2023-10-01 11:44:27
Alex Farnsworth and Chris Scotese Our Earth in 250 million years (illustration).
Alex Farnsworth et Chris Scotese
Our Earth in 250 million years (illustration). Credit: Alex Farnsworth and Chris Scotese
PLANET – You certainly know Pangea. But Pangea Ultima, or the next Pangea, is a little less famous: it is nevertheless the future of us all. At a distant, very distant horizon (250 million years anyway), continental drift will have led them straight into each other. They will then have rebuilt one and the same continent, as in the beginning. But don’t expect your descendants to survive there…
As described in a study published in the journal Naturethis future version of our Earth is indeed hardly welcoming for A wise man. The air, in particular, will no longer be suitable for its organism, with temperatures easily exceeding 40 degrees, and above all an atmosphere on the ground saturated with CO2. A surplus of carbon dioxide which, for once, will have nothing to do with the “cars” so beloved by President Macron.
Volcanoes, deserts and CO2
Thus, the researchers explain, the rapprochement of the continents will not happen smoothly. With the movement of continental plates crashing once morest each other, volcanic activity will have experienced intense activity in the preceding thousands of years. Gigantic volcanoes spewing “huge quantities of CO2” into the atmosphere, scientists say.
Alex Farnsworth and Chris Scotese The heat of terminal Pangea will be unbearable for humans and most mammals.
Alex Farnsworth et Chris Scotese
The heat of terminal Pangea will be unbearable for humans and most mammals. Source: Alex Farnsworth and Chris Scotese
But that’s not all. The sun will bring its personal touch to this uninviting picture. In 250 million years, our star will be 2.5% brighter: smaller than today, the nuclear reactions at its heart will be accelerated. And that for our planet means more solar radiation, therefore more heat.
And because two bad news never come alone, the existence of a single supercontinent instead of several will lead to gigantic deserts in the interior. Territories that will no longer be able to exchange their minerals with an ocean thousands of kilometers away, condemned to collecting dust carried by the winds…
And us, in this desolate landscape? For Alexander Farnsworth, paleoclimatologist and co-author of the study, it is not completely ruled out being able to survive, in caves for example. Not sure, however, that it is a very enviable life: “If we might leave this planet to find a more habitable place, that would be a preferable solution.”
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