Mankind threatens mass extinction: people turned out to be the largest disaster for the Earth

Scientists have come to the conclusion that humanity has already influenced the global carbon cycle more than the asteroid, which led to the extinction of dinosaurs. Writes about it Mail.Ru.

Фото: Depositphotos

Specialists analyzed the data collected as part of the Deep Carbon Observatory program. They have followed carbon cycle changes over the last 500 million years.

In the past, carbon fluxes remained stable most of the time, that is, the carbon dioxide that entered the atmosphere with volcanic eruptions was balanced with the carbon that escaped and accumulated in the bowels of the Earth. This, in turn, contributes to the formation of a climate suitable for maintaining a high level of biodiversity.

From time to time, this balance is disrupted by catastrophic events that lead to large greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and mass extinctions. Scientists have identified the four largest catastrophes of this kind, including the fall of the asteroid 66 millions of years ago, as well as several massive volcanic eruptions.

On the subject: Scientists: there have been warming on Earth, but what is happening now has no analogues

Scientists emphasize that currently burning fossil fuels contributes to a serious disruption of the carbon cycle. The total amount of carbon dioxide emitted by mankind per year outweighs the volume of the same gas emitted by all volcanoes of the Earth per year, at least 80 times. Even the amount of carbon dioxide that was in the atmosphere after the fall of the asteroid at the end of the Cretaceous (about 1400 billion tons) is less than the amount emitted from 1750 of the year (2000 billion tons).

According to researchers, the anthropogenic impact on the biosphere will have the same effect as the largest disasters, causing massive extinction.

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