FOR five million years after the worst mass extinction in Earth’s history, much of the planet was simply too hot for anything to survive, scientists have learned.
Experts have long been puzzled by the “broken world” scenario that followed the Permian-Triassic mass extinction 250 million years ago.
Up to 96 per cent of all marine species and 70 per cent of land-dwelling vertebrates were wiped out by the event, thought to have been caused by a combination of climate change and volcanic activity.
Typically, it takes tens of thousands of years for new species to appear after a mass extinction. But in the case of the Permian-Triassic event, this “dead zone” lasted an extraordinary five million years.
A new study has now indicated why. Temperatures in the tropics rose to lethal levels, soaring to 60C on land and 40C in the sea, and prevented life re-emerging.
“Global warming has long been linked to the end-Permian mass extinction, but this study is the first to show extreme temperatures kept life from restarting in equatorial latitudes for millions of years,” said lead researcher Yadong Sun, from the University of Leeds.