At Least the Eighth

The Carnian Pluvial Mass Extinction Event occurred about 233 million years ago, according to a paper in Science Advances published 16 September 2020. This event led to the domination of Earth by dinosaurs. As indicated several months ago in this space, the discovery of another Mass Extinction Event makes the ongoing Anthropocene Event at least the Eighth Mass Extinction Event. The Carnian Pluvial Mass Extinction Event is the Sixth known Mass Extinction Event.

The Carnian Pluvial Event, as with other Mass Extinction Events, was critically important to the evolution of extant life on Earth. Specifically, according to authors Dal Corso and colleagues, it “was a major extinction event that was followed by an explosive diversification of important organisms in the sea and on land that now play a key role in modern ecosystems.”

Abundant additional information can be found in the original, peer-reviewed paper. I encourage reading it.

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