Bhubaneswar: A recent study has warned that humans and animals will be wiped out from planet Earth, leading to the next mass extinction because of escalating temperatures.
According to the study, all continents on Earth, which are allegedly drifting towards each other, will form a single colossal land mass called the Pangea Ultima in the coming years.
The formation of this massive land mass will lead to drastic climate change on Earth.
The study, headed by Dr Alexander Farnsworth, a Senior Research Associate at the University of Bristol, suggests that the massive landform will be a supercontinent that would lead to mass extinction.
Published in Nature Geoscience, the study further states that the climate would become too hot and dry for most living things on Earth, making it difficult for them to survive.
“The newly-emerged supercontinent would effectively create a triple whammy, comprising the continentality effect, hotter sun and more CO₂ in the atmosphere, of increasing heat for much of the planet,” said Dr Farnsworth.
“Widespread temperatures of between 40 to 50 degrees Celsius, and even greater daily extremes, compounded by high levels of humidity would ultimately seal our fate,” he added.
“Humans — along with many other species — would expire due to their inability to shed this heat through sweat, cooling their bodies,” said the research head.
Once Pangea Ultima forms, only about 8 per cent to 16 per cent of the land will be habitable for living things, reported the study.
“It is vitally important not to lose sight of our current Climate Crisis, which is a result of human emissions of greenhouse gases,” said co-author Dr Eunice Lo, Research Fellow in Climate Change and Health at the University of Bristol.
Dr Eunice said that an “uninhabitable planet” is still millions of years away, but the escalating temperature is already becoming unbearable.
“This is why it is crucial to reach net-zero emissions as soon as possible,” he said.
Planet Earth has witnessed five mass extinctions — Ordovician-Silurian Extinction, Late Devonian Extinction, Permian-Triassic Extinction, Triassic-Jurassic Extinction and Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction.