10 What If Pangaea Had Never Broken Up?

The world’s continents were joined as a single landmass known as “Pangaea” between 300 million and 200 million years ago. As it gradually drifted apart to become the continents we know today, it also created some unique scenarios, such as India crashing headlong into Asia’s bottom and rising the Himalayas. However, what if Pangaea still ruled one hemisphere with the enormous Tethys global ocean on the other, and tectonic drift had never occurred?

We would most certainly have a less diversified planet in terms of biology since geographic isolation plays a major role in the emergence of new species by creating selecting pressures that lead to the emergence of novel genetic features. Since moisture-bearing clouds wouldn’t go very far inland, a large portion of the interior would remain desert. The majority of Earth’s landmass would be in the warm equatorial regions due to the extra mass influencing the Earth’s rotation.

Earth would be about 20 degrees Celsius (36 °F) hotter in the summer than it is on Earth. Due to the vast circulation system in the Tethys, which would be unhindered by anything other than island chains or shallow continental shelf, it would also see massive typhoons.

Because mammals require more water when they defecate, reptiles ruled the huge desert regions throughout the second historical Pangaean epoch, whereas mammals flourished in tropical and water-rich monsoon areas. An analysis of a part of the Pangaean fossil record reveals that procolophonoids, which resembled stocky lizards and are distantly related to contemporary turtles, occupied the majority of the temperate zones, while traversodont cynodonts, an extinct order of pre-mammals, dominated the tropical regions.

In a modern Pangaea, different orders of life would have ruled different regions; in the hot and humid areas, a variety of tropical mammals and creatures like mammals might have ruled, while in the arid interior and temperate parts, reptiles and pseudoreptiles would have been the dominant species. The relative stillness of the environment would have made intelligent life unlikely to emerge, but if it had, the consequences for the opposite climatic zone would have been catastrophic.

9 What If The Earth Had No Tilt?

Our tilted Earth’s rotation around the Sun exposes the two hemispheres to varying amounts of sunlight, resulting in the seasons that occur throughout the year. Everywhere on Earth would see about 12 hours of daylight each day if not for the Earth’s 23-degree tilt, and the Sun would always be below the horizon at the poles.

Although there would be minor variations throughout the year due to variations in the Earth-Sun distance, the weather would be far more consistent. The equatorial regions would be wet tropical zones with abundant rainfall, while the northern latitudes would have a perpetual winter climate. If you were to walk from the equator north or south, you would first come across areas of everlasting summer, followed by moderate spring or fall, and then a wintry wonderland that would get increasingly uninhabitable as you got closer to the poles.

Many people think that the formation of the Moon and the Earth’s tilt were both brought about by a collision with a massive object. This was beneficial for the evolution of life, according to the Rare Earth Hypothesis. Without tilt, a planet’s atmosphere might not exist, with gases freezing and falling to Earth at the poles and evaporating into space in the equator under the intense sun.

For any sentient species such as ourselves, the scenario could still be catastrophic even if life survived. It would be difficult to raise crops the old-fashioned way in the tropics because there are no seasons and perpetual rainfall. Additionally, disease would be more common near the equator. An intellectual species such as ourselves would not have needed much of an incentive to initiate the industrial revolution, which was primarily propelled by inventions meant for home heating during the chilly winter months.

8 How Would the Earth Rotate Or Have a Different Tilt?

The amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth and the intensity of the seasons would change depending on how much the Earth’s tilt is changed, which would have a significant impact on the climate and environment. Seasonal variations would be greatest if the Earth were fully tilted 90 degrees. The poles would alternately point perpendicular to and straight at the Sun as the Earth spun around it. There would be intense heat and sunlight in one hemisphere and freezing darkness in the other. Three months later, the Sun would rise in the north and set in the south, resulting in low Sun angles at both poles and a day of 12 hours of Sun and 12 hours of Night in our equatorial areas.

The seasonal cycles of radiation sterilisation in the summer and deep freezing in the winter may make it improbable that life would emerge on such a world, while certain Earthly species known as extremophiles may be able to endure such conditions. Such extremophiles would most likely have substantial hibernation or migration adaptations if they evolved into complex life.

Artist and ardent dreamer Chris Wayan has changed the points around which the Earth spins to explore various situations. He moved the poles on the surface of the Earth, but he kept the angle at 23.5 degrees. He tipped an Earth globe such that both poles were above water in one scenario known as “Seapole,” then calculated the impact on the climate. He made the world significantly warmer, wetter, and possibly more diverse by removing the ice domes covering Greenland and Antarctica.

