Cretaceous Extinction Event Causes, Evidence, and Effects on Biodiversity The most significant event of the Cretaceous era came at its end. Nearly 65 million years ago, the second most severe mass extinction in earth’s history occurred. This resulted in the loss of around 80% of species living at the time. Though nowhere near as severe as the end-Permian mass extinction, the end-Cretaceous extinction is the most well known mass extinction event. This is due to the violent event that caused
Introduction When looking at any mass extinction event, there are a number of questions that will invariably need to be answered. When did it happen? How many species were affected? Which ones were they? What was the cause of such widespread death? How did some species survive while other, thriving ones were wiped out completely? For four of the “Big Five” mass extinction events, the Ordovician-Silurian, Permian, Triassic-Jurassic, and Cretaceous-Paleogene, the answers to these questions are all
Cretaceous-Paleogene Extinction Event Over 98% of all organisms that have lived on Earth are now extinct. A mass extinction event occurs when a large number of species die out within a small time frame (relative to the age of Earth). Mass extinctions are intensively studied for both cause and effect, as there is usually room for debate regarding catalysts that precede the extinction and the massive influx of new biological species that follows. There have been five major mass extinctions, dubbed the “Big
Introduction The Permian-Triassic extinction event is undoubtedly the largest extinction event the Earth has ever seen. While evidence shows that it occurred over a great amount of time, it was effective in causing the extinction of an incredibly large portion of life on Earth. To such an extent that it took millions of years before any large amounts of biodiversity occurred again. This is why it is also referred to as the ‘Great Dying’. This paper will will analyze the survivability of terrestrial
The Extinction Event and Life in the Post-Apocalyptic Greenhouse The biggest mass extinction of the past 600 million years (My), the end-Permian event (251 My ago), witnessed the loss of as much as 95% of all species on Earth. Key questions for biologists concern what combination of environmental changes could possibly have had such a devastating effect, the scale and pattern of species loss, and the nature of the recovery. New studies on dating the event, contemporary volcanic activity, and
Pangea began to drift apart during this time. Right before the Jurassic period began, a major extinction event occurred wiping out much of the life on earth. The events that unfolded afterwards gave life to a new planet.
our existence? In short, how do we survive? Research suggests that space exploration and colonization is of vital importance to mankind, because our planet has a finite resource base for future populace support, we are at an increased risk of mass extinction without dissemination and cosmic expeditions promote innovation to stimulate growth and technological advancement. In our brief history, Homo sapiens have occupied our planet for nearly 200,000 years. From our origins, we banded together in small
ORDOVICIAN PERIOD The Ordovician Period is the second period of the Paleozoic Era and began 485.4 million years ago and ended 443.4 million years ago (when the Silurian Period began). Four continents were present and separated by three main oceans. Laurentia was composed of present-day North America, part of Scotland, and Greenland and was near the equator. Siberia-Kazakhstan was east of Laurentia, slightly north of the equator. The Iapetus Ocean separated these two masses on the south from the
The mass extinction of Marine-life in the Silurian Period opened up endless possibilities and potential for terrestrial life in the next Geologic time period, The Devonian Period. The Devonian Period served as an introduction to the expansion of the first amphibians, sharks, and some of the first plants with roots, leaves, and stomata. Despite such significant advances, the Devonian Period is best known for its diversity and abundance of underwater life. Not only did fish with cartilage begin to
One theory, which explains the mass extinctions of the Permian, is the reduction of shallow continental shelves due to the formation of the super-continent Pangaea. Pangaea at the time of the Permian extinction extended from pole to pole. It was formed about 300,000 million years ago by the collision of Laurasia from the north and Gondwana from the south. The super ocean Panthalasa surrounded it. The theory of the formation of Pangaea and the mass extinction occurred over 250 million years ago
differentiations, extinctions of various plant and animal life, etc. Over time everything seems to have evolved in some way form or fashion. However, the Permian Era extinction was different from all the rest. This extinction affected every form of life, but especially the marine life. Researchers have stated that 93-97% of all Earths species went extinct during this period of time. This essay will explain how a once blossoming progressive era turned into Earths most catastrophic event. The Permian Period
First adapt radiation after Ordovician Period was the Silurian period, This happened about 443.7 - 416 years ago and after the first extinction. (N/A,N/A) This was the beginning of fresh water fish, plants and animals left the water to be on land. This began the terrestrial form of life with plant being assigned to the cooksonia genus and the vascular systems of complex plants. this period was subdivided into four epochs which had stages. (Fischer,Liu, Yip, and Yu, 1998) The next period was the
ice age was because of a 100,000-year cycle related to the Earths orbit and shape. Mammals got very big and lived in cold grasslands. These animals were relatives of the elephants. They are mammoths and mastodons. The extinction of these animals was at the same time of the extinction of the ice age.
Precambrian Geologic The Precambrian era is about 90% of the earth’s geologic life. It refers to all geologic time before 600 million years ago. During the Precambrian era, the earth formed along with the oceans and atmosphere. Originally, the earth was in a molten state, but as it cooled down, it developed a hard crust and oceans that developed water vapor to form an atmosphere. About five hundred million years after the earth was formed, small continents started to form. The plate tectonics also
Okay, so we all know about the dinosaurs, right? How they lived millions of years ago; how a massive meteor or volcanic eruptions wiped them out; and how man has never seen a living dinosaur. . . but what if I told you I had enough compelling evidence to prove all of these big name scientists wrong? In other words, evolutionists who basically believe we came from rocks…..I know right!? Well hold on, because I'm getting ready to blow your mind and all of their theories out of the water with
All it takes is one asteroid to make all life on earth go extinct. 65 million years ago one such asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs. Despite their destructive reputation, there is more to asteroids than meets the eye. Through modern scientific research we now know the origins, makeup, composition, and potential of these fascinating space rocks. Ironically, even though asteroids could be the end of humanity they could also be its savior. Asteroids are leftovers from the formation of our solar system
Earth’s carrying capacity. Earth has gone through five fully major extinctions before. We currently are in the process of Earth’s sixth mass extinction. This mass extinction is closely related in severity to the extinction of the dinosaurs. Earth’s extinctions are broken into three different areas. The first area was the large number of animals caught by hunter-gathers. The discovery of agriculture led to the second area of extinction, wildlife habitats. These wildlife habitats were destroyed due
Armageddon begins by showing the destruction of the Earth by an asteroid 65 million years ago, when the dinosaurs inhabited the earth. According to the narration, the asteroid is said to have been six miles wide, with the power of 10,000 nuclear weapons. The after effects were trillions of tons of dirt and rock thrown into the atmosphere, creating a blanket of dust that the sun was unable to penetrate for 1,000 years. The narrator explained that it happened once, and that it would happen again, it
The Permian Triassic Mass Extinction The Permian Triassic extinction was an event of cataclysmic disaster and almost the extinction of all species on planet earth. The Permian Triassic extinction is said to have occurred millions of years ago, geologist have estimated that its occurrences happened about 248 million to 286 million years ago. This rare occurrence of events proceeded the Triassic geologic periods and the Paleozoic and Mesozoic eras. This mass disaster was the largest dissipation
Several mass extinctions have occurred during the Earth’s history. The Cretaceous – Tertiary Boundary (K-T) Extinction caused the loss of at least three-quarters of all species known at that time including the dinosaurs. The cause of this mass extinction is a controversial subject among scientists but the fossil evidence of it’s occurrence is abundant. INTRODUCTION The K-T Extinction occurred 65 million years ago. Many species perished in that extinction. Today evidence for this extinction can be seen