Arthropleurus Research Paper

Was it the confluence of events outlined in this review (including the prevailing global climate, volcanism), or are some of these factors secondary? For example, we have little idea of the mass of methane hydrates in the Late Permian ocean floor. These and many other questions will need to be addressed before we fully resolve the cause of the end-Permian mass extinction. However, there is a growing realisation that flood basalt volcanism has the potential to be the primary trigger for mass extinctions, rather than meteorite impacts or other external

Shifting from the end of the Permian period 250 million years ago into the next era, the Triassic period occurred between 250 and 199 million years ago and was know for further diversifying life on land. After the Permian period, the Triassic period was largely successful in adapting and evolving, as the world was going through many changes. The land mass known as Pangea began its separation, which would be completed in the Jurassic period. The climate was relatively more severe during this time, with hotter summers and colder winters, but because of the warmer atmosphere, there were no polar ice caps at this time. Towards the center of Pangea, it was mostly a dry desert climate. As for life on earth, most of the marine life had been wiped

The current locations of the continents and their modern-day inhabitants, including humans, can be traced to this period. The era began on a big down note, catching the tail end of the Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event at the close of the Cretaceous period that wiped out the remaining non-avian dinosaurs. The global climate of the early portion of the Cenozoic Period was much warmer than it is today, and the overall climate of the Earth was much more consistent regardless of proximity to the

The Cambrian era which can also be known as the Paleozoic era was a result of the period known as “Snowball Earth” that took place over 700 million years ago. The earth had frozen over for more than 200 million years, covering the entire surface with ice a mile long thick in length, killing off all species except for tiny micro organisms, but finally the ice layer on the earth exploded. The layer exploded from the volcanic activity deep beneath the icy surface, but when it finally did explode, it caused an eruption of an enormous amount of carbon dioxide, creating what they call a “green house” effect. Creating the water to become generously oxygenated for life to begin again on earth, but this time, only in the water.

The fifth, and one of the largest and most well known extinctions in Earths history was the Cretaceous period, where many species, including the dinosaurs, pterosaurs, and large marine reptiles, disappeared. This period was widely known as the K-T period, K being the traditional abbreviation for the Cretaceous Period derived from the German name Kreidezeit, and T being the abbreviation for the Tertiary Period (a historical term for the period of time now covered by the Paleogene and Neogene periods). It was a relatively warm climate and had high global sea levels. The oceans and seas were populated with now extinct marine reptiles, ammonites and rudists, and the land by dinosaurs. At the same time, new groups of mammals and birds as well as flowering plants appeared. The early part of the Cretaceous showed a cooling trend that had been

The dinosaurs were abundant at the end of the Cretaceous Period. There was no gradual decline of the dinosaurs. During the time where there was no light, footprints of land dinosaurs were discovered. The footprints showed that the dinosaurs were running away from something, more specifically a tsunami. Scientists also found fossilized fish. The fish’s gills were filled with the glass created from the explosion. Because the fish’s gills were filled with glass, means that the fish were alive and swimming and inhaled the glass particles. The fish were the first known victims of the impact. Fish were crushed under the sediment that the tsunamis picked up and brought towards land such as the Hells Creek Formation. After the whole ordeal finished, there were a few dinosaurs still on the earth. The living dinosaurs were few and far between. Even though a few dinosaurs were still alive, more than ninety percent of all of them died in the inescapable night that followed the impact. It is believed that the only reason some smaller dinosaurs survived is because they lived in habitable areas that did not suffer extreme cooling like those that inhabited the equatorial

(D) For instance, the two-tonnes weighting Diprotodon happily holds the title of largest marsupial ever. In size and form it looked superficially like a modern rhinoceros, but the Diprotodon seems to have had a social lifestyle more like that of an elephant, another mammal with which it shares anatomical similarities. What the Diprotodon most resembles, however, is exactly what it is: an vast

The Cambrian Explosion, which happened 541 million years ago, marks a date when a huge number of complex, multi-celled organisms began developing all over the world. This burst of different species eventually led to the development of most well known creatures today. Scientists used the huge number of new fossils to determine a date through radioactive or carbon-40 dating. However, like most good things this huge outburst had to come to an end. A huge event nearing the end of the Paleozoic Era is the Permian Extinction. 251 million years ago marks the end of the Paleozoic Era with a bang: wiping out 90 percent of all earth's organisms. Theorized to be cause by acidic rain and volcanic fumes, the Permian Extinction is known by some scientists as the largest murder mystery ever. Through an even larger increase in fossils than before, scientists yet again determined the date of these fossils by using radioactive or carbon-40 dating. As the Paleozoic Era is nearing its end the next era is right on the

The Precambrian is the name given for the first super eon of Earth’s history (Mary Bagley, Accessed: 20th Aug 2016). This era itself has been recorded to be about seven-eighths of the entire earth’s history. This era stretches across from 4 Billion years ago up until only 543 Million years ago (Mya) which shows how large and substantial this era was. Precambrian itself refers to the time before the Cambrian period. It also refers to the entire period of time before the formation of the oldest rocks with recognisable fossils.

Approximately 65.5 million years ago most of the planet’s land animals and many of the animals in the seas went extinct. As far as we know this was caused by a massive asteroid colliding with earth in what is now the Chicxulub crater in the Yucatan peninsula. The collision is thought to have caused tsunamis and clouds of hot dust were sent into the atmosphere and probably started huge wild fires. Many of the animals that survived all of that would later die when the sun was blocked out for months or possibly years causing temperatures to drop and plants to die.

The jurassic period was the second period of the mesozoic era and happened between 199 and 145 million years ago. The jurassic period is when the gigantic continent ( pangea ) split apart and into the other continents. This period is when the herbivores (plant eaters) came to existence. oceans full of fish, squid, and

The fifth period was the Carboniferous Period during this period there was large amounts of coal deposits underground. Also the effects of having various amounts of vegetation grow caused the decrease of carbon dioxide levels. Also the predatory species Amphibians were growing in size and diversity, the species resembled modern day crocodiles. The climate at the time was humid and hot and had a vast amount of plant life.

I have decided you should visit the Neogene time period. In order to access this period in history, set your clock to the Phanerozoic Eon and the Cenozoic Era. This time period is split into two epochs: Pliocene and Miocene. The Neogene period began 23 million years ago and ended about 1.8 million years ago. This time period is approximately 21.2 million years long.

Discovered by Charles Walcott in 1909, The Burgess Shale is an example of conservation Lagerstätte (Briggs, 2014). Dating back to 505 million years ago, it provides fossils of marine organisms dating back to the middle Cambrian period, not long after the Cambrian explosion, a period of time when organisms

Ordovician Period: During the Ordovician Life expanded in diversity tremendously. There were extensive reef complexes in the tropics. The early Ordovician was thought to be quite warm, at least in the tropics. Despite the tremendous expansion of life during the Ordovician Period there was a devastating mass extinction of organisms at the end of the Ordovician. This extinction was one of the greatest mass extinction ever recorded in Earth History with over 100 families going extinct. One of the reasons is that it was the breakup and movement of the large super continent into many fragments. However, modern biology teaches us that this would not likely lead to extinctions, rather it would provide additional niche space for groups to expand into.