Throughout Earth's geological history, there have been multiple, catastrophic mass extinctions that wiped off animals from the planet. Experts believe that long before dinosaurs, the planet was dominated by a variety of animals, ranging from Titanophoneus to armored reptiles.that occurred approximately 260 million years ago - nearly 3 million years apart. These volatile events resulted in the demise of these strange beasts around 260 million years ago during the Earth's Capitanian Age.
For this study, the team measured uranium from marine samples collected in the South China Sea. From this, the experts were able able to identify "two pulses" in which the oceans lost their life-giving oxygen. This corresponds to two mass extinctions, one approximately 259 million years ago and another approximately 262 million years ago during the Middle Permian Period.
The researchers highlight that studying ancient extinction events can help them predict the impact of global warming on the ocean's food chain. "We are studying the biocrisis in the Permian Period, but similar warming is happening today because of human events. Humans are mimicking the effects of volcanic eruptions as a consequence of the release of carbon into the atmosphere,” said Thomas Algeo, a study co-author and University of Cincinnati professor of geosciences, in aThese massive volcanic eruptions set off a chain of reactions.
The greenhouse gases emitted by their eruptions heated the oceans. As a result, the warm surface water prevented dissolved oxygen from reaching deeper depths, eventually destroying the food chain of the animals back then.
What? 1. was 259 mln yrs ago, and 2. was 262 mln years ago? Are you kidding? So 2. Occurred 3 million years before the first? How is this possible? Maybe in a parallel universe?
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Source: ArizonaDOT - 🏆 264. / 63 Read more »
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »
Source: CNN - 🏆 4. / 95 Read more »
Source: nypost - 🏆 91. / 67 Read more »
Source: PennLive - 🏆 463. / 53 Read more »