Permian Mass Extinction Causes

Essay On Permian Mass Extinction
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 warming of the Earth's climate, the changes of waves in the oceans and the increased amount of
carbon dioxide from volcanic activity and Siberian traps caused this mass extinction. Oxygen on
Earth is essential for all living things to survive on Earth. Without oxygen all living things would
parish. When the carbon dioxide levels rose, the oxygen levels dropped substantially. How do we ...
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The initial stage was thought to have been a deadly drop in sea level that led to a loss of habitat
stability. The second stage would possibly have been the volcanic eruptions and the release of
carbon dioxide into the air causing oxygen levels to decrease. The final stage would possibly have
been the rise of the sea levels causing massive floods and destroying near shore habitats. Having all
of these three stages at one time would have caused this massive kind of extinction. However, if
only one of these stages had happened this extinction would not have been nearly this massive.
Studies show that even though this mass extinction may have seemed like a fast–moving process, it
took over a million years to
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Persuasive Essay On Climate Change
One topic that biologists are most interested in is the patterns of life on Earth. One of the ultimate
questions for a biologist to answer is how do new species arise, and for what reasons do they
disappear? Biologists all over the world are searching for answers regarding the rapidly diminishing
amounts, and in some cases, extinction of many of Earth's species. Scientists are coming out with
results that show current anthropogenic climate change is the main culprit for Earth's continuing loss
of biodiversity. With estimations showing future continuing rapid decreases and losses in
biodiversity, climate change is likely leading Earth into its sixth mass extinction. Across history
there have been many cycles of change in Earth's climate, whether it be cooling or warming, but
today's climate change differs greatly. Humans have influenced the environment so greatly that we
are experiencing anthropogenic climate change. The combination of human activities such as habitat
destruction, overfishing, and pollution has multiplied the problem and is causing a startling decline
in Earth's biodiversity. Biodiversity, the totality of Earth's species, ecosystems, and genetic diversity,
is at great risk if temperatures keep increasing. If global warming passes approximately 3.6 degrees
Fahrenheit, the IPCC concludes that of the species assessed, 20–30 percent will have a high risk of
extinction during the next century (Pearson 19). Many of Earth's species will find it difficult to keep

Permo-Triassic Mass Extinction Essay
The Permo–Triassic mass extinction: what died out
LIFE IN THE SEA
Fusulinid foraminifera disappeared completely, although other foram groups suffered much lower
levels of extinction. Palaeozoic corals (Rugosa and Tabulata) also vanished. Stenolaemate bryozoans
and articulate brachiopods suffered near–complete extinction. The extant echinoderm groups all
experienced severe bottlenecks at this time: only two lineages of crinoids and echinoids made it into
the Mesozoic. Several echinoderm groups (e.g. Blastoidea) suffered complete extinction.
Fusilinid foraminifera (right) were unicellular animals, ranging in size from 0.1–8mm. Benthonic or
planktonic forms with a considerable disparity in morphology. Peaked in the Early Carboniferous,
already in prolonged decline throughout Permian, and the final 10% died out during the PTME.
The non–fusilinid foraminifera (far right) included five suborders. The different suborders were
affected differently by the extinction: the Allogromiina are poorly known, the Textulariina lost a
third of genera; Miololina lost half of the genera; Lagenina and Involutina showed dramatic increase
in post extinction radiation. Sponges (Porifera), the basal animal group (left), composed of an
internal skeleton of spicules of calcite or silica, and forming reefs. There were ... Show more content
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They were filled with gas or light fluid and could adjust their buoyancy. They include three orders:
theGoniatitida were the bulk of Permian ammonoids, but were in decline through the Permian, and
all but one died out at the PTME; the Prolecanitida were a small order which was declining
throughout Permian, and only just survived across the P–T boundary, before dying out completely in
the early Triassic; and the Ceratitida diversified in the Permian, before being decimated by the
extinction event, and then reappearing in the Early Triassic, and radiating to become the dominant
Triassic

Phanerozoic Eras
The earth has been around for 4.6 billion years, and over this time 99.9% of all of the species that
have existed on earth have gone extinct. (Barnosky, et al) Palaeontologists characterize mass
extinctions as times in Earth's history when the Earth loses more than three–quarters of its species in
a geologically short period of time. This has occurred 5 times over the past 540 million years, and
scientists are now suggesting it is happening a 6th time. We are in the midst of a sixth mass
extinction that has the potential to wipe out many species of importance, and humans have a
profound impact on it.
Essentially, there have been 5 mass extinctions during the history of life on earth. (Wake,
Vredenburg) And, the time the earth has existed has been divided up into eons, eras, periods, and
epochs based on the geologic strata of that age. (Impey) There are two eons, the Pre–cambrian and
the Phanerozoic. In the Pre–cambrian there are 3 eras, the Haydean, Archean, and the Proterozoic. In
the Phanerozoic, there are the Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Cenozoic Eras. In the Paleozoic, there are
seven periods, the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and
Permian. Then for Mesozoic there are three periods, Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous. In the ... Show
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In this extinction, approximately 22% of marine families and about 57% of all marine genera went
extinct, this including nearly all jawless fishes. Approximately 3/4 of all species on earth went
extinct in this extinction (BBC Big Five Mass Extinction Events). A global cooling event, after
bolide impacts, could have been the cause behind this extinction, as warm water taxa were mainly
affected by this extinction (Wake, Vredenburg). This extinction event may have actually been a
series of extinctions over several million years instead of one single extinction event (BBC Big Five
Mass Extinction

Evolution And Catastrophes
Patterns of Vertebrate Evolution and Catastrophes
Catastrophic events, such as mass extinctions, floods, earthquakes, disease, and more recently war,
are all events that have shaped vertebrate evolution through time. In prehistoric times, mass
extinctions have been caused by asteroid and meteor impacts, which can cause serious
environmental damage by ejecting dust and debris (Carpenter and Bishop, 2009). The stress from
the impact could trigger additional earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, and would further eradicate
living species from the globe following the direct impact of an asteroid or meteor (Carpenter and
Bishop, 2009). With recent research in the Deccan plateau of India following the KPg extinction, the
role of volcanism in mass ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The phenology of vertebrates was greatly altered by the mass extinctions and catastrophes that have
occurred in history and still have an effect on vertebrates today. The main hypothesis for the global
climate change following mass extinctions, particularly the Cretaceous–Paleogene (KPg), is black
carbon spread throughout the globe and altered solar radiation to create a system of global cooling
(Kaiho et al., 2016). The cooling of the Earth's temperature created a sudden drop in precipitation
and a 50–60% decrease in sunlight following the impact of the asteroid (Kaiho et al., 2016).
Research shows that following the impact of the KPg extinction precipitation has substantially
decreased and depends on the latitude (Kaiho 2016). The Late Ordovician mass extinction was the
first of the "Big Five" and can be clearly connected with climate change (Finnegan et al., 2012). The
Late Ordovician mass extinction can be explained by the climactic common cause hypothesis, which
states that climate cooling has a direct influence on extinction rates by forcing tropical taxa to live in
climates that did not match their niche (Finnegan et al., 2012). In a research study done on the
effects of climate change in the Late Ordovician, patterns of thermal tolerance range indicators show
cooling and habitat loss as an important driver

