Mass Extinctions

By 6859267615
  • 445 BCE

    Ordovician species

    Ordovician species
  • 445 BCE

    Ordovician Continents

    Ordovician Continents
  • 375 BCE

    Continental Plates during Late Devonian

    Continental Plates during Late Devonian
  • 375 BCE

    Advanced Marine life from the Devonian period

    Advanced Marine life from the Devonian period
  • Period: 375 BCE to 372 BCE

    Late Devonian mass extinction

    The Devonian saw the first terrestrial trees, insects, predatory fish, and many warm tropical reefs. The length and nature of the late Devonian extinction is highly disputed, with estimated lengths between 25 Myr and 500k years. One estimated cause is ocean anoxia, due to eutrophication, due to runoff from a new layer of soil created by the deep root systems of new trees. The sedimentary record shows the oceans had a widespread anoxia problem, and had lots of continental soil there too.
  • 253 BCE

    Fossil of Permian life

    Fossil of Permian life
  • 252 BCE

    Artist Rendering of Permian life

    Artist Rendering of Permian life
  • Period: 252 BCE to 253 BCE

    End-Permian mass extinction

    Massive, 96% of all marine, 57% of all families, and 83% of all genera. Life on the surface was mostly dog-like creatures living in conifer forests. We know of the extinction because, in Lootsberg pass, the fossil record before 252 mya shows a lot of variety, and after it homogenizes. In the Italian alps the sediment contains a lot of pollen until 252 mya, where it disappears. Scientists believe this extinction was caused by an increase in the acidity of rain, caused by volcanic eruptions.
  • Period: 201 BCE to 200 BCE

    End Triassic

    34% of all marine life, at least 50% of all species, and many large amphibians went extinct here. Mostly this vacated terrestrial niches, allowing dinosaurs to become dominant. The major theory is that the breakup of pangea caused enough volcanic activity to release enough CO2 to warm the climate past most species habitable limits. The Triassic was warm, and the massive distance between oceans and the center of the super continent allowed for extremely arid deserts.
  • 200 BCE

    Triassic Supercontinent

    Triassic Supercontinent
  • 200 BCE

    Triassic Climate Artists Rendering

    Triassic Climate Artists Rendering
  • 66 BCE

    The Chicxulub meteor which caused the K-Pg Extinction

    The Chicxulub meteor which caused the K-Pg Extinction
  • 66 BCE

    Artists Rendering of Cretaceous ecosystem

    Artists Rendering of Cretaceous ecosystem
  • Period: 66 BCE to 65 BCE

    Cretaceous-Palogene extinction (Or the event formerly known as K-T)

    All non-avian dinosaurs died, along with 75% of all species. The commonly accepted theory is a massive comet or asteroid (10 km wide) impacted a peninsula in mexico. Two major evidences support this, the Chicxulub crater and a thin boundary of clay high in iridium found around the world, which is called the K-Pg boundry. This extinction allowed mammels to become the dominant form of life. During the Cretaceous period emerged marine reptiles, many mammels and birds, and flowering plants.