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Bookmark"The focus is the most severe mass extinction known in earth's history….The science on which the book is based is up-to-date, thorough, and balanced.
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Highly recommended."—ChoiceToday it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living.
Far less known is a much greater catastrophe that took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago: ninety percent of life was destroyed, including saber-toothed reptiles and their rhinoceros-sized prey on land, as well as vast numbers of fish and other species in the sea.This book documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction but also the recent rekindling of the idea of catastrophism.
Was the end-Permian event caused by the impact of a huge meteorite or comet, or by prolonged volcanic eruption in Siberia? The evidence has been accumulating through the 1990s and into the new millennium, and Michael Benton gives his verdict at the end of the volume.From field camps in Greenland and Russia to the laboratory bench, When Life Nearly Died involves geologists, paleontologists, environmental modelers, geochemists, astronomers, and experts on biodiversity and conservation.
Their working methods are vividly described and explained, and the current disputes are revealed.
The implications of our understanding of crises in the past for the current biodiversity crisis are also presented in detail.
46 illustrations..
For more information about the title When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time, read the full description at Amazon.com, or see the following related books:
Catastrophes and Lesser Calamities: The Causes of Mass Extinctions — This is a book about the dramatic periods in the Earth's history called mass extinctions - short periods (by geological standards) when life nearly ... > read more
Extinction: How Life on Earth Nearly Ended 250 Million Years Ago — Some 250 million years ago, the earth suffered the greatest biological crisis in its history. Around 95% of all living species died out--a global ... > read more
Rivers in Time — -- BioscienceSeveral times in the distant past, catastrophic extinctions have swept the Earth, causing more than half of all species -- from ... > read more
Night Comes to the Cretaceous: Comets, Craters, Controversy, and the Last Days of the Dinosaurs — What killed the dinosaurs? For more than a century, this question has been one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in science. But, in 1980, Nobel ... > read more
