Conversation With Earth
www.youtube.com/shorts/ZrZ-gSi2aIc
Earth’s history has seen five major mass extinctions, each dramatically reducing biodiversity. Here’s a summary of each:
1.Ordovician-Silurian Extinction (≈443 million years ago)
•Cause: Likely due to rapid climate change, including glaciation and sea level drop.
•Impact: About 85% of marine species went extinct, especially trilobites, brachiopods, and corals.
2.Late Devonian Extinction (≈375 million years ago)
•Cause: Unclear, but possibly linked to climate change, asteroid impacts, or plant evolution reducing ocean oxygen.
•Impact: Around 75% of species disappeared, affecting marine life like reef-building corals and early vertebrates.
3.Permian-Triassic Extinction (≈252 million years ago) (“The Great Dying”)
•Cause: Likely massive volcanic eruptions (Siberian Traps), global warming, ocean acidification, and methane release.
•Impact: The most severe extinction, wiping out about 96% of marine species and 70% of land species, including most amphibians and reptiles.
4.Triassic-Jurassic Extinction (≈200 million years ago)
•Cause: Possibly volcanic activity (Central Atlantic Magmatic Province), climate shifts, and ocean acidification.
•Impact: About 80% of species vanished, paving the way for the dominance of dinosaurs.
5.Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction (≈66 million years ago) (“The K-T Extinction”)
•Cause: Asteroid impact (Chicxulub Crater, Mexico), volcanic activity (Deccan Traps), and climate shifts.
•Impact: Around 75% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, went extinct, allowing mammals to rise.
These extinctions reshaped life on Earth, leading to new evolutionary pathways. Some scientists argue we are in a sixth mass extinction due to human activity.
Conversation With Earth
www.youtube.com/shorts/ZrZ-gSi2aIc
Earth’s history has seen five major mass extinctions, each dramatically reducing biodiversity. Here’s a summary of each:
1.Ordovician-Silurian Extinction (≈443 million years ago)
•Cause: Likely due to rapid climate change, including glaciation and sea level drop.
•Impact: About 85% of marine species went extinct, especially trilobites, brachiopods, and corals.
2.Late Devonian Extinction (≈375 million years ago)
•Cause: Unclear, but possibly linked to climate change, asteroid impacts, or plant evolution reducing ocean oxygen.
•Impact: Around 75% of species disappeared, affecting marine life like reef-building corals and early vertebrates.
3.Permian-Triassic Extinction (≈252 million years ago) (“The Great Dying”)
•Cause: Likely massive volcanic eruptions (Siberian Traps), global warming, ocean acidification, and methane release.
•Impact: The most severe extinction, wiping out about 96% of marine species and 70% of land species, including most amphibians and reptiles.
4.Triassic-Jurassic Extinction (≈200 million years ago)
•Cause: Possibly volcanic activity (Central Atlantic Magmatic Province), climate shifts, and ocean acidification.
•Impact: About 80% of species vanished, paving the way for the dominance of dinosaurs.
5.Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction (≈66 million years ago) (“The K-T Extinction”)
•Cause: Asteroid impact (Chicxulub Crater, Mexico), volcanic activity (Deccan Traps), and climate shifts.
•Impact: Around 75% of species, including all non-avian dinosaurs, went extinct, allowing mammals to rise.
These extinctions reshaped life on Earth, leading to new evolutionary pathways. Some scientists argue we are in a sixth mass extinction due to human activity.