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Mass Extinctions: Fossil Cretaceous Period Triassic Period Permian Period Devonian Period Ordovician Period

Mass extinctions are events where large numbers of species go extinct within a short period of geological time. Five major mass extinctions have occurred over the last 500 million years, including at the ends of the Cretaceous and Permian periods around 66 million and 252 million years ago respectively. The Cretaceous extinction wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species, while the even more severe Permian extinction may have killed over 90% of all species on Earth at the time. Mass extinctions had long-lasting effects, with tens of millions of years required for biodiversity to recover.

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105 views

Mass Extinctions: Fossil Cretaceous Period Triassic Period Permian Period Devonian Period Ordovician Period

Mass extinctions are events where large numbers of species go extinct within a short period of geological time. Five major mass extinctions have occurred over the last 500 million years, including at the ends of the Cretaceous and Permian periods around 66 million and 252 million years ago respectively. The Cretaceous extinction wiped out the dinosaurs and many other species, while the even more severe Permian extinction may have killed over 90% of all species on Earth at the time. Mass extinctions had long-lasting effects, with tens of millions of years required for biodiversity to recover.

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I Ahmad
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Mass extinctions

Mass extinctions are episodes in which a large number of plant and animal species become
extinct within a relatively short period of geologic time—from possibly a few thousand to a
few million years. After each of the five major mass extinctions that have occurred over the
last 500 million years, life rebounded. However, it took tens of millions of years of evolution
for species diversity to be restored. Based on evidence in the fossil record, scientists have
identified major extinction events at the end of these geologic periods:

o Cretaceous Period — 66 million years ago


o Triassic Period — 201 million years ago
o Permian Period — 252 million years ago
o Devonian Period — 359 million years ago
o Ordovician Period — 443 million years ago

The mass extinctions at the end of the Cretaceous Period is the most familiar because it
brought about the demise of the dinosaurs. However, the most dramatic one, in terms of
number of species lost, occurred at the end of the Permian Period. Both events were so
significant they each marked the end of an era—the Mesozoic Era for the end-Cretaceous
extinction and the Paleozoic Era for the end-Permian extinction.

Mass extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period (66 million years ago)
Best known for killing off the dinosaurs, the end-Cretaceous mass extinction also caused
many other casualties. Ammonoids (marine mollusks), pterosaurs (gliding reptiles),
mosasaurs (swimming reptiles), and a host of other plants and animals died out completely or
suffered heavy losses. However, some that did survive the extinction—including mammals,
birds, crocodiles, turtles, and redwood trees—were barely scathed.

During the Cretaceous Period, shallow seas often covered all or parts of Kansas. Well-
preserved and world-renowned fossils of marine animals that did not survive the mass
extinction have been found in the chalk beds of western Kansas. They include 20-foot-long
mosasaurs and pterosaurs with 20-foot wingspans.
Several theories have been proposed to explain what caused the end-Cretaceous mass
extinction, including a much-publicized giant asteroid strike near the Yucatan peninsula that
was so massive its impact likely led to world-wide climate change. Scientists continue to
research and debate the issue. Regardless of the cause, one thing is certain—the event marked
a drastic change in the planet’s biological makeup and set the stage for the rise of mammals.

Mass extinction at the end of the Permian Period (252 million years ago)
Scientists estimate about 90% of the plant and animal species on Earth during the Permian
Period were extinct by the end of the period. Marine animals living in reefs and shallow
waters were especially hard hit, and the loss of marine species reached about 96%.

Permian marine fossils of now extinct species found in eastern Kansas Permian and older
Pennsylvanian rocks include corals, brachiopods, bryozoans, ammonoids, and fusulinids.
Trilobites likely died out just before the mass extinction, and only a few Pennsylvanian and
Permian specimens have been found in Kansas.

On land, more than two-thirds of amphibian and reptile species and nearly one-third of insect
species were wiped out. The demise of so many insects is noteworthy because insects tend to
be survivors and this is the only mass extinction that greatly affected them.

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