Ocean acidification drove Earth’s largest mass extinction

Ocean acidification drove Earth’s largest mass extinction
Apr 20, 2015
by Deanna Conners in Blogs » Earth

New evidence suggests that ocean acidification played a key role in the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event 252 million years ago that killed most life on Earth.

During the Permian–Triassic mass extinction event 252 million years ago, most life on Earth perished. Scientists have now obtained evidence that ocean acidification played a key role in the die-off. The new research was published in the journal Science on April 10, 2015.

The Permian–Triassic mass extinction event is the largest such event to ever to have occurred on Earth. About 90% of all marine species and 70% of all terrestrial species died off during this time. It was much worse than the mass extinction event that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago.

While the fossil record shows clear evidence of the dramatic loss of species, evidence for the cause of the die-off has been harder to come by. Both asteroid impacts and volcanoes are suspected to have been involved in the mass extinction, which took place over a period of about 60,000 years.

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http://earthsky.org/earth/ocean-acidification-drove-earths-largest-mass-extinction?utm_source=EarthSky+News&utm_campaign=f33a243110-EarthSky_News&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c643945d79-f33a243110-393525109