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Explore the weirdest natural disasters in Earth's history and witness how our planet could eventually resemble the scorching atmosphere of Venus in the distant future. From catastrophic events to potential climate shifts, learn about the dramatic changes that could shape Earth's future.
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00:00Back in the day, from 774 to 775, Earth got hit with a mega blast of radiation.
00:08This crazy burst of energy left its mark.
00:11Three rings from that year show way too high levels of radioactive stuff.
00:16But what exactly caused it?
00:19Scientists are inclined to think that the reason was a solar flare.
00:23Some folks think maybe a massive supernova caused a radiation blast.
00:27But, astronomer Phil Plait says that if that had been the case, it would have had to be less than
00:33a thousand light-years away and would have had been crazy bright.
00:37But there's no record of that happening.
00:39No bright, shiny Death Star in sight.
00:43After looking at the radioactive carbon and beryllium in tree rings, scientists ruled out a bunch of other possibilities.
00:50At first, they considered that it was a smash-up between neutron stars or a neutron star and a black
00:56hole.
00:57These types of crashes produce a super quick blast of gamma rays without any light show, which lines up best
01:04with the evidence.
01:05But, these kinds of collisions are super rare.
01:09Plait thinks it's kinda unlikely that this is the answer.
01:12He figures we should only see one of these events in our galaxy about once every million years.
01:18So, having one just 1,200 years ago seems pretty wild.
01:23Scientists are seriously worried about these rare events.
01:26If one happened closer to Earth, it could seriously mess up life on our planet.
01:31Even if it was thousands of light-years away, a similar event today could cause chaos with all the fancy
01:37electronic systems we've come to rely on.
01:40So, it's a good thing those gamma ray bursts are so rare, because if they were more common, Earth might
01:46be in for a rough ride.
01:49You may think that if our planet could withstand mega-radiation blasts, it can easily withstand something less frightening.
01:56Let's say, grasshoppers.
01:58Sorry to say that, but it's not exactly true.
02:00Back in 1874, during a hot summer in Kansas, things took a strange turn.
02:08Grasshoppers, or should I say, locusts, invaded the Great Plains like nobody's business.
02:14They came down like a storm, blanketing houses, trees, and even poor trains passing by.
02:20These bugs were on a mission to cause chaos.
02:25Farmers had to scramble to protect their wells and just about anything else worth saving.
02:30Locusts landed everywhere, wreaking havoc on everything in sight.
02:35Even poor sheep lost their wool.
02:38Locusts even stripped paint off wagons and handles off pitchforks.
02:42This is how destructive they were.
02:45Livestock tried to fight back by eating them, but there were just too many of these insects.
02:50Natural disasters can be even more unexpected than radiation blasts from space and locust invasions.
02:57Check this out.
02:58Back in June 2017, a reindeer herder up in northwest Siberia was minding their own business
03:04when they suddenly heard a crazy loud blast and saw smoke shooting up from the ground.
03:11If that happened to me, I'd need to change my pants.
03:14Sorry.
03:15Later on, they found this huge hole that was like 23 feet wide and nearly 65 feet deep
03:21and was surrounded by chunks of ice and dirt.
03:24It turned out that there were over 17 such black holes in the area.
03:29They were filled with peaty water and shrouded in mystery.
03:32Some folks thought those were sinkholes.
03:35Others were sure they were left by top-secret device tests or even a bunch of meteorites.
03:41Now, the latest idea is that these holes are actually craters caused by the Arctic warming up
03:47and melting the frozen ground.
03:49The theory states that as the ground thaws, gas pockets trapped beneath the surface burst through,
03:56creating such dramatic holes.
03:59Apparently, these eerie craters have been showing up in specific spots in Siberia
04:04where ancient geological faults have been leaking out hot natural gas for ages.
04:09Combine that with some leftover methane from old lake sediments
04:13and you've got a recipe for some explosive surprises as the planet heats up.
04:19Not scared yet?
04:20Alright, maybe you're afraid of darkness, huh?
04:23If so, you wouldn't like it back in 536.
04:27It's the year when the world went through a crazy 18-month period of darkness.
04:33A mysterious fog covered Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia,
04:38blocking out the sun and causing chaos.
