End Permian Mass Extinction Hypothesis
Introduction The Permian was the last period during the Paleozoic era. It occurred approximately 299 million years ago and was the point in time in which much of the earth’s land mass came together to form the supercontinent, Pangea. While years of study has relieved the climate conditions and life forms present during this period, the events surrounding the mass extinction that signified its end remains a mystery today. The end-Permian mass extinction is regarded as the largest mass extinction event in the earth’s history, with marine and terrestrial life declining by 95% and 75% respectively (Shen et al. 2014). While clear that life on earth was greatly affected, many scientists are conflicted on the cause/causes of the extinction event.
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However, no one hypothesis has been solely conclusive. In fact, hypotheses such as the Siberian volcanism, carbon isotope fluctuations and methane production all seem to be linked. The belief that Siberian volcanism was the main trigger for the extinction event seems to be the most valid since it also accounts for release of the CO2 and methane put forth by some researchers. The hypothesis that fluctuations in the carbon cycle and the subsequent release of methane is another hypothesis that has strong evidence in its favor. The hypotheses on sea fluctuations and bolide impact seem to be the least supported due to lack of evidence. However, out of all the proposed hypotheses, a bolide impact is the only one that would explain mass extinction both on land and n water. Whatever the cause of the mass extinction event, it is clear that almost all of life on earth was obliterated, with marine life suffering the greatest lost. While some of the individual hypotheses have to be re-examined to test their validity, I think future studies in this field should look at combining the most supported hypotheses and see how they were linked. Outstanding questions in this field include: (i) Did extinction in the marine and terrestrial environments occur at the same time? (ii) Did the mass extinction occur simultaneously across the entire planet? And (iii) Are the proposed hypotheses exactly synchronous with the extinction event? (Bowring et al.
However, no one hypothesis has been solely conclusive. In fact, hypotheses such as the Siberian volcanism, carbon isotope fluctuations and methane production all seem to be linked. The belief that Siberian volcanism was the main trigger for the extinction event seems to be the most valid since it also accounts for release of the CO2 and methane put forth by some researchers. The hypothesis that fluctuations in the carbon cycle and the subsequent release of methane is another hypothesis that has strong evidence in its favor. The hypotheses on sea fluctuations and bolide impact seem to be the least supported due to lack of evidence. However, out of all the proposed hypotheses, a bolide impact is the only one that would explain mass extinction both on land and n water. Whatever the cause of the mass extinction event, it is clear that almost all of life on earth was obliterated, with marine life suffering the greatest lost. While some of the individual hypotheses have to be re-examined to test their validity, I think future studies in this field should look at combining the most supported hypotheses and see how they were linked. Outstanding questions in this field include: (i) Did extinction in the marine and terrestrial environments occur at the same time? (ii) Did the mass extinction occur simultaneously across the entire planet? And (iii) Are the proposed hypotheses exactly synchronous with the extinction event? (Bowring et al.