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Mass extinctions are caused by rapid, global changes. Usually these are changes in climate. Without the right temperatures and precipitation, plants that animals depend on die out, which wipes out the animals. Examples include the Permian-Triassic Extinction, where volcanoes in what is now Siberia caused intense global warming, wiping out over 90% of species, and the K-T Extinction, where an asteroid impact suddenly blocked sunlight for months or years, killing off the dinosaurs and many other organisms.
What else can I help you with?
What is the mass of the earth is made by which two elements?
In the Earth crust the most abundant are oxygen and silicon.
Is it true that earths crust contains most of earths mass?
No. The crust contains a small fraction of earth's mass. Most of the mass is contained in the mantle.
What type of mass movements makes the most changes in Earth's surface?
The mass movement that makes the most changes in Earth's surface is not air, or water, but a landslide. The four mass movements are landslide, slump, creep, and mudslide.Old Answer: air, water.
What is most of earths major earthquakes caused by?
Earths Major Earthquakes are caused by faulting of rock in earth's crust.Hope this helps
What volcanic activity caused the most destruction in Pompeii?
volcanic activity caused the most destruction in pompeii
What has changed most of the mass extinctions on earth?
climate change
Why do you think most extinction's occur as background extinctions?
Most extinctions occur as background extinctions because they are longer time periods unlike the shorter mass extinctions which there were only two in the Paleozoic era, the Ordovician mass extinction, and the Permian/Triassic extinction in which 95% of all marine animals became extinct
What impact did asteroids have on earth in the distant past?
There have been several mass extinctions in earth's history, and the most recent one (known as the "K-T event") and possibly one or more of the earlier ones, are believed to have been caused by the impact of a large asteroid, or possibly cometary nucleus.
What organisms were affected the most?
The organisms that were affected the most by the mass extinction events in Earth's history were typically those that were less adaptable or specialized, such as large dinosaurs or marine organisms with specific environmental requirements. These events caused widespread extinctions and disruptions to ecosystems, leading to a significant loss of biodiversity.
Why many scientists believe that something other than asteroids have caused most of the catastrophic extinctions of the Earth's past?
Many scientists believe that something other than asteroids have caused most catastrophic extinctions because some events, like the Permian extinction, show multiple stressors occurred simultaneously. The Deccan Traps volcanic eruptions coincide with the extinction of dinosaurs, suggesting a connection. Additionally, gradual environmental changes and feedback loops could have contributed to mass extinctions more than singular events like asteroid impacts.
Past mass extinctions most likely occurred as a result what?
Sudden changes in environmental conditions.
What is it called in particular when a high percentage of the species on earth dies off at a particular time?
These are called "mass extinctions", and there have been five such events (that we know of) on the Earth. These are generally caused either by astronomical impact events (such as the asteroid that killed off the dinosaurs 65 million years ago) or massive volcanic activity. The causes of these extinctions has been a matter of some dispute, since they happened so long ago.
What is the group with the most extinctions?
This is an interesting question and not one that is easily answered. In terms of the entire history of life on earth the groups of individual species that have been around the longest would have experienced the most extinctions. The more complex the animal the fewer organisms produced and therefore the fewer species available for extinction. This makes various unicelluar organisms (animal, plant and bacterial) subject to the most extinctions. Even though several mass extinctions have occurred, the focus is primarily on the larger identifiable organisms of the time, (Dinosaurs for example), especially those that have a fossil record proving they existed. This places the focus on complex plants and animals. Focus is often on man caused extinctions as well...which are, on the whole, a very small number in the grand scheme of the history of life on Earth. The primary concept to remember is that: Extinction is the rule, NOT the exception.
What age of geologic time ended with the great extinction?
Well, there have been several "great extinctions" in earth's history, but the most recent one was the Cretaceous-Tertiary event, ending the Cretaceous. That was c. 65 million years ago.
What is the animal group with the most extinctions?
invertabates are the animals with the most extinctions
Which phenomenon has been responsible for mass extinctions?
It isn't. Most mass extinctions in the history of Earth resulted from radical environmental and climatological changes, sometimes brought on by volcanism, sometimes because of a natural fluctuation in Earth's ecologies, sometimes due to meteorite impact.
Mass extinctions have only occurred since humans have been present on Earth?
This would be an incorrect premise, the most obvious answer being that Dinosaurs ruled the earth long before humans came along. Dinosaurs are now extinct and that would have been more than a mass extinction, it was global extinction.
