Scientists Think New Explanation for Massive Past Extinction of Life During Permian-Triassic Period Could Have Significant Contemporary Ramifications

Nearly a quarter of a billion years ago, the most massive extinction in Earth's known history took place in which scientists have estimated that nearly 90% of all of the plant and animal life on the planet were extinguished.

For decades, numerous possible explanations for the great extinction have gained favor only to fade away to be replaced by other theories. "Previous explanations included volcanic eruptions and asteroid strikes that could have shrouded the planet in dust, or the oceanic release of atmosphere-choking methane hydrate."The most accepted explanation for the extinction have been centered huge volcanic eruptions in the Siberian region of our planet

Recently, however, a new explanation for the massive extinction has been proposed by "German and Russian climatologists" who "say that toxic gases emitted by giant salt lakes ... could have caused" what researchers have commonly referred to as the Permian-Triassic extinction.

What led the German and Russian climatologist researchers to their conclusion that: "the emissions of salt seas in southern Russia," the researchers realized that "the Zechstein Sea — a France-sized, hyper-saline inland ocean located in what is now Central Europe — could have emitted enough chlorine gas to cause mass plant die-offs, triggering a chain reaction of ecological catastrophe."

The researchers estimated that their theory might have significantly important consequences for a similar, contemporary disaster to strike the Earth: "The size and evaporation rates of modern salt seas are expected to increase as the planet warms. The researchers don't expect that our seas will cause another extinction event, but say their toxic effect is underestimated by climate modelers."

According to Wired Science Blog; "Earth may be in the midst of the greatest extinction ever, according to a new mass extinction scoring system."

Istanbul Technical University researchers have theorized that: "If unchecked, the current extinction threatens to be the greatest killer of all time."

The Istanbul scientists have devised a system that: "attempts to quantify those periods when more than half of all species disappeared. In addition to the current mass extinction, this has happened at least five times: the End Ordovician, Late Devonian, End Permian, End Triassic and End Cretaceous. The latter -- marking the end of the Age of Dinosaurs -- receives the most attention, but scientists have been unable to decide which extinction was most significant."

The researchers multiplied: "the number of organismal groups that went extinct with the time it took, they arrived at a metric called "greatness." According to this, the dinosaur-ending End Cretaceous event, possibly caused when asteroid strikes or volcanic explosions sheathed the Earth in ash, was twice as great as any previous extinction.the number of organismal groups that went extinct with the time it took, they arrived at a metric called "greatness." According to this, the dinosaur-ending End Cretaceous event, possibly caused when asteroid strikes or volcanic explosions sheathed the Earth in ash, was twice as great as any previous extinction... The Permian extinction event,.. placed third on the researchers' rankings -- and it still encompassed the loss of 96 percent of Earthly life."

Wired Science Blog explains that: "According to the researchers, the current global die-off combines elements of both the End Cretaceous and the Permian. The global dominance of humans "represents a virtual Pangea formation," and human activities are a "global annihilating agent" comparable to any asteroid."

With regards to the current wave of extinctions occurring Wired Science Blog explains; "The International Union for the Conservation of Nature estimates that 800 plant and animal species have gone extinct in the last 500 years, with more than 16,000 currently threatened with extinction -- and those lost or threatened organisms come the from mere 41,000 species so far assessed by science. More than a million have been described but remain unstudied."

Wired continues: "The most troubling figures, however, come not from the total species lost but the rate at which they're vanishing: 1,000 times faster than usual. But even that alarming rate may be too conservative. According to a paper recently published in Nature, modeling errors led scientists to grossly underestimate the survival chances of threatened species."

"The older models could be severely overestimating the time to extinction," said University of Colorado ecologist and Nature study co-author Brett Melbourne to the Guardian. "Some species could go extinct 100 times sooner than we expect."