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Related: About this forumThe 'great dying': rapid warming caused largest extinction event ever, report says
Source: The Guardian
The 'great dying': rapid warming caused largest extinction event ever, report says
Up to 96% of all marine species and more than two-thirds of terrestrial species perished 252m years ago
Oliver Milman in New York
Thu 6 Dec 2018 19.00 GMT
Rapid global warming caused the largest extinction event in the Earths history, which wiped out the vast majority of marine and terrestrial animals on the planet, scientists have found.
The mass extinction, known as the great dying, occurred around 252m years ago and marked the end of the Permian geologic period. The study of sediments and fossilized creatures show the event was the single greatest calamity ever to befall life on Earth, eclipsing even the extinction of the dinosaurs 65m years ago.
Up to 96% of all marine species perished while more than two-thirds of terrestrial species disappeared. The cataclysm was so severe it wiped out most of the planets trees, insects, plants, lizards and even microbes.
Scientists have theorized causes for the extinction, such as a giant asteroid impact. But US researchers now say they have pinpointed the demise of marine life to a spike in Earths temperatures, warning that present-day global warming will also have severe ramifications for life on the planet.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/dec/06/global-warming-extinction-report-the-great-dying
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Related: Temperature-dependent hypoxia explains biogeography and severity of end-Permian marine mass extinction (Science)
marylandblue
(12,344 posts)We'll just be a smudge in the geological record and millions of years from now, future geologists will have the advantage our example to warn them.
delisen
(6,039 posts)after driving on highways?
'Are some species already gone forever?
Javaman
(62,442 posts)The Insect Apocalypse Is Here
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/27/magazine/insect-apocalypse.html
delisen
(6,039 posts)But better the the terror of knowledge than the complacency of ignorance.