The rapid industrialisation of the last century has caused the Earth to enter its first new geological epoch in more than 11,500 years, scientists believe.

An international team of researchers say the worldwide spread of plastics, new metals and concrete, combined with manmade climate change, has pushed the planet into the Anthropocene epoch.

While human activity has left visible traces on the Earth since before the current Holocene epoch, which begun around 9,700 BC, the scientists argue that the recent changes to global systems are sufficiently simultaneous and significant to justify the adoption of a new geological time unit characterised by human domination.