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WASHINGTON D.C., October 20, 2016 (Xinhua) – This illustration shows the Qilinyu, a 423-million-year-old fish from the Kuanti Formation (late Ludlow, Silurian). Paleontologists from China and Sweden said Thursday that our jaws can be traced to these
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
By the end of the Silurian period, 420 million years ago, nearly a quarter of life had been wiped out at one of the world's most serious mass extinction events. .
Some of the world's most serious mass extinctions are strongly related to a single destructive event (for example, a meteor causing the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago), this specific event, called "Lau / Kozlowskii extinction", has been a persistent geological mystery, as such a mechanism has escaped scientists. But in a recent study, scientists may have finally discovered the cause of this extinction.
About 100,000 years after the extinction of Lau / Kozlowskii, it occurred a sudden rupture of the Earth's carbon cycle, which resulted in the burial of a huge amount of material organic. Although both events took place nearby, it was difficult to directly connect the Lau / Kozlowskii extinction to the carbon cycle disruption incident that altered the climate and the environment .
To determine if such a link existed, the team reconstructed the oceanographic conditions of the Silurian Ocean using innovative geochemical analytical methods of measuring thallium and sulfur isotopes and manganese at sites in Latvia and Sweden. The authors determined that as with other mass extinction eventsa rapid drop in the oxygen content of the ocean caused the death of deep-sea animals, before killing also animals found at shallower depths. The decrease in oxygen was followed by extremely toxic oceanic conditions caused by sulphides in the water column. This rapid change in the Silurian Ocean has probably contributed to the disruption of the carbon cycle that has followed extinction.
"These works provide further evidence that the initial deoxygenation in the ancient oceans coincides with the onset of extinction events," m said Dr. Jeremy Owens, co-author of this study, "This is important because our observations of the modern ocean suggest that there is widespread deoxygenation that could cause more stress to organisms requiring oxygen and could constitute the first steps towards another extinction of the marine mass. "
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WASHINGTON D.C., October 20, 2016 (Xinhua) – This illustration shows the Qilinyu, a 423-million-year-old fish from the Kuanti Formation (late Ludlow, Silurian). Paleontologists from China and Sweden said Thursday that our jaws can be traced to these
Xinhua News Agency via Getty Images
By the end of the Silurian period, 420 million years ago, nearly a quarter of life had been wiped out at one of the world's most serious mass extinction events. .
Some of the world's most serious mass extinctions are strongly linked to a single destructive event (for example, a meteor causing the extinction of dinosaurs 65 million years ago), but this specific event, called "Lau / Kozlowskii extinction", is a persistent phenomenon. geological mystery because such a mechanism has escaped scientists. But in a recent study, scientists may have finally discovered the cause of this extinction.
About 100,000 years after the extinction of Lau / Kozlowskii, it occurred a sudden rupture of the Earth's carbon cycle, which resulted in the burial of a huge amount of material organic. Although both events took place nearby, it was difficult to directly connect the Lau / Kozlowskii extinction to the carbon cycle disruption incident that altered the climate and the environment .
To determine if such a link existed, the team reconstructed the oceanographic conditions of the Silurian Ocean using innovative geochemical analytical methods of measuring thallium and sulfur isotopes and manganese at sites in Latvia and Sweden. The authors determined that, as with other massive extinction events, a rapid drop in oxygen levels in the oceans caused the death of deep-sea animals, before also killing animals found at depths. lower. The decrease in oxygen was followed by extremely toxic oceanic conditions caused by sulphides in the water column. This rapid change in the Silurian Ocean has probably contributed to the disruption of the carbon cycle that has followed extinction.
"These works provide further evidence that initial deoxygenation in ancient oceans coincides with the onset of extinction events," said Dr. Jeremy Owens, co-author of this study, "It is important, as suggested by our observations of the modern ocean, widespread deoxygenation is important and may cause more stress to organisms in need of oxygen, and may be the first steps towards further extinction of the marine mass. "