could the Earth purify itself if human industries stopped?

899 viewsOtherPlanetary Science

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

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

The best ‘ELI5’ I have heard on this particular question is “Picture our Earth and its atmosphere as one giant, self-cleaning oven.” Volcanoes actually spew metric tons CO2 and dust into the atmosphere, thousands of gallons of oil seep naturally into the ocean every day, climate change (not man made) is real and actually occurs cyclically. That being said, we as humans, politicians or giant corporations have no right to disregard any of this as an excuse to fuck our one and only home.

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