A lot of people think that humankind will likely be extinct well before the end of the next 250 million years. However, a new scientific research project published in the journal Nature Geoscience ran computer simulations to predict future climatic conditions and the positions of the continents in the distant future. The modelling indicates that temperatures will regularly exceed 60°C and a mega, supercontinent called Pangea Ultima will evolve. The scientists concluded that the scorching conditions would make life impossible for all mammals on this future planet.
There will be volcanic activity combined with extreme weather. There will be a clash of continents which will push temperatures higher. The sun will become brighter as it becomes older which will also provide greater heat.
These changes, it is predicted, will occur over a geologically short time period of 10 million years. The changes will outpace evolution. In other words, mammals and other flora and fauna will not be able to evolve to meet the demands of the hotter climatic conditions.
The researchers stated that in the past mammals were able to increase their temperature limit by 0.6°C for every million years of evolution. That’s too slow in order to keep pace with the changes foreseen by this computer simulation as I understand it.
The researchers believe that the world will become intolerably inhospitable:
“This will be a very inhospitable world where the weather as well as the climate is not your friend.”
Dr Alexander Farnsworth of the University of Bristol
There will be continental drift which is the slow movement of landmasses and there will be an interlocking pattern between South America and Africa. The resultant super-continent will be as seen in the projected picture on this page.
The researchers also believe that algae and plankton will evolve in order to deal with carbon capture. The changes will not be due to human-driven climate change apparently. One major factor as mentioned is that the amount of heat reaching Earth’s surface will be around 2.5 per cent higher.
The north and south poles will not produce a cooling affect. Birds might be okay and some mammals might cling to life.
