The Permian – Triassic Mass Extinction

“Mother of Mass Extinction” Super Continent, Pangea At the boundary between the Permian and Triassic Most Sever Extinction in earth history

What Happened? About 50% of Families and 90% of Species disappeared Very slow recovery of post-extinction plants and marine ecosystems Radiolaria deposition shut down Coral and Reefs absent altogether

Diversity High levels of diversity in Permian, while low in Triassic. Handful Survive while extinction spreads Leaving the brachiopoda Lingula, Isoetes, and Lystrosaurus

Marine Extinction Hardest Hit of them all Wiped out remaining trilobites and… Switch from Brachiopoda to Bivalves Marine ecosystems slow to recover

Extinction On Land 21 tetrapod families disappeared Last occurrence of the Dicynodont and the Dicynodon zone Lystrosaurus appears abundant

What Cause The Extinction? Asteroid? Clusters of carbon atoms found in sediment Occurred during time of extreme volcanism Plants might have been dying already But volcanism couldn’t have done it alone