04:41It was like the Dark Ages, but for real.
04:44It turns out that the main culprit behind this fog was a volcanic eruption in Iceland.
04:50This eruption spread ash across the northern hemisphere,
04:54causing temperatures to drop and crops to fail.
04:57People were freezing and starving.
04:59It was a mess.
05:02Historians from back in the day even talked about how weird it was.
05:05The sun looked like the moon, summers were freezing cold,
05:10and even China had summer snow.
05:12It was all because of the volcanic ash blocking out the sun.
05:16And to make things even worse,
05:18this period of darkness sparked the beginning of the bubonic plague in 541.
05:25Talk about a rough time to be alive.
05:29Let's go back to Siberia real quick.
05:32Back in 1908, way out in the wilds of Siberia,
05:36an asteroid dropped for an unexpected visit.
05:39Today, we know it as the Tunguska asteroid,
05:42but it didn't get its name instantly.
05:45Local folks only caught a glimpse of the show.
05:48A bright fireball streaking across the sky,
05:51followed by a massive boom.
05:54Trees went flying, fires blazed,
05:57and animals weren't too happy about it either.
06:00But since the area was so remote,
06:02not many folks took notice.
06:05For almost two decades,
06:07nobody bothered to check out the Tunguska site.
06:10People had too much on their plates back then.
06:12But then, scientists finally made it out there
06:15and found evidence of the asteroid's shenanigans.
06:18Later, in expeditions,
06:20they found some spacey microparticles.
06:23Fast forward to now,
06:25and NASA has a whole planetary defense thing going on.
06:28They even sent a mission to test out asteroid-deflecting tech.
06:32Because who knows when the next cosmic rock
06:34will come knocking on our door, right?
06:37In the middle of the 19th century,
06:40there was one more epic solar storm
06:42called the Carrington Event.
06:44It may not sound like a big deal to you,
06:47but it had pretty rough consequences.
06:49The next day after the storm,
06:52Earth was hit with this insane geomagnetic storm
06:55that threw telegraphs off the rails
06:57and brought auroras to the tropics.
06:59And it's the place where they normally never show up.
07:04Turns out,
07:05all this space weather madness
07:06started with weird stuff happening on the sun's surface,
07:09like sunspots.
07:10From these spots,
07:12solar flares and other crazy electromagnetic stuff
07:15can pop out and mess with our technology.
07:19Massive solar storms like this one
07:21can shoot out from the sun
07:22at speeds of up to 1,800 miles per second.
07:25They can contain billions of tons of solar material,
07:29complete with a sassy little magnetic field
07:31that loves to mess with Earth's magnetic field
07:34when they meet.
07:35Now, listen closely.
07:37We're getting close to the next solar maximum in 2025,
07:41so it's a good time to check out the history
07:43of the worst solar storms,
07:45like the Carrington Event,
07:47and take notice.
07:48Imagine if a similar storm hit today.
07:51An internet apocalypse, anyone?
07:53Businesses would be sent offline
07:55and we'd be facing some serious damages.
07:58Luckily,
07:59these mega solar storms don't happen very often.
08:02But hey,
08:03space weather is tricky to predict,
08:04so who knows when the next one will hit.
08:10These days,
08:11you're better off boarding a plane
08:12if you want to travel from New York to London.
08:15But,
08:16what if I told you
08:17there was a time
08:18when these two cities
08:19were actually on the same continent?
08:22Well,
08:22the explanation is a bit more complex.
08:25For starters,
08:26back then,
08:27these two cities didn't even exist at all.
08:29But the tectonic plates
08:31they sit on today
08:32were a lot closer.
08:34Nearly 200 million years ago,
08:37all of the continents on our planet connected,
08:40making up one large supercontinent.
08:42This enormous piece of land
08:44was surrounded by one single ocean.
08:46We call this huge continent
08:48Pangea these days.
08:50Some parts of this continent broke apart
08:52and shifted away from each other
08:54for our maps to reach their current configuration.
08:58There's even a nice experiment
09:00you can conduct
09:01to test this theory.
09:02Find a map online
09:04and print it on a piece of paper.
09:06After that,
09:07simply cut out all of the continents.
