Humans Will Go Extinct on Earth in 250 Million Years; Mass Extinction Will Occur Sooner if Burning Fossil Fuels Continues [Study]

A mass extinction is about to happen, but it will take millions of years before it occurs. However, human extinction could occur sooner if we do not change our ways and continue to burn fossil fuels.

Mass Extinction in 250 Million Years

A new study from the University of Bristol experts revealed that the Earth and all life on it were doomed. Their computer simulations suggest that humans will go extinct in 250 million years.

The mass extinction will wipe out all mammals on Earth. By then, any life forms that survive on Earth would have to endure temperatures ranging from 40°C to 70°C, or 104°F to 158°F.

However, the extinction date will probably come much sooner because their calculations do not consider the greenhouse gases released by the combustion of fossil fuels and other human-caused sources.

It would be the first major extinction since the demise of the dinosaurs, which occurred some 66 million years ago as a result of a giant space rock striking Earth.

Dr. Alexander Farnsworth, a senior research associate at the University of Bristol's School of Geographical Sciences, oversaw the new investigation. According to him, our distant future look "very bleak."

"Carbon dioxide levels could be double current levels. Humans - along with many other species - would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies," he added.

The researchers predict that all of Earth's continents will have pushed together to form Pangea Ultima, a supercontinent, in 250 million years.

All that would be left of the once-dominant Atlantic Ocean would be an inland sea in the center of a doughnut-shaped Earth's landmass.

The bulk of Earth's surface, however, would be occupied by the Pacific Ocean that surrounds it.

One hypothetical image of what Earth's supercontinent might look like when plate tectonics unites is Pangea Ultima.

Scientists are certain that Earth's continents will gradually combine to form one scorching, arid, and mostly inhospitable mass, regardless of the precise alignment.

ALSO READ: Mass Extinction Level Event: 5 Global Incidents That Wiped Out Millions of Species

5 Mass Extinction Events in the Past

There were multiple mass extinction catastrophes that left our planet devoid of megalodons and dinosaurs. At least five extinction-level events had already occurred.-- Ordovician-Silurian Extinction (44 million years ago), Late Devonian Extinction (365 million years ago), Permian-Triassic Extinction ( 253 million years ago), Triassic-Jurassic Extinction (201 million years ago) and K-Pg Extinction (66 million years ago)

Experts claim that, in contrast to previous extinction events that were caused by natural causes, we are currently experiencing the sixth mass extinction, which is being driven by human action, mainly (though not only) the unsustainable use of land, water, and energy as well as climate change.

Currently, agriculture occupies 40% of the total land area. Furthermore, 70% of the freshwater in the world is used for agriculture. It is responsible for 90% of the world's deforestation, which severely alters the habitats of the creatures that dwell there, causing terrible effects.