All articles tagged with #mass extinction
New research indicates that dinosaurs in North America were still thriving just before the asteroid impact 66 million years ago, with fossils from the last moments of the Cretaceous period showing diverse and large species like Tyrannosaurus rex, Triceratops, and Alamosaurus, challenging the idea that dinosaurs were in decline before their extinction.
New evidence suggests that a comet explosion over Earth around 13,000 years ago caused the Younger Dryas cooling period, leading to mass extinctions and the disappearance of the Clovis culture, supported by impact markers like shocked quartz and nanodiamonds found at archaeological sites.
The asteroid that caused the dinosaurs' extinction 66 million years ago was about 7 miles wide, leaving behind a massive crater in Mexico and a layer of iridium-rich rock, but little of its physical remains have been found. Its impact triggered global fires, tsunamis, and a 'nuclear winter' effect, leading to the extinction of about 75% of Earth's species.
Approximately 34 million years ago, a massive meteorite impact created the Popigai crater in Siberia, transforming graphite into industrial diamonds and contributing to a global cooling event that led to the Eocene–Oligocene extinction, with impacts and volcanic activity significantly reshaping Earth's biodiversity and climate.
Human activity has significantly accelerated CO2 emissions, risking a sixth mass extinction by overwhelming Earth's natural carbon cycle, similar to past catastrophic events like the Permian extinction. Urgent action to reduce emissions and adopt sustainable practices is crucial to prevent irreversible environmental collapse.
The article discusses the potential for human-induced climate change to trigger a sixth major mass extinction, drawing parallels with past catastrophic events like the Permian extinction caused by massive volcanic eruptions and CO2 overloads, emphasizing that the rapid rate of current CO2 emissions could push Earth beyond its capacity to recover, leading to irreversible damage to global biodiversity.
Scientists have uncovered detailed fossils from southern Africa that reveal the rich ecosystems just before Earth's largest mass extinction at the end of the Permian period, providing new insights into which species thrived and which vanished, and offering a broader understanding of global extinction patterns.
An international team of paleontologists has uncovered a rich collection of Permian fossils in Africa, providing new insights into the species that lived before the Earth's largest mass extinction, the Great Dying, about 252 million years ago, and helping to better understand the evolution and resilience of life on Earth.
An international team of paleontologists has uncovered well-preserved fossils from Africa's Permian period, providing new insights into the animals that thrived before the Earth's largest mass extinction, with findings including new species of dicynodonts, gorgonopsians, and temnospondyls, which help understand survival and extinction patterns across Pangea.
Research by SMU paleontologists has reconstructed Louisiana's ancient marine life, highlighting the impact of the asteroid that caused the dinosaurs' extinction, evidenced by seismic megaripples and fossils, and revealing rapid mammal evolution afterward, thus providing a comprehensive timeline of Earth's major biological transitions.
A study reveals that volcanic CO2 emissions caused rapid ocean acidification during the Triassic-Jurassic extinction 201 million years ago, leading to the decimation of marine life, and warns that current human activities could trigger similar or worse impacts on today's oceans.
Scientists have confirmed that a rapid drop in ocean pH caused by massive CO2 release from volcanic activity led to a major extinction event 201 million years ago, highlighting the destructive impact of sudden ocean acidification and serving as a warning for current climate change driven by human emissions.
A new study suggests that large basal structures in Earth's mantle, called BLOBS, are likely to move slowly over time, which could influence the location of massive volcanic eruptions and potentially impact future mass extinctions. Researchers reconstructed Earth's mantle dynamics over billions of years, finding that BLOBS drift at about one centimeter per year, affecting mantle plumes and volcanic activity.
The article explores ten of the most challenging times to be alive in Earth's history, including events like the ocean losing oxygen, massive insects, giant dinosaurs, and catastrophic extinctions caused by asteroid impacts and volcanic eruptions, highlighting the planet's tumultuous past and the resilience of life.
Scientists have discovered that the prolonged super greenhouse conditions after the Permian–Triassic mass extinction were caused by the loss of tropical forests, which disrupted Earth's organic carbon cycle and kept the planet in a hothouse state for millions of years, highlighting the importance of tropical biomes in climate regulation.