Jakarta – The Earth has the potential to experience changes in geographic location over the next hundreds of years. Because, it is thought that the existing continents will unite in the future and form one super continent called Pangea Ultima.
Launch detikInet, behind these estimates, there is a threat of impending doomsday. This is because the emergence of a supercontinent has the potential to wipe out mammals, including humans, which is predicted to occur in the next 250 million years.
As per the paper published in Nature Geoscience, there are 3 factors that will cause mass extinction to occur. Starting from carbon due to greater volcanic activity, radiation which increases as the Sun ages, and the increasing extent of deserts in tropical areas.
Meanwhile, the super continent will have an impact on more extreme climate problems. In the Pangea Ultima era, temperature extremes are expected to be more severe, with more moisture along the coast and extreme dryness in the vast desert.
On the Earth we live on, global temperatures could increase 15-30 Celsius above pre-industrial levels. These temperatures could lead us to the extreme heat that hit the Permian-Triassic era, 260 million years ago, during which more than 90% of species were wiped out.
Mammals have been the world’s great evolutionary success story, especially since the demise of the dinosaurs during the last extinction event. However, mammals’ ability to adapt to heat may be slow. These mammals include humans who have not lived on earth for long.
Hominids appeared 6 million years ago when temperatures on Earth were cooler than during the time of the dinosaurs. Even though our species is developing so quickly, humans will face various challenges in the Pangea Ultima era.
Apart from the direct impact of heat, there will be food supply problems as crops are damaged. Many plants will be damaged at temperatures of 40 Celsius and completely damaged if the temperature reaches 60 Celsius.
The paper’s lead author, Alexander Farnsworth, from the university of Bristol, said the possibility of another extinction event, including humans, was a sobering reminder of mortality.
“Earth has an environment that can change. Humans are very lucky with what we have now and we should not push global warming beyond the limits. We are the dominant species, but it is the Earth and its climate that decides how long they will survive,” he said.
The authors emphasize that their predictions are not definitive, considering that they relate to a very long period of time. However, they hope that this research will provide insight into past extinction events and the possibility of habitability of other planets.
Until now, when astronomers scanned distant galaxies to find planets that could serve as alternative human habitations, they had considered that the needs of the Sun and water could be met there.
“If NASA could send a spacecraft to a planet, then I would choose one that doesn’t have a super continent,” said Farnsworth as quoted by detikInet from The Guardian.
This article has appeared on detikInet, read in full here.
(mso/mso)
2023-09-28 19:01:31
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