Humanity has been around for about 200,000 years and has experienced a massive amount of change already. From our starting point in Africa, we've managed to colonize the entire world at this point and even reached as far away as the moon. The Bering land bridge that once connected Asia and North America with one another has long since been submerged beneath the ocean, so if humanity exists for another billion years, then what additional changes or events can we reasonably expect to happen?
Well, starting at about ten thousand years into the future, we will encounter the year 10,000 problem. Software that encodes the AD calendar year as a four digit decimal will no longer be able to encode dates starting at 10,000 AD. It will be a real Y10K, and in addition, if current trends of globalization continues, then human genetic variation will no longer be regionalised by this point, meaning that all human genetic traits like skin color and hair color
will be evenly distributed across the world.
In 20,000 years from now future languages will only contain one out of every 100 core vocabulary words of their present-day counterparts. Essentially no modern language will be recognizable by this point.
In 50,000 years earth will enter into another glacial period regardless of current global warming effects. Niagara Falls will have completely eroded away into Lake Erie and ceased to exist and due to glacial rebound and erosion. The many lakes of the Canadian Shield will also cease to exist. Also, one full day on Earth will have increased by one full second requiring a leap second to be added to every day.
In 100,000 years for now the stars and constellations visible from Earth will be completely different than they are from today. Also, this is the estimated amount of time that it would take to fully terraform Mars into a habitable planet similar to the Earth.
In 250,000 years, the Loihi Volcano will rise above the surface and form a new island in the Hawaiian island chain.
In 500,000 years, from now Earth will have likely been struck by an asteroid measuring one kilometer in diameter unless humanity artificially prevents it. Additionally, the Badlands National Park in South Dakota will have completely eroded away by this point.
In 950,000 years, the meteor crater in Arizona, which is considered the best preserved meteorite impact crater on Earth will have completely eroded away. In 1 million years, Earth will have likely experienced a super volcanic eruption large enough to erupt 3200 cubic kilometers of ash, an event similar to the Toba super eruption 70,000 years ago that almost made humanity extinct. In addition, the star Betelgeuse will have exploded into a supernova by this point and the explosion will be easily visible from Earth even during the daytime.
In 2,000,000 years, the Grand Canyon will have eroded even more significantly;slightly deepening, but it will mostly widen out into a large Valley. If humanity has colonized two different planets in the solar system and the universe by this point and the populations on each planet have remained separate from one another, then humanity will havelikely evolved into various different species at this point. These different human species will be adapted to their different planets and may not be aware of the other human species located in the rest of the universe.
In 10,000,000, years a large part of East Africa will split off from the rest of the continent. A new ocean basin will form between the two sides, and Africa will be divided into two separate land masses. In 50,000,000 years, Phobos, a moon of Mars, will collide with the planet causing massive destruction there. Back on Earth, the remaining part of Africa will collide with Eurasia and close off the Mediterranean Sea forever. A new mountain range similar in size to the Himalayas will form between the now connected land masses and may possibly produce a mountain that is higher than Mount Everest.
In 60,000,000 years, the Canadian Rockies will have completely eroded into a flat plain. In 80,000,000 years from now all of the Hawaiian Islands will have sunk back beneath the ocean, and in 100,000,000 years, the earth will have likely been struck by an asteroid similar to the event that wiped out the dinosaurs 66,000,000 years ago, assuming of course that it isn't artificially prevented. In addition, at this point in the future the rings around the planet Saturn will no longer exist.
In 240,000,000 years, Earth will have finally completed one full orbit around the galactic center from its current position. In 250,000,000 years, all of the continents on Earth will have fused together to form a supercontinent similar to Pangaea. A possible name for this continent is Pangaea Ultima and it will probably look something sort of like this image. Then, in 400,000,000 - 500,000,000 years the supercontinent will break apart once again.
In 500,000,000 - 600,000,000 years, a deadly gamma ray burst will likely occur within six-and-a-half thousand light years of Earth. If conditions are right, or wrong, if you prefer, the burst could strike Earth and severely damage the ozone layer which would cause a mass extinction event. In 600,000,000 years, the moon will have moved far enough away from Earth that total solar eclipses will no longer be possible after this date. In addition, the sun's increasing luminosity will cause severe effects on Earth. Plate tectonic movements will stop at this point, and carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will decrease dramatically. C3 photosynthesis will no longer be possible at this point and 99% of current plant life on Earth will die.
In 800,000,000 years, CO2 levels will have continued to fall to the point where C4 photosynthesis will no longer be possible. Free oxygen and ozone disappear from the atmosphere, and all complex life on Earth will die.
Finally in 1 billion years, the sun's luminosity will have increased 10% from its current state. The surface temperature on Earth will rise to a sweltering 47 degrees Celsius on average. The atmosphere will turn into a moist greenhouse, and the world's oceans will evaporate away. Pockets of liquid water may still exist at the Earth's poles, however, which means that they will probably become the last bastion of life on our planet. A lot will change over the course of a billion years but a lot has changed in the last billion years as well.
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