We examine three distinctive biostratigraphic signatures of humans associated with hunting and gathering, landscape domestication and globalization. All three signatures have significant fossil records of regional importance that can be correlated inter‐regionally and help describe the developing pattern of human expansion and appropriation of resources. While none have individual first or last appearances that provide a globally isochronous marker, all three signatures overlap stratigraphically, in that they are part of a continuum of change, with complex regional patterns. Here we show that during the later stages of globalization, late nineteenth to twentieth century records of species translocations can be used to build an interconnected web of palaeontological correlation with decadal or sub‐decadal precision that dovetails with other stratigraphic markers for the Anthropocene. This palaeontological web is also a proxy for accelerating species extinction and of a state shift in the biosphere in the twentieth century.

Profound changes to the species configuration of ecosystems globally during the 19th to 21st centuries, resulting from the introduction of neobiota, have produced a distinctive palaeontological signature in sedimentary deposits, here exemplified by those of the River Thames. Coring near Teddington Lock (ca. 4.3 m above sea level, ca. 89 km upstream from the mouth of the Thames estuary) yielded dense assemblages of shells of the invasive Asian clam Corbicula fluminea (recently invaded in 2004) and the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha (invaded 1824), which together accounted for 96% of individuals sampled. Population densities of C. fluminea of over 6000 individuals per m2 were maintained for a depth of 1 m indicating that the Asian clam is an important biostratigraphical marker in the Thames for sedimentary deposits accumulating since 2004. The first modern European occurrence of C. fluminea was in Portugal in 1980. In 1987, the first occurrence of C. fluminea on the northern coast of South America was observed in the Caripe River, Venezuela. The non‐native range of D. polymorpha was restricted to continental Europe for over 200 years until it appeared in the Great Lakes, USA, in 1986 having been transported in ballast water. Within three years, it reached populations of over 750,000 individuals per m2 and it is presently recorded in 35 states. Therefore, the pan‐Atlantic range expansion of D. polymorpha, coupled with the recent invasion history of C. fluminea in Venezuela and Portugal, identifies a biostratigraphical interval in sedimentary deposits forming from the early 1980s that can be correlated between Europe and the Americas.

Most species on planet Earth have specific ecological ranges. In the near surface of the oceans, planktonic foraminifera define water masses that are warm in the tropics, and cold in polar regions. Tropical rainforests have trees and animals that are distinct from those in warm temperate or cold temperate zones. The fauna and flora of Australia are distinct from those of the Americas. These natural patterns, defined by factors such as latitudinal changes in surface temperature and rainfall, or geographical isolation, have evolved over millions, sometimes tens of millions of years. Now this natural pattern is being overprinted by the actions of a single species, Homo sapiens, which has made the whole Earth its ecological range, and some parts of nearby space too. The human ancestral pattern of gradually increasing impact on the Earth can be traced in the stratigraphic record for nearly 3 million years, and in its later and more pervasive phases may serve to help define a biostratigraphical signal for the Anthropocene Epoch.

The Mississippi River maintains commercial and societal networks of the USA along its >3700 km length. It has accumulated a fluvial sedimentary succession over 80 million years. Through the last 11,700 years of the Holocene Epoch, the wild river shaped the landscape, models of which have become classic in geological studies of ancient river strata. Studies of the river were led by the need to develop infrastructure and to search for hydrocarbons, through which, these models have become quite sophisticated. However, whilst the models demonstrate how the wild river behaves, a monumental shift in fundamental controls on the entire fluvial system, broadly coinciding with the proposed mid-20th century onset of the Anthropocene Epoch, has generated new geological patterns that are becoming globally ubiquitous, and which the Mississippi River typifies. As such, whilst classic Holocene river models may be compared to human-modified systems such as the Lower Mississippi River (and others worldwide), locally the models may now only directly apply to its fossilized components preserved in the sub-surface. Such river models need adapting to better understand the present dynamics, and future evolution of these landscapes.

<p>Modification of ecosystems through the introduction of non-native species (neobiota) is one part of the major human impact on the biosphere. Neobiota are now present worldwide and often significantly outnumber native fauna and flora. In many places they have left a distinctive biostratigraphic record of anthropogenic changes to the biosphere in the 20<sup>th</sup> century. Few ecosystems have been as severely affected by the arrival of neobiota as San Francisco Bay. Some 234 introduced species comprising up to 97% of individuals and in some places up to 99% of the biomass are known to be present in the bay (Cohen and Carlton, 1998). Among the multitude of neobiotic species established are <em>Trochammina hadai</em>, a benthic foraminifer that is native to Japan and was introduced in 1983 (McGann 2008), and <em>Potamocorbula amurensis</em>, a bivalved mollusc native to the Amur River region of East Asia that was introduced in 1986 (Carlton <em>et al</em>. 1990). Here we present sediment core data showing the arrival and proliferation of <em>T. hadai</em> and <em>P. amurensis</em> in addition to three introduced ostracod species, <em>Spinileberis quadriaculeata</em>, <em>Eusarsiella zostericola</em> and <em>Bicornucythere bisanensis</em>. The introduction of <em>T. hadai</em> is thought to have occurred through ballast water exchange from trans-Pacific shipping, and has produced a major perturbation to the foraminiferal record of San Francisco Bay. Pb-210 radiometric dating has established a high-resolution chronology for the core and analysis of fly ash particles (Rose 2015) emitted from coal-fired power stations allow time horizons, and the chronologies they define, to be correlated to a further 18 cores collected across the bay. This quantifies both the temporal and spatial extent of a human-induced biostratigraphic assemblage of neobiota, one that is correlatable with a biostratigraphic record of changes to ecosystems across the world in the late 20<sup>th</sup> century.</p><p> </p><p>Carlton, J.T., Thompson, J.K., Schemel, L.E. and Nichols, F.H. 1990. Remarkable invasion of San Francisco Bay (California, USA), by the Asian clam Potamocorbula amurensis. I. Introduction and dispersal. <em>Marine Ecology Progress Series</em>, 81-94.</p><p>Cohen, A.N. & Carlton, J.T. 1998. Accelerating invasion rate in a highly invaded estuary. <em>Science 279</em>, 555-558.</p><p>McGann, M. 2008. High-resolution foraminiferal, isotopic, and trace element record from Holocene estuarine deposits of San Francisco Bay, California. <em>Journal of Coastal Research 24</em>, 1092-1109.</p><p>Rose, N.L. 2015. Spheroidal carbonaceous fly ash particles provide a globally synchronous stratigraphic marker for the Anthropocene. <em>Environmental Science & Technology 49</em>, 4155-4162.</p>