Dinosaurs Extinction
You're on a weekend adventure at the Omaha Zoo. Your hopes are high to regard the roaring lions,
see the sea lions, and look at the lush plant life throughout the zoo. However, as you look around,
you realize that the animal enclosures are barren:wastelands of cement and trash. Then you see a
small sign that reads, "Extinct." You discover that ninety–five percent of animal and plant life that
were once main attractions of the zoo no longer encompass the earth. Extinction is a reality that
faces us today, and it is becoming even more prevalent as we progress into the future. Extinction
might seem like a far–off problem for [Noah's flood joke?] science fiction to deal with, but it isn't;
and it is important to know how and why extinction happens in our world today. Human beings play
a larger role in extinctions that what might be obvious at first glance: examining extinctions of the
past and present allows us to predict our own potential demise.
As Queen said... AOBTD
As far as extinctions of the past go, dinosaurs are the best known example of worldwide devastation
of a single species. The origin of the dinosaur destruction that marks the end of the Cretaceous era is
a scientific enigma. Although scientists are uncertain of the exact cause of this mass extinction,
according to columnist Ker Than in a 2013 issue of National Geographic, there are just a few viable
hypotheses. One point scientists are sure on, is that the reason for this mass extinction event is a
natural

How Did the Dinosaurs Die and Will It Affect Humans in the...
Four and a half billion years ago, the debris and dust left from the formation of the sun coalesced to
form our home planet. 3.5 billion years ago, the first living organisms appeared on Earth. About 230
million years ago, Dinosaurs diverged from their Archosaurs ancestors during the middle to late
Triassic period. For 160 million years they have dominated our planet. They are dubbed the most
successful species to have lived on Earth. However, 65 million years ago, the most recent mass
extinction seemed to have caused all of them to die–off. What caused the demise of the dinosaurs
and 60% of life on Earth at the time? How did it affect life on Earth afterwards? Are all of the
Dinosaurs dead? Will this happen to humans in the near future? ... Show more content on
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None was found. Luis Alvarez was a Nobel Prize–winning physicist, inventor and pioneer in the
field of radiation and nuclear research. He and his son, noted geologist Walter Alvarez, were
conducting research in Italy when they discovered a centimeter–thick layer of iridium–enriched clay
at the K–T boundary. Iridium is rare on earth, but more common in space. The Alvarezes published
their findings in 1981, postulating that the thin layer of iridium was deposited following the impact
of a large meteor, comet or asteroid with the earth. Furthermore, this bolide impact (the meteor,
comet or asteroid colliding with the earth's surface) could have caused the extinction of the
dinosaurs. At the time, the Alvarez theory was so farfetched from prevailing hypotheses that it was
derided. Slowly, other scientists began finding iridium evidence at various places around the globe
that corroborated the Alvarez theory. There was, however, no smoking gun in the form of an impact
site. Then in 1991, a massive meteor crater 110 miles in diameter was discovered on the edge of the
Yucatán Peninsula, extending into the Gulf of Mexico. The Chicxulub Crater, as it was dubbed, was
named for a nearby village. Scientists believe the bolide that formed it was roughly 6 miles in
diameter, struck the earth at 40,000 miles per hour and released 2 million times more

The Permian-Triassic Extinction
Life on Earth is what makes Earth, Earth. The planet of life almost became lifeless in
history that states back more than 200 million years ago, when 96% of life on Earth was wiped
out (Bagley, 2014). This was the closer of the Permian–Triassic period. This means that the rest
of 4% that survived this tragic event, which is also called the "Great Dying," makes up, and is
what made life today last up until this generation. Before this period, the Earth provided shelter
to many plants and animals on land and in the marine life. There were amphibians and reptiles
with sea creatures under water including the first appearance of corals and ancient squids
(Wignall, 2012). The pangea, which is the 'C' shaped supercontinent, was also beginning ... Show
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The plants that were supposed to keep the carbon level in the air
stable has now died, and the increase in temperature has made the carbon dioxide in the water to
evaporate back on land, making the plants living under water die from the lack of carbon dioxide
that they require to survive. The sea creatures that depends on feeding off of sea plants will now
die and decay due to the plants dying from the lack of carbon dioxide. A shower of meteorites
will fall, disrupting the life on land and the atmosphere with a disbalance of chemicals in the air
and the underwater life. Though this happened, the 4% that survived were mosses, therapsids,
which were mammal like reptiles, spiders, and beetles ( Bagley, 2014). These creature has soon
evolved, starting a new generation of life on planet Earth.
Life may have been extinguished 250 million years ago, but the 4% that survived through

this mass extinction is what brought us the jurassic period, and from the Jurassic period, or the
dinosaur age to the Cretaceous period, to the world we are living in today, where global warming
may affect this world today once again, possibly repeating history of a mass extinction

The Sixth Extinction Book Report
Millions of years ago, a catastrophe occurred on our planet and a wide range of animals and plants
suddenly died out, from tiny marine organisms to large dinosaurs. With that, scientists estimated that
the majority of all species of plants and animals that ever lived are now extinct. The Cretaceous
extinction occurred around 65 million years ago. Many species vanished in that extinction. Yet, the
fossil evidence of its occurrence is rich. Therefore, scientists have narrowed down several of the
most likely causes of the mass extinction, such as volcano eruptions, asteroid collisions, and sea
level falls. With that, there are several other known events, including, global warming, global
cooling, methane eruptions and anoxic events when the earth's ... Show more content on
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Humans are changing the climate right now through deforestation and burning fossil fuels which is
also creating ocean acidification. Kolbert writes in The Sixth Extinction that, humans are burning an
excessive amount of fossil fuels through coal and natural gas into the air which added tons of carbon
into the atmosphere. "SINCE the start of the industrial revolution, humans have burned through
enough fossil fuels–coal, oil, and natural gas–to add some 365 billion metric tons of carbon to the
atmosphere" (Kolbert, p. 113). It is possible to say that through these burning fossil fuels, ocean
acidification are occurring, too, because too much carbon dioxide is being released into the
atmosphere and the ocean is absorbing the air into the ocean. Kolbert writes, "Thanks to all this
extra CO2, the pH of the ocean's surface waters has already dropped. Assuming that humans
continue to burn fossil fuels, the oceans will continue to absorb carbon dioxide and will become
increasingly acidified" (Kolbert, p. 113–114). In addition, our emissions of CO2 modify our
atmosphere. Whereas, the gases from the atmosphere get absorbed by the ocean and gases dissolved
in the ocean are released into the atmosphere killing most of our species. For example, many
mollusks, corals, and single–celled creatures called foraminifera use ingredients in seawater to build
their shells and other hard parts and these

