Category Archives: Spring 2013

Pangea Ultima

Posted on by

In a world that has evolved since the supercontinent Pangea, we may be heading for another supercontinent called Pangea Ultima. Plate tectonics have created the spatial arrangement of our continents and will continue to do so over millions of years. This may be hard to believe, but the temporal scale for this movement is so large that we will not see any change in our lifetimes. It is amazing to think that we were all one continent, now separate and with our own separate cultures. What will it be like when Earth has only one continent again? Will there even be people living on Earth 250 million years from now? Learn more!

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2000/ast06oct_1/ 

‘What Could Disappear’ with Climate Change

Posted on by

 

One of the most important, most interesting, and sometimes most tragic axioms of physical geography is constant change. For the first billion years of its existence, the Earth was shaped and affected by its own natural processes (with the occasional extraterrestrial impact).
As life began to colonize this planet, plants and animals began to make their own impacts and find their own niches in the new, all-encompassing system called the “biosphere.”
Humans are just current the most prominent of the many animals living on, and affecting the Earth. However, our technology will relatively soon bring about destruction to our own habitats if we do not change our ways.
This interactive web page from the New York Times projects the percentage of America’s major cities that would be flooded from several possible scenarios of sea level rise. Sadly, each of these major theoretical rises in sea level could happen in just a few centuries if we do not control anthropocentric global warming.
It is a fun feature to play with, but it also sobering and depressing. Hopefully, however, it will be inspiring too.
Ben