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This is the Anthropocene epoch, with humans dominating the world's surface geology. But we have also ushered in a deadly new age of plastics, changing its surface forever with this dirty, long-lasting, man-made material, says a study by researchers at the University of Leicester.

"Plastics were more or less unknown to our grandparents when they were children. But now, they are indispensable to our lives," Jan Zalasiewicz, who participated in the research, said in a press release. "They're everywhere - wrapping our food, being containers for our water and milk, providing cartons for eggs and yogurt and chocolate, keeping our medicines sterile. They now make up most of the clothes that we wear, too."

"Plastics are also pretty well everywhere on Earth, from mountain tops to the deep ocean floor - and can be fossilized into the far future," he continued. "We now make almost a billion tons of the stuff every three years. If all the plastic made in the last few decades was clingfilm, there would be enough to put a layer around the whole Earth. With current trends of production, there will be the equivalent of several more such layers by mid-century."

Plastics have affected the geology of Earth due to their inertness and resistance to degradation. They litter our planet, become part of the soil and end up in the sea, killing marine life.

They are thus a key geological characteristic of the Anthropocene epoch, due to their ability to blend with the Earth and become part of the planet's geology.

"Plastics will continue to be input into the sedimentary cycle over the coming millennia as temporary stores - landfill sites - are eroded. Plastics already enable fine time resolution within Anthropocene deposits via the development of their different types and via the artifacts, known as 'technofossils,' they are moulded into, and many of these may have long-term preservation potential when buried in strata," said Zalasiewicz.

"Once buried, being so hard-wearing, plastics have a good chance to be fossilized - and leave a signal of the ultimate convenience material for many million years into the future. The age of plastic may really last for ages," he concluded.

The findings were published in the Jan. 18,2016 issue of Anthropocene.