Climate Change (@@ClimateChangRR) tweeted Mar 25, 2017: A Global Mass Extinction Event Could Be Coming, Scientific Researchers Say https://t.co/zpjmG6znAK https://t.co/YjGGTWLU59 (https://twitter.com/ClimateChangRR/st…)
“A mass extinction event could happen on the Earth once again, and global warming might be to blame. Scientific researchers at Brock University in Ontario re-examined the gasses trapped in ancient rocks to discover what drove five previous mass extinction events and could bring about the sixth doomsday scenario. They now believe that climate change was, and could be again, the cause of an apocalypse.
During the most substantial mass extinction event in history, about 90 percent of all life was wiped off the face of the Earth. The Brock University researchers are warning such a dire scenario could repeat itself again one day, the Daily Mail reports.
“The emission of carbon dioxide from volcanic deposits may have started the world onto the road of mass extinction, but it was the release of methane from shelf sediments and permafrost hydrates that was the ultimate cause for the catastrophic biotic event at the end Permian,” the university researchers stated in their findings.
Scientists issue ‘apocalyptic’ warning about #climatechange #KeepItInTheGround https://t.co/wDZKhePZI3
— Paul Dawson (@PaulEDawson) March 24, 2017
The researchers maintain their global warming apocalypse findings should be viewed as an “important lesson for humanity.” They believe the research should guide how the world reacts to and reduces climate change. The Permian-Triassic was the worst mass extinction on record. It happened approximately 250 million years ago. The horrific Armageddon event is also commonly referred to as the “Great Dying.”
There were no cars during the Permian-Triassic event, but methane and carbon dioxide still reportedly managed to reach critical levels, prompting intense global warming, according to the research by the Canadian university study authors.
During the Permian-Triassic mass extinction event, 70 percent of life on land ceased to exist, and approximately 96 percent of sea life vanished. Scientists have debated the cause of the near world-ending doomsday event for decades. Some researchers blamed the apocalyptic scenario on the eruption of volcanoes, and others cited meteor showers as the cause of the trauma felt around the Earth, Science Direct notes. When volcanoes frequently erupt, the powerful actions can lead to substantial amounts of carbon dioxide being released into the environment. Such actions could prompt temperatures around the Earth to increase significantly.
The scenario that humans have created by way of the industrial growth society mimics the Permian mass extinction: https://t.co/TMQ5qEj7Rb
— Extinction Symbol (@extinctsymbol) March 23, 201
Such a sudden and intense increase in temperatures could have caused the permafrost to melt, the scientific researchers maintain. If this did occur, enormous amounts of methane would have also been released into the atmosphere.
“Based on measurements of gases trapped in calcite, the release of methane…is deemed the ultimate source and cause for the dramatic life-changing global warming…observed at the end Permian,” the Brock University research team, led by Dr. Uwe Brand, stated in their mass extinction paper, which was published in Palaeoworld. “Global warming triggered by the massive release of carbon dioxide may be catastrophic, but the release of methane from hydrate [permafrost] may be apocalyptic.”
The scientific researchers believe how the Permian-Triassic ended is pertinent to the climate change issues of today. They feel the global warming issues of today, including greenhouse gases, could cause similarly catastrophic events to unfold in our modern world. The Brock University team also stated unchecked global warming could push average temperatures to increase to 84 degrees.
The Permian-Triassic event was actually the result of two different and specific mass extinctions which took millions of years to occur, the BBC reports. The media outlet reports insects and sea life suffered the brunt of the apocalypse. Flood basalt eruptions and a drastic decrease in oxygen levels, along with some combination of the other long-held theories about the cause of the massive loss of life, could also be to blame for the mass extinction event.
Do you think global warming is going to spark an apocalypse?
