And extreme heat unprecedented mass extinction will probably cause the next mass extinction since the dinosaurs disappeared and will wipe out almost all mammals within a few 250 million years.
That is the conclusion of a study carried out by an international team of scientists, led by Alexander Farnsworth, from the University of Bristol (United Kingdom), and published this Monday in the journal ‘Nature Geoscience’.
The research presents the first climate models of the distant future thanks to supercomputers and demonstrates how climate extremes will intensify when continents eventually merge to form one large, warm, dry and largely inhabitable.
The authors projected how high temperatures will rise further as the sun becomes brighter, emits more energy and warms the Earth. The tectonic processes that occur in the Earth’s crust and that give rise to the formation of supercontinents would also lead to most frequent volcanic eruptions which would cause enormous releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, further warming the planet.
Mammals, including humans, have historically survived thanks to its ability to adapt to extreme weather conditions, especially through adaptations such as fur and hibernation in the cold, as well as brief periods hibernating in warm climates.