I recently watched a video that mentioned the “toxic pit problem” of how closed mines turn into toxic lakes full of rainwater and harmful chemicals. Some companies are trying to fix them, but I was wondering if the Earth could “purify” itself if left completely alone?
Like, let’s say all of humanity disappeared tomorrow, could the harmful chemicals be filtered out or dissolved or changed after a billion years?
In: Planetary Science
Specifically regarding the “after a billion years” part, the sun will be putting out about 10% more energy in a billion years. The oceans will boil away and the atmosphere will experience runaway greenhouse warming, that will turn Earth into a more hellish version of Venus. It rains sulfuric acid on Venus, and it’ll do the same thing here in a billion years, so any chemicals we leave behind will probably be indistinguishable from the normal nightmareish chemical wasteland by that time.
That’s not an argument against environmental concerns, it’s just that a billion years has its own way of solving problems.
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