09:09Once you start playing around with them,
09:11you'll soon notice
09:13they all seem to fit together,
09:14like pieces from a puzzle.
09:16Probably the most striking thing you'll see
09:19is how South America
09:20perfectly fits Africa.
09:23What's even more fascinating
09:25is that this isn't the first time
09:27in our planet's history
09:29that supercontinents have been formed
09:31and then broken apart.
09:33Scientists have figured out
09:34that this happened at least three times before.
09:37And if we consider our planet's age,
09:404.5 billion years,
09:42the last 200 million
09:43is closer to the blink of an eye.
09:47So how did scientists figure out
09:49that continents move?
09:51Apart from the aspect of today's continents,
09:54they also looked at identical rocks,
09:56which have been found on different continents.
09:58They looked like they formed
10:00from the same minerals
10:01and under the same weather conditions.
10:04Some other secret helpers?
10:05Well, dinosaurs.
10:07Fossils from the same species
10:09have been stumbled upon
10:10in both South America and Africa.
10:13This particular dinosaur,
10:14named Mesosaurus,
10:16is said to have lived on our planet
10:18way before the continents drifted apart.
10:22It's hard to imagine
10:23how life on Earth must have been
10:25with one single continent.
10:27For starters,
10:29the climate must have been very different.
10:31That's because the mid-portion of the land
10:33would have probably been bone dry,
10:36having little to no source of water.
10:38More so,
10:39it was most likely hidden away
10:41behind many mountain chains.
10:43These would have acted as a barrier
10:45against moisture and rainfall too.
10:49However,
10:50geologists have also studied coal deposits
10:52from the United States and Europe.
10:54These seem to show
10:56that at least a part
10:57of the ancient supercontinent,
10:58which was close to the equator,
11:00must have been
11:01an amazing tropical rainforest,
11:03just like those we can find
11:05in the Amazonian jungle today.
11:07Coal appears
11:08when remnants of plants and animals
11:10get stuck into swampy water.
11:13If enough pressure is applied by the water,
11:15the substance is first turned into peat,
11:18then into coal.
11:20Our planet existed in this continental configuration
11:24for over 100 million years.
11:26And during this time,
11:28there was a lot of life on Earth
11:30already thriving.
11:31Hey,
11:32it was a great time to be an insect.
11:34Critters like beetles and dragonflies flourished.
11:37During the same time period,
11:39the Earth was roamed by the predecessor
11:41of all mammals,
11:42the synapsid.
11:44Life in Pangaea was severely hit
11:47during one not-so-great period.
11:49It's believed
11:50that a comet or asteroid
11:52landed on the surface of the Earth
11:54about 251 million years ago.
11:57The asteroid or comet theory
11:59seems to fit pretty well
12:01because 90% of all marine animals
12:04and 70% of the creatures living on land
12:06disappeared all of a sudden.
12:08The comet might not have been
12:10the only reason for the mass extinction.
12:12At the same time,
12:14there was also some important
12:15volcanic activity happening
12:17in northern Asia,
12:18which might have disrupted life on Earth.
12:21We may not notice it,
12:23but continents do continue moving
12:26as we speak.
12:27This configuration we now see
12:29with the help of satellite imagery
12:30will surely not be the last.
12:33Australia, for example,
12:35is slowly moving towards Asia.
12:37But the most important proof
12:39that our continents are still shifting
12:40is the eastern portion of Africa.
12:43This area is simply breaking off
12:45from the rest of the land.
12:48To witness this,
12:50you'll have to travel
12:51to one of the hottest places
12:52on our planet.
12:53But if you get to this piece of land
12:55on the eastern part
12:56of the African continent,
12:58you might sit on top
12:59of the exact spot
13:00that, soon enough,
13:02will be split in two by water.
13:06Underneath this region,
13:07three tectonic plates
13:09are slowly drifting apart.
13:11If the data is correct,
13:12in the far future,
13:14Africa will be split in two.
13:16And between its two regions,
13:18a new ocean will arise.
13:20To support this theory,
13:22scientists have been closely studying
13:24a 35-mile-long crack
13:26in the Ethiopian desert for years.
