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Biggest apocalypse Earth ever experienced - 96% of sea-life and 70% of life on land got wiped out

by Joe Mobley
29 replies
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The new timeline adds weight to the theory that the extinction was triggered by massive volcanic eruptions from the Siberian Traps that released volatile chemicals, including carbon dioxide, into the atmosphere and oceans.
Mass extinction happened in the blink of an eye: Scientists - The Times of India

Joe Mobley
  • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
    So if I remember my elementary correctly, this little 60K year period
    coincided with the start of the Triassic? Fascinating, that such a massive
    extinction would lead to the rise of the dinosaurs?

    Makes me wonder if the pigeons and chickens are just waiting for us
    to screw-up so that they can have their planet back?
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    • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
      Originally Posted by MikeTucker View Post

      So if I remember my elementary correctly, this little 60K year period
      coincided with the start of the Triassic? Fascinating, that such a massive
      extinction would lead to the rise of the dinosaurs?

      Makes me wonder if the pigeons and chickens are just waiting for us
      to screw-up so that they can have their planet back?
      Yes, we will make jokes about car sized, slobbering, man eating chickens in the next 100,000 years!

      And all the chicken jokes will end a quick death!

      Apart from, the "Why did the Chickenius Savagiss, cross the road, to eat humans of course"!!!!


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      • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
        Originally Posted by tagiscom View Post

        Yes, we will make jokes about car sized, slobbering, man eating chickens in the next 100,000 years!

        And all the chicken jokes will end a quick death!

        Apart from, the "Why did the Chickenius Savagiss, cross the road, to eat humans of course"!!!!

        Shane


        I don't mind being eaten, but I don't want to be slobbered on!

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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    When you talk about volcanic gasses - C202 is about the least of our worries. There's a lot of underwater volcanic activity going on in the North - either it's a lot colder up there (we've got record ice and it's getting thicker) than we're being told this winter or the volcanoes are slowing down again.

    Mike - I'm thinking there's a lot of animals that would like their planet back right now. But we probably won't see giant species again because we've lost a lot of magnetism, and it appears that when there's a loss of magnetism that animal sizes get smaller.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      When you talk about volcanic gasses - C202 is about the least of our worries. There's a lot of underwater volcanic activity going on in the North - either it's a lot colder up there (we've got record ice and it's getting thicker) than we're being told this winter or the volcanoes are slowing down again.
      That's strange. All over the news is how Alaska has had to cancel or move a number of dog sled races due to melting snow.

      Another possibility is the lack of solar flares, which could be making our weather colder. However, this doesn't mean that CO2 isn't still contributing to global warming. It's possible both are happening (or will happen). NCAR ran some computer models for fewer solar flares and found this will cool Earth. However, once the flares return to normal, the models showed global warming will be on the same course it would be without the solar flares.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Yeah yeah - warming yadda yadda yadda. Whatever. If C202 is what you see as the worst, most harmful gas that spews out of a volcano, I really am down to just shaking my head.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      I'm only basing this post on a show on the Science Channel.

      Our orbit is now going into the phase that naturally creates an ice age. But CO2 levels are counteracting that trend. And it's playing havoc with our weather system.

      I've only heard that from one source, and haven't researched it. But I thought it was interesting.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        I'm only basing this post on a show on the Science Channel.

        Our orbit is now going into the phase that naturally creates an ice age. But CO2 levels are counteracting that trend. And it's playing havoc with our weather system.

        I've only heard that from one source, and haven't researched it. But I thought it was interesting.
        You'd never know it from the winter we're having. The weatherman on TV tonight dubbed it the "endless winter" ...sure seems like it with all the below zero temperatures and snow we've had.
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        • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
          Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

          You'd never know it from the winter we're having. The weatherman on TV tonight dubbed it the "endless winter" ...sure seems like it with all the below zero temperatures and snow we've had.
          Dennis; I suspect you already know this.

          An increase in surface temperatures causes changes in the water current flow and also changes in air flow patterns.

          One of the effects is that cold air can be brought down from the arctic, that would normally not be causing local cold spells.

          If it happened once (like it did in our region a month or so ago) it may be a fluke. But this is the third time this winter that a super cold burst of air flowed across parts of the US. We may have a new "Normal."

          Is it directly caused by global warming? I don't know. but it's one of many symptoms that could be.

          Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

          Thanks Claude...I actually saw the interview too. I understand that Jon Stewart has a job to do, but I wish he would have been a little more serious during the interview.
          I was thinking the same way. But he's a comedian, first.

