A world without oceans?

[The Romulan Republic]

Not sure if this should go here or the science forum, but anyway, I had a question about the setting of Mad Max: Fury Road.

The film suggests that the oceans are gone (the water shortages plus a huge region of salt). Its discussed on the IMDB FAQ section for the film: www.imd.com/title/tt1392190/faq?ref_=tt_faq_1#.2.1.15

So my question is, what effect would that have on the environment? Would an Earth with no oceans even be inhabitable to human beings without space suites?

And what even would cause such a thing without leaving the Earth completely depopulated in the process?

Do we just have to write this off as Max not knowing what he was talking about?

[Jub]

My question would be where did the oceans go? There aren't many places to put that much water and you can't just boil it off without creating a world covered in clouds and killing 99.9% of everything.

[Darmalus]

Even if all that water was just magicked away, the world would likely be uninhabitable without space suits in short order. The oceans produce most of the world's oxygen (50 to 85% depending on the estimate).

[The Romulan Republic]

Would it make any difference that in a post-apocalyptic desert world, their'd be far fewer people using the oxygen that is present?

[Jub]

Would it make any difference that in a post-apocalyptic desert world, their'd be far fewer people using the oxygen that is present?

It's not like they're trapped in a small room with normal density air or something, there simply isn't enough oxygen per unit volume to allow people to live if you lose that much oxygen.

[Zor]

Sterilized.

Zor

[biostem]

Did they actually say that the oceans are gone? My impression is that people retreated to the middle of the Australian continent, which was a desert to begin with - perhaps the oceans are all radioactive from the war, and thus the coastal areas are just too dangerous to live by.

[The Romulan Republic]

Its not explicitly said, but implied.

If its scientifically impossible for it to work that way, I guess we can fall back on saying Max is either misinformed or delusional.

[madd0ct0r]

The only evidence is the salt flats, and that isn't really conclusive. The crows area was muddy and had been farmland in the past. Salt intrusion into aquifers seems more likely.

Besides, mad max films are like 300. They are legends narrated to an audience with the visual exaggerated and stylised.

[The Romulan Republic]

The only evidence is the salt flats, and that isn't really conclusive. The crows area was muddy and had been farmland in the past. Salt intrusion into aquifers seems more likely.

Besides, mad max films are like 300. They are legends narrated to an audience with the visual exaggerated and stylised.

Its the size of the salt flats that weighs against them being anything other than the oceans.

[Solauren]

Mad Max is supposed to be set after some sort of a war, and industrial breakdown.

In 'Beyond Thunderdome', we saw people living in the ruins of Sydney, and water was visible in the distances during the closing narration.

My thinking on it is that large areas of Australia were wrecked, and there were probably very high levels of casualties in those areas. As social order broke down (see original Road Warrior movie), people moved away from the cities to smaller settlements.

Hell, the 'settlement' in Fury Road screams old mining/underground lake center that was taken over and converted.

[Alyrium Denryle]

The only evidence is the salt flats, and that isn't really conclusive. The crows area was muddy and had been farmland in the past. Salt intrusion into aquifers seems more likely.

Besides, mad max films are like 300. They are legends narrated to an audience with the visual exaggerated and stylised.

Its the size of the salt flats that weighs against them being anything other than the oceans.

*sigh*

It is a geological impossibility. Even if the water just magically disappeared, every living thing would simply be dead due to a lack of oxygen.

There are two ways to remove the oceans through non-magic. A drop in global temperatures leading to glaciation and a drop in sea level--if complete, the water has to go somewhere and the earth would be an iceball. Or evaporation. If it is evaporation, there has to be enough heat to vaporize the oceans. Let that sink in. The world would have been poached, or maybe simply steam cleaned.

No no. That salt flat is a shallow lake bed. Lake Eyre is a good candidate and many of the surrounding lakes are also dry salt flats that flood periodically to form saline hell pits.

[Alyrium Denryle]

Ghetto Edit:

If I am right regarding the location of those massive salt flats, the fertile area that became infertile could be the Coongie Lakes wetland area, which covers around 2 million hectares.

[bilateralrope]

The only evidence is the salt flats, and that isn't really conclusive. The crows area was muddy and had been farmland in the past. Salt intrusion into aquifers seems more likely.

