See more about the great extinction events of Earth below
1. Ordovician-Silurian extinction period
Third-largest extinction in Earth's history, Ordovician-Silurian mass extinction has two peaks separated by hundreds of thousands of years. During the Ordovician, most are living in the sea, so sea creatures such as trilobites, brachiopods and graptolit are drastically reduced in number. Overall, about 85% of marine life wiped out. Ice age has been blamed for the extinction. large ice sheets in the southern hemisphere due to climate change and sea level decline, and disrupt ocean chemistry.
2. Late Devonian Extinction Period
Three-quarters of all species on earth died in The Late Devonian extinction, although it may have been a series of extinction for several million years, rather than a single event. Living in shallow seas are the worst affected, and coral took the worst impact, did not return to the glory they got a new coral species evolved more than 100 million years later. In fact, many of the seabed have been without oxygen, beyond the limits to anything but bacteria.
Sea-level changes, asteroid impacts, climatic change and grow new crops in the ground have all been blamed for the extinction.
3. Permian Extinction Period
Permian mass extinction has been nicknamed The Great Dying, since the shocking 96% of species die. All life on Earth is descended from 4% of species that survived. This event turned out to have been complex, because there are at least two separate stages of extinction spread over millions of years. Marine creatures are particularly affected and the extinction of insects having only their history. Many causes have been proposed for the event: an asteroid impact, flood basalt eruptions, catastrophic methane release, decreased oxygen levels, fluctuations in sea level or some combination thereof.
4. Triassic-Jurassic Extinction Period
For 18 million years of late Triassic period, there were two or three stages of extinction is the combined effect creates the event the Triassic-Jurassic extinction. Climate change, flood basalt eruptions and asteroid impacts have all been blamed for the loss of life. Many types of dead animals, including many marine reptiles, some amphibians, many reef-building creatures and a large number of cephalopod mollusks. About half of all living species became extinct at that time. Strangely, the plants are not so badly affected. Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction - also known as extinction / KT - famous for the death of the dinosaurs. However, many other organisms were killed in the late Cretaceous period, including ammonites, many flowering plants and the last pterosaurs. Some groups have been declining for several million years before the final event that destroyed them all. This suggests that the decline was due to flood basalt eruptions affect global climate, combined with a drastic fall in sea level. Then a huge asteroid or comet struck the seabed near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and the straw that broke the camel's back.
5. Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction period
Cretaceous-Tertiary mass extinction - also known as extinction / KT - famous for the death of the dinosaurs. However, many other organisms were killed in the late Cretaceous period, including ammonites, many flowering plants and the last pterosaurs. Some groups have been declining for several million years before the final event that destroyed them all. This suggests that the decline was due to flood basalt eruptions affect global climate, combined with a drastic fall in sea level. Then a huge asteroid or comet struck the seabed near the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico and the straw that broke the camel's back.
