcomes of geological processes:
1. Polished ammonite fossil.
2. Pebble showing spiral pattern found on Rhossili Bay Beach, Wales, UK
3. Iron object, fused to oyster shell, found on Camber Sands, UK
4. Mudstone from the Welsh Borders area (a sea floor clay from late Silurian times, about 425 million years ago). The matchstick-sized dark impressions that look like the ghosts of little fretsaw blades are fossil graptolites (extinct planktonic colonies), which were originally made of an organic substance, but then converted to an aliphatic polymer - a plastic-like substance - during burial, and has been preserved ever since as blackened and carbonized relics. They are a fair analogy of what might happen to our small plastic objects (such as cotton bud stems) that are buried in modern strata.
5. Weathered pyroplastic, a newly categorised form of plastic pollution that was transformed by fire, most likely beach campfires or burning at old landfill sites. Colours and edges are often dulled, making it virtually indistinguishable from beach pebbles. Folkestone beach, UK
6. Fordite (also known as Detroit agate or Motor City agate). A unique, man-made material, formed from layers of hardened automotive enamel paint. It was created in Detroit, USA in the 1940-80s, when cars were sprayed by hand, from the overspray that accumulated on factory paint tracks and was repeatedly baked in curing ovens, resulting in rock-like, geological formations. Boatite is a similar formation, predominantly white in colour, created when spray-painting yachts.
7. River Jasper is a natural, opaque chalcedony with fluid or orbicular patterns. It was formed by mineral-rich water flowing through rock over millions of years. Jasper often forms when loose sediments become cemented together. This occurs as groundwater rich in silica and iron seeps into sedimentary layers and evaporates, leaving behind silica that acts as a natural glue, binding the particles together.
8. Landscape Jasper is a type of mudstone, which features layered mineral deposits that create landscape-like patterns. Mudstone is a fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of mud and clay. The type of sediment influences the stone's final colour, while natural forces, such as water or wind, helps create the patterns. In some cases, volcanic ash contributes to the formation.
9. Trinitite, atomic bomb glass. Impact glass formed from the first ever atomic bomb detonation at the Trinity Test Site, New Mexico. Formed July 16th 1945 at 5.29 am.
10. London Eocene (approximately 50 million years old) clay, fired at 1150 degrees C
11. Weathered brick, washed up on Thames River shore, Southbank, London, UK
12. Garnet. A possible future outcome of brick buildings. As bricks become buried deep below the Earth’s surface over millions over years under enormous pressure and heat, the clay minerals may start to slowly grow larger, forming bands of mica and deep red garnet crystals.
Insert from my application
Neil Rose
AWG