Chilling predictions about the apocalypse on earth

Over the past 540 million years, the Earth has suffered five mass extinctions, and a sixth catastrophe is not far off, a new study suggests.

Geophysicist and mathematician Daniel Rothman of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) made the above prediction after studying previous destructions. He calculated that the next catastrophe on Earth is only 83 years away, Science Alert reported.

Photo: RT

The grim forecast is based on a new mathematical analysis of the Earth’s carbon cycle, which is based on forecasts of CO2 emissions that are pushing us closer to the planet’s “catastrophe threshold,” which has been exceeded in each of the five previous mass extinctions.

The award-winning mathematician studied the fluctuations of the carbon cycle and identified two “catastrophic thresholds” that, if crossed, would disrupt the cycle, destabilize the environment and lead to extinction.

The first threshold involves changes in the carbon cycle over tens of thousands or millions of years. A extinction event occurs if the rate of change in the carbon cycle is faster than the global ecosystem can adapt.

The second threshold relates to the size or magnitude of the carbon flow over a shorter period, namely the past century.

There was a problem, says Rothman, which was: "How do you compare what happened before to what happens now... So one summer day, I sat down and thought about what that systemic problem would be like."

Rothman combed through hundreds of pages of geophysical literature to find an answer, sorting the events into short and long time periods.

During his research, Rothman identified 31 scenarios over the past 42 million years that involved major shifts in the carbon cycle. Rothman then developed a mathematical formula to determine the total amount of carbon that was dumped into the ocean in each scenario.

According to this researcher, based on the increase in carbon dioxide levels in the last century, it is possible to predict that the 6th destruction will occur by 2100.

Rothman's research was published in the journal Science Advances on September 20, RT reported.

According to Vietnamnet.vn