How Does Pangea Have So Much Biodiversity
Sathusdigan Nirmalanandha ID. 2816176 GEOL 1404.83501 Diana Vineyard 04/24/2016
Pangea–The lost Super Continent
Our planet is carrying so much secrets while it rotates its axis, and revolves around the sun in
elliptic path. The biggest question man that ever faced is, why do living organisms have so much
biodiversity since they all come from a common ancestor? In order to answer this question, we have
to see the earth's past life. Rodina is the first supercontinent in our whole geological time period, and
the meaning of this word is "homeland" in Russian language. This Precambrian continent was the
dominant land mass for at least 350 million years until it started to tear apart because of the heat
beneath this ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
It shows that present is the key for our past. Alfred Wegener, geophysist who proposed the concept
of Continental Drift in 1912, but it was not accepted by public when he released his work. On his
period, people were strongly believed in a God; therefore, they did not like any scientific approaches
that are questioning their beliefs to find the existence of our planet. However, today, people are
become well educated, and with the advancement technology, they accepted the fact. Evidences
from rock sequences, mountain ranges, glaciation, and fossils are favoring his hypothesis. For
example, the plant is known as Glossopteris found in South America, India, Africa, Australia, and
Antarctica. It show that these land masses were connected in the past. In addition, the modern
continental fit is also supporting the connection og Gondwana because the eastern part of South
America's continental margin fits with the western coast of Africa. When the surrounding changed,
all living organisms began to adopt with their new homeland by undergoes the process called
"Evolution". This process gave a rise to biodiversity in this

What Is Ocean Chacterification
Ocean Acidification and the Permian–Triassic Extinction Event
Ocean Acidification
In current times, as we consider ways to inhibit CO2 emissions, we look towards the Earth's natural
carbon sinks as possible solutions. Carbon sinks an environment that can hold onto carbon
chemicals for an indefinite time with the act of removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere
defined as carbon sequestration. The Oceans are one of them. However, when the amount of
atmospheric carbon dioxide elevates in a short period of time, this can lead to Ocean Acidification,
the phenomena where the dissolution of excess carbon dioxide from the atmosphere leads to the
lowering of ocean pH (Greene, et al., 2012).
When carbon dioxide reacts with water, becoming carbonic acid, it loses a proton to bicarbonate and
then dissociates again resulting in two hydrogen ions and a carbonate molecule. This increases the
acidity of the ocean as the concentration of hydrogen is increasing, resulting in a lower pH. The
heightened concentration of hydrogen ions results in lowered seawater pH levels. In addition to
elevated dissolved carbon ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Proxy data is preserved physical characteristics of the environment that can stand in for direct
measurements. Some of this data includes ice cores, tree rings, coral reefs, and ocean sediments. For
example, corals build their bodies with calcium carbonate that contains trace metals and isotopes of
oxygen that can be used to determine the temperature of the water the corals grew in. Therefore,
Past Ocean Acidification is often inferred from a decrease in the accumulation & preservation of
Calcium Carbonate in marine sediments, possibly indicated by an increased degree of
fragmentations of foraminiferal shells because geochemical proxy observations are still lacking
(Green, et al.,

The Role Of Anthropocene And Its Effects On The World
There have been five major extinctions during the 4.6 billion years of Earth's history. The
Ordovician, the late Devonian, the Permian, the Triassic–Jurassic, and then the K.T. Cretaceous–
Tertiary, the one that killed all of the dinosaurs. Currently, we are living in the new epoch, called the
Anthropocene, the age of man. Anthropocene is known as the time of humans, which is
characterized by the impact of humans as a fossil record for the future. While the extinction that
happened 65 million years ago, causing the dinosaurs to go extinct, occurred naturally when an
asteroid struck, the sixth extinction event we are experiencing now is directly identifiable as caused
by human activity, such as habitat destruction and over–fishing. Of the past five mass extinction
events, although by different causes, they have one factor in common, a massive increase in carbon
dioxide levels. More than half of Earth 's terrestrial surface has been altered due to human activity,
resulting in drastic deforestation, erosion and loss of topsoil, biodiversity loss, and extinction
(Marine Bio, 2016). Global warming is the biggest problem that Earth is facing at this moment.
Some causes and effects of global warming are deforestation, ocean acidification, burning of fossil
fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Through the burning of fossil fuels, we are reversing geological history. During the Gulf oil spill,
almost 5 million barrels of oil were spilled, but this is nothing compared to daily

The Triassic-Jurassic Extinction
The Triassic–Jurassic extinction occurred about 210 million years ago, killing about 80 percent of
all living species ("End–Triassic Extinction"). Most species were hit hard, but there were no major
full–on extinctions. Still, cephalopods, sponges, corals, reptiles, and pollen and spore producing
plants were hit hard. The dinosaurs, however, were lucky and survived the extinction intact. This
allowed them to reign supreme for the next geological epoch ("End–Triassic Extinction"). During
the time of the Triassic–Jurassic extinction, Pangea was in the process of breaking apart. This caused
major volcanic activity to occur, one of the prevailing theories as to what caused this extinction
("End–Triassic Extinction"). Like during the Permian–Triassic ... Show more content on
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The widely debated sixth extinction event, the Holocene extinction, is a man–made "weapon" of
mass destruction that has caused over 1000 extinct species in the past 500 years (Brannen). A
mixture of deforestation, climate change, and other human–impacted effects has made species die
off 10 to 100 times faster than the usual background species extinction (Brannen). Well known
creatures such as the Dodo Bird, Passenger Pidgeon, Tasmanian Wolf, and Golden Toad have all
died due to the lack of care humans have shown for the natural world. Smithsonian paleontologist
Doug Erwin, however, still maintains that the Holocene extinction is fake. Though humans have
accelerated the extinction of some species and negatively impacted the environment, the actual
amount of recent extinctions is almost insignificant. Compared to over half of all species dying off,
a few thousand lost animals make nearly no mark in the fossil record (Brannen). Most animals and
plants are not, or do not die in ways, suitable for fossilization. This makes the fossil record
extremely incomplete. Some scientists estimate that the fossil record shows less than one percent of
species that have actually lived. This means that only a truly massive extinction could cause a
noticeable change in the record, so the Holocene extinction is most likely not occurring. Still, Erwin
cautions us to watch our impact on the Earth and make sure

Cretaceous-Triassic Extinction Research Paper
An extinction event (also known as a mass extinction or biotic crisis) is a widespread and rapid
decrease in the amount of life on Earth. It occurs when the rate of extinction increases with respect
to the rate of speciation. Extinction occurs at an uneven rate.
The most recent and debatably best–known, the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, which
occurred approximately 66 million years ago (Ma), was a large–scale mass extinction of animal and
plant species in a geologically short period of time.
It is now generally believed that the K–Pg extinction was triggered by a massive comet or asteroid
impact 66 million years ago and its catastrophic effects on the global environment, including a
lingering impact winter that made it impossible for plants and plankton to carry out photosynthesis.
The fact ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The sea floor is also completely recycled every 200 million years by the on–going process of plate
tectonics and seafloor spreading, leaving no useful indications beneath the ocean. The former group
includes one or more large bolide impact events, increased volcanism, and sudden release of
methane from the sea floor, either due to dissociation of methane hydrate deposits or metabolism of
organic carbon deposits by methanogenic microbes. The latter group includes sea level change,
increasing anoxia, and increasing aridity. Any hypothesis about the cause must explain the
selectivity of the event, which affected organisms with calcium carbonate skeletons most severely;
the long period (4 to 6 million years) before recovery started, and the minimal extent of biological
mineralization (despite inorganic carbonates being deposited) once the recovery

