How does the composition of our landfills differ from other areas in the geological record?

First of all, I apologize if this is miscategorized, any mods feel free to move this to the correct place.

I was thinking about the future history of our modern landfills, and how it would look when almost everything is broken down. I imagine more hydrocarbons and lithium, higher metal deposits, and so on. I of course believe that 4500 years ago a roughly 1980s level society was wiped out, and was wondering how it could be detected.

Plastics and more plastic.
2nd.

originally posted by: Ilikesecrets
Plastics and more plastic.
2nd.

Not only plastics but metals, chemicals, etc, Hell from all the different batteries alone. Not to mention medical waste.

So while pioneers may have crapped and trashed all the way across the country and back, at least most of it wasn't hazardous, but that all changed in the industrial age.

a reply to: putnam6 Wait till about 20 years from now. All those depleted lithium batteries start to leech out in the waterways and land. Like where I live there is a company that is literally less than 200 yards from the main river here. Chemicals come in from Trains on tank carriers and the mix them and put into 50 gallon barrels. IDK how the EPA even allows this? Wait I do know how, bribes, kickbacks and payoffs.

the difference is we know where they are and will probably end up mining them for the meatals be they precious or otherwise and all the rare earths..

a reply to: nickyw

So today's trash is tomorrow's valuable resource mines.

can't all that crap be thrown into active volcanoes?


easier than shipping it to the sun.




then we wouldn't have to worry about that stuff since it will burn up pretty good.

until it blows it out all over everywhere.

trash is helpful to archeologists to understand peoples that are not around anymore.

even corprilites are useful to find out diet.

a reply to: Jeremiah33three

Definitely . Just think of all the tin and aluminium cans, aluminium foils, metals, lead, etc.

a reply to: Jeremiah33three

I saw a good report on really polluted soils, the fungi had it all under control and were breaking it all down. But in millions of years, the mountains will be at the bottom of the oceans and new hot lava will cover that up As another intelligent self-aware species wonders the same things we do.

A 1980's world-wide civilizations from 2,500 BCE; well if they were like us there would be immense amounts of gold objects, cut gems, plastic, cut stones, ceramic, glass, resources used (we'd find resource mined or drilled into and large deposits of waste), kilometer long tunnels thru granite mountains, sediments contaminated with all manners of pollution, Ice cores showing the same types of pollution, stuff in space and the nearby planets. Millions of disturbances of the sail. Etc., etc. They would have been easily detected.

We find lots of stuff from that period and from far before it too - literally millions of items.

Ours probably have many decades (since at least the 60's?) of discarded household batteries - AAA's, AA's, C's, D's, 9-volts, etc.

Mostly probably Alkaline, some earlier generation rechargeables (Ni-Cad's, etc). All probably excreting lead, mercury or other toxic stuff.