(Alexa Erickson) There’s no doubt that humans have made quite an impact on Planet Earth, especially due to global development. Now, scientists have identified an explosion of newly formed minerals created as a direct result of our influence on the chemical makeup of the planet.

by Alexa Erickson, March 11th, 2017

What’s most intriguing about this is that never before has a species defined their existence by creating new, naturally forming minerals.

“This is a spike of mineral novelty that is so rapid – most of it in the last 200 years, compared to the 4.5bn year history of Earth. There is nothing like it in Earth’s history,” study team member Robert Hazen from the Carnegie Institution for Science told The Guardian. “This is a blink of an eye, it is just a surge and of course we are only seeing the tip of the iceberg.”