In a scenario known as “Shiveria,” ice caps were positioned over land in China and northern South America, resulting in a world that was typically colder and drier. But the Mediterranean would be a hotbed he refers to as “the Abyss,” and Antarctica would be tropical.

If the Earth were turned upside down, all water currents, winds, and rainfall patterns would be completely reversed, resulting in a world where North America and China are deserts but where life is likely more abundant overall. A scenario akin to Shiveria was also investigated by XKCD, which involved spinning the Earth to place the poles on the equator. The website investigates the effects on the cities throughout the world, transforming London into a scorching metropolis, Moscow into a parched desert, and Manila into the equivalent of Reykjavik.

7 What If the Continent of South America Were An Island?

Water kept North and South America apart from roughly 3.5 million years ago until the late Jurassic Period. With some limited biotic contact through the emerging Caribbean islands from 80 million years ago and the Central American peninsula from 20 million years ago, independent development proceeded on both continents for over 160 million years.

Similar to Australia, South America at the period was dominated by marsupials, but it also had a variety of strange, placental, hooved species, such as the earliest camels, and the edentate (or “lacking teeth”) progenitors of armadillos, sloths, and anteaters. There were no remaining marsupial species in North America, Eurasia, or Africa; instead, placental animals dominated these regions.

The true home of all extant marsupials is South America, where opossums and kangaroos share genetic forebears. We can’t be certain that the South American marsupials truly carried their young in pouches, but it’s possible that they contained a wide variety of carnivorous species—pouched predators known as “borhyaenoids” that resembled dogs, bears, weasels, and saber-toothed tigers.

Following the connection of the two American continents, North American animals outcompeted most marsupial species by spreading into South America. In the meantime, birds, small mammals, and reptiles from South America travelled north.

Many of the marsupials would probably still be alive today if the two continents hadn’t split apart, resulting in a setting that was just as untamed and foreign as Australia. Unfortunately, placental mammals from Eurasia would have most likely been introduced by humans or a close analogue if they had arrived, potentially leading to an extinction crisis akin to that which Australian marsupials suffered in our world.

6 What Would Have Happened Had the Mediterranean Remain Shut?

When the Strait of Gibraltar closed about six million years ago, there were just two little canals separating the Atlantic and Mediterranean. The outcome was disastrous. The tunnel that allowed water to flow out was stopped when geological pressures forced Africa towards Europe, but salty water kept pouring in from another. Unable to escape, the Mediterranean’s water started to evaporate, forming a huge, salty brine akin to the Dead Sea. The seafloor developed a 1.6-kilometer-high (1-mile) layer of salt, and the majority of the region’s marine life perished. The “Messinian salinity crisis” was this.

In the “Zanclean flood,” which reconnected the Mediterranean to the Atlantic after hundreds of thousands of years, the sea quickly filled up again, flooded land bridges connecting Europe and North Africa, isolated animal species on islands where they underwent speciation, and forced Atlantic marine species to quickly adapt in order to recolonize the Mediterranean.

What if the Mediterranean had stayed a dried-out salt pan and none of this had occurred? Instead of making a protracted diversion through the Middle East, humans most likely would have arrived in Europe considerably earlier than they do in our planet by simply migrating across the saline lowlands.

One important resource is salt. It’s possible that local tribes took advantage of this resource as civilization advanced and traded it to distant parts of Asia and Africa. Since salt is essential to human survival while consuming a diet high in cereals, its increased availability may have accelerated and improved the success of agricultural development in the Western Hemisphere.

Nevertheless, due to its greater abundance and potential lack of religious or symbolic significance, salt may have been regarded as a less valuable item. It’s possible that saying someone was “worth their salt” turned from a compliment to an insult.

5 What Would Happen If Earth Had No Significant Metal Deposits?

Metals are necessary for both animal and human survival. But what if all of the metals, including copper, were hidden in places that were inaccessible to prehistoric man, like beneath the ocean or ice caps, or if they had never been concentrated into deposits that could be mined? Even though the creation of more sophisticated, effective Stone Age technology would have persisted, it’s possible that humans (or any sentient life emerging on such a world) would not have been able to access all developmental pathways.

