Current Affairs 24th September 2017

Current Affairs 24th September 2017 - Important Points

• Earth’s sixth mass extinction likely by 2100 predicted by - MIT

Current Affairs 24th September 2017 - Details

Earth’s sixth mass extinction likely by 2100 predicted by - MIT

A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has predicted that the Earth’s one sixth mass extinction may become a reality by year 2100 due to increase in carbon pressure on oceans.
The study titled Thresholds of catastrophe in the Earth System was published recently in the international scientific journal Science Advances. Daniel H. Rothman, professor of geophysics at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, conducted the study.
He said that in the past 540 million years, the Earth has seen five mass extinction events.

Important highlights

• Professor used a mathematical formula based on the rate and magnitude of change in the carbon cycle.
• The formula predicted that by the end of the century oceans will be holding enough carbon to
• launch a mass extermination of species in the future.
  The model shows that,in 2100, about 310 gigatons of carbon will be added to the oceans, a potential 'tipping point' for ecological disaster.
• The study has also identified a total of 31 events in the last 542 million years in which a significant change occurred in Earth’s carbon cycle.
• As per the study, when Carbon dioxide dissolves into the ocean, life on Earth is at risk.
• In all the scenarios, the study finds that by the end of the century the carbon cycle will either be close to, or well beyond, the threshold for catastrophe.