Guest “Geology Rocks!” by David Middleton Impact Crater off the African Coast May Be Linked to ChicxulubThe underwater crater, spotted serendipitously in commercial observations of seafloor sediments, is believed to…
Category: Mass Extinctions
Claim: Marine life is fleeing the equator to cooler waters. History tells us this could trigger a mass extinction event
Losing species in tropical ecosystems means ecological resilience to environmental changes is reduced, potentially compromising ecosystem persistence. In subtropical ecosystems, species richness is increasing. This means there’ll be species invaders,…
The “Escalator to Extinction” Myth
The “escalator to extinction” theory argues organisms must migrate to higher elevations where a cooler altitude will offset global warming temperatures. But there is scant evidence that is happening.
Study: Burning Coal Contributed to the Permo-Triassic Extinction
Guest essay by Eric Worrall According to a new study, vast quantities of burning coal contributed to the Permo-Triassic Extinction, which killed 70% of all vertebrate species. Coal-burning in Siberia…
Insectageddon? Maybe not . . .
Guest Essay by Kip Hansen Reading widely across the literature of many scientific fields broadens one’s view of the rate of scientific progress — both our increased knowledge…
Revisiting Day One of the Cenozoic Era
Guest geology by David Middleton Cenozoic Era: The Era of New Life Who would have ever guessed that details about the first day of the Cenozoic Era might have been…
Cosmic Airburst May have Wiped Out Part of the Middle East, 3700 Years Ago
Guest essay by Eric Worrall Archaeologists have advanced a theory that towns and people in a region just north of the Dead Sea may have been obliterated by a Tunguska…
Global warming increases the risk of an extinction domino effect
From Eurekalert European Commission Joint Research Centre The complex network of interdependencies between plants and animals multiplies the species at risk of extinction due to environmental change, according to a…
Extinctions and shutting down the Gulf Stream
By Andy May This is part four of our series on climate change costs and hazards. The first three parts were on humans and the environment, population and the food…
End-Permian Extinction Due to Contact Metamorphism?
David Middleton Here’s a novel take on the Siberian Traps and the End-Permian extinction: Geology Massive underground magma pulse caused the world’s largest mass-extinction The end-Permian wiped out almost all…
The Carbon-Fed "Sixth Mass Genesis" – An Anthropocene Success Story!
Guest post by David Middleton Sixth Mass Extinction or Sixth Mass Genesis? By Chris Thomas July 14, 2017 Animals and plants are seemingly disappearing faster than at any time since…
Paleo Expert: Earth is Not in the Midst of a Sixth Mass Extinction
Guest essay by Eric Worrall h/t JoNova – According to renowned Smithsonian Paleontologist Doug Erwin, people who claim we are in the midst of an anthropogenic mass extinction don’t have…
BBC Earth: “America’s Pronghorns Are Survivors of a Mass Extinction.” An Almost Really Good Article and Then…
There Was the Gratuitous Lie about the Current Mass Extinction. Guest post by David Middleton Rare Earth Extinction America’s pronghorns are survivors of a mass extinction At the end of…
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