Posted on 05/28/2012 7:25:47 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
It took some 10 million years for Earth to recover from the greatest mass extinction of all time, latest research has revealed.
Life was nearly wiped out 250 million years ago, with only 10 per cent of plants and animals surviving. It is currently much debated how life recovered from this cataclysm, whether quickly or slowly.
Recent evidence for a rapid bounce-back is evaluated in a new review article by Dr Zhong-Qiang Chen, from the China University of Geosciences in Wuhan, and Professor Michael Benton from the University of Bristol. They find that recovery from the crisis lasted some 10 million years, as explained May 27 in Nature Geoscience.
There were apparently two reasons for the delay, the sheer intensity of the crisis, and continuing grim conditions on Earth after the first wave of extinction.
The end-Permian crisis, by far the most dramatic biological crisis to affect life on Earth, was triggered by a number of physical environmental shocks -- global warming, acid rain, ocean acidification and ocean anoxia. These were enough to kill off 90 per cent of living things on land and in the sea.
Dr Chen said: "It is hard to imagine how so much of life could have been killed, but there is no doubt from some of the fantastic rock sections in China and elsewhere round the world that this was the biggest crisis ever faced by life."
Current research shows that the grim conditions continued in bursts for some five to six million years after the initial crisis, with repeated carbon and oxygen crises, warming and other ill effects.
(Excerpt) Read more at sciencedaily.com ...
Only 6,016 years, silly.
Too bad liberals were not around back then. They could have had Algore and the UN turn down the temp. of the earth by establishing a carbon trading mechanism and taxing evil gases. If only. :)
Sarah’s daughter is a reality star and now she’s running a university? Can you really trust information from such an institution?
Dr Kaku says a gamma ray hit from a pulsar could wipe out above ground life for a while and do a good deal of damage to the atmosphere. Sounds as good as any theory to me.
I know Im a stickler......There cant be a recovery from an extinction....at all.
Extinct means no longer in existence. (I know you knew that.)
The credibly of the story was shot with the title. How can we even hope to believe the scientific world and all its way out claims of “climate change”, ozone depletion, dark matter and such, if they don’t use exact scientific terms that mean the same thing today as they did tomorrow? (heh-snort).
...and the journalistic standards of today...!!!.....These yahoos wouldn’t have made it one semester in my freshman HS journalism class.
I think they must be in ka-hoots.
http://www.animalport.com/extinct-animals/extinct-animals-found-alive.html
Extinct Animals found Alive
The animals that disappeared millions of years ago, and have been miraculously rediscovered in modern times are called “Lazarus species”. Here, we discuss about some extinct animals found alive:
The Pygmy Tarsier: It is a small animal of the size of mouse, which weighs almost 60 grams. It was last spotted in 1921. But, recently two Indonesian scientists accidentally trapped and killed one species of this animal.
The Okapi: It is a shy forest-dwelling animal, which was first discovered in 1901 in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. This animal was not found since 1959, until a recent survey conducted by World Wildlife Federation (WWF) in 2006 spotted seventeen Okapi tracks and other evidences to suggest their presence today.
The Cuban Solenodon: It was first discovered in 1861. In 1970, it was thought to have become extinct. But, in 2007, they were found once again, and 37 individuals are alive today.
Laotian Rock Rats: It was believed to have become extinct millions of years ago. But, in 2005, they were seen again, and are the sole survivors of an ancient group of rats. They are nocturnal creatures found in the remote forests of Laos.
Dwarf Cloud Rats: It was previously seen in 1896 in the forests of Mt. Data. Since no forest cover is left on Mt. Data, its habitat is lost. Recently, it was found in cloud forest on Mt. Pulag, which is about 2,350 meters above sea level.
The Nelson: It is a small-eared shrew. It was last spotted in 1894. But, in 2009, three shrews were again found to be alive, which suggests that their numbers could be even more.
Worcester’s Buttonquail: It was believed to have been extinct, and was known only through drawings based on dead museum specimens. But, recently a few of them were captured in Luzon in Philippines.
The Arakan Forest Turtle: It was thought to have become extinct as the last spotting was in 1908. In 1994, it was suddenly spotted in the Asian food markets. It is listed by IUCN as critically endangered, and only a few are in captivity.
