Thinking about the end of the world, scientifically, is pretty fun. Activating all the nuclear weapons in the world would lead to a devastating result for humanity, but if you really want to see the apocalypse, then for this you must wait for the eruption of all volcanoes in the world.
The fact is that there are many more ways to lead the planet to destruction than people are able to realize. Many of these options have emerged as a result of global warming. And one of these scenarios is the disappearance of water.
As you might expect, without water people will die very quickly, but what will happen to our planet? Will only dusty deserts remain here, or will life, as they say, find a way out? Let's try to imagine this.
Strange scenario
So, imagine that in the current year, 2017, somewhere between the Earth and the Moon, a giant fleet of alien explorers appeared. Their inhabitants have behaved very foolishly in recent years, as they burned too many carbonaceous fossil fuels, which led to an increase in greenhouse gases. This caused a warming of the climate on their planet, where the temperature rose so quickly that all the water on it evaporated. Nevertheless, the inhabitants of this other planet did not give up and developed a complex mechanism that allows them to steal water from another celestial body. For example, from ours. For the sake of simplicity, let's pretend that they can take water from everything except living things. Since world leaders cannot do anything about it, we will hopelessly lose to this extraterrestrial aggressor in the struggle for our main resource.
Promotional video:
Pale brown planet
The first thing we notice is the disappearance of all rivers, lakes, ponds, puddles and oceans. All life inside them would perish within hours, and the continents we live on would suddenly rise above these newly created pools, most of which would be 3.8 kilometers deep.
The Arctic, in fact, will cease to exist, and the hidden relief beneath it will resemble jagged cracks. Antarctica, free from the icy duvet, will turn into a rocky barren land, full of mountains and incomprehensibly large canyons.
Clouds on our planet will also disappear, as will rain and snow, hurricanes and thunderstorms will evaporate into nothingness, and our pale blue Earth will turn into a brown-green planet (although it will not remain green for long). Winds will prevail in the atmosphere, and sandy deserts will spread throughout the planet.
The vegetation will eventually disappear. Animal life, including us, will soon follow suit and turn to dust.
However, all these changes are obvious. But you probably guessed that there is more to the fate of the world than fragile Homo sapiens.
Warming
The oceans are the world's largest carbon sinks. Forget the atmosphere. Most of the thermal energy captured in the planet's atmosphere by greenhouse gases is stored in the oceans. In the past century alone, these gigantic bodies of water have prevented the Earth from warming up to a completely staggering 36 ° C, and not 1 ° C, as it actually happened.
Planets with too much carbon dioxide and methane and too little water are likely to experience the effects of global warming.
What happened on Venus
Take Venus, for example. Geologically, it is very similar to our world, and at one time it was probably covered with water. However, this water was clearly not enough to cope with all the carbon dioxide present in the atmosphere, most of which probably came from ancient and powerful volcanic eruptions.
Some of the carbon dioxide was absorbed by the water, but eventually the planet became too hot and the water evaporated into space. This left Venus with no significant carbon sink, except for the atmosphere, so our neighbor continued to heat up until it reached its current surface temperature (about +462 ° C). Without water to cover the Earth, our planet would have suffered the same fate.
Don't forget that vegetation will also die out. Without plants that convert carbon dioxide into oxygen through photosynthesis, the world will warm even faster.
What lies beneath the surface
Keep in mind that most of the earth's water isn't just on the surface.
It also hides underground, within the crust of tectonic plates that are constantly drifting, coming together and colliding with each other. Much of this water is hiding in the mantle, as it makes up 84 percent of its volume. Remove this water and the Earth will become completely unrecognizable.
When a dense slab collides with a less dense slab, the latter sinks under it. As the mantle heats it up, it dehydrates, that is, the water evaporates and rises up into the wedge of the mantle between the two plates.
Through a series of volcanic bends, this creates a magmatic aqueduct system in the earth's crust that produces explosive volcanoes such as cascades along the western United States or Mount Fuji. Without water, this process will not be able to continue, and much fewer volcanoes will remain on the planet.
Identical plate tectonics
So, we already know that one tectonic plate "obeys" the other because it is denser, but what happens if two plates collide that are made of the same material?
We can see this in the example of India and Eurasia. These two equally dense continental plates cut into each other, causing their edges to rise and form the Himalayas.
It is believed that even when two tectonic plates have approximately the same density, only one effectively sinks beneath the other due to the weight of the sediment-filled ocean above it.
Without the ocean, none of the plates will be weighed down by any accumulating precipitation. Therefore, the two plates will continue to collide with each other.
So, if hypothetical aliens would take away all the oceans on the planet today, any two oceanic plates or two continental plates would eventually crash into each other, forming a huge series of mountain ranges.
Essentially, if the Earth were to completely lose non-biological water, it would quickly turn into an overheated desert world with continental-sized chasms and ridiculously high mountains.
Hi baby
Life, however, could find a way out. Microscopic life, to be precise, that is, one that does not rely on water to survive.
It is likely that originally life needed water to arise, and almost all life forms today cannot exist without it. But in the process of evolution, there were microbes known as extremophiles. Incredibly hot environments, acidity, and lack of sunlight or water seem to suit some of these totally insignificant life forms.
Some of them exist within the earth's crust and thrive using carbon monoxide for nutrients. A NASA team recently discovered that extremophiles also hide in giant crystals and exist in a state of suspended animation.
To be continued?
So, if all the water on Earth suddenly disappears, humanity will be doomed, and the planet will turn into a giant desert with insane topography. Nevertheless, life will not disappear, and extremophiles will take our place. Whether they will ever be able to evolve into intelligent beings is anyone's guess.