Any new find or discovery usually makes scientists elated. But this one made them distressed. Find out why ....

'Disturbing' find on remote island: plastic rocks

There are few places on Earth as isolated as Trindade island, a volcanic outcrop a three- to four-day boat trip off the coast of Brazil. 

So geologists  were startled to find an unsettling sign of human impact on the otherwise untouched landscape: rocks formed from the glut of plastic pollution floating in the ocean. 

They first found the plastic rocks in 2019, when they traveled to the island for research on landslides, erosion and other "geological risks." They were

working near a protected nature reserve known as Turtle Beach, the world's largest breeding ground for the endangered green turtle, when they came across a large outcrop of the peculiar-looking blue-green rocks.

Intrigued, they took some back to their lab after their  expedition.

Analyzing them, they identified the specimens as a new kind of geological formation, merging the materials and processes the Earth has used to form rocks for billions of years with a new ingredient: plastic trash.

They concluded that human beings are now acting as a geological agent, influencing processes that were previously completely natural, like rock formation.

It fits in with the idea of the Anthropocene, which scientists are talking about a lot these days: the geological era of human beings influencing the planet's natural processes. This type of rock-like plastic will be preserved in the geological record and mark the Anthropocene.

Unlike other work, these findings left the scientists "disturbed" and "upset".