5 terrifying Extinction in Earth's history

Back in history, learn about the 5 Great Extinctions on Earth and seek solutions to the 6th Great Extinction.

During the 4 billion years of history, the Earth has experienced countless changes and all these changes have contributed to a wonderful planet as it is today.

There was a time when Earth seemed to have come to the Apocalypse when experiencing the 'unpleasant times' of nature. But in the end, the Green Planet still proved its intense vitality when still standing after 5 Great Extinctions .

1. Ordovician extinction - Silur

This is the first major extinction, occurring 440 - 450 million years ago. During this period, many consecutive extinctions occurred, destroying 17% of the families, 50% of the genera and considered the second largest extinction in history if measured by the number of species destroyed.

In the Ordovician period, about 49% of marine fauna disappeared completely when the extinction ended, other animal industries also declined. To date, the theory of the most widely accepted cause of extinction is the gamma-ray burst of a near-Earth star that causes carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to plummet. This has affected the Earth, creating an ice age of 0.5-1.5 million years.

The rise or fall of sea level through cyclical ice ages has created many 'ecological niches' on the continent. Biodiversity is declining, especially species with limited habitat in the continental shelf and in the tropics are also greatly affected.

At the end of time, melting glaciers caused sea levels to rise. From here, the surviving ministries began to recover, along with biodiversity will increase, opening a new century.

2. Extinct Devon

There have been archaeological evidence that this is a continuous extinction that may have lasted 20 million years. The extinction began about 360 million years ago, just before the transition between the Devonian to the Carbon era.

Before the end of the extinction, the continent was the land of the lower plants and the first insects, and the ocean was home to giant coral reefs that dominated and strongly evolved the species. fish is going on.

According to McLaren paleontologist, a large diameter meteorite collided with the Earth, causing tsunamis, devastating coastal ecosystems, and disturbing deep sea layers.

Another reason is that the strong growth of plants has reduced CO ₂ , causing the climate to become colder, many unsuitable organisms have been destroyed.

Marine creatures are the main victims: coral reefs - the home of mass die-off marine life that extends the extinction of many species. It is estimated that about 19% of them, 50% of genera and 70% of species are extinct in this extinction.

3. Extinction of Permian - Triassic

This is the most horrific extinction event in history when it has destroyed most of the organisms on Earth, re-establishing almost the entire reproductive system. Paleontologists reported that more than 90% of marine organisms and 70% of terrestrial organisms were completely wiped out.

The archaeological evidence shows that the main cause of the phenomenon is due to the strong tectonic movement of the Earth's crust, causing cracking, accumulating the continental plates.

The eruption of magma onto the surface of the Earth has engulfed all in the sea of ​​fire. Besides, dust and carbon dioxide filled the air, causing the greenhouse effect to make the Earth become hotter than ever. Under the ocean, changing ocean currents have vanished many ecosystems, life is extremely fragile.

Another reason for contributing to this bloody extinction is the meteorite impact of a radius of 500km to Earth. Traces of this collision were found in Antarctica in 2006 by scientists from Ohio State University, USA.

It took a long time after that, the new life was gradually restored from the small creatures who survived, including some reptile groups.

4. Extinct of Triassic - Jura

This is an extinction that marks the boundary between the Triassic and Jurassic period, which occurred 199.6 million years ago. This great extinction has a profound impact on the life on land and in the ocean.

Many species of vertebrates in the ocean and marine reptiles have disappeared, except for fish lizards, paddle lizards. Invertebrate animals such as hand-rolled branches, molluscs, amphibians and especially sub-reptiles of ancient lizards (except dinosaurs) in the mainland are also severely affected. About 23% of them, 48% of them are extinct.

It is still not certain what caused the extinction event at the end of the Tam Diep century. Scientists predict, a major volcanic eruption phenomenon has occurred. Recently, however, studies have shown quite precisely how long the extinction took place and the meteorite collision created Manicouagan Lake (Canada). This evidence proves that the collision itself is the direct cause of this extinction.

The extinction event has eliminated many large animals on Earth, creating conditions for dinosaurs to dominate the planet during the Jurassic and Cretaceous (Cretaceous) periods. Dinosaurs own the entire ground, while freshwater areas are the territory of today's crocodile ancestors (belonging to the lizard class), the group of ancient lizards and fish lizards became the king of the sea. .

Extinction extends the reptilian period with the dinosaur dominance

However, when the era of reptiles is extremely prosperous, the Earth meets the next disaster - the great Creta - Paleogen massacre.

5. Cretaceous extinction - Paleogen

This extinction event occurred at the end of the Cretaceous period about 66.5 million years ago, marking the end of the Middle Kingdom and the beginning of the New Born with Paleogene. About 17% of them, 50% of genera and 75% of species have become extinct after this event

Based on archaeological evidence accumulated through the research process, scientists hypothesize that this extinction event was caused by one or more simultaneous disasters, such as the strong impact of meteorite fish (made up of Chicxulub pits in Mexico, Boltysh in Ukraine) or due to falling sea levels, volcanic eruptions strongly created the phenomenon of "Deccan traps" seriously devastating the Earth's biosphere.

These geological events have reduced the amount of light and the degree of photosynthesis, leading to the destruction of the Earth's ecosystem on a large scale. The climate is drier, the food chain is also broken.

Dinosaurs are the first affected vertebrate species when the environment changes, species diversity is significantly reduced. Along with that, some species of plants and invertebrates also disappear on Earth, creating conditions for the animal class to grow and gradually dominate.

The Cretaceous - Paleogen extinction is uneven. There are completely extinct creatures, others are severely affected, the rest are hardly affected.

6. Will there be a 6th Great Extinction?

All historical extinctions are caused by nature, taking place cyclical. Each collapse at the same time opens a new era, facilitating the development of many powerful living creatures. The question posed by scientists is, does the 6th great extinction occur?

And in fact, it is showing signs of a beginning . This time is not by nature anymore, but by the people themselves who are conducting a "suicide" . Will not be volcanic eruptions, meteorite collisions, sudden sea level changes, but environmental pollution, habitat degradation, ecological imbalance, climate change .

The current rate of extinction is 4,000 times faster than the period of dinosaurs, all human impact has serious consequences for nature, hard to recover. Overexploitation of resources without conservation and preservation has diminished the life of the entire world.

Scientists predict, if the situation continues, less than a century later, the mass extinction will officially begin, people will eventually suffer the same fate with dinosaurs. But, after that extinction, were people lucky to survive and whose life was restored?

• Great extinction worldwide may take place in 2100