What was the Permian–Triassic Extinction Event?
The Permian-Triassic extinction, informally known as the Great Dying, the P-Tr boundary, or the “mother of all mass extinctions,” is the most severe extinction event in the history of life on Earth. Occurring 251.4 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic extinction was a relatively sudden event, lasting less than 80,000 years with the most severe pulses lasting as little as 5,000 years. About 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species went extinct, with many important Paleozoic families, such as euryptids (sea scorpions), trilobites, and both acanthodians (jawless fish) and placoderms (armored fish) dying out completely. Overall about 90% of species were wiped out, in contrast to the demise of only 60% of species in the Cretaceous-Tertiary event 65.5 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs. Life’s recovery after the Permian-Triassic extinction was the slowest ever, requiring 5-10 million years rather than the typical less than a million. The few genera tha
The Permian-Triassic extinction, informally known as the Great Dying, the P-Tr boundary, or the “mother of all mass extinctions,” is the most severe extinction event in the history of life on Earth. Occurring 251.4 million years ago, the Permian-Triassic extinction was a relatively sudden event, lasting less than 80,000 years with the most severe pulses lasting as little as 5,000 years. About 96% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species went extinct, with many important Paleozoic families, such as euryptids (sea scorpions), trilobites, and both acanthodians (jawless fish) and placoderms (armored fish) dying out completely. Overall about 90% of species were wiped out, in contrast to the demise of only 60% of species in the Cretaceous-Tertiary event 65.5 million years ago, which wiped out the dinosaurs.