          If you watch Stephen Colbert interview a scientist, you'll see vastly different levels of his 'Stupid political pundit" act. Sometimes, it's brilliant humor, and sometimes he just wants the guest to talk.

          Colbert and Stewart are great comedians, and Colbert is unbelievably intelligent.
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          • Profile picture of the author HeySal
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            Dennis; I suspect you already know this.

            An increase in surface temperatures causes changes in the water current flow and also changes in air flow patterns.

            One of the effects is that cold air can be brought down from the arctic, that would normally not be causing local cold spells.

            If it happened once (like it did in our region a month or so ago) it may be a fluke. But this is the third time this winter that a super cold burst of air flowed across parts of the US. We may have a new "Normal."

            Is it directly caused by global warming? I don't know. but it's one of many symptoms that could be.
            Polar vortexes aren't frequent - but this isn't an anomaly. The last winter they went through polar vortexes was around 100 years ago - can't remember the exact year - 1919, I think.

            Considering the PITA these things are with all the equipment we have now - can you imagine what a pain it was way back then?
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            • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
              Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

              Polar vortexes aren't frequent -
              That's just not true... The Vortex Attacks are one of the most
              important parts of the Russian Polar Bear's strategy, which is
              why scoring knockdowns is so critical for him, after winning poking/footsies.




              ...And if anyone understands that reference, let's hang-out
              at Evo this year! We'll play cards or slots on my dime
              over night, or bet on some money matches if you want.
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          • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
            Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

            Dennis; I suspect you already know this...
            Good grief, can't a guy even complain about weather without being lectured?
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            • Profile picture of the author HeySal
              Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

              Good grief, can't a guy even complain about weather without being lectured?
              Your married and you would ask something like that? Your wife must have wings.
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              • Profile picture of the author Dennis Gaskill
                Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

                Your married and you would ask something like that? Your wife must have wings.
                Right. No comment. Not a one. This one doesn't even count.
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                • Profile picture of the author tagiscom
                  Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

                  Dennis; I suspect you already know this.

                  An increase in surface temperatures causes changes in the water current flow and also changes in air flow patterns.

                  One of the effects is that cold air can be brought down from the arctic, that would normally not be causing local cold spells.

                  If it happened once (like it did in our region a month or so ago) it may be a fluke. But this is the third time this winter that a super cold burst of air flowed across parts of the US. We may have a new "Normal."

                  Is it directly caused by global warming? I don't know. but it's one of many symptoms that could be.



                  I was thinking the same way. But he's a comedian, first.

                  If you watch Stephen Colbert interview a scientist, you'll see vastly different levels of his 'Stupid political pundit" act. Sometimes, it's brilliant humor, and sometimes he just wants the guest to talk.

                  Colbert and Stewart are great comedians, and Colbert is unbelievably intelligent.
                  It does tend to make sence, with the warmer air theory, but the wheels fall off for the second idea!

                  I read an article about this in Yesterdays paper, showing how greenies, are starting to trip over their MMGW idea!

                  True CO2 is increasing which typically corresponds with an increase in global temperatures.

                  Except that since 1997, CO2 has still increased, but no increase in temp. :rolleyes:


                  Course a greenie with his hand out, will say the model has proven true since 2000???? :rolleyes:

                  I won't go down that path, but lets just say, a politically, money motivated greenie, in Au, is borderline insane, and pretty funny to watch, (disturbing as well)!


                  Or as a MMGW skeptic said, WHERE IS THE WARMING???"!


                  Both the poles gaining ice, only add's salt to the wounds, especially when the "heat trapped in the oceans theory" contradicts the gaining ice fact!


                  Originally Posted by MikeTucker View Post



                  I don't mind being eaten, but I don't want to be slobbered on!

                  Origin of birds - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
                  Who does!

                  Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

                  That's strange. All over the news is how Alaska has had to cancel or move a number of dog sled races due to melting snow.

                  Another possibility is the lack of solar flares, which could be making our weather colder. However, this doesn't mean that CO2 isn't still contributing to global warming. It's possible both are happening (or will happen). NCAR ran some computer models for fewer solar flares and found this will cool Earth. However, once the flares return to normal, the models showed global warming will be on the same course it would be without the solar flares.
                  Which either means, summers will become more and more extreme, and winters colder and colder, as well as polar ice getting bigger and bigger?

                  Wait a minute, polar ice sheets should be melting in global warming spells? And gaining in mini ice ages?

