700 million years ago, for example, before man appeared, the Earth was frozen. 300 million years ago, all the continents were united in one, Pangea. 50 million years ago, Antarctica was not an arid white plain, but a lush forest .
Both the changes in temperature and the impact of meteorites have caused five mass extinctions of terrestrial life, during which up to 90% of all species disappeared.
And the future?
The next few thousand years, in view of everything that has already happened on Earth, promise to be very lively. Focusing only on plate tectonics , the following video has made a prospective in that sense.
Chris Scotese (author of the simulation ) estimates that within 250 million the Earth’s surface will re-form a single supercontinent (as was Pangea 240 million years ago) that appears in Scotese’s video as Pangea Ultima .