THE GREAT DYING OF SPECIES.

 

This is an event that took place 252 million years ago and is known as the Permian-Triassic extinction or the Great Dying. As the human species was born only 300,000 years ago and is still in its infancy that is a huge-huge amount of time for us. During this extinction event 81% of the marine species and 70% of the terrestrial vertebrate species died out.

However, please do not confuse this with the 65 million year old Dinosaur dying phenomena in the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction which is totally different and happened at a different time altogether. The later event when the Dinosaurs died out had a much smaller effect on earthly life than the former event.

The Permian- Triassic event proved far more devastating to life on Earth. Trees, plants, lizards, proto mammals, insects, fish, molluscs and microbes, all were nearly wiped out. This is clearly visible through the fossils of that period.

Scientists have postulated many causes for the event; like severe volcanism, a nearby supernova, environmental changes, and the impact of an asteroid or a combination of those. However, proving anyone of them has been extremely difficult.  

Luan Becker, a Geologist from the University of California led a NASA funded research team to sites in Hungary, Japan and China where 250 million year old rocks still exist and are exposed. They found tell-tale signs of a collision between the Earth and an asteroid 6-12 Km across.

Becker’s evidence is direct and persuasive. In the rocks Becker’s team found soccer ball shaped molecules known as Fullerenes with traces of Helium and Argon gas trapped within them. They held an unusually large number of He³ and Ar³⁶ atoms which are isotopes more common in space than on Earth. It is highly probable (if not certain) that an Asteroid or a Comet must have brought in the Fullerenes when it collided with the Earth.  

Scientists believe that by the time the Asteroid/Comet hit the Earth was already suffering from high Volcanism and change of climate. The hit provided further impetus to the event and caused more devastation rather than being the sole cause itself.

If such a rock as proposed by Becker hits the earth, the blast would sweep over a large area on the Earth killing everything in its path. It would also throw up huge debris into the atmosphere that would obscure the Sun and hinder Photosynthesis. The atmospheric debris slowly rains back creating poisonous compounds on the Earth which can kill life.

The Palaeontologists have clearly shown that such hits by asteroids and other events detrimental to life may happen on the Earth and there are 2 big examples of that.

However, in the Geological timescale the human race is only born yesterday and has existed for a mere 300,000 years, thus there is hardly any chance that such a cataclysmic event would occur in such a short span of time in which the human species existed. But again, there is no guarantee that it would not either, which is the reason why a body like NASA continuously searches for the possibility of such a hit (if at all). Rather than the event, the way the human race is going; it is possible that it may wipe itself out with its own actions much before such an external factor hits us.