Mass Extinction
Extinction is the end of an organism or group of taxa. Extinctions occur when a species becomes
unfit for survival in its natural habitat usually to be replaced by another, better–suited species. An
organism becomes ill–suited for survival because its environment is changed or because its
relationship to other organisms is altered as stated from Credo Reference. The moment of extinction
is generally considered to be the death of the last individual of that particular species. Mass
extinctions, however, are rare events that only happen every few million years. Only recently have
these events been recorded and scientist have become alarmed at these recent extinctions. Most
extinctions aren't even documented and some predict that most of ... Show more content on
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They believe that a large asteroid was the cause of Cretaceous' mass extinction. A large crater was
found in the Caribbean Sea near the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico, which is about 65 million years
old. (Campell)
A large impact from an asteroid like this would cause global darkness from the amounts of dust sent
into the air. This dust would stop photosynthesis for plants which in all would affect every source of
live in the area (Thomas). This darkness would also cause the area to cool which could also kill off
organisms. Another would be an impact from a comet, such as the comet that exploded above
southeastern Siberia in 1908 (Thomas). The last factor is a Supernova explosion, which isn't the case
for earth since there is no evidence that this influenced life on earth.
The consequences of mass extinctions affect biological diversity greatly. By removing large
numbers species, this could reduce thriving and complex communities. These events are random and
effect species greatly, permanently removing species with highly advantageous features and change
the course of evolution forever. Whenever extinctions occur, a trickledown effect can occur. An
example of this could be how a certain plant may go extinct, and a worm eats that plant.
That worm would eventually die out because of the food source being gone. A bird would also be
affected by this since it can't eat that worm which is his only food source. The fossil record shows
that it typically takes 5 to 19 million

The Sixth Extinction Book Report
Five mass extinctions have occurred throughout the history of planet Earth. It is predicted by Author
Elizabeth Kolbert, that a sixth extinction may be underway. The Sixth Extinction is a book in the
viewpoint of Kolbert and narrates her travels around the globe while she studies numerous wildlife
species. Kolbert claims that ¨Those of us alive today not only are witnessing one of the rarest events
in life's history, we are also causing it," (Kolbert, Page 8). Throughout her work, Kolbert claims that
numerous species are decreasing in population due to harmful human activities, which could lead to
a global disaster.
One species that continues to dwindle are amphibians. The book begins with Kolbert's trip to
Panama where she discovered amphibians were decreasing at an alarming rate. During her trip, she
finds that over 7,000 species of amphibians were becoming extinct worldwide (Kolbert, Page 11).
Kolbert's assumption that a sixth extinction is under way proves to be true because there is a
continuous decrease of amphibians today. Camila Ruz states in her article that "Around half of
amphibian species are in decline, while a third are already threatened with extinction," (Ruz, 2011).
The reasons supporting this dramatic decrease revolves around climate change and habitat loss. The
impact of ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The book was very in depth and she thoroughly explained her claims through facts and data. Her
claims successfully explain the patterns of life on Earth through numerous studies and she explains
the dangers of extinction. The author concludes her work with the fact that humans are dependent on
Earth's biological and geochemical systems. Her work will continue to teach future readers the
danger of human lifestyles if necessary actions toward sustainability are not taken. If humans
continue to live their harmful lifestyles, then they will continue to danger wildlife species, the
environment, and their own

Big 5 Mass Extinction Events In Research
Throughout the lifetime of the Earth, there have been various scientists who have hypothesized
various extinction events. The following essay will cover the five major extinction events, otherwise
known as the "Big 5 Mass Extinction Events". According to Wikipedia (2016), a mass extinction is
"a widespread and rapid decrease in the amount of life on Earth. Such an event is identified by a
sharp change in the diversity and abundance of multicellular organisms".
The first major extinction event is said to have been the Ordovician–Silurian mass extinction, 443
million years ago, which occurred during the end of the Ordovician period, and the start of the
Silurian period (bbc.co.uk, 2014). This is the third largest mass extinction in the Earth's history, and
there were two "peak" dying times during this period, separated my hundreds of thousands of years.
The Ordovician is characterised by sea life, so creatures such as brachiopods, graptolites and
trilobite populations were severely diminished. An ice age is said to be responsible for the death
(endangerdspeciesinternational.org, 2011).
The Late Devonian mass extinction is well–known for having one of the most drastic extinction
rates. During this extinction period, which spans over a few million years, ... Show more content on
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However, along with the dinosaurs there were many other creatures such as pterosaurs, ammonites
and many flowering plants that were wiped out as well. It is said that a combination of dropping sea
levels and flood basalt eruptions were one of the causes (Murcia, 2015). The proverbial final nail in
the coffin was a meteorite strike, near the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, which caused the most
significant damage. This extinction event is also known as the K/T extinction (bbc.co.uk,

The Impact Of Volcanic Eruptions On The Earth 's Climate...
When examining the influence and impacts of volcanic eruptions upon the earth's climate system we
have to consider occurrences both in the present and in the past. It has been noted by McGuire et al.
that "Volcanic activity and environmental change have been linked during recent times and in the
geological record." (2002:88) With thousands of volcanic events having transpired since the
Archean, there is an abundance of evidence to support the theory that volcanoes have impacted our
climate for over 2.5 Billion years. In particular, I will be looking at examples from the Permian era,
where "large basaltic flood eruptions have been associated with mass extinctions and the most
voluminous explosive super eruptions have been held responsible for initiating the episodes of
severe global cooling known as volcanic winters" (Rampino 1992, 1993a cited by McGuire et al
2002:88) and I will also be looking at instances from the more recent Holocene. We are able to study
their impacts through various scientific means (such as examining northern and southern hemisphere
ice cores), and are able to explore the control they have had upon our climate in the preceding years
and how they have influenced it today. It is also necessary to explore equally the spatial and
temporal scales of volcanic eruptions and their controlling factors, to determine their effects upon
the earth's climate and how they can affect it.
One of the largest volcanic eruptions to occur in our history is the Indonesian

Eons: The Evolutionary History Of The Phanerozoic Eon
Prehistoric Life is an interesting subject because we get to see the rise of life of multicellular
creatures like dinosaurs from single–celled creatures, their extinction, and dominance of mammals
on the planet resulting in the evolution of smarter living beings– humans. The timeline of the
evolutionary history represents the current scientific theory briefly describing the major events
during the development of life on planet Earth. There are many scales to represent the timeline like
Eons, Eras, or years.
In this speech, I will describe prehistoric life briefly so I have chosen eons as my time units. Eons
usually span a billion years but it can always vary. There are four Eons since the start of life on
Earth. Hadean Eon (4000 million years ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The earliest ancestors roamed the earth in the Triassic period which spanned 50.9 million years. At
the end of the Triassic another mass extinction Triassic/Jurassic happened. This was followed by the
Jurassic period in which large gymnosperm started growing leading to increased size of herbivore
dinosaurs. First blood sucking insects are evolved. The largest theropod, Spinosaurus appears in
fossil record. In the Cretaceous, first ants and snakes are evolved. The king of dinosaurs
Tyrannosaurus Rex makes it to the fossil records. Cenozoic is the current Era in which we are living.
It started by the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event which eliminated most dinosaurs and
marine predators like Mosasurs except birds. Mammals evolved from small rat like creatures to dog
sized predators later evolving to Mastodons. Mammoths evolved from small herbivore. First
members of genus Homo known as Homo Habillis appears on fossil record. Neanderthals, the
human ancestors die out with other species like Dodo, Wooly Rhino. Finally, all these resulted in
evolution of modern day Humans. I tried finding a visual aid but all the cool species like dinosaurs
and wooly mammoths are already dead. Therefore, I present myself as we humans are the result of a
very long course of evolution and a part of the geological