Besides, mad max films are like 300. They are legends narrated to an audience with the visual exaggerated and stylised.

Its the size of the salt flats that weighs against them being anything other than the oceans.

What information do we have about the size of the salt flats ?

[The Romulan Republic]

As I recall, based on both the IMDB page I linked to and the film, that it would take upwards of 160 days to cross them.

[The Romulan Republic]

Oh, and since I just realized I fucked up the link in the OP, here it is, corrected:

www.imdb.com/title/tt1392190/faq?ref_=tt_faq_sm

[bilateralrope]

As I recall, based on both the IMDB page I linked to and the film, that it would take upwards of 160 days to cross them.

I remember that part from the film. The characters did not know what they would find after 160 days riding across them. Some thought they would find something, others through they would only find salt.

We don't know what the truth is.

[The Romulan Republic]

Max thought they wouldn't find anything.

However, presuming Max has never tried it himself, he might just be going off of rumours or guesswork. Perhaps the oceans have retreated/shrunk somewhat but not entirely evaporated, and Max just never traveled far enough to confirm it for himself and lacks the scientific knowledge to know the oceans have to still be their (he is, after all, a borderline delusional ex-cop/nomadic warrior, not a scientist).

[Darmalus]

If environmental collapse increased desertification, then it's possible Australia is nothing but solid desert with a handful of oasis now. In that scenario you could drive forever and if you don't get lucky you'd never encounter anything but more desert.

Australia is a big place, so I could see someone driving around the desert for years without hitting the ocean (not driving a straight line, obviously) and becoming convinced that the entire world has dried up.

[Alyrium Denryle]

As I recall, based on both the IMDB page I linked to and the film, that it would take upwards of 160 days to cross them.

You can cross Australia on foot in less time than that. And it cannot be the ocean, because you end up with a little problem called "The Continental Shelf". If the ocean retreated, it would also not be a salt flat.

[The Romulan Republic]

So like I said, Max didn't know what he was talking about.

[gigabytelord]

Uh... guys... no one in the movie ever said that it would take more or less than 160 days to cross the salt. In fact I'll quote directly from the movie I have streaming on G+ right now.

Furiosa: "I've talked with the others." Pause and then she shakes her head. "We're never going to have a better chance to make it across the salt." She pauses again. "If we leave the rig here and load the motorcycles up with as much as we can, we can maybe ride for a hundred and sixty days."

The only place where it's stated that it'd take one hundred sixty days is by Max as he's trying to convince her to turn around, it's also clear he's making a bet and not for certain.
So we have no idea if it would actually take more or less than one hundred sixty days. It's made clear that one hundred sixty days is referring to how much fuel they were carrying not any definable distance they might actually know.

[The Romulan Republic]

Max, as you noted, suggests that they couldn't cross in 160 days.

But of course their is, as I said, the possibility that Max was wrong.

[Zeropoint]

I just want to know how the heck you carry 160 days' worth of gas on a motorcycle.

Let's math!

My Buell Blast got about 50 miles to the gallon. About. We'll go with that because it's a round number. Let's assume you can go 75 MPH on a salt flat. Let's further assume a ten-hour riding day (leaving eight hours for sleep and six hours for cooking, pooping, setting/breaking camp, maintenance, etc.). That gives us 75 * 10 * 160 / 50 = 2400 gallons. Per motorcycle. This is over seven tons of gasoline; the first 2400 gallon tank I found online is 150" by 90" by 53" and weighs 680 pounds empty.

I can't even picture someone carrying fuel for 16 days on a motorcycle. 1.6 days is more believable--that would only be around 150 pounds.

[jwl]

*sigh*

It is a geological impossibility. Even if the water just magically disappeared, every living thing would simply be dead due to a lack of oxygen.

Erm.. no.

4:08-4:54
The oxygen would last 1000s of years. In those 1000s of years, plants will be able to grow on the new land area that has just opened up where all of the oceans left.

There are two ways to remove the oceans through non-magic. A drop in global temperatures leading to glaciation and a drop in sea level--if complete, the water has to go somewhere and the earth would be an iceball. Or evaporation. If it is evaporation, there has to be enough heat to vaporize the oceans. Let that sink in. The world would have been poached, or maybe simply steam cleaned.

How about it sinking into the mantle? Why does it need to be non-magic, anyway?