Now researchers at MIT have determined that the end-Permian extinction occurred over 60,000 years, give or take 48,000 years—practically instantaneous, from a geologic perspective. The new timescale is based on more precise dating techniques, and indicates that the most severe extinction in history may have happened more than 10 times faster than scientists had previously thought. Weve got the extinction nailed in absolute time and duration, says Sam Bowring, the Robert R. Shrock Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at MIT. How do you kill 96 percent of everything that lived in the oceans in tens of thousands of years? It could be that an exceptional extinction requires an exceptional explanation. In addition to establishing the extinctions duration, Bowring, graduate student Seth Burgess, and a colleague from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology also found that, 10,000 years before the die-off, the oceans experienced a pulse of light carbon, which likely reflects a massive addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. This dramatic change may have led to widespread ocean acidification and increased sea temperatures by 10 degrees Celsius or more, killing the majority of sea life. Read more at: phys.org/news/2014-02-end-permian-extinction-yearsmuch-faster-earlier.html#jCp
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 12:24:22 +0000
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