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
“Purity” in ecosystems is largely an illusion. There was no coming back from the Great Oxygenation Event, or the Chicxulub Impact, or the Ice Ages, and all of these predated what some now call the “pure” life that predated modern human behavior. It will be the same for the Anthropocene: there is no going back, but life will move on.
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