5. Pre-Civilization Mass Extinction
When we think about destroying the planet, it’s not always about breaking it into tiny bits like Alderaan in Star Wars. Wiping out all life would definitely count toward what we think of as mass the world ending. But this has actually already happened on our planet, about five times! About 450 million years ago, the earth’s temperatures dramatically dropped, creating what we think of as an ice age. This event wiped out over 80% of all species on the planet!
About 250 million years ago, massive levels of volcanic eruption across the planet caused the most damage, killing as much as 97% of all life! The asteroid crashing event we all know about that killed the dinosaurs (or at least most all of them) occurred more recently, about 66 million years ago, give or take. We generally tend to think of many of these events as a planetary temper tantrum. But could it happen again?
4. Mega-Colossal Volcanic Eruption
Volcanos are no laughing matter. An eruption of a volcano can do so much more than people realize and that is pretty terrifying. About 70,000 years ago in the Sumatra area of Indonesia, a volcanic eruption caused such massive destruction to that part of the world that it impacted global temperatures and even caused the sun to look dimmer for a few years!
While 70,000 years ago is a very long time, this is much more recent than when dinosaurs were roaming around the world. By this time, there was human life and this volcanic event just about wiped it out. Estimates are that this event impacted the human race by decreasing numbers to just a few thousand on the whole planet. This would put us on the endangered species list for sure! So does that mean that our whole ancestry could be traced back to just a few thousand individuals? Strange for sure… but another close call for planet earth.
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