With the growth of settlements and increasingly concentrated people during the agricultural revolution, there would have been a transition out of the traditional Neolithic era even in the absence of metals. Though the invention of the plough and wheel would have revolutionised life for this Stone Age community, the growth of mining, trade, and social classes may have been impeded by a scarcity of valuable metals. Given that advanced civilizations without metals existed in the Americas, it seems likely that Eurasia would have seen a similar development. But if the absence of metal deposits also meant that gold and silver were scarce, such nations’ economics and artwork would have looked quite boring.

Because of the comparatively low concentration of metals in Mesoamerica, the volcanic glass obsidian—which is brittle and can cut as sharply as a modern scalpel—was used in a sophisticated manner. The ancient Aztecs made knives, spears, and arrowheads out of obsidian, as well as swords edged with several glass blades. Its inherent sharpness and profound religious significance contribute to the Aztec culture’s fascination with selflessness. Cutting one’s tongue or ear to release blood during religious rites wouldn’t have hurt as much as we might think given the sharp knives.

Egypt also employed obsidian that was imported from Ethiopia and the Near East. Though it continued to have value as an artistic material, its predynastic usage in making knives and sickle blades was gradually phased out as metallurgy advanced. In the absence of metals, Egyptian culture would have felt more pressure to control obsidian, which led it to spread into East Africa and the Near East in order to obtain essential resources. The area surrounding the Carpathian Mountains, from whence a different culture of people who wielded swords with glass edges may have originated, was one of Europe’s best supplies of obsidian.

It’s hard to say how advanced a culture that relied solely on ceramics, stone, and glass may have become. Without it, many technological, culinary, and transportation advancements could not have been conceivable. Undoubtedly, the industrial revolution as we know it today would not have been possible. Societies might have achieved sophisticated medical and astronomical knowledge, but it is improbable that they would have made it to the Moon.

4 What If It Was Still Wet in the Sahara?

The Sahara was a verdant region with lakes and meadows, home to giraffes and hippos, until approximately 5,000 years ago. Scientists are still unsure of the precise start and end dates of this African humid period. Because of this environment, early people were able to leave Africa. If not, the Sahara would have shown to be a significant obstacle. The current arid conditions most likely arose approximately 3,000 years ago, driving the local population to relocate to more hospitable areas.

But what if there had been no conclusion to the humid period? There were a number of sizable lakes in southern Libya during this time. And Lake Chad was a lot bigger. Numerous bones and artefacts left by tool-using and artistic civilizations around these lakes are now buried in the barren sands. Dozens of human remains were discovered in 2000 by a team of palaeontologists in southern Niger while they were looking for dinosaur bones. They also discovered hundreds of crocodile, fish, clam, turtle, and hippos’ bones in addition to clay potsherds, beads, and stone tools.

A follow-up expedition found at least 173 burial sites in 2003. These tribes were recognised as the extinct Kiffian and Tenerian tribes based on the patterns found on the pottery shards. In the meantime, enormous herds of cattle previously roamed the desert regions of the Sudan, according to fossil records.

Sub-Saharan African cultures were historically divided from those of North Africa and the Mediterranean by the desert. Due to the difficulty of the Fertile Crescent’s technological advancements spreading across the Sahara, a large number of Eurasian breakthroughs either never materialised in sub-Saharan Africa or required independent development.

A lush Sahara, on the other hand, would have encouraged the early growth of cities, towns, and centralised administrations in the area. There would have been greater genetic, linguistic, and cultural mingling between Africa and Eurasia in addition to the expansion of the region inhabited by civilised peoples and the extent of the major ancient commerce networks.

In certain places, the presence of tropical diseases may have been an issue. Like other locations, it’s also possible that the cultures of a wet Sahara would have varied in degree of development. However, there would have been a greater degree of human civilization overall, which would have most likely resulted in more development. It’s possible that a sizable, cohesive culture similar to that of China once existed in the Sahara, having a significant impact on the rise of Mediterranean and European civilizations.

3 Suppose the Gulf Stream Did Not Exist?

The Gulf Stream, which stretches from Florida to northwest Europe, is the most significant ocean circulation system in the northern hemisphere. It warms Europe by carrying warm Caribbean seas across the Atlantic. At the same latitude, northern Europe would be just as chilly as Canada if not for the Gulf Stream. Seawater’s temperature and salinity variations are what propel the system; denser, colder, and saltier water from the North Atlantic moves southward until it warms up and loses density. It then flows north once more.

