Known as the Great Dying, Earth's most severe known mass extinction, occurring about 251.9 million years ago at the boundary between the Permian and Triassic periods over a span of roughly 60,000 to 100,000 years. An estimated 81 percent of marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species were lost, primarily attributed to the flood basalt eruptions that produced the Siberian Traps, which released huge volumes of carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide and drove global warming, ocean acidification and widespread marine anoxia.
Facts
Magnitude or Scale81 percent of marine species, 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrate species, 57 percent of biological families and 62 percent of genera lost. 1 LocationGlobal, with the Siberian Traps flood basalts, in present-day Siberia, identified as the primary volcanic source. 1 Cross-Tradition Connections
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