Mass Extinction Events

Extinction theory

Aftermath of a mass extinction

Cracking the mystery of the corrosive ocean 

Estimating. the extinction risk from climate change  

Scientists discover a new way to find mass extinction

How to see a mass extinction if its right in front of you

Solving corrosive ocean mystery reveals future climate

Climate change models may underestimate extinctions

Previously unknown global ecological disaster discovered

Mass extinction study provides lessons for the modern world 

Researchers pinpoint date and rate of Earth’s most extreme extinction  

Warning signs of mass extinction do exist, contrary to previous assumptions

Possible causative agents of prior mass extinctions:

Microbes and mass extinction

What triggers a mass extinction

The cold exterminated all of them

America got 'nuked' in 12,500BC!

Supernovas and the history of life on Earth

Arctic clues to the worst mass extinction of life

The Great Dying: the Permian Mass Extinction

Tiny algae may have prompted a mass extinction

How deadly would a nearby gamma ray burst be?

Is Planet X to blame for Earth's mass extinctions?

Humans caused megafauna extinction in Australia

Megavolcanoes tied to pre-dinosaur mass extinction

Ancient whodunit may be solved: the microbes did it!

Study casts doubt on mammoth-killing cosmic impact

What are the mass extinctions, and what casuse them?

Exploding stars may have killed off prehistoric predators

Six cosmic catastrophes that could wipe out life on Earth

Did ozone loss cause the end Devonian mass extinction?

Acid rain, ozone depletion contributed to ancient extinction

How nickel played a role in the world's worst mass extinction

How nickel played a role in the world's mass extinction event

Russian meteorite sheds light on dinosaur extinction mystery 

Volcanoes played pivotal role in ancient ice age, mass extiction

Ancient supernovae buffeted Earth's biology with radiation dose

How nearby stellar explosions could have killed off large animals

What killed off Madagascar's megafauna a thousand years ago?

One of the greatest mass extinctions caused by volcanic eruptions

Does dark matter cause mass extinctions and geologic upheavals?

Erupting volatiles may have caused Earth's deadliest mass extinction

Cosmic impact may have led to demise of early North American peoples

Scientists find widespread ocean anoxia as cause for past mass extinction

Hyperactive magnetic field may have led to one of Earth's major extinctions

Could Siberian volcanism have caused the earth's largest extinction event?

The last time oceans got this acidic this fast, 96% of marine life went extinct

Huge and widespread volcanic eruptions triggered the end-Triassic extinction

Evidence that Earth's first mass extinction was caused by critters, not catastrophe

Nickel isotopes link Siberian Traps aerosol particles to the end-Permian mass extintion

A 27.5-My underlying periodicity detected in extinction episodes of non-marine tetrapods

Researchers learn more about the possible role of gamma ray bursts on life extinction in the universe

Newly discovered fossils strengthen proposition that world's first extnction engineered by early animals

Re-emergence of life after a prior mass extinction:

When life on Earth was nearly extinguished

After obliteration, how long before life returned?

Meteorite that doomed dinosaurs remade forests

Ups and downs of biodiversity after mass extinction

Mass extinctions reset the long-term pace of evolution

Mass extinction paved the way for rise of the dinosaurs

Marine life quickly recovered after global mass extinction

Species reemergence after collapse is possible but different

How did life recover after Earth's worst-ever mass extinction?

Ancient food webs show modern structure after mass extinction

Geologists uncover new clues about largest mass extinction ever

Australia's deadly eruptions the reason for the first mass extinction

Greenland fossils reveal global ecosystem recovery after mass extinction

Study explores ancient ecosystem response to a 'big five' mass extinction

After long-ago mass extinction, global warming hindered species' recovery

Amphibians and dinosaurs were the new large predators after the mass extinction

Speciation collapse and invasive species dynamics during the late Devonian "mass extinction"

Comprehensive analysis of impact spherules supports theory of cosmic impact 12,800 years ago

What happened to dinosaurs' predecessors after Earth's largest extinction 252 million years ago?

Ancient stone carvings confirm how comet struck Earth in 10,950 BC, sparking the rise of civilisations

Nanodiamond-rich layer across three continents consistent with major cosmic impact at 12,000 cal BP

Modern humans did not settle in Asia before the eruption of Sumatra's volcano Mount Toba 74,000 years ago

The K-T Boundary, Dinosaur Extinction:

The big burn

Dinosaurs fell victim to perfect storm

Mapping the demise of the dinosaurs

The dust that might have killed the dinosaurs

A rapid end strikes the dinosaur extinction debate

How the darkness and the cold killed the dinosaurs

Drawing a 'curtain of fire' on dinosaur extinction theory?

Dartmouth researchers say a comet killed the dinosaurs

New evidence supporting theory of extraterrestrial impact

Antarctic fossils reveal creatures weren't safer in the south

What really happened when the 'dino-killer' asteroid struck

Research reveals tsunami followed dinosaur-killing asteroid

Huge global tsunami followed dinosaur-killing asteroid impact

66 million-year-old deathbed linked to dinosaur-killing meteor

Asteroid that killed the dinasours also wiped out the 'Obamadon'

Dinosaur-killing asteroid impact made huge dead zones in oceans

Triggering of the largest Deccan eruptions by the Chicxalub impact

After asteroid hit, a giant cloud of smoke led to to dinosaurs' demise

Dinosaur-killing asteroid triggered a mile-high tsunami across the globe

Asteroid impact, not volcanism, caused the end-Cretaceous dinosaur extection

Study provides new evidence ancient asteroid caused global firestorm on Earth

New, tighter timeline confirms ancient volcanism aligned with dinosaurs' extinction

First evidence for a massive extinction event affecting bees close to the K-T Boundary

'Trickle of food' helped deep sea creatures survive asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs

Other known mass extinctions:

What caused the mass extinction of Earth's first animals?

Fossilized marine plankton tell the tale of the end Permian mass extinction

Mass extinction and Pangea integration during the Paleozoic-Mesozoic transition

Researchers quantify toxic ocean conditions during major extinction 93.9 million years ago

Metal-induced malformations in early Palaezoic plankton are harbingers of mass extinction

Understanding the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE): paleogeography/climate/ecology

Will we see a 6th mass extinction?:

The last survivors on Earth

Can we save the human race?

Are we headed for a sixth extinction?

Tropical collapse caused by lethal heat

The Lilliput Effect in colonial organisms

Earth’s massive extinction: the story gets worse

Extinctions during human era worse than thought

Tale of two climate crises gives clues to the present 

Do failing satellites fortell an imminent mass extinction?