                  I think that it is pretty clear, we don't understand Earth weather!


                  So the theory that we will all eventually fry to death, cannot be taken seriously anymore.

                  It is an interesting theory, and reducing CO2 is always prefible, but running around like headless chickens, (including slobbering ones) and trying to convince everyone with dodgy theory's, that that is the case, isn't the right way to go!


                  Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

                  Blah blah blah...how about some actual proof that it's volcanos that all of a sudden sprung up under the artic ice for the first time in recorded history? Sorry, you simply spouting "volcanos! volcanos!" just doesn't do it for me. But your denial of Alaska's snow melting does reveal your motives.

                  Speaking of strawman fallacies, I'm shaking my head over you thinking CO2 is the most harmful green house gas. As the Earth warms and the "permafrost" defrosts, the ground is releasing methane, which is a far greater greenhouse gas than CO2 and could potentially create run-away global warming. BTW, excessive methane is credited for one of the major extinctions.
                  In all honesty Kurt you should Google "is polar ice, increasing". There is obviously satellite proof that that is the case!


                  Originally Posted by JimDucharme View Post

                  The release this week of a hip hop version of Achy Breaky Heart is a sign of the impending apocolypse.

                  Regards,
                  jim
                  Impending! I thought that that was the apocalypse?


                  Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill View Post

                  You'd never know it from the winter we're having. The weatherman on TV tonight dubbed it the "endless winter" ...sure seems like it with all the below zero temperatures and snow we've had.
                  Yep, don't forget that the colder it gets, the more the planet is warming!

                  Or the more CO2 is released, the longer we gain ice at the poles and the longer world temp, don't do anything!

                  But the heat is being trapped in the oceans, eventhough polar ice is increasing!


                  Must be warm ice!!!!


                  Shane
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      • Profile picture of the author HeySal
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        I'm only basing this post on a show on the Science Channel.

        Our orbit is now going into the phase that naturally creates an ice age. But CO2 levels are counteracting that trend. And it's playing havoc with our weather system.

        I've only heard that from one source, and haven't researched it. But I thought it was interesting.
        C202 always follows warming. Any paleo-geologist can tell you that. When C202 gets to be the major problem politicians want you to believe - they will be replanting rainforests.

        Kurt - all the dogma you are shouting - and all the defamation you want to throw at me about warming and you don't know twat about underwater volcanoes? Shame on you. There's no way to judge what you are being told if you don't understand geology. No REAL climatologist would ever ignore data from a geologist - and most ask paleogeologists for their findings. Why you seem to feel it's not important, is a question I really don't care about the answer to - but it might suit you to learn about natural science before degrading others. I'm surprised with your knowledge of technological sciences that you are so damned closed minded about what politically back climatologists are saying (and most of that is politically edited).

        Here's some links to get you familiar about what you think I made up just for funzies.
        Northern underwater Volcano info:
        Fire under the ice
        Science and the Sea - Gakkel Ridge
        Volcanoes exploding under water at North Pole
        Here's a new one near Alaska that they finally proved was there
        Hot and Cold: Long-Suspected Antarctic Undersea Volcanoes Discovered - Scientific American
        Here's some about volcanoes in the south
        Giant Undersea Volcanoes Found Off Antarctica
        Here's general info about underwater volcanoes
        https://www.sfos.uaf.edu/news/2003/0811volcano.html

        Now - please go back to my comments in the post you replied to. I don't think C202 is a PROBLEM. I think it's political hype. Never heard a climatologist that wasn't backed by current political funds say C202 is a problem.

        Know what the Number 1 greenhouse gas is? Evaporated water.

        If you're going to slam me - at least get straight what I think before you go there.
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    • Profile picture of the author Kurt
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Yeah yeah - warming yadda yadda yadda. Whatever. If C202 is what you see as the worst, most harmful gas that spews out of a volcano, I really am down to just shaking my head.
      Blah blah blah...how about some actual proof that it's volcanos that all of a sudden sprung up under the artic ice for the first time in recorded history? Sorry, you simply spouting "volcanos! volcanos!" just doesn't do it for me. But your denial of Alaska's snow melting does reveal your motives.

      Speaking of strawman fallacies, I'm shaking my head over you thinking CO2 is the most harmful green house gas. As the Earth warms and the "permafrost" defrosts, the ground is releasing methane, which is a far greater greenhouse gas than CO2 and could potentially create run-away global warming. BTW, excessive methane is credited for one of the major extinctions.
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

        Blah blah blah...how about some actual proof that it's volcanos that all of a sudden sprung up under the artic ice for the first time in recorded history? Sorry, you simply spouting "volcanos! volcanos!" just doesn't do it for me. But your denial of Alaska's snow melting does reveal your motives.

