Tremendous amounts of soot, lofted into the air from global wildfires following a massive asteroid strike 66 million years ago, would have plunged Earth into darkness for nearly two years, […]
Extinction events
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Distance at Which Supernova Would Spark Mass Extinctions Increased
In 2016, researchers published “slam dunk” evidence, based on iron-60 isotopes in ancient seabed, that supernovae buffeted the Earth One of these supernovae was about 2.6 million years ago. University […]
Posted inExtinction events, Press Release
Fossils Reveal Global Ecosystem Recovery After Mass Extinction
A new study published in Scientific Reports shows how higher latitude ecosystems recovered after the World’s most cataclysmic extinction event 252 million years ago. “Life on the sea floor had […]
Posted inExtinction events, Impact events, Press Release
End-Cretaceous Cooling and Mass Extinction Driven by a Dark Cloud Encounter
We have identified iridium in an ~5 m-thick section of pelagic sediment cored in the deep sea floor at Site 886C, in addition to a distinct spike in iridium at […]
Posted inExtinction events, Habitable Zones, Press Release
Mini-Neptunes Might Host Life Under Right Conditions
Researchers with the NASA Astrobiology Institute’s Virtual Planetary Laboratory Lead Team at the University of Washington have described how mini-Neptune planets could become viable for life around M-Dwarf stars. M-dwarfs […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Cryobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Icy Worlds, Status Report
Fossils Explain How Life Coped During Snowball Earth
Researchers have discovered what they think are fossils of a unique red algae species that lived about 650 million years ago during a brief respite between some of the most […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Extinction events
Did A Methane Burst Cause the end-Permian Extinction?
The end-Permian extinction is associated with a mysterious disruption to Earth’s carbon cycle. Here we identify causal mechanisms via three observations. First, we show that geochemical signals indicate superexponential growth […]
Posted inExtinction events
Ancient Food Webs Show Modern Structure After Mass Extinction
Researchers have pieced together a highly detailed picture of feeding relationships among 700 mammal, bird, reptile, fish, insect, and plant species from a 48 million year old lake and forest […]
Posted inExtinction events, Habitable Zones
Acidic Rain: A Possible Cause of End-Permian Mass Extinction?
Rain as acidic as undiluted lemon juice may have played a part in killing off plants and organisms around the world during the most severe mass extinction in Earth’s history. […]
Posted inBiogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extinction events, Fossils & Paleontology, Press Release
Global Extinction: Gradual Doom as Bad as Abrupt
The deadliest mass extinction of all took a long time to kill 90 percent of Earth’s marine life–and it killed in stages–according to a newly published report. It shows that […]