Earth's Oxygen Level Slowly Dropping Say Scientists, Will Vanish After Billions Of Years
Do you love going into the wild and taking deep breaths full of enriching oxygen? Well, we bring you bad news. Earth is losing oxygen.?
Once upon a time, Earth was barren too. Devoid of oxygen and rich in methane, Earthly life forms before oxygen showed up would have been starkly different. 2.3 billion years ago, a "Great Oxidation Event" led to the appearance of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere.
Why Earth's oxygen will die
Scientists have predicted that oxygen will drop to dangerous points on Earth eventually, reverting the planet to its state before the oxygenation event occurred - with high levels of methane.
While oxygen isn't disappearing anytime soon, whenever it does happen, it'll be a rapid process. Akin to climate change, which appears to be slow but is in fact now picking up pace, oxygen would also disappear rather quickly, the study claims.
Breathe easy (for now)! The process is slated to begin billion years from now. It's entirely possible that other factors would wipe off human beings from the face of Earth before lack of oxygen does.?
Also read:?Pluto's Atmosphere Is Dying, Showing Us How Earth May Eventually Die
In general, no habitable planets possess atmospheric oxygen forever. It eventually disappears, scientists claimed in the study. The research, which was published in Nature Geoscience, claimed that the deoxygenation of Earth's atmosphere would take O2 levels to those during the Archaean period. This will be followed by the loss of surface water on the planet.
Oceans are anyway expected to disappear 2 billion years from now due to radiation from the Sun. Life will be dead way before this happens though, all due to the drop in oxygen levels.
Also read:?No Apocalypse: NASA Will Shoot Rocket At Asteroid To Test Earth's Defences
Has Elon Musk been right after all? The space mogul has urged scientists to focus on migrating humans from Earth to other planets to facilitate the creation of a multi-planet species. Perhaps he knows something we don't.
What do you think will a barren Earth look like? Let us know what you think in the comments below.?For the latest in the world of science and technology, keep reading Indiatimes.com.??
Citation
Ozaki, K. (2021, March 1). The future lifespan of Earth's oxygenated. . . Nature Geoscience.