        Speaking of strawman fallacies, I'm shaking my head over you thinking CO2 is the most harmful green house gas. As the Earth warms and the "permafrost" defrosts, the ground is releasing methane, which is a far greater greenhouse gas than CO2 and could potentially create run-away global warming. BTW, excessive methane is credited for one of the major extinctions.
        Kurt; OK, I'm shaking my head too. But at least it's up and down.

        I watched The Daily Show last night, and this author was his guest. She wrote a book titled The Sixth Extinction. I just bought it. Here's a non affiliate link.

        The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History:...The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History:...
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      • Profile picture of the author seasoned
        Originally Posted by Kurt View Post

        Speaking of strawman fallacies, I'm shaking my head over you thinking CO2 is the most harmful green house gas. As the Earth warms and the "permafrost" defrosts, the ground is releasing methane, which is a far greater greenhouse gas than CO2 and could potentially create run-away global warming. BTW, excessive methane is credited for one of the major extinctions.
        Yeah, but methane burns! An most human contained/made methane is burned, or otherwise restrained. NATURALLY released methane, as YOU are talking about, is something we can NOT control, except through such means as population control, so it is silly to talk about it in the context of manmade global change, or taxes.

        It is the UNs contention that CO2 is THE greenhouse gas. WHY? Because they IGNORE the fact that plants need it, and that other reactions can take place, so they want us to believe it always increases. ONE thing that creates it is burning methane.

        They are NOW claiming that CHINA is going to have Carbon credits. That is RIDICULOUS! CHINA is one of the WORST offenders on the planet, and FAR worse than the US, and they earlier said they WOULDN'T be bound by this treaty.

        Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author JimDucharme
    The release this week of a hip hop version of Achy Breaky Heart is a sign of the impending apocolypse.

    Regards,
    jim
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    • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
      Originally Posted by JimDucharme View Post

      The release this week of a hip hop version of Achy Breaky Heart is a sign of the impending apocolypse.

      Regards,
      jim

      Bwahahahahaaa!

      Luckily I live in Texas, and we are behind the rest of the world
      by about 10 years. So, when the great extinction comes, we
      will still have another ten! :p
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      • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
        Originally Posted by MikeTucker View Post

        Bwahahahahaaa!

        Luckily I live in Texas, and we are behind the rest of the world
        by about 10 years. So, when the great extinction comes, we
        will still have another ten! :p
        I knew it! Those ten gallon hats protect you from radiation, heat, mutant birds, and can be used to store water and food.

        It all becomes clear.:rolleyes:
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    • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
      Originally Posted by JimDucharme View Post

      The release this week of a hip hop version of Achy Breaky Heart is a sign of the impending apocolypse.

      Regards,
      jim
      The hip hop of version of Carrie Underwood's "Before He Cheats"
      is another telling sign.

      (Achy Breaky is actually cool when done acoustically - until you get to the chorus.)

      Speaking of cool, here are some global cooling theorists:
      (There's been a mammoth uncovered. Frozen, but with food still in it's mouth.)


      Not by Fire But by Ice: Robert W. Felix:...Not by Fire But by Ice: Robert W. Felix:...
      I've heard Felix on radio a number of times and he seems intelligent and plausible.

      Dan
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  • Profile picture of the author joseph7384
    I'm pretty sure that Miley Cyrus found out that chickens will soon rule the earth! That twirk she did recently was not a twirk but a rehearsal for when the chickens take over, she plans on tricking chickens into believing that she is one herself.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Dan - listened to a bit of that bottom vid. The guys, spot on even though he's pretty redundant.
    When the IPCC had their talks a few years back, India was angry as heck and threatened walk out over false data about the Himalayas. Their scientists were right ON the glacier studying the condition and said they were just fine - yet our media was screaming about dying glaciers. About that time we got laughed out of Russia because our planes that flew in to convince Putin to join the warming talks got frozen and couldn't fly back out. LMAO.

    It's useless though. People don't listen to scientists. They listen to media. Everything a lot of people know about science, they learned from media. Orwell had something to say about that one, too -- and as many people who are old enough to have read that book in school, I don't think it really soaked in.

    The only thing I can say is that scientists used to think that ice ages developed as quickly as 1,000 years. Recently paleogeologists found that they can happen in a decade. Know what's gonna be a hella lot scarier than warming? Cold. 7 billion people and cold.

