What was the triassic extinction

Warmer temperatures also might have stimulated plankton growth, which is known to flood the oceans with nutrients and often leaves behind oxygen-deprived dead zones. But CO2 may not have been the only problematic gas the eruptions unleashed. Sulfur dioxide could also have entered the atmosphere, combining with water to form sulfuric acid, an aerosol that blocks sunlight and chills the planet.

Whatever happened, it rid the world of almost all the crocodilians. In the oceans, the extinction almost wiped out a group of shelled molluscs called ammonites, though a few survived and gave rise to modern cephalopods, like squid and octopus.

Coral reef communities collapsed around the world as well, and eel-like conodonts went extinct altogether. The story thus far is the standard, and somewhat simplified, narrative. But as with most extinctions, the Triassic remains mysterious, and some experts question fundamental notions about the event. Rather, it ended in a series of minor extinctions spread across millions of years. Researchers conflate those minor extinctions, he says, setting them all at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary when they actually occurred at quite different times.

Viewed in this context, the era was more an ecological upheaval than a mass extinction proper. Some million years ago, an increase in atmospheric CO2 caused acidification of the oceans and global warming that killed off 76 percent of marine and terrestrial species on Earth.

Publication Date :. Caption :. Credits :. This 80 kilometer long intrusion forming the western edge of the Hudson River represents less than 0. Like the better-known end-Permian extinction, the end-Triassic event may have been a result of global climate change. All major groups of marine invertebrates survived the extinction, although most suffered losses.

Brachiopods , shelled cephalopods , sponges and corals were particularly hard hit. On land, casualties included the phytosaurs, a group of crocodile-like animals. Well before hitting that grim marker, the damage would throw the ecosystems we call home into chaos, jeopardizing species around the world—including us. All rights reserved. Edaphosaurus A sail-backed edaphosaurus forages amid a Permian landscape in this artist's depiction.

Fleeing Nothosaurs An artist's rendering shows hatchling nothosaurs heading for the safety of water as a hungry but terrestrial Ticinosuchus attacks near a lagoon in ancient Switzerland. Share Tweet Email. Read This Next Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London. Animals Wild Cities Wild parakeets have taken a liking to London Love them or hate them, there's no denying their growing numbers have added an explosion of color to the city's streets.

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