Food Webs During Mass Extinction
Charles Marshall's article "How Stable Are Food Webs During Mass Extinctions?" reflects on the
current "human–driven mass extinction" occurring today (Marshall). Researchers are wondering
what will happen to the food web after the mass extinction humans are creating occurs and finishes.
To find out the effects that may occur, Marshall brings up the subject of prehistoric food webs and
the changes brought upon them from mass extinctions. Using prehistoric fossil records and devising
these animals into guilds, either carnivores or herbivores, they made a food web for these extinct
creatures. Roopnarine and Angielczyk are examples of the people who work on creating these food
webs that Marshall uses in his article. These two people focus on the ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The fossil record is what is helping with these questions, however. So scientists are continuing to
study earlier extinctions and how they happened and the events following them. This article is not
the best kind of article read, there are too many questions left that the reader feels left out. Also, the
article has many large words that do not make much sense to the average reader, causing greater
confusion on what is actually being read and how it relates to the lives of the reader. It needs a

Causes Of Mass Extinction
Throughout the history of earth there have been five mass extinction events that have wiped out
most life on earth. To go into detail the first mass extinction event happened over 439 million years
ago due to glaciation and falling sea levels were around 86% of the life on earth was wiped out. The
second happened around 364 million years ago killing around 75% of species. Giant plants were
presumed responsible for this event because of their deep roots that released nutrients into the ocean
which, resulted in mass amounts of algal bloom that depleted the seas of oxygen. The worst mass
extinction occurred 251 million years ago, during the Permian – Triassic period that wiped out
around 96% of species. A gigantic volcanic eruption filled the air with carbon dioxide which fed
different kinds of bacteria that began emitting large amounts of methane. As a result the earth
warmed up and the oceans became acidic. Afterwards the Triassic – Jurassic extinction happened
between 199 million and 214 million years ago. The cause of this extinction is thought to be an
asteroid impact, climate change, and flood basalt eruptions. During this period dinosaurs came the
rule over most of the earth. Finally, the Cretaceous – Paleogene extinction happened around 65
million years ago. A combination of volcanic activity, climate change, and asteroid impact
effectively ended 76% of life on earth including the dinosaurs. And through these mass extinctions
there has been few who have lived through

Naturalistic Evolutionary View
The exact age of the Earth has long been an argument between those who believe that God created
the Earth for humans during the Creation Week, which is known as the Young Earth Creation View
and that the age of Earth can easily be counted from that week based on divine revelation direct
from scripture, and those that believe that it was created 4.6 billion years ago out of nothing, which
is known as the Naturalistic Evolutionary view point.
Naturalistic Evolution In Naturalistic Evolutionary view point, Earth was formed out of nothing 4.6
billion years ago, and went through several different periods of intense transition to arrive at what
we now see. The first period of transition is known as the Precambrian in which "the most important
events ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
The last and shortest period of change is the Cenozoic Era– which consists of two time periods:
Tertiary and Quaternary. During this time period the continents assumed their modern configuration
as well as geographical positions (Berggren, 2016). The formation of many mountain chains (The
Rockies, the Alps and the Himalayas) happened during this time. One of the main arguments against
Naturalistic evolution is that it provides no space for a divine/other intelligent being to have created
the world. Radiometric dating and Carbon dating findings, such as the discovery of Carbon–14 in
coal that suggests ages of thousands of years and clearly contradicts ages of millions of

Exam Three Study Guide
Chapter 11
The first Paleozoic orogeny to occur in the Cordilleran mobile belt was the: | c. Antler | |
Extensive cratonic black shales were deposited during what two periods? | d. Late Devonian–Early
Mississippian | |
The main economic deposit of a cyclothem is: | a. coal | |
During the Late Kaskaskia (Cratonic Sequence 3), what type of deposition predominated on the
craton? | e. carbonates | |
Which orogeny was not part of the closing of the Iapetus Ocean | b. Antler | |
Rhythmically repetitive sedimentary sequences of alternating marine and terrestrial sediments are: |
c. cyclothems | |
During which period did extensive continental glaciation of the Gondwana continent occur? | ...
Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
| a. rift valleys | | | b. dikes | | | c. great quantities of poorly sorted nonmarine detrital sandstones | | | d.
sills | | |
The first Mesozoic orogeny in the Cordilleran region was the: | | b. Nevadan | | | d. Sonoma | |
The Mesozoic tectonic history of the North American Cordilleran region is very complex and
involves: | a. oceanic–continent convergence | | | b. terrane accretion | |
The formation or complex responsible for the spectacular scenery of the Painted Desert and Petrified
Forest is the: | c. Chinle | |
The Sierra Nevada, Southern California, Idaho, and Coast Range batholiths formed as a result of
which orogeny? | d. Nevadan | |
The first major seaway to flood North America was the: | d. Sundance | |
The orogeny responsible for the present–day Rocky Mountains is the: | c. Laramide | | The Jurassic
formation or complex famous for dinosaur fossils that Marietta College's dinosaur program is

famous for digging in each summer and will be going to visit in Utah during May to collect more
dinosaurs from is the: | a. Morrison | |
The breakup of Pangaea began with initial Triassic rifting between which two continental
landmasses? | d. Laurasia and Gondwana | |
The time of greatest post–Paleozoic inundation of the craton (by transgressive seas) occurred during

Laki Volcano In Cormac Mccarthy's The Road
You may think that a supervolcano is far out of our reach and it could be thousands of years before
one erupts and causes havoc all across the world, conversely it is not as far away as you may be
thinking. A supervolcano refers to a volcano being able to spew more than two hundred and forty
cubic miles of magma. Volcanoes causing this much destruction are not uncommon and there have
been five volcanoes to erupt and wipe out massive amounts of life. Five may not seem like a
massive number, but what came about during these eruptions and after the fact is what makes the
event a terrifying reality. Around two hundred and forty eight million years ago the Permian–
Triassic extinction destroyed ninety to ninety five percent of all species on Earth due to a massive
volcano, other instances include The Laki Volcano in 1783 and ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
McCarthy's details throughout the book give proof as to why it was without having to tell us
explicitly what happened. On the Man and Boys journey they describe the Earth losing its color and
fading into the grayness, and McCarthy says that the Earth ended with "A long shear of light and
then a series of low percussions." which is describing the magma and large eruption and then the
series of earthquakes and rumbles that the land experiences following the explosion. Another detail
is the finding of burnt bodies sprawled across the road and the ash that seems to be everywhere
throughout their expedition are things that are often depicted to occur if something like this were to
present itself. Something that many readers may not have noticed was the description of the nuclear
winter, in the event that a supervolcano would explode the ash would darken the atmosphere,
causing the sun to hardly make an appearance and providing harsh and freezing conditions all of
which were described in The Road. The apocalyptic and myopic world depicted in The Road may
only be one eruption