    What I've been seeing is that the placement, localized types of "weather" is changing. Right now the North is going nuts - yet CA is still kinda warm and very dry. I know the magnetic pole was trucking to Siberia at a pretty rapid rate in the last few years, and was going fast for around 7 before that. Then a few years ago a lot of quakes resulted. I'm wondering how much land mass moved - and where the actual axis is right now. I haven't heard ONE thing about where the axis is now.

    The magnetic pole only gets so far from the geological pole before matter starts to re-align to the magnetic pole - and it only gets so far before the geological pole shifts back toward the magnetic one. It's been over 150 years from the last "noted" shift. Now the info is blacked out completely - not sure how many degrees of land shift has gone on in the last few years. Know some has, but don't know how much.

    What is going on at the top now is one side of the pole and the rest of the North is getting one hella lot of ice and the other not so much. That can be due to the winds up there - or the underwater volcanoes - but I'm looking at how the whole climate of the western states is changing and how the NE is becoming more severe yearly and I think the US continent has swung a bit to put the NE further N and the SW further south. Not much - but enough to change the climate a little bit. It would only take a few degrees of landshift - and we definitely, from all indications in geology, had a shift by this time according to what the poles have been doing. I'm trying to get some time to get some satellite pics that I can actually do a comparative with, but am not going to be able to get that online, I don't think. Probably going to have to find an observatory and talk to the scientists there.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    I wonder if this would help, Sal.

    Pick some likely spots and keep observing them on Google earth.
    I guess that might help note changes in conditions, but not
    shifts in position.

    I'm awfully busy this weekend with the good ski conditions and Holidays.
    I was going to post a link about the frozen mammoth, but all I found quickly
    was some site with genesis in the title and I did not want to get into a religious thing.

    Anyway, that mammoth I referenced, with food still in it's mouth, froze very quickly - more like we do with sea food on the docks.

    Dan
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by bizgrower View Post

      I wonder if this would help, Sal.

      Pick some likely spots and keep observing them on Google earth.
      I guess that might help note changes in conditions, but not
      shifts in position.

      I'm awfully busy this weekend with the good ski conditions and Holidays.
      I was going to post a link about the frozen mammoth, but all I found quickly
      was some site with genesis in the title and I did not want to get into a religious thing.

      Anyway, that mammoth I referenced, with food still in it's mouth, froze very quickly - more like we do with sea food on the docks.

      Dan
      Dan - geographical polar shift or flip has been thought by a very large group of paleontologists/paleogeologists to have been the actual factor in one of the major extinctions - that "find" - unless this is a different one is around one or two decades old. There's been a lot of under the media discussion about it, but for now the asteroid/meteor theory holds the "official" spot. The people whose reputations/funding that would be hurt by adoption of the second theory are getting old so you'll see more of this theory being purported publicly in the years to come.

      Also - the third theory that isn't really talked about but is being tossed around quite a bit combines the two. That is that whatever hit was large enough to cause a bit of a spin. Would explain the loss of magnetism a little bit, too.

      I've stopped watching localized weather trends. Maybe I'll start doing that again. I know part of the problem is all that shyte that is going on in the gulf. People think that's over and done, but not even. The water is too heavy from the oil and corexit to flow like it was so the gulf is stagnating and that is causing a change in currents globally. They are right, we're screwing up the climate - but it's not because we're farting methane or producing C202 - it's because we're spilling oil and other toxic wastes all over damned eternity and back.
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  • Profile picture of the author MikeTucker
    Story update:

    The team used rates of gene mutation to estimate that Methanosarcina acquired the genes to make methane from acetate about 250 million years ago, right around the time of the extinction.
    But in order to produce so much methane so quickly, the microbes would have needed ample supplies of nickel for critical metabolic functions.

    Sure enough, when the team looked at the geological sediments, they found the volcanic activity at the time had produced transient surges in nickel. The volcanism also initially led to oxygen-starved conditions in the oceans, which prevented the normal microbial communities from breaking down carbon, leaving a huge stockpile of acetate.

    Enter Methanosarcina. With their newly evolved ability to break down acetate, they flourished, producing more methane. This methane production created a positive feedback loop, worsening the oxygen-starved conditions that allowed them to take over in the first place.
    Microbes may have caused Earth's biggest extinction - CBS News
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    The bartender says: "We don't serve faster-than-light particles here."

    ...A tachyon enters a bar.

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