cast of nbc La Brea (Currently streaming About peacock) When you fall into the past through a time travel sinkhole, you are inadvertently drawn into an ancient world that is completely different from our own. For everyone left in modern-day Los Angeles, significant portions of the city have become uninhabitable. But that’s a pretty minor issue in the grand scheme of things. According to a recent study, scientists estimate that here in the real world, about 92% of the landmass will become uninhabitable in the future. It was published in the magazine natural earth science. Fortunately, it won’t last another 250 million years.
We have a pretty good idea of how continents have moved in the past, how they are moving now, and how they will move in the future. Moving forward with these models, scientists predict that we are about halfway through the supercontinent cycle. The last supercontinent, Pangea, broke up about 200 million years ago, and the next supercontinent will join together 250 million years from now. When that happens, the world will change so dramatically that it could spell the end for all mammals.
If the next supercontinent comes together, it will be bad for mammals
Over the next quarter, Africa and Eurasia are predicted to consolidate as they move toward the Americas. As the continental plates move closer together, the Atlantic Ocean will be swallowed up, eventually colliding into one large, disordered mass with Africa, Eurasia, and the Americas located roughly near the equator. In the meantime, Australia will move south and become truly underground. merge with Antarctica.
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Importantly, this is only one interpretation of the tectonic data. Other models suggest that the next supercontinent could form closer to one of the poles, changing the final outcome. Regardless of where Pangea Ultima forms, some of the geological and environmental impacts are the same.
As the landmass coalesces, Earth will experience a significant increase in volcanic activity, releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and increasing average global temperatures. Furthermore, having one supercontinent means that most of the landmass is landlocked, far from major bodies of water, resulting in vast expanses of arid deserts.
Much of Pangea Ultima experiences temperatures in excess of 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and is estimated to be inhospitable to all but the most specialized mammals. In the worst-case model, temperatures would become so high that the land area suitable for mammals would drop from the current 66% to just 8%.
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That’s obviously bad for our side of the family tree, but not good for most of life. Almost every kind of plant and animal species will be forced to escape the heat, either to the polar regions or to coastal regions, or to adapt to increasingly harsh conditions in the interior of Pangea Ultima.
Of course, Earth has been through periods like this before, and life has survived, if not unscathed. Life is likely to survive on the next supercontinent. You probably won’t have a particularly fun time.
In contrast, the time portal sinkhole doesn’t seem so bad.Catch La Brea Now available on Peacock!
