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The next supercontinent will end the dominance of mammals on Earth

Approximately 250 million years have passed since reptile-like animals evolved into mammals. Now a group of scientists have predicted that there are probably only 250 million years left in the life of mammals.

Researchers in a study that last Monday in Nature Geoscience Journal Published, similar to models that predict human-induced global warming in the next century, they created a virtual simulation of our future world. Using data from the movement of continents across the planet, as well as fluctuations in the chemical composition of the atmosphere, a recent study predicted a much more distant future.

Alexander Farnsworth, a paleoclimatologist at the University of Bristol who led the study, told the New York Times Planet Earth may become so hot that it is no longer possible for all land mammals, including ourselves, to survive. The researchers found that the climate will become more lethal due to three factors: a brighter sun, a change in the geography of the continents, and an increase in carbon dioxide.

Scientists have been trying to predict the fate of life on Earth for decades. Astronomers expect our Sun to become steadily brighter and, in about 7.6 billion years, possibly engulf the Earth.

But life probably won’t be that long. As the Sun sends more energy toward Earth, the planet’s atmosphere warms, causing more water to evaporate from the oceans and continents. Water vapor is a powerful greenhouse gas and therefore traps more heat. Within two billion years, the air may warm enough to evaporate the water in the oceans by boiling.

In 2020, Dr. Farnsworth turned his attention to the future of Earth to distract himself from the world of Corona. He with A study He was faced with predicting how the continents of the earth would move in the distant future.

During the history of the earth, land masses collided with each other and formed supercontinents, some of which later broke up and split into smaller continents. Pangea was the last supercontinent of the Earth that existed from 330 million to 170 million years ago. A new study predicts that in the next 250 million years, a new supercontinent called Pangea Ultima will form along the equator.

In his early research, Dr. Farnsworth built models of the ancient Earth to reconstruct past climates. But he also thought it would be interesting to use his models to understand the state of life on Pangea Ultima.

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