Humans and other mammals will in the future vanish from Earth in a mass extinction event linked to extreme temperatures, a study claims. The research, led by Dr. Alexander Farnsworth, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol, points to a supercontinent that would one day wipe out life from the planet.
According to the study, in the coming years all the continents on Earth, which they say are slowly drifting, will come together to form a single massive landmass, called Pangea Ultima. This will lead to climate change on a huge scale.
Published in Nature Geoscience, it further says that it would become too hot and dry for most life forms on Earth, making it difficult for them to survive.
The extreme heat will be the result of three main factors, as per Dr Farnsworth.
“The newly-emerged supercontinent would effectively create a triple whammy, comprising the continentality effect, hotter sun and more CO₂ in the atmosphere, of increasing heat for much of the planet,” he says.
The continentality effect is when more land area goes away from the cooling effects of the ocean. A hotter sun will happen at some point in the future, becoming brighter and shooting out more energy that will cause Earth to heat up.
The increased carbon dioxide will be the result of widespread volcanic activity due to tectonic movements. “Widespread temperatures of between 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, and even greater daily extremes, compounded by high levels of humidity would ultimately seal our fate,” Dr Farnsworth added.
“Humans — along with many other species — would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies.”
It would also become extremely hard for mammals to find food due to the extreme heat and dryness in a majority of areas on the land. Once Pangea Ultima forms, only about eight per cent to 16 per cent of the land be habitable for mammals, as per the study.
The supercontinent is still millions of years away. However, a climate crisis is already looming large over humanity. Scientists say we should remain mindful of the problem at hand.
“It is vitally important not to lose sight of our current Climate Crisis, which is a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases,” co-author Dr Eunice Lo, Research Fellow in Climate Change and Health at the University of Bristol, said.
He added that an “uninhabitable planet” is still 250 million years away, but extreme heat is already wreaking havoc and is detrimental to human health. “This is why it is crucial to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible.”
Mass extinctions on Earth
Earth has witnessed at least five mass extinction events to date. The Ordovician-Silurian Extinction happened around 443 million years ago and wiped out nearly 85 per cent of sea life.
The second mass extinction was the Late Devonian Extinction which occurred around 360 million years ago. Volcanic activity and asteroid impacts killed nearly 75 per cent of species.
The Permian-Triassic Extinction, also known as The Great Dying, happened around 252 million years ago. Volcanic eruptions in what is today Siberia released massive amounts of lava, leading to severe climate change, acid rain, and ocean acidification.
Then came the Triassic-Jurassic Extinction around 200 million years ago, which killed nearly 50 per cent of species and paved the way for the dinosaurs to thrive.
The most well-known extinction event was the Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction which occurred around 66 million years ago. A colossal asteroid impact created the Chicxulub crater in present-day Mexico and killed the dinosaurs, besides 75 per cent of all species.