Polychlorinated biphenyls, organic pollutants of anthropogenic origin, were widely used in many industrial applications worldwide roughly from the 1930s to the 1970s. Both the use and disposal of polychlorinated biphenyls contributed to their ubiquity in different environmental compartments, and they show extremely high persistence because of their high physical and chemical stability. Concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls in environmental archives located in different parts of the world usually show an initial increase in the 1940s–1950s and maxima in the 1960s–1970s followed by a sharp decline following the ban in their use. Thus, the increase in polychlorinated biphenyl concentrations would appear to be suitable as a chronostratigraphic marker in Anthropocene strata. This manuscript discusses the polychlorinated biphenyls record in different environmental archives in the context of temporal and spatial trends in production and application of these compounds as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the use of polychlorinated biphenyls in the chemostratigraphy of the Anthropocene series.

多氯联苯是人为来源的有机污染物，大约在1930年代至1970年代，在全世界的许多工业应用中得到了广泛使用。多氯联苯的使用和处置都导致它们在不同的环境环境中普遍存在，并且由于其高度的物理和化学稳定性而显示出极高的持久性。在世界各地的环境档案中，多氯联苯的浓度通常在1940-1950年代最初有所增加，在1960-1970年代达到最大值，随后随着其使用禁令而急剧下降。因此，多氯联苯浓度的增加似乎适合作为人类世地层的年代地层标记。