13:30For this new ocean to form,
13:32it's estimated that
13:335 to 10 million years
13:35need to pass.
13:37Since our planet's crust
13:38is made out of multiple
13:39tectonic plates
13:40that are constantly moving,
13:42it's the perfect place
13:43to study this process.
13:45These plates are all
13:46irregularly shaped,
13:48and they are always
13:49mashing against,
13:50sliding under,
13:51or over each other.
13:54Those three tectonic plates
13:56found under the desert
13:57are also moving
13:58at different speeds.
14:00One of them,
14:00called the Arabian plate,
14:02is sliding away from Africa
14:04at a speed of about
14:05one inch per year.
14:07The other two plates
14:08are moving a bit slower,
14:10somewhere between
14:11half an inch
14:11to 0.2 inches each year.
14:14More so,
14:15as these movements happen,
14:17material from deep inside Earth
14:18climbs to the surface
14:20and forms an oceanic crust
14:22at the edges.
14:24All this movement
14:25does make you wonder,
14:27how will the next
14:28supercontinent form,
14:29and when?
14:30So far,
14:31scientists came up
14:33with some possible configurations,
14:34each with its own name.
14:36Novo Pangaea,
14:38Pangaea Ultima,
14:39or Hamasia.
14:41All these predictions
14:42still vary,
14:43as we're not sure
14:44how and why
14:46continents really move
14:47over time.
14:48One clue may be actually
14:50looking at how Pangaea
14:51separated in the
14:52first place.
14:53Regardless,
14:54it will take anywhere
14:55from 15 to 100 million years
14:57to see the next
14:58future continent,
14:59depending on each scenario.
15:03Novo Pangaea
15:04looks at the possibility
15:05in which present-day
15:07movements continue.
15:08In this scenario,
15:10the Atlantic Ocean
15:10will continue to expand,
15:12all the while
15:13making the Pacific smaller.
15:15The two American continents
15:16would first combine
15:18northward.
15:18Africa,
15:20Europe,
15:20and Asia
15:21will have already
15:22combined, too,
15:23by the time they all
15:24meet together
15:24in one single
15:26huge piece of land.
15:29Another possible scenario
15:30is called
15:31Pangaea Ultima.
15:32In this case,
15:34the Atlantic
15:34will slow down
15:36in its expansion
15:36and actually become
15:38a landlocked
15:39body of water.
15:40North America,
15:41Africa,
15:42Asia,
15:42and Europe
15:43would become
15:44somewhat parallel
15:45pieces of land,
15:46completely sewn together.
15:49Underneath them,
15:50South America,
15:51Antarctica,
15:52and Australia
15:52would complete the circle
15:54surrounding the North Atlantic.
15:56All the while,
15:57this piece of land
15:58would be surrounded
15:59by a large Pacific Ocean.
16:02AmAsia
16:03looks at a scenario
16:04that's a bit difficult
16:06to understand
16:06and study at this point.
16:08Since several tectonic plates
16:10look like they are
16:11moving north,
16:11it might be possible
16:13that all continents,
16:14apart from Antarctica,
16:16will slide completely
16:17toward the North Pole.
16:18The climate would be
16:20a lot different
16:20and way colder.
16:22Both the Pacific
16:23and the Atlantic
16:24in this scenario
16:25would remain
16:26open bodies of water.
16:28Scientists believed
16:29this to be
16:29a real possibility
16:31because of some anomalies
16:32left by Pangaea
16:34deep in the Earth's interior
16:35in the part
16:36called the mantle.
16:38Looking even further
16:40into our planet's future,
16:41it's estimated
16:42that in about
16:43one billion years,
16:44the luminosity
16:45of the Sun
16:46will be somewhere
16:47around 10% higher.
16:49As such,
16:50the atmosphere
16:51on Earth
16:51will closely resemble
16:52that of a moist greenhouse.
16:54Because of the added heat,
16:56all the bodies of water
16:58on our planet
16:58will start to rapidly evaporate.
17:01Moving further
17:02to four billion years
17:03from now,
17:04the temperature
17:04on our planet
17:05will soon transform it
17:07into a Venus lookalike.
17:08It might get so hot
17:10that the Earth's surface
17:11will begin to melt away.
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