Freshwater influxes and fluctuations in the amount of solar radiation striking the Earth have caused this system to shut down multiple times. At the conclusion of the last ice age 11,700 years ago, the Gulf Stream returned; this event might not have occurred in the absence of increased solar energy. Then, with a greater Arctic ice sheet and more widespread Alpine glaciers, northwest Europe would have continued to experience ice age conditions for a longer amount of time.

It would not have been the right place for agriculture and the spread of civilization. It’s possible that people living in northwest Europe were more like to the Saami or the Inuit than they were to earlier human cultures. Only the Middle East, North Africa, and the Mediterranean would have been home to Western civilizations. Positively, raiding tribes from Central Asia, such as the Huns or Mongols, would not have been able to charge in and massacre the populace because it would have been too cold.

If settled civilization developed and the Gulf Stream reappeared, that would be another intriguing scenario. The confined cities along the southern Mediterranean coast would have a fresh frontier to colonise and conquer as the ice receded.

2 Suppose Doggerland Persisted?

It was a remnant of a larger Doggerland covering the entire North Sea area, a vast land of hills, marshland, heavily wooded valleys, and swamps inhabited by Mesolithic people who migrated with the seasons, hunting and gathering berries for survival. Until 8,200 years ago, there was a low-lying landmass in the North Sea that has since been dubbed “Doggerland,” or “Britain’s Atlantis.” North Sea fisherman may find their artefacts along with animal bones. The area began to steadily flood due to climate change, which forced the locals to relocate.

The modern-day Dogger Bank, which is located just below the North Sea waters, served as the hub of the remaining part of larger Doggerland. According to recent investigation, the last remnant and its occupants may have perished 8,200 years ago when a 5-meter (16-foot) tsunami struck due to the “Storegga slide,” which was the result of 3,000 cubic kilometres (720 mi3) of silt collapsing.

However, what if Dogger Bank had been marginally higher, or if the Storrega slide had never happened?

Even while their isolation would have caused civilization to grow more slowly, if people had persisted there, they would have had a significant influence on it. Neolithic invaders from the mainland would have likely supplanted the Mesolithic population, who may have thereafter been overrun by Celtic invaders, like in the British Isles.

The spread of Germanic invaders may have later driven out the Celts, given that their population density in Doggerland would have likely been lower than that of the British Isles and continental Europe. It’s possible that North Germanic Doggerlanders created a cultural bridge between British and Norse traditions. Additionally, it’s plausible that Balts—a group that either no longer exists or was never present in our world—colonized Doggerland.

Even yet, a Doggerland that survived would still be quite vulnerable to climate change. Low-lying Pacific islands would face many of the same existential issues that global warming would bring. On the other hand, a developed, wealthy nation in Northern Europe that is on the verge of extinction would have greater sway over environmental policy in Europe.

1 During the Ice Ages, what if there had been a little less ice?

A report about the implications of slightly less icy ice ages was presented to the Geological Society of America in 2006 by Steven Dutch of the University of Wisconsin. He wondered what would have occurred if the Scandinavian and Scottish ice sheets had never combined, and if the North American ice sheets had never reached much below the Canadian border. Three main impacts would have resulted from this: the Great Lakes and the Ohio River would never have formed, the English Channel would not exist, and the Missouri River would have continued along its original path into Hudson Bay instead of shifting to its current course.

The English Channel was produced in our planet when the Scandinavian and Scottish ice caps broke off and generated a sizable proglacial lake that flooded into the ancient Rhine-Thames river system. The water would have flowed north instead of south if the two caps had never merged, creating a land bridge that connected mainland Europe to England. There would have been no longer been any historical British defensive advantage over continental Europe, which would have had a significant impact on patterns of cultural diffusion and human migration in the West.

In contrast, the absence of ice caps in North America would have altered the functioning of drainage networks, allowing the Niagara River to continue along its historic path and the pre-Pleistocene Teays River to continue existing. Without it, Niagara Falls would not exist. The St. Lawrence River would have been the most direct route across the Appalachians, significantly altering the patterns of colonisation. Concurrently, the Missouri River’s modifications would have eliminated the world’s easily navigable east-west waterways, which the Lewis and Clark mission relied upon.

There would have been fewer accessible waterways, which would have made European invaders’ progress over the North American continent much slower if it had still occurred. This would most likely have happened via the North, maybe by a people who were more alien in their culture than we could ever imagine, or maybe by people who looked like a cross between English and French culture.

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