This might be shortest geological era

THE ANTHROPOCENE WORKING GROUP, composed of 34 renowned scientists from around the world, voted this week to designate a new geologic epoch to mark the profound ways in which humans have altered the planet. China Daily writer Zhang Zhouxiang comments:

The panel plans to submit a formal proposal to the International Commission on Stratigraphy, the geological timekeeper, for formal recognition of the new epoch in which the Earth has been "profoundly impacted by human behavior" by 2021.

For a long time, there have been discussions about what should be considered the start of the Anthropocene era, with some suggesting the start of the Industrial Revolution, others the emergence of the oil industry. The working group proposes the start of the new epoch should be the mid-20th century, when the first atomic bomb blasts littered the globe with radioactive debris that became embedded in sediments and glacial ice, becoming part of the geologic record.