Microbes May Be Cause of Planet’s Largest Extinction
- 10 years ago
Scientists say they’ve discovered what triggered the mass extinction of both land and sea life 250 million years ago. It was bacteria.
Scientists say they’ve discovered what triggered the mass extinction of both land and sea life 250 million years ago. It was bacteria.
They say that the presence of particular kinds of microbes paired with a series of volcanic eruptions caused the environment to become filled first with methane and then carbon dioxide.
Prevailing theories give the volcanic eruptions themselves the biggest role in the changing environment.
In the microbe model, the volcanoes play an important part, but are one of several links in the chain of events leading to Earth’s atmosphere becoming hostile towards most forms of life.
In that scenario, the volcanoes had quite a bit of assistance in creating the quantities of co2 required to result in mass extinction.
After the eruptions, one type microbes fed on the nickel left behind by the eruptions and produced massive amounts of methane.
Then, another stepped in and transformed that methane into the quantities of carbon dioxide that would have been required to exact such mass effects.
Volcanoes themselves, say the researchers, wouldn’t have been able to produce that much and sustain the level for that long on their own.
Scientists say they’ve discovered what triggered the mass extinction of both land and sea life 250 million years ago. It was bacteria.
They say that the presence of particular kinds of microbes paired with a series of volcanic eruptions caused the environment to become filled first with methane and then carbon dioxide.
Prevailing theories give the volcanic eruptions themselves the biggest role in the changing environment.
In the microbe model, the volcanoes play an important part, but are one of several links in the chain of events leading to Earth’s atmosphere becoming hostile towards most forms of life.
In that scenario, the volcanoes had quite a bit of assistance in creating the quantities of co2 required to result in mass extinction.
After the eruptions, one type microbes fed on the nickel left behind by the eruptions and produced massive amounts of methane.
Then, another stepped in and transformed that methane into the quantities of carbon dioxide that would have been required to exact such mass effects.
Volcanoes themselves, say the researchers, wouldn’t have been able to produce that much and sustain the level for that long on their own.