Around 250 million years ago, Earth was near-lifeless and locked in a hothouse state. Now scientists know why
- Written by Andrew Merdith, DECRA Fellow, School of Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide
Some 252 million years ago, almost all life on Earth disappeared.
Known as the Permian–Triassic mass extinction – or the Great Dying – this was the most catastrophic of the five mass extinction events recognised in the past 539 million years of our planet’s history.
Up to 94% of marine species and 70% of terrestrial...