Wipeout.

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  • Author(s): Benton, Michael
  • Source:
    New Scientist. 4/26/2003, Vol. 178 Issue 2392, p38. 4p. 3 Color Photographs, 1 Diagram, 1 Map.
  • Additional Information
    • Subject Terms:
      DISASTERS; VOLCANIC hazard analysis; EFFECT of volcanic eruptions on Earth temperature; PERMIAN stratigraphic geology
    • Subject Terms:
      MEXICOReport Available; CHINAReport Available
    • Abstract:
      The article discusses about a major catastrophe 251 million years ago. At the end of the Permian period, life on Earth was almost completely wiped out by an environmental catastrophe of a magnitude never seen before.Two theories have been proposed-the impact of a huge meteorite or comet and prolonged volcanic eruption.It seems that the dinosaurs and many other groups of animals and plants were wiped out 65 million years ago by the impact of a huge meteorite in modern day Mexico. A team of scientists claimed they had found clear evidence that the mass extinction at the end of the Permian was also caused by a meteorite impact. They repeated their analyses from the Chinese samples, and confirmed the helium result. Sediment grains from Permo-Triassic boundary sections in China show evidence of compression by impact. The evidence for this version of catastrophic events is compelling compared with the impact hypothesis.