The ‘Great Dying’ Wiped Out 90% of Life, Then Came 5 Million Years of Lethal Heat. New Fossils Explain Why

“There is a Warning Here”: Permian-Triassic Extinction Reveals the Devastation of a Climate Tipping Point

Open the article to view the coverage from The Debrief

Earth Became a Hothouse 250 Million Years Ago, And We Finally Know Why

Some 252 million years ago, almost all life on Earth disappeared.

Early Triassic super-greenhouse climate driven by vegetation collapse

The Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction (PTME), the most severe crisis of the Phanerozoic, has been attributed to intense global warming triggered by Siberian Traps volcanism. However, it remains unclear why super-greenhouse conditions persisted for around five million years after the volcanic episode, with one possibility being that the slow recovery of plants limited carbon sequestration. Here we use fossil occurrences and lithological indicators…

The ‘Great Dying’ wiped out 90% of life, then came 5 million years of lethal heat. New fossils explain why

A mass extinction event wiped out around 90% of life. What followed has long puzzled scientists: The planet became lethally hot for 5 million years. Researchers say they have figured out why using a vast trove of fossils.

New fossils from Earth's most famous extinction show climate tipping point was crossed

The collapse of tropical forests during Earth's most catastrophic extinction event was the primary cause of the prolonged global warming which followed, according to new research.

Acid Rain & Global Warming - The Great Dying Event