Causes Of Mass Extinction

8. The periods in which there were mass extinctions are Permian – volcanic eruptions which spewed lava and put CO2 into the air which warmed the climate an estimated 6 degrees Celsius. The resulting of oxygen deficiency. And Cretaceous – asteroid or comet

“The Great Dying” was the largest mass extinction ever recorder in the Earth’s history. It was the death of approximately 90% of all living species, such as, the trilobites, sea scorpions, and coral dating back to 254 million years ago (Randall). It is suspected that the eruption of many volcanoes in the Siberian Traps was the fallout of these species because the eruption killed off almost all plant life, leaving nothing for the animals alive. However, researchers have found new evidence to suggest that acid rain was the cause for this destruction (Randall).

The main dinosaurs that died off were Sauropod dinosaurs, long necked, four legged dinosaurs, and stegosauridae, class holding Stegosaurus. Other species that died include ammonites, similar to the living animals called nautilus, many marine reptiles, and bivalves, relatable to modern mollusca. Not much is known about this extinction. It is mainly linked to climate change. So far, no connection to volcanic activity or an asteroid has been made. This extinction gave way to the Cretaceous Period.

The Cretaceous – Tertiary mass extinction, commonly referred to as the KT extinction, occurred 65 million years ago. As the most recant extinction event it is more easily studied as more evidence has been preserved than for the earlier extinctions. This extinction is the most commonly known, as it is the extinction of the dinosaurs, but the smallest scale mass extinction with only 76% of species dying out.

The Permian mass extinction, that struck about 250 million years ago, caused a mass extinction of reef and shallow water communities. Groups that lived on the seafloor and filtered organic material from the water for nourishment suffered the greatest extinction. Those include corals, shelled in-vertebrates, and a variety of sea lilies. Others marine groups includes trilobites, zooplankton and snails. Even though these species died in the water, living organisms on land were not much better off. Terrestrial vertebrates and insects both experienced a big loss in each of their groups. Also suffering a big loss was the insect family due to the lack of plant life and food. Seventy Eight percent of reptiles became extinct and sixty seven percent of the amphibian family became extinct during this time period.

The Permian (alongside the Paleozoic) finished with the Permian– Triassic annihilation occasion, the biggest mass eradication in Earth's history, in which almost 90% of marine species and 70% of earthbound species kicked the bucket out. It would bring great into the Triassic for life to recoup from this catastrophe. Recuperation from the Permian– Triassic termination occasion was extended; ashore, biological communities took 30 million years to recover.

The cretaceous-tertiary (KT) boundary extinction happened approximately sixty five million years ago. Sixty to eighty percent of all living species became extinct at this boundary (Raup 1988). The KT extinction was indeed a mass extinction event. Mass extinctions are periods in Earth's history when extremely large numbers of species die out simultaneously or within a limited time frame. The most severe mass extinction ever occurred at the end of the Permian period when 96% of all species died out. The K-T mass extinction obliterated almost all the large vertebrates on Earth, on land, at sea, and in the air (all dinosaurs, plesiosaurs, mosasaurs, and pterosaurs) suddenly became extinct at the end of the Cretaceous Period. At the same time, most

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

Our planet is extremely diverse. There are about 8.7 million species worldwide and that's excluding bacteria. Unfortunately, scientist say we are currently living through the sixth mass extinction, the last one being sixty-five million years ago when the dinosaurs disappeared. But what is causing this mass extinction? One word: humans.

There have been 5 mass extinctions in Earth’s existence. The names of these are (from most recent to least recent): Cretaceous–Paleogene, Triassic–Jurassic, Permian–Triassic, Late Devonian, and Ordovician–Silurian. The most well known mass extinction, Cretaceous-Paleogene, was theorized to have occurred through a massive comet or asteroid impact. A cold winter created by the impacting object forbid any plants and plankton to carry out photosynthesis. During this time, about three quarters of all life went extinct. This happened approximately 66 million years ago. Most life forms went extinct, with some ectothermic species and tetrapods weighing less than 25 pounds. Although everything seemed to look hopeless, adaptive radiation caused evolution

Ever since the history of Earth has been studied using fossil records, extinctions have always been the object of fascination and interest, particularly the mass extinctions that occurred throughout Earth's history. A mass extinction can be caused by disruptive global environmental changes, where large numbers of species have become extinct (Urry et al. 2008). There have been five major extinctions documented based on fossil records over the past 500 million years, but the Cretaceous (KT boundary extinction – a name that meant it began the Tertiary era) extinction caught a lot of

There have been five well known extinctions on this earth. The one most well known is the mass extinction that ended the dinosaurs. Mass extinction is often described as the elimination of a large number of species in a short period of time. Despite what many think, the elimination of species is almost commonplace at this point. The Earth is currently in the middle of a sixth mass extinction, and it’s been caused by the human race.

Habitat destruction, deforestation, ozone depletion, global warming, and poaching. These actions and ecological happenings are creating a world where animals are going extinct at rapid rates. Our world is on the brink of what scientists believe is the sixth mass extinction. Unlike the five previous mass extinction, the latest one killing a majority of the dinosaurs, the main causes for this current extinction are anthropogenic reasons, not natural events.

Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big Five,” that have wiped out at least 50% of the species living at those times. The most well known mass extinction of the Big Five, with the decimation of every species of non-avian dinosaur, is the Cretaceous-Paleogene

Rapid climate change also ends up on the suspect list of possible dinosaur extinction events. During the latter part of the Cretaceous Period continents broke up causing volcanoes to erupt and fill the sky with gas and ash resulting in a drastic climate change (“Dinosaurs Climate Change and Biodiversity”). The shifting of continents changed the Earth’s landscape, altering weather patterns and overall climate (“Dinosaur Extinction Theories”). Also, over a long period of time, climate gradually changed. Ocean habits changed, temperatures grew much more extreme causing scorching summers and frigid winters (Norell, Dingus, and Gaffney). Radical temperature changes like these led to a green-house effect, making life for the dinosaurs a lot