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
If by “purify itself” you mean be habitable to life? Sure. It’s habitable to life today. Even toxic pits are habitable to the right organisms.
If you mean be indistinguishable from pre human Earth? No. Forget thw chemical spills, nuclear waste has half lives of billions of years. They tend to be fairly isolated and therefore not consequential on the planet. But they will be noticeable to an alien race trying to figure out if anything weird happened to this planet.
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