The_End_Permian_Mass_Extinction

The End Permian Mass Extinction The End Permian Mass Extinction Introduction Think of a world which existed 290 million years ago. As you look out over the terane in front of you, you think that you are on an alien planet. You see volcanoes spewing ash and lava. Beside them is the ocean which is swarming with many different species of echinoderms, bryozoans and brachiopods. As you look down onto the sea floor you are amazed at the countless number of starfish and urchins. Some animals leave you can't even describe and you have no idea even what phylum they belong to. This is a world at its height in diversity of oceanic species. Millions of wonderous species existed at this time in the ocean and most of them will never appear again in earth's history. In the geologic time scale, a million years means nothing but this time things are different. In the blink of an eye things now look vastly different. The world once again looks alien but it looks worse than before. The sky is dark. Oceans are no longer teaming with life. The stench of rotting flesh and p! lants hangs in the air. The ground trembles under your feet. You feel an intense extinction, permian, evidence, species, ptb, event, marine, should, scientists, during, 1993, et, diversity, al, salinity, reduction, carbon, erwin, been, one, ocean, area, volcanism, increase, end, boundary, thus, mass, impact, global, very, since, number, life, hypothesis, even