Large Volcanic Eruption May Have Caused the First Mass Extinction (IMAGE)

Tohoku University

Large Volcanic Eruption May Have Caused the First Mass Extinction

Caption

The researchers found Hg enrichments in sedimentary rocks deposited in North America and southern China 445-443 million years ago. Hg enrichments are products of multiple phases of a large igneous province volcanism. This, they say, could have led to the environmental changes that caused the disappearance of many marine animal species.

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Kunio Kaiho

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Credit: Kunio Kaiho

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