The Terror Skink: It was last found in 1876. In 2003, its rediscovery in New Caledonia has raised hopes of more surviving species of this extinct animal. It is an omnivore having unusually long sharp curved teeth. It measures 50 centimeters.
The La Palma Giant Lizard: Their numbers started declining about 2000 years ago with the arrival of human being on La Palma. For the last 500 years, they were thought to be extinct, but have reappeared again in 2007. Habitat loss, introduction of cats, and consumption of their meat by people caused their extinction.
The Woolly Flying Squirrel: It was first discovered in 1888. This giant squirrel was mentioned only in the technical papers of the scientists, until recently it resurfaced in northern Pakistan.
In the same way, Javan Elephants, Bermuda petrel, the Coelacanth, the Mountain Pygmy Possum, etc. are some other extinct animals that have reappeared after they were believed to have become extinct.
I would have thought that the the Oxygen Catastrophe was the worst.
The poor anaerobes STILL haven’t recovered from that!
Ain't nuttin "permanent", Doc: "and this, too, shall pass"....except Liberal ignorance.
It is sad to think about it but it is going to happen again. We know it has happened at least 6 times already. I was reading that 75,000 years ago the human race was darn near wiped out by the mount Toba volcanic eruption. Scientists think that only 1,000 of our species survived that event. Hopefully we can survive long enough to get out of the system and finds some habitable planets to colonize. Then if the worst happens at least some will go on.
Just to be safe from a major supernova, t'would be best to spread into at least one neighboring galaxy.
Even better would be to annex a couple of spare rooms of the Multiverse.
Doesn't do much good to spread one's eggs into multiple baskets, then leave them all sitting on the same rickety table.
True. I try not to think about super novas. There is enough to worry about as it is. I wish I could live to see the day we travel to another galaxy but unless there are some major breakthroughs in medicine, or physics, I don’t see that happening.
I will be satisfied if I make it another 10 to 20 years, but the way the world is going, I now see why we need to die at
some time.
I really feel for the young children of today, as the future, politically, looks very bleak.
The fact that an illegal Chicago thug can become POTUS is quite telling.
It Took Earth Ten Million Years to Recover from Greatest Mass Extinction
Just to be safe from a major supernova, t'would be best to spread into at least one neighboring galaxy.
*** True. I try not to think about super novas. There is enough to worry about as it is. ***
Hi, and 'scuse me for butting in)
That's one problem with Cosmology (and watching the Science channel 24/7). You find out all the ways the Universe it out to kill us. A regular 'ole Super Nova is just one of the ways we could all get wiped out faster than... Barry can give a proper salute to our troops.
But that we don't have to worry about that, our Sun is too small to go Super Nova, not enough mass. Sol will become a White Dwarf when it dies, no Black Hole for us. But there's all the other neat stuff.
It's those that keep me up at night thinking, I'm 'series'. If a massive star (sol x 1030) goes super nova and it produces a Super Gamma Ray Burst and its pole is aimed at Earth, we're Toast. Literally. I don't know why but dieing from Gamma Rays is like 2nd on my list of 'ways I DON'T want to go' (being in a Foxhole with a Lib or a Frenchman is #1).
And the nasty (scary) part is that somewhere out there a 'SGRB' may have already happened thousands of years ago and its merrily traveling its way toward us at Light-speed.
That's all, just adding my 2¢.
Continue on guys.
A “super Carrington” event would also wipe out civilization — although not in one fell swoop, because it might take a month or two for our food stockpiles to be exhausted.
At any rate, after those excruciating months of mass starvation, the only surviving humans would probably be a few isolated, wild tribes in the New Guinea mountains and in the jungles of the Congo and Amazon basins.
These primitive folks might repopulate Mother Earth in another 30,000 or so years. Just imagine their amazement when they eventually stumble upon some old DVD’s of Madonna and Lady Gaga!
And if those Tribes found those DVD's I think Lady Gaga would make them believe she was some type of Space Demon, but Madonna would just make them throw up ;-)
Ok call me backwards but why would you want to resurrect a creature that has TERROR right in its name???
Absolutely, this earth is more resilient than people realize.
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