The Permian-Triassic Period
Mesozoic Era:
The dinosaurs and the mammals appeared during the triassic period,Roughly 225 million years ago.
The dinosaurs went extinct 65 million years ago. The Mesozoic Era lasted about 180 million years,
and is divided into three periods, the Triassic, the Jurassic, and the Cretaceous.
The Mesozoic Era is an interval of geological time from about 252 to 66 million years ago. It is also
called the Age of Reptiles, a phrase introduced by the 19th century paleontologist Gideon Mantell .
The Permian–Triassic boundary, at the start of the Mesozoic, is defined relative to a particular
section of sediment in Meishan, China, where a type of extinct, eel–like creature known as a
conodont first appeared, according to the International commission on stratigraphy. Life and climate
The Mesozoic Era he Mesozoic Era began roughly around the time of the end–Permian extinction,
which wiped out 96 percent of marine life and 70 percent of all terrestrial species on the planet. Life
slowly rebounded, eventually giving way to a flourishing diversity of animals, from massive lizards
to monstrous dinosaurs.
The Triassic period from 252 million to 200 million years ago, saw the rise of reptiles and the first
dinosaurs, the Jurassic period , from about 200 million to 145 million years ago, ushered in birds
and ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
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

Pentecopterus Research Paper
Correction: The six–foot–long predatory scorpion is not currently terrorizing Iowa. But it used to,
about 467 million years ago, back when Iowa was an ocean.
While excavating a meteorite crater in northeastern Iowa's Winneshiek Shale, paleontologists
discovered the fossil of an enormous and bizarre ancient scorpion species that lived in the ocean. It
is now believed to be Planet Earth's earliest large predator. The findings were published in the
journal BMC Evolutionary Biology on August 31st, 2015.
"Tick...I Am Your Father" – Darth Pentecopterus
Researchers named the new–old species Pentecopterus decorahensis after it's many–legged body's
resemblance to an ancient Greek war ship, the pentecopter. ("Decorahensis" presumably means
something ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Similarly to the Pentecopterus, it terrorized shallow waters, preying on fish, crustaceans, and other
eurypterids. But it had two key differences: one, the Jaekelopterus lived in fresh water, invalidating
the common moniker "sea scorpion" for all eurypterids. (Don't make that mistake again!) Two, more
importantly, the Jaekelopterus is quite young, a mere 390 million years old. The earlier glory days of
the Pentercopterus, about 467 million years ago, extends previous estimates of how long eurypterids
ruled Earth's waters.
What Could Have Vanquished Such Glorious Creatures?
Why, none other than the Permian–Triassic extinction event 252 million years ago, the planet's most
severe extinction. The dinosaurs were just the highest–profile casualty of this event (possibly a
meteor impact, possibly a volcanic event, theories abound), which wiped out 70% of all terrestrial
species and 96% of all marine species. (Read those numbers again.)
It took at least 10 million years for life to recover to pre–event levels. If catastrophe hadn't struck, I
could have been a super–intelligent Pentecopterus, writing this article right now, about how my
species wiped out the dim–witted Jaekelopterus 252 million years ago with cunning technological

The End Permian Mass Extinction Essay
Introduction Think of a world which existed 290 million years ago. As you look out
over the terane in front of you, you think that you are on an alien planet. You see volcanoes spewing
ash and lava. Beside them is the ocean which is swarming with many different species of
echinoderms, bryozoans and brachiopods. As you look down onto the sea floor you are amazed at
the countless number of starfish and urchins. Some animals leave you can't even describe and you
have no idea even what phylum they belong to. This is a world at its height in diversity of oceanic
species. Millions of wonderous species existed at this time in the ocean and most of them will never
appear again in earth's history. In the geologic time scale, a million ... Show more content on
Helpwriting.net ...
The concentration of Ir was at least an order of magnitude higher than the background values and
this is characteristic of most Upper Permian and Lower Triassic boundaries. The scientists go on to
say that "the existence of a rich Ir anomaly on a global scale within the K/T boundary layers of both
marine and continental facies has been interpreted as highly impressive evidence for an impact
origin. Another discovery that may serve as a marker of an event is microspherules. A variety of
microsherules have been discovered in the PTB layers of the Meishan section (Xu et al., 1989). The
origin of the microspherules could be multiple. They are small circular indentations in the rocks and
the most abondent elements are Si or Si–Al. Mircospherules are similar to cosmic dust. Since a large
amount of microspherules occurs in a thin layer of PTB layer it can serve as another event marker.
 Maxwell (1989) who got his information from Clark et al. (1986) said that The
elemental in boundary clays across China suggest that there is a remote possibility that the
predominantly illite boundary clay is a remote possibility that the predomonantly illite boundary
clay resulted from the alteration of ejecta dust from a comet impact, but the most likely source was
ash from a massive volcanic eruption. The trace elements suggested that the dust was
highly acidic and the ratios of TiO2 and AL2O3 are low enough to support the volcanic dust
scenario

Dinosaurian Ectothermy Essay
I don't agree what it is mention in the lesson concerning to diapsids thermo–regulation about
dinosaurs being ectotherm organisms. there are several lines of evidence that suggest that dinosaurs
developed a unique metabolic rate (not same as their living descendants: the birds, nor equal to the
modern reptiles). Some experts have proposed a "dinosaurian endothermy" for those fascinating
animals in order certain features that they presented: 1) A rapid growth in a considerably short time
of their life–span. Several studies suggest that dinosaurs would have reached fully adulthood at 30–
35 years! (which is faster than modern day large ectotherms !). Some histological studies have
shown us that dinosaurs grew very fast during the first 4–6 years in age (from babies of 60 cm to
animals reaching the span of 5–7 meters in length during that time!), and even large ... Show more
content on Helpwriting.net ...
Now, there are a lot of questions related to wether or not large theropods like Tyrannosaurus rex for
example were totally covered in a dense coat of feathers or where totally scally creatures. Some say
being so large it would have been a disadventage fot a "fluffy" T–rex, because it will have been
suffering of overheating, but feathers are very different from the hair of mammals, the structure of
feathers allow large birds like the ostrich to discipate the heat from the body if the external
temperature is so hot (very similar to the mecanisms that modern afrinac elephants have with their
large ears!). So large meat eating dinosaurs would have lived very well with a dense coat of feathers
even if their environment was very hot (of course the case of a "fluffy" T–rex is still in debate, some
think thet T–rex would have beel partially covered in proto–feathers and scales, but wheter of both
scenarios, large theropods would have developes mecanisms for losing heat, see link below the

Ordovician-Silurian Extinction
Approximately 66 million years ago, the first, and most recent extinction event of 'the Big Five' took
place– the Cretaceous–Paleogene (K–Pg) Extinction, also known as the Cretaceous–Tertiary (K–T)
Extinction. While this event is known primarily for its involvement in the extinction of dinosaurs, it
also had quite the effect on a large majority of other plant and animal species, to the point where no
tetrapod (four–legged vertebrae) weighing above 25 kilograms survived. The original trigger is
believed to have been a massive comet or an asteroid impact, estimated at about ten kilometers in
size, but other theories suggest that volcanic eruptions, climate change, or sea level change played a
role was well. Either way, there were catastrophic ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
However, recent speculation has lead many scientists to believe that we are currently in a mass
extinction period, one that could not only be bigger than any previous extinction event, but that
actually points a finger towards humans as being the main cause. This extinction event is known as
The Holocene Extinction, the Sixth Extinction or the Anthropocene Extinction, and whether we like
it or not, there is definitely a considerable amount of evidence to prove that this mass extinction is
happening, and that the cause is largely due to human activity. Specific research indicates that
deforestation, hunting, pollution, the introduction of non–native species into various regions,
destruction of vast tracts of land, river systems, and habitats, and the widespread transmission of
infectious diseases spread through livestock and crops are having the most drastic effects on most
species. Current studies even show that the present rate of extinction may be up to 140,000 species
per year, making it the greatest loss of biodiversity since the Cretaceous–Paleogene Extinction.
Edward Osborne Wilson, an American biologist, researcher, theorist, naturalist and author,
calculated that if the current rate of human disruption of the biosphere continues, one–half of

