The extinction at the end of the Paleozoic was the largest recorded in the fossil record. Theories abound as to why this extinction occurred. The world was irrevocably changed after this event, which marked the end of many characteristically Paleozoic lineages. This category is for sites specifically dealing with this extinction.
Related categories 3
Sites 7
- The Permian Mass Extinction Discusses the geologic setting, possible causes, and taxa affected by the extinction event at the end of the Paleozoic.
- Permian-Triassic Extinction Short video showing rock layers being laid down during the Permian and Triassic periods, and background information on the mass extinctions that occurred at this time.
- The Permo-Triassic Extinction Information on the biggest extinction known to man with a paleontological overview, evidence for the extinction, the groups concerned and the possible causes of the devastation.
- Big Crater Seen beneath Ice Sheet The BBC provides news that what appears to be a 480km-wide crater has been detected under the East Antarctic Ice Sheet and may have been responsible for the extinction at the boundary of the Permian and Triassic.
- Great Extinction Came in Phases BBC News describes how Chinese rock evidence suggests that the biggest of the Earth's mass extinctions did not happen in one cataclysmic event.
- The Permian-Triassic Extinction Article by Andrew Alden proposing that new evidence and old, both support a volcanic explanation for this mass extinction when nine tenths of all species disappeared.
- The Great Permian Extinction Debate Paper by James A. Marusek, providing a hypothesis of the mechanisms behind the greatest mass extinction of life on Earth, the Permian extinction. The hypothesis is applicable to 5 of the 6 Great mass extinction events that occurred at the end of the Botomian, Devonian, Permian, Triassic and Cretaceous Ages.