Future Earth.ppt

Future Earth Steve Dutch University of Wisconsin-Green Bay Why Look Ahead? Usually picture geologic time by looking back New Perspective Can you picture the U.S. in 1000 years? That’s an instant in geologic time Human activities are ephemeral compared to geologic time 1000 Years 5-7 M=8 quakes on San Andreas New Madrid and Cascadia quakes 10 Cascades eruptions Mississippi delta shift Niagara Falls retreats 900 meters Hawaii moves 90 meters Probable damaging meteor impact One or more supernovas Humans in 1000 years Probably many cities and nations will still be extant 10,000 years 50-70 M=8 quakes on San Andreas 100 Cascades eruptions 10-20 Mississippi delta shifts Niagara Falls retreats 9 kilometers Hawaii moves 900 meters Probable meteor impact with regional effects Hudson’s Bay and Baltic drained Dozens of Supernovas Earth axis tilt 22-1/2 degrees Future Niagara Falls Past and Future Niagara Falls Humans in 10,000 years In 8,000 years we got from proto-Indo-European to English, Latin and Russian Time enough for new languages to evolve Will any word in any language still survive? 100,000 years San Andreas shifted by 2.5 kilometers 1000 Cascades eruptions 100-200 Mississippi delta shifts Niagara Falls retreated to Lake Erie Loihi reaches surface? Numerous meteor impacts with regional effects probable Next ice age? New stars may form The Future Gulf Coast Stars Change Faster than the Earth Humans in 100,000 years Time enough to develop our civilization from Paleolithic technology Fewer natural resources but… Old human deposits may be better sources than rocks 1,000,000 years San Andreas shifted by 25 kilometers Large new Cascades volcanoes 1000-2000 Mississippi delta shifts Ten ice ages? Loihi and Kilauea as large as present Mauna Loa Several collapses of Hawaiian shields Several supervolcano eruptions Meteor impact with global effects probable The Future San Andreas Bright Stars in the next Million Years Humans in 1,000,000 years Human race itself may evolve If soci