Permian and Cretaceous Mass Extinctions Essay
Assess the different hypotheses put forward for the mass extinctions at the end of the Permian and
Cretaceous (KT) Periods.
A mass extinction is an event in which at least 25–75% of species in the global environment are
eradicated in a short period of time. Where as a regional extinction event is when the extinction is
confined to a specific zone. Five mass extinctions have occurred throughout time, two of the most
well known of these are the Permian and Cretaceous extinction events.
There are several hypotheses that are used to explain the causes of mass extinctions. Climate
change, the warming or cooling of global environments over a short period of time, can lead to other
occurrences. Shifts in climate can cause extinction by ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
A crater, the Bedout crater, in Australia has been discovered. A bolide impact would have lead to
mass death of marine and terrestrial organisms. The force of the impact could have released methane
from stored organic matter and large earthquakes. These earthquakes would have triggered the
volcanism in the Siberian traps, leading to the release of large amounts of CO2 and sulfur dioxide.
These gases combined with methane previously released would have created a noxious atmosphere,
combined with climate change that killed a large scale of life.
It is most likely that a simultaneous occurrence of the different global environmental changes was
responsible for ending the Permian period, and the lives of 96% of species. Each environmental
issue is a major geological event, and amplified the other events, leading to catastrophic
environmental situation, in which barely any life could survive.
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.
Evidence for catastrophism at the KT boundary can be found in a layer of greenish

Alycia Stigall's Research
Biodiversity is a necessity for every ecosystem to thrive in equilibrium. However, the balance
between species, predators, and prey can be disturbed by the most microscopic change. One of these
catalysts are invasive species: living organisms that are non–native to an ecosystem. Alycia Stigall's
research (2010) has been fundamental to finding why speciation declined during the late Devonian
biodiversity crisis. Potential causes of speciation include reproductive isolation and geographic
isolation, which is also known as vicariance. Stigall studied three different species of shallow
marine invertebrate organisms and determined their speciation by combining each species'
geography and phylogenetic backgrounds. Measurements of the biodiversity ... Show more content
on Helpwriting.net ...
For instance, the Itaipu Reservoir on the Paraná River in South America is a man–made cistern that
utilizes hydropower for the area in the form of dams and reservoirs. When the reservoir inundated
the Guaira Falls which served as an ecological filter separating most species, fish that had lived in
the lower part of the Paraná River gained access to the upper Paraná River (Vitule, 2012). In order to
quantify homogenization, Vitule employed Jaccard's coefficient which measures similarities
between species in the same community. From the data, he concluded that homogenization occurred
in the area not by the elimination of threatened species but by the unidirectional movement of fish.
More than half of the species in the upper Paraná Basin were distributed from the lower Paraná
Basin after the reservoir flooded. Thus, homogenization and consequent loss of biodiversity of the
Itaipu area was directly influenced by anthropogenic

Summary: The Five Major Extinction Events In History
In the course of Earth's history, there have been five major extinction events: the Ordovician–
Silurian, Late Devonian, Permian–Triassic, Triassic–Jurassic, and Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction
events. Now, according to Pulitzer Prize–winning author Elizabeth Kolbert, we are entering another
one that is caused by a single species: ours. Human beings have decimated the rainforest, hunted
animals like the great auk to extinction, pumped billions of tons of pollution into our atmosphere
and oceans, and almost completely reassembled the biosphere. Even more frighteningly, these facts
come from 2014, and in the four years since The Sixth Extinction's initial release, we haven't slowed
down a bit. Kolbert closes her book with a call to action, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net
...
440–450 million years ago, the Ordovician and Silurian extinction events began, killing 60–70% of
all the species alive at that time. These events, often combined and referred to as the Ordovician–
Silurian event, were the second largest of the five major extinction events, as measured by the
percentage of genera (57%) that disappeared. The next major event was a little under a hundred
million years later, at the end of the Frasnian Age. This event, referred to as the Late Devonian
extinction, resulted in the elimination of 70% of all species and lasted for an estimated 20 million
years. 252 million years ago, the most catastrophic extinction of all occurred, the Permian–Triassic
event. It was estimated to have killed 90–96% of all species, including 96% of all marine species
and 70% of all land species; the recovery period before vertebrates evolved lasted 30 million years.
Only 50 million years later, the Triassic–Jurassic extinction event came to pass, killing 70–75% of
all the species that had only so recently developed. Finally, there was the Cretaceous–Paleogene
extinction event, which began about 66 million years ago. This is possibly the most famous
extinction, as it is the one responsible for killing the dinosaurs, as well as 75% of the other existing
species. We have been safely in a recovery period for the last 66

Permian Mass Extinction Essay
The Permian mass extinction occurred 251Ma and is recognised as having the largest volcanic
eruption as one of the main antagonists to the event, it is also responsible for ~96% of all species to
be wiped out. The main theories for the Permian event are the Siberian traps and the possibility of an
impact event but the latter is widely disregarded.
Global disasters tend to be an unfortunate coincidence of events. The combination of the
background conditions in the late Permian of increasingly high atmospheric CO2 levels and global
temperatures could possibly of been enhanced by the eruption of the Emeishan Traps at 260 Ma
(REF NEEDED), which could have led to conditions that arguably could have led to a mass
extinction without any further ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
When normalised to a common standard, these all lie within error of each other, and indicate an
eruption age of about ~250 Ma (REF NEEDED).
There are several questions that still need to be answered before a real understanding of the Permian
mass extinction can be documented; what were the atmospheric and oceanic conditions prior to the
eruption of the Traps? Can we better constrain the CO2 concentration of the late Permian
atmosphere? What made the end–Permian extinction so severe and prolonged?
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

Overview of Earth´s History and Periods Essay
Precambrian Era The Precambrian era laster 4600–541 million years ago. During this time, there
were no plant life on the planet. Most of the things that were on the planet were rocks. The most
common type of rock was Isua greenstone. Most rocks have been eroded away, subducted, or
metamorphosed. During this time, the atmospheres and oceans were formed, plate tectonics began to
build up continental masses. The air during this time was mostly made up of water vapor, carbon
dioxide, and nitrogen. Later on, oxygen was formed from early animals taking in carbon dioxide and
releasing oxygen. Scientists know this because oxygen was formed with iron, forming iron oxides
(rust); after there were was no more iron to mix with oxygen, so it would ... Show more content on
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The anthropodes also evolved in this period, and more than 600 types evolved worldwide.
Ordovician Period The Ordovician Period lasted almost 45 million years. During this period, most
of the area was almost entirely ocean, and most of the world's land was collected into the southern
supercontinent Gondwana. Throughout the Ordovician, Gondwana was submerged underwater. This
period is best known for its animals, including graptolites, trilobites, brachiopods, and the
conodonts. Plants invaded the land during this period. The most recent types of like animal was
tetrahedral spores that are similar to land plants have been found, suggesting that plants invaded the
land at this time. Later during the period, the Earth experienced a milder climate; the weather was
warm and the atmosphere contained a lot of moisture. Although, when Gondwana finally settled on
the South Pole, massive glaciers formed, and caused shallow seas, and sea levels to drop. This most
likely caused extinctions at the end of the Ordovician in which 60% of all marine invertebrate
genera and 25% of all families went extinct. The ecosystems was still dominized by algae and
sponges, and in some cases by bryozoans. However, there apparently were also periods of complete
reef collapse because to global disturbances. The major global patterns of life went through changes
during the Ordovician period. Many species of graptolites went extinct by the close of the period,
but the first planktonic

