Massive volcanism 252 million years ago caused rapid environmental change that eliminated most animal species on Earth.
Notes on verification
Well-supported by multiple peer-reviewed and authoritative sources (NASA, Nature, MIT, Britannica) confirming the Siberian Traps volcanism as the primary driver of the Permian-Triassic extinction event, the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. [cascade flags: aggregator_dropped_primary_exists | tier=silver indep_score=0.94 clusters=5 claim_tier=notable]
Sources
- Interesting facts about Earth from Harvard paleontologist (seed:psychology_and_neuroscience)
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-021-00259-4 (corroboration)
- https://news.mit.edu/2015/siberian-traps-end-permian-extinction-0916 (corroboration)
- https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/the-great-dying/ (corroboration)
- https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/timeline-of-a-mass-extinction/ (corroboration)
- https://nextbigideaclub.com/magazine/brief-history-earth-four-billion-years-eight-chapters-bookbite/28204/ (corroboration)
- https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2021/04/montage-andrew-knoll (corroboration)