MAJOR OF EXTINCTION PERIOD

Get Started. It's Free
or sign up with your email address
MAJOR OF EXTINCTION PERIOD by Mind Map: MAJOR OF EXTINCTION PERIOD

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1. As a time period in which a large percentage of all known species living at the time goes extinct

1.2. CAUSES :

1.2.1. - Climate change

1.2.2. Geologic catastrophes or even meteor strikes on the Earth's surface

1.3. Evidence that microbes may have sped up (Geologic Time Scale)

2. HISTORY

2.1. 4.6 billion years

2.2. All of these major mass extinction varied in size and causes, but all of them completely devastated the biodiversity found on Earth at the times that they happend

3. 5 MASS EXTINCTION

3.1. 1. ORDOVICIAN-SILURIAN EXTINCTION

3.1.1. SIZE :

3.1.1.1. Up to 85% of all living species at the time were eliminated

3.1.1.1.1. SUSPECTED CAUSE :

3.1.2. Larger aquatic life forms had come into existance & also even some land species at this time.

3.1.3. TWO DIFFERENT WAVES

3.1.3.1. -An ice age that encompasses the entire Earth

3.1.3.1.1. -Sea levels were lowered and many land species could not adapt fast enough to survive the harsh, cold climates

3.2. 2. DEVONIAN EXTINCTION

3.2.1. SIZE :

3.2.1.1. Nearly 80% of all living species at the time were wiped out

3.2.1.1.1. SUSPECTED CAUSE :

3.2.2. Earth began to rebound and flourish as the climate stabilized and species adapted to the new environments, in both the water and on land

3.2.2.1. WAVES :

3.2.2.1.1. Many aquatic plants adapted to live on land, leaving fewer autotrophs to create oxygen for all of the sea life

3.3. 3. PERMIAN-TRIASSIC EXTINCTION

3.3.1. SIZE :

3.3.2. An estimated 96% of all species on Earth at the time

3.3.2.1. SUSPECTED CAUSES :

3.3.2.1.1. UNKNOWN - Possibly asteroid strikes - Volcanic activity - Climate change - Microbes

3.3.3. Aquatic and terrestrial life forms alike perished relatively quickly

3.3.3.1. WAVES :

3.3.3.1.1. It could have been massive volcanic activity paired with asteroid impacts that sent deadly methane and basalt into the air and across the surface of the Earth

3.3.3.1.2. Caused a decrease in oxygen that suffocated life and brought about a very quick climate change

3.3.3.1.3. Microbes from the Archaea domain that flourishes when methane is high

3.4. 4. TRIASSIC-JURASSIC EXTINCTION

3.4.1. SIZE :

3.4.1.1. More than half of all known species living at the time

3.4.1.1.1. SUSPECTED CAUSES :

3.4.2. Individual small extinctions can be attributed to volcanic activity with basalt flooding for the most part

3.4.2.1. The gases spewed into the atmosphere from the volcanoes also created climate change issues that changed sea levels and possibly even pH levels in the oceans.

3.5. 5. CRETACEOUS-PALEOGENE EXTINCTION

3.5.1. SIZE :

3.5.1.1. Nearly 75% of all known species living at the time

3.5.1.1.1. SUSPECTED CAUSE :

3.5.2. The dinosaurs died off

3.5.2.1. Asteroid impact

3.5.2.1.1. The huge space rocks hit the Earth and sent debris into the air

3.5.2.1.2. Producing an "impact winter"

3.5.2.1.3. Changed the climate all over the Earth