Did a Volcano Cause the Permian-Triassic Extinction?
Did a Volcano Cause the Permian-Triassic Extinction? Monday June 1, 2009#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) Scientists are pretty sure what caused the K/T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago–the impact of a massive meteor on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. However, the event that wiped out an even larger proportion of the world’s living species 250 million years ago–the Permian-Triassic extinction–has been more of a mystery, as time has eroded away most of the geological evidence of global catastrophe. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Leeds in England think they’ve found the answer. The scientists have discovered the imprint of a huge volcanic eruption in the Emeishan province of China about 260 million years ago; the 500,000 cubic kilometers of lav
#spacer{clear:left}#abc #sidebar{margin-top:1.5em}zSB(3,3) Scientists are pretty sure what caused the K/T (Cretaceous-Tertiary) extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago–the impact of a massive meteor on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. However, the event that wiped out an even larger proportion of the world’s living species 250 million years ago–the Permian-Triassic extinction–has been more of a mystery, as time has eroded away most of the geological evidence of global catastrophe. Now, a team of researchers from the University of Leeds in England think they’ve found the answer. The scientists have discovered the imprint of a huge volcanic eruption in the Emeishan province of China about 260 million years ago; the 500,000 cubic kilometers of lava unleashed by this catastrophe would have reacted with the surrounding
