Earth's sixth biggest mass extinction may come to reality by 2100: MIT study

New Delhi : The Earth's sixth mass extinction may turn into a reality by 2100 due to increasing carbon pressure on the oceans, said a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Titled as 'Thresholds of catastrophe in the Earth system', the study was conducted by Daniel H. Rothman, professor of geophysics at MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences.

Rotham, on the basis of a mathematical formula, studied that a total of 31 events in last 540 million years have shown a drastic changes related to Earth’s carbon cycle. He also found five events of mass extinction during the course.

He defined “Thresholds of catastrophe” as the limit in the Earth's carbon cycle which is capable of telling how stable the environment is. According to him, it it exceeds the limit then due to unstable environment, extinction becomes inavitable.

That amount, according to the study, is about 310 gigatons, which is roughly equivalent to the amount of carbon that human activities would have added to the world’s oceans by the year 2100.

The study was published in the international scientific journal Science Advances.

In July, a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a US scientific journal, claimed that the sixth mass extinction of species is underway thanks to factors such as overpopulation and overconsumption, and there is little time left for effective action.

It had said that as much as 50% of the number of animals that once shared the Earth with humans are already gone, and that the next two decades would see more powerful assaults on biodiversity.