The Global Warming That Took Place At Permian Triassic...
Introduction
One of the most devastating weather extremes happened 250 million years ago. A massive volcanic
eruption (that occurred in an area now known as Siberia) caused increase in carbon dioxide and
methane levels resulting in the extreme global warming. Today, the remains of this volcanic activity
are called Siberian traps. The origin of Siberian traps is considered to be a mantle plume that burst
through Earth's crust releasing large volumes of basalt lava. Radiometric dating showed this
volcanic event took place approximately from 251 to 250 million years ago (Reichow et al., 2009).
Siberian traps erupted over several vents releasing around 2.5 million km3 of basalt lava that
covered up to 60% of Siberian craton (Fedorenko et al., ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
Floating and swimming species, plankton and nekton, underwent significant extinctions. There was
a large land animal and plant death, but it was not as devastating as it was for marine species.
Furthermore, the recovery of ecosystem took very long time, for example there were no reefs and no
coal beds for millions of years (EDIT+CITE). Seeing the extent to which global warming can affect
biodiversity, it is clearly important to find main causes of it.
Lines of evidence First line of evidence is that volcanic activity from Siberian traps lead to increased
amount of carbon dioxide. The eruptions of basalt lava were accompanied by large volume of CO2
(Self, Schmidt, & Mather, 2014). Accumulation of CO2 has long lasting effects on global warming
due to its long lifetime. Study conducted by Archer (2005) showed that 400 km3 of flood basalt
would release 2 gigatonnes (Gt, 1 Gt = 1012 kg) of carbon. Overall, Siberian traps allowed up to 11
000 Gt of carbon to be released (assuming lava volume of 2.5 million km3). The CO2 degassed
during the volcanic period equals total 5000 ppm rise in atmospheric CO2 levels. The volcanism
lasted around couple of hundreds of thousands of years, meaning the release of CO2 was prolonged.
Thus, atmospheric CO2 was most likely doubled in levels during this eruptive period (Berner,
2002). Doubling of CO2 levels in atmosphere is could have increased the global temperature for 1.5
– 4.5 C (Houghton et al., 2001). Furthermore,

The Era Of Dinosaurs Research Paper
Around 250 million years ago, dinosaurs were the premiers of the Earth. A few questions are posed
when looking at the dinosaurs. What is classified as a dinosaur? How did dinosaurs come to rule?
Did the same dinosaurs live for all 150 million years they were here? Where did they all go? Taking
a look at the evidence, all the answers to these questions are there. Maybe even more questions can
be posed from the answers to the ones above. A dinosaur is a hard term to describe because of all the
complications involved. The criteria are very strict, yet includes many species. Dinosaurs were fossil
reptiles, did not fly, had unique bone structure, did not live permanently in the water, and had a
specific gait. "...dinosaurs had either an upright, ... Show more content on Helpwriting.net ...
This dinosaur is famous for a reason, it was the first large, carnivorous dinosaur fossils to be found.
Several larger, carnivorous dinosaurs do exist, but none are as famous. There are only a few
carnivores larger than T–Rex, the biggest of all being the Spinosaurus. Spinosaurus, is actually a
whopping five to eight feet longer than the Tyrannosaurus–Rex. Another reason T–rex is more
famous is because many fossils of other dinosaurs were destroyed during the world wars when
America bombed Germany, where many fossils were stored. The famous dinosaurs of the
Cretaceous might not have been famous for the right reasons, but they were still

The Sixth Mass Reflection
It has been said that the earth currently faces a sixth mass extinction due to the rising extinction rates
that are growing far beyond ever before. The sad truth is that we as humans are one of the main
reasons for the loss of all these species. There has never been so many different kinds of organisms
to coexist and through deforestation, pollution release, and over harvesting we begin to see a decline
in biodiversity. (Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 1981; Hughes et al., 1997; Vitousek, et al., 1997) This is
referred to as the sixth mass extinction because at one point there were five other mass extinctions
we had over a long period of time. This is the first wave to occur during the existence of Homo
sapiens, and if it continues to grow and not have any reduction in intensity it could be early signals
of the downfall of human civilization and the early demise of billions of people. The five previous
mass extinction waves have occurred during the Ordovician, Devonian, Permian, Triassic, and
Cretaceous geologic periods. The next one to occur is sooner then we realize. Due to these issues we
begin to ask the questions: 1) How many have gone extinct and what are the rates? 2) If we are
currently in the sixth mass extinction, what does this mean for human life? 3) What can we do to
change this sixth mass extinction?
The definition of mass extinctions is, the extinction of many species within a relatively short period
of geological time, thought to be due to factors such as a

Causes Of Mass Extinction
Mass extinctions occur when an extremely large amount of species go extinct, meaning most life on
Earth dies out. However, there are always a handful of lucky species who make it through. Although
each mass extinction has a different cause, there are qualities in species that consistently allow them
to survive these events. What determines whether a species survives a mass extinction is its size,
population distribution, and diet.
A species's size is an important factor in its survival during a mass extinction. Smaller species tend
to have certain traits, such as shorter lifetimes, needing less food, and burrowing. The article "How
to Survive a Mass Extinction" on howstuffworks.com says that "They [small animals] tend to
reproduce more, which gives them a larger, more genetically varied population that can adapt more
quickly and effectively to change." This is because having a short lifetime means the species reaches
adulthood earlier, which in turn creates more generations of animals. Combined with having more
offspring per animal, the many generations of animals leads to a wide genetic diversity, increasing
the animal's chances of having a part of the species that was adapted well enough to the conditions
created by the extinction event. Many small animals (and a handful of medium–sized ones, such as
the Lystrosaurus) were burrowers, an important attribute that let them survive extinction events. "As
any survivalist worth his or her salt can tell you, underground is a

The Great Dying: The Permian-Triassic Death
The dinosaurs appeared after the greatest mass extinction event occurred. This is known as the
Permian–Triassic extinction. It has been estimated to have occurred around two hundred and fifty
million years ago. (6) It is also known as the Great Dying with over ninety percent of species dying
off, leaving the Earth essentially a wasteland. It led to the extinction of "57% of all families, 83% of
all genera and 90% to 96% of all species. 53% of marine families, 84% of marine genera, about
96% of all marine species and an estimated 70% of land species, including insects."(7) By the late–
Permian, global temperatures were very hot, with them being the highest ever on the planet. The
Great Dying, as it is known to scientists, resulted in

Permian Mass Extinction Causes

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