How Did the ‘Great Dying’ Kill 96 Percent of Earth’s Ocean-Dwelling Creatures?
Researchers say the prehistoric mass extinction event could mirror contemporary—and future—devastation sparked by global warming
By Meilan Solly
December 11, 2018 12:54PM
Some 252 million years ago, an unparalleled mass extinction event transformed Earth into a desolate wasteland. Known colloquially as “The Great Dying,†the Permian-Triassic extinction wiped out nearly 90 percent of the planet’s species, including about 96 percent of ocean dwellers and 70 percent of terrestrial animals.
Scientists have long debated the exact causes of this die off, alternately blaming acid rain released by volcanic eruptions, mercury produced by basalt plateaus known as the Siberian Traps, and even incredibly high temperatures. But a new study published in the journal Science proposes a different culprit: global warming, a phenomenon the researchers say deprived the oceans of oxygen and left marine creatures to suffocate en masse.
Read more:
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-did-great-dying-kill-96-percent-earths-ocean-dwelling-creatures-180970992/#Z7tetvSSR7X4KEDo.99
