Earth Will Resemble Venus In The Future

Bright Side

Imagine if the African continent started to break apart—sounds wild, right? Scientists say it's not just sci-fi; it's slowly happening along the East African Rift. This massive crack could eventually split the continent into two, creating a new ocean in the process. Coastal cities might end up underwater, and the landscapes would transform dramatically. And in a very remote future, that could mean our planet will look more like Venus.   Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music by Epidemic Sound https://www.epidemicsound.com   Check our Bright Side podcast on Spotify and leave a positive review! https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV   Subscribe to Bright Side: https://goo.gl/rQTJZz  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/brightside  Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en   Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me

Transcript

00:00These days, you're better off boarding a plane

00:03if you want to travel from New York to London.

00:06But what if I told you there was a time

00:09when these two cities were actually on the same continent?

00:13Well, the explanation is a bit more complex.

00:16For starters, back then,

00:18these two cities didn't even exist at all.

00:21But the tectonic plates they sit on today

00:24were a lot closer.

00:25Nearly 200 million years ago,

00:28all of the continents on our planet connected,

00:31making up one large supercontinent.

00:33This enormous piece of land was surrounded by one single ocean.

00:37We call this huge continent Pangaea these days.

00:41Some parts of this continent broke apart

00:44and shifted away from each other

00:45for our maps to reach their current configuration.

00:50There's even a nice experiment you can conduct

00:52to test this theory.

00:54Find a map online and print it on a piece of paper.

00:57After that, simply cut out all of the continents.

01:01Once you start playing around with them,

01:03you'll soon notice they all seem to fit together

01:06like pieces from a puzzle.

01:08Probably the most striking thing you'll see

01:10is how South America perfectly fits Africa.

01:15What's even more fascinating

01:17is that this isn't the first time in our planet's history

01:20that supercontinents have been formed

01:22and then broken apart.

01:24Scientists have figured out

01:25that this happened at least three times before.

01:29And if we consider our planet's age,

01:314.5 billion years,

01:33the last 200 million is closer to the blink of an eye.

01:38So how did scientists figure out that continents move?

01:42Apart from the aspect of today's continents,

01:45they also looked at identical rocks,

01:47which have been found on different continents.

01:50They looked like they formed from the same minerals

01:52and under the same weather conditions.

01:54Some other secret helpers?

01:56Oh, dinosaurs!

01:58Fossils from the same species

02:00have been stumbled upon in both South America and Africa.

02:04This particular dinosaur, named Mesosaurus,

02:07is said to have lived on our planet

02:09way before the continents drifted apart.

02:13It's hard to imagine how life on Earth must have been

02:17with one single continent.

02:19For starters, the climate must have been very different.

02:22That's because the mid-portion of the land

02:25would have probably been bone dry,

02:27having little to no source of water.

02:30More so, it was most likely hidden away

02:32behind many mountain chains.

02:34These would have acted as a barrier

02:36against moisture and rainfall, too.

02:40However, geologists have also studied coal deposits

02:44from the United States and Europe.

02:46These seem to show that at least a part

02:48of the ancient supercontinent,

02:50which was close to the equator,

02:52must have been an amazing tropical rainforest,

02:55just like those we can find in the Amazonian jungle today.

02:59Coal appears when remnants of plants and animals

03:02get stuck into swampy water.

03:04If enough pressure is applied by the water,

03:07the substance is first turned into peat,

03:09then into coal.

03:12Our planet existed in this continental configuration

03:15for over 100 million years.

03:18And during this time,

03:19there was a lot of life on Earth already thriving.

03:22Hey, it was a great time to be an insect!

03:25Critters like beetles and dragonflies flourished.

03:28During the same time period,

03:30the Earth was roamed by the predecessor

03:32of all mammals, the synapsid.

03:36Life in Pangaea was severely hit

03:38during one not-so-great period.

03:41It's believed that a comet or asteroid

03:43landed on the surface of the Earth

03:45about 251 million years ago.

03:48The asteroid or comet theory

03:50seems to fit pretty well,

03:52because 90% of all marine animals

03:55and 70% of the creatures living on land

03:58disappeared all of a sudden.

04:00The comet might not have been

04:01the only reason for the mass extinction.

04:04At the same time,

04:05there was also some important volcanic activity

04:07happening in northern Asia,

04:09which might have disrupted life on Earth.

04:13We may not notice it,

04:14but continents do continue moving

04:17as we speak.

04:18This configuration we now see

04:20with the help of satellite imagery

04:22will surely not be the last.

04:24Australia, for example,

04:26is slowly moving towards Asia.

