Dear MEL Topic Readers,
New ‘supercontinent’ could wipe out humans and make Earth uninhabitable, study suggests
The earth’s outermost rocky shell comprises a number of large tectonic plates that have been slowly moving since 3.4 billion years ago. Because of the tectonic movement, the Earth undergoes a cyclic process of supercontinent formation and breakup over hundreds of millions of years, called the supercontinent cycle. The supercontinent is a large landmass that forms when multiple continents come together. The last supercontinent is called Pangae, which existed around 200 to 300 million years ago and broke apart to form the modern continents. As continental drift continues, current continents will be merged again in the distant future and form a new supercontinent, Pangea Ultima in 250 million years. So, when the world is re-united, what the environment of the Earth will be like? Some researchers in the UK used supercomputer climate models to predict the climate conditions on the future supercontinent. It would not be habitable for any mammals because of the heat, dryness, and high carbon dioxide levels. But as global warming continues at the current rate, we don’t even know if some parts of today’s continents will be habitable in the near future. Will the Moon or Mars be more habitable than the Earth in the future?
Read the article and learn about what supercontinents mean to the species on Earth.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/26/world/supercontinent-earth-intl-scli-climate-scn/index.html
New ‘supercontinent’ could wipe out humans and make Earth uninhabitable, study suggests
The earth’s outermost rocky shell comprises a number of large tectonic plates that have been slowly moving since 3.4 billion years ago. Because of the tectonic movement, the Earth undergoes a cyclic process of supercontinent formation and breakup over hundreds of millions of years, called the supercontinent cycle. The supercontinent is a large landmass that forms when multiple continents come together. The last supercontinent is called Pangae, which existed around 200 to 300 million years ago and broke apart to form the modern continents. As continental drift continues, current continents will be merged again in the distant future and form a new supercontinent, Pangea Ultima in 250 million years. So, when the world is re-united, what the environment of the Earth will be like? Some researchers in the UK used supercomputer climate models to predict the climate conditions on the future supercontinent. It would not be habitable for any mammals because of the heat, dryness, and high carbon dioxide levels. But as global warming continues at the current rate, we don’t even know if some parts of today’s continents will be habitable in the near future. Will the Moon or Mars be more habitable than the Earth in the future?
Read the article and learn about what supercontinents mean to the species on Earth.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/26/world/supercontinent-earth-intl-scli-climate-scn/index.html
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