Would the Contaminated Areas of Rio de Janeiro State a Legacy of the Great Acceleration in the Anthropocene?

The International Union of Geological Sciences ratified in 2018 the subdivision of the Holocene and the Meghalayan Age was officially recognized as the current geological time unit on Earth. However, the proposal for the formalization of the Anthropocene as a geological period is still under evaluation and has as one of the conceptual bases of epistemological support the post 1950 period known as "The Great Acceleration", in which there was an exponential increase in the use of energy and in the global population growth. The vertiginous increase in urbanization, associated with the technological advance evidenced in the "Great Acceleration", impelled the productive sector to innovate processes in the search for new materials and chemical products in large scale. However, the insificient control mechanisms provided anthropic activities with the generation of significant negative impacts on a global scale, threatening the vital processes of the Earth System. Chemical pollution constituted one of the nine Planetary Limits that delimit an "operationally safe space for humanity". Therefore, it is necessary to develop institutional measures to curb chemical pollution and remedy contaminated areas when they are identified. In this sense, this article aims to evaluate the evolution of the Registry of Contaminated Areas of the Rio de Janeiro State, observing that the fuel stations are the most polluting activities and are responsible for approximately 60 % of the contaminated areas of the state. In addition, metal pollution predominates over other types of contaminants and the cities with the most contaminated areas are: Rio de Janeiro, Duque de Caxias and Volta Redonda. Finally, bronwfields and decommissioned factories account for more than 60 % of contaminated industrial areas. Contaminated areas in Rio de Janeiro State reflect the lifestyle and consumption pattern adopted by urban society and constitute a legacy of the "Great Acceleration" in the Anthropocene.