04:28But the most important proof

04:30that our continents are still shifting

04:32is the eastern portion of Africa.

04:34This area is simply breaking off

04:37from the rest of the land.

04:40To witness this,

04:41you'll have to travel to one of the hottest

04:43places on our planet.

04:44But if you get to this piece of land

04:46on the eastern part of the African continent,

04:49you might sit on top of the exact spot that,

04:52soon enough,

04:53will be split in two by water.

04:57Underneath this region,

04:58three tectonic plates are slowly drifting apart.

05:02If the data is correct,

05:03in the far future,

05:05Africa will be split in two.

05:07And between its two regions,

05:09a new ocean will arise.

05:11To support this theory,

05:13scientists have been closely studying

05:15a 35-mile-long crack

05:17in the Ethiopian desert for years.

05:22For this new ocean to form,

05:23it's estimated that 5 to 10 million years need to pass.

05:28Since our planet's crust

05:29is made out of multiple tectonic plates

05:31that are constantly moving,

05:33it's the perfect place to study this process.

05:36These plates are all irregularly shaped,

05:39and they are always mashing against,

05:41sliding under,

05:42or over each other.

05:45Those three tectonic plates found under the desert

05:48are also moving at different speeds.

05:51One of them, called the Arabian Plate,

05:53is sliding away from Africa

05:55at a speed of about one inch per year.

05:58The other two plates are moving a bit slower,

06:01somewhere between half an inch to 0.2 inches each year.

06:05More so, as these movements happen,

06:07material from deep inside Earth

06:09climbs to the surface

06:11and forms an oceanic crust at the edges.

06:16All this movement does make you wonder,

06:18how will the next supercontinent form,

06:21and when?

06:22So far, scientists came up

06:24with some possible configurations,

06:26each with its own name.

06:28Novopangaea,

06:29Pangaea Ultima,

06:31or Amasia.

06:33All these predictions still vary,

06:35as we're not sure how and why continents

06:38really move over time.

06:40One clue may be actually looking at

06:42how Pangaea separated in the first place.

06:44Regardless, it will take anywhere from

06:4615 to 100 million years

06:48to see the next future continent,

06:50depending on each scenario.

06:54Novopangaea looks at the possibility

06:56in which present-day movements continue.

06:59In this scenario,

07:00the Atlantic Ocean will continue to expand,

07:03all the while making the Pacific smaller.

07:06The two American continents

07:07would first combine northward.

07:10Africa, Europe, and Asia

07:12will already combine, too,

07:14by the time they all meet together

07:16in one single huge piece of land.

07:20Another possible scenario

07:22is called Pangaea Ultima.

07:24In this case,

07:25the Atlantic will slow down in its expansion

07:28and actually become a landlocked body of water.

07:31North America, Africa, Asia, and Europe

07:34would become somewhat parallel pieces of land,

07:37completely sewn together.

07:39Underneath them,

07:40South America, Antarctica, and Australia

07:43would complete the circle

07:44surrounding the North Atlantic.

07:46All the while,

07:47this piece of land would be surrounded

07:49by a large Pacific Ocean.

07:53Amasia looks at a scenario

07:55that's a bit difficult to understand

07:57and study at this point.

07:59Since several tectonic plates

08:01look like they are moving north,

08:02it might be possible that all continents,

08:05apart from Antarctica,

08:06will slide completely toward the North Pole.

08:09The climate would be a lot different

08:11and way colder.

08:13Both the Pacific and the Atlantic,

08:15in this scenario,

08:16would remain open bodies of water.

08:18Scientists believe this to be a real possibility

08:21because of some anomalies left by Pangaea,

08:24deep in the Earth's interior,

08:26in the part called the mantle.

08:29Looking even further into our planet's future,

08:32it's estimated that in about 1 billion years,

08:35the luminosity of the Sun

08:37will be somewhere around 10% higher.

08:40As such,

08:41the atmosphere on Earth

08:42will closely resemble that of a moist greenhouse.

08:45Because of the added heat,

08:47all the bodies of water on our planet

08:49will start to rapidly evaporate.

08:52Moving further,

08:53to 4 billion years from now,

08:55the temperature on our planet

08:56will soon transform it

08:57into a Venus look-alike.

08:59It might get so hot

09:01that the Earth's surface

09:02will begin to melt away.

09:05That's it for today!

09:06So hey,

09:07if you pacified your curiosity,

09:09then give the video a like

09:10and share it with your friends.

09:12Or if you want more,

09:13just click on these videos

09:14and stay on the Bright Side!

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