ScienceToday

Global warming/ cooling

All the events mentioned above can contribute to global warming or cooling. The End-Ordovician, Permian-Triassic, and Late Devonian extinctions are believed to have been caused by global cooling and glaciation. A lot of species have died as a result of the temperature drop, but the greatest impact was caused by the sea level fall caused by the water that turned into ice.

Additionally, an even greater threat is global warming. The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, the Triassic-Jurassic, and the Permian-Triassic extinction were all caused by heating.

According to the scientists, our main concern is the way higher temperatures release water by adding to the greenhouse effect and causing anoxic events in our waters. Some specialists speculate that the Earth could go the way of Venus if these events don’t fade over time. It that happens, global warming will end us all.

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The sea

While most people love to go to the beach, only a few know that the seas and oceans have multiple ways of causing extinction level events. And yes, there are things more dangerous than sharks in its depths.

For starters, the so-called methane clathrates or otherwise knows as molecules made of water and methane can escape from the continental shelves resulting in a methane eruption called a clathrate gun. The gun can eject huge amounts of greenhouse gas into the atmosphere. The clathrate gun event is connected with the end-Permian extinction and Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum.

Did you know that prolonged sea level rise/ fall could also lead to extinction? The falling sea levels can contribute to exposing the continental shelf killing several marine species, resulting in a extinction level event.

Moreover, extinction events could also be caused by chemical imbalances in the sea. That usually happens when the middle of the upper layer of the ocean becomes anoxic, causing the extinction of many species. The extinctions that were caused by anoxic events were: the Ordovician-Silurian, late Devonian, Permian-Triassic, and Triassic-Jurassic.

Additionally, if the sea levels of selenium drop, a mass extinction might be on the way. That usually happens when the sulfate-reducing bacteria are no longer in control, ejecting huge amounts of hydrogen sulfide into the water, causing the ozone layer to weaken and exposing life to UV radiation.

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