Jakarta –
Life on earth is estimated to have lasted for billions of years. Earth and the objects on its surface have undergone many evolutionary events extinction terrible thing that ever happened.
Many creatures became extinct as a result of major events and gradual changes in earth’s conditions. Until now, the extinction of living things is still ongoing with different causes.
As quoted from the site Britannica, that until now the earth has experienced 6 periods of extinction. What is the most horrific extinction event so far?
6 Most Horrible Extinction Events:
1. Ordovician-Silurian Extinction
The Ordovician-Silurrian extinction occurred around 443.8 million years ago and was a mass extinction event for many species. The impact of this extinction is the disappearance of as much as 71 percent of species that lived before.
The cause of the extinction is not clearly known, but there is a theory that suggests it was due to a phenomenon called silicate weathering. According to the theory, after the silicates absorbed some carbon dioxide, the earth became colder, and permafrost spread across the planet’s surface.
This phenomenon causes sea level and temperature fluctuations that are so drastic that marine animals that cannot survive the changing conditions will become extinct.
2. The Late Devonian Extinction
The Late Devonian extinction, which occurred about 372 million years ago, was one of the mildest and most gradual of the great mass extinctions.
However, the rate of emergence of new species plummeted during this time. Changes in extinction and speciation rates are likely due to overlapping environmental pressures, which range from global warming to the influence of extraterrestrial bodies.
3. The Permian-Triassic Extinction
The Permian-Triassic extinction is known as the “Great Dying” because it was the largest mass extinction event in the fossil record. The events occurred about 252 million years ago and wiped out 80 percent of marine invertebrate species and 70 percent of land vertebrate species.
The exact duration of this extinction event is unclear, but some scientists think it lasted 15 million years. Meanwhile, some other scientists claim that the extinction only lasted for tens of thousands of years
4. Late Triassic Extinction
The end of the Triassic extinction occurred about 208 million years ago and caused the extinction of many marine species of amphibians, reptiles, invertebrates, fish and reptiles. The extinction of many marine animals caused dinosaurs to dominate the land area in the next period.
These extinctions occurred gradually involving massive emissions of greenhouse gases from large-scale volcanic activity, which contributed to a rise in global temperatures that made many species impossible to survive.
5. Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction
This event occurred about 66 million years ago and marked the end of about 67 percent of all species that lived before it. Several scientific studies state that giant space objects are the main cause of this extinction.
An asteroid fragment with an estimated diameter of 10 kilometers hit Earth as evidenced by the existence of a very large impact crater found near the Yucatan Peninsula in northeastern Central America.
6. The Sixth Mass Extinction
The sixth mass extinction is currently underway. The driver of extinction in the present era is human activity which is accelerating the rate of loss of much biodiversity.
Scientists predict that 50 percent of all species living on earth could become extinct by 2100. The main causes are the destruction of natural habitats, the introduction of invasive species, and overhunting of wild animals.
As for the pusher extinction today is climate change and global warming. Currently, the oceans are warming 10 to 100 times faster than during the deadly Permian-Triassic extinction.
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