Latest Extinction events Stories
Researchers in Brazil reported their discovery of a new marine crocodile species on Wednesday, showing that the reptiles survived the mass extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago.In the report published in the Proceedings of Royal Society B research journal, paleontologists said they found the new dyrosaurid crocdylomorph in the Poty Quarry, a limestone quarry located close to Recife in northeastern Brazil. Researchers suggested that the Guarinisuchus munizi survived the...
Scientists reported on Thursday that they believe a series of volcanic eruptions in modern day India may have been the cause of mass extinctions of species including dinosaurs over the last 545 million years.The eruptions, which formed "flood basalts," hurled large amounts of sulfur into the atmosphere 65 million years ago during the Cretaeceous period and resulted in damages to the Earth's climate, according to researchers. These eruptions are one of two primary explanations for a series of...
Dinosaur doomsday was wetter than scientists have thought, according to new images of the crater where the space rock that likely killed the dinosaurs landed. Sixty-five million years ago the asteroid struck the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula, and most scientists think this event played a large role in causing the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth, including non-avian dinosaurs. Geophysicists now have created the most detailed 3-D seismic images yet of the mostly...
AUSTIN, Texas -- The most detailed three-dimensional seismic images yet of the Chicxulub crater, a mostly submerged and buried impact crater on the Mexico coast, may modify a theory explaining the extinction of 70 percent of life on Earth 65 million years ago.The Chicxulub crater was formed when an asteroid struck on the coast of the Yucatan Peninsula. Most scientists agree the impact played a major role in the "KT Extinction Event" that caused the extinction of most life on Earth, including...
The full recovery of ecological systems, following the most devastating extinction event of all time, took at least 30 million years, according to new research from the University of Bristol. About 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian, a major extinction event killed over 90 per cent of life on earth, including insects, plants, marine animals, amphibians, and reptiles. Ecosystems were destroyed worldwide, communities were restructured and organisms were left struggling to recover....
The full recovery of ecological systems, following the most devastating extinction event of all time, took at least 30 million years, according to new research from the University of Bristol. About 250 million years ago, at the end of the Permian, a major extinction event killed over 90 per cent of life on earth, including insects, plants, marine animals, amphibians, and reptiles. Ecosystems were destroyed worldwide, communities were restructured and organisms were left struggling to recover....
We all know the story - dinosaurs were supposedly wiped out by an asteroid over 65million years ago. However, it is now being suggested that it could have been disease-spreading mosquitoes and other biting insects that lead to their demise. Husband and wife team George and Roberta Poinar from Oregon State University suggest that disease spread by mosquitoes, mites and ticks was probably the major factor that finished off the reptiles. By changing the nature of plant life, these insects could...
A U.S. study suggests violent volcanic eruptions in India might have killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, not a meteor impact. The eruptions created India's gigantic Deccan Traps lava beds and the research by Princeton University paleontologist Gerta Keller marks the first time a study has directly linked the main phase of the Deccan Traps' creation to the mass extinction. Keller said she made the linkage using microscopic marine fossils that are known to have evolved immediately...
Oxygen may have triggered burst of biodiversityCOLUMBUS , Ohio -- Ohio State University geologists and their colleagues have uncovered evidence of when Earth may have first supported an oxygen-rich atmosphere similar to the one we breathe today.The study suggests that upheavals in the earth's crust initiated a kind of reverse-greenhouse effect 500 million years ago that cooled the world's oceans, spawned giant plankton blooms, and sent a burst of oxygen into the atmosphere.That oxygen may...
The Great Dying 250 million years ago happened slowly, according to USC geologistsUSC -- The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history also may have been one of the slowest, according to a study that casts further doubt on the extinction-by-meteor theory. Creeping environmental stress fueled by volcanic eruptions and global warming was the likely cause of the Great Dying 250 million years ago, said USC doctoral student Catherine Powers. Writing in the November issue of the journal Geology,...
