To this day, scientists debate why 85 percent of all living species suddenly disappeared during the first mass extinction.
The causes of mass extinctions in Earth’s history are clear to researchers in many cases – for example, traces of an asteroid millions of years later can be found. However, the exact causes of the first known major extinction remain uncertain.
Of all this, this was the second deadliest death, and the Permian extinction was the most dangerous.
In the late Ordovician period, 444 million years ago, 85 percent of marine species suddenly disappeared. This event is so mysterious that despite explanations for it, scientists are still devising new theories Discover the scientific journal.
At this age, simple life forms such as bacteria thrived three billion years ago, however, more complex life forms emerged. Even before the Ordovician period, the life of the earth began to develop enormously in the cambium, the animal tribes still known today, the vertebrates, mollusks and arthropods. Wildlife proliferated fantastically to the point of disaster.
“The Ordovician period was very exciting, when it was one of the fastest developments in the living world (…), and it was also one of the greatest mass extinctions. Both are clearly linked to changes in the environment.” Said Seth Finnegan, a paleobiologist at the University of Berkeley.
At the time of the first mass extinction, 85 percent of the species had gone extinct, including many trilobites (Image: Wikipedia)
At that time, most of the land was united in the Gondwana subcontinent, plants and animals may have just appeared on Earth, and the vast majority of living things lived in the sea.
The destruction has so far traditionally been attributed to two reasons. Earth’s climate is known to have changed many times in eras prior to Earth’s history. However, our early ancestors weren’t the only ones who suffered from climate change, the planet declined dramatically 444 million years ago, Gondwana around Antarctica was covered in ice, and sea levels fell by hundreds of meters as a result. This destroyed a large portion of the shallow warm water habitats. Then, after nearly a million years, the Earth would warm. The ice caps melted, and the sea level rose again. And species that just got used to the cold couldn’t adapt quickly enough to the new conditions.
It is not clear what caused these changes.
According to some studies, carbon dioxide levels have decreased due to mountain formation, which has lowered global temperatures. There are experts who say that the spread of plants has absorbed greenhouse gases. But the study causing a huge gamma-ray burst is also known.
Others believe that the change in temperature was not enough to cause the mass extinction, that even toxic substances released into the depths of the oceans may have played a role. Moreover, evidence suggests that it may not have been frozen, but like most of the extinctions, it was also caused by intense volcanoes.
The reasons are uncertain, but scientists agree that this massive extinction, despite having destroyed 85 percent of the species, rearranged wildlife less than other extinctions. For example, it is widely known that the Cretaceous mass extinction destroyed the dominant dinosaurs and allowed mammals to climb. There was no such change 444 million years ago.
The total extinction of the dinosaurs was caused by the mass extinction (Image: Wikipedia)
So although it was the second largest extinction after the Permian, it had less impact in the long term. Most species are extinct, but whole species have not yet disappeared. The principle of lawn mower work is more. What is the expected reason for this? Certain areas, not the entire planet, may have been affected.
Cover photo illustration.
