Sunday, 28 October 2012

The Ordovician-Silurian Mass extinction event

What is it?

The Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction (OSME) was the first "Big Five" events. It happened between 450 million years to 440 million year ago which can be separated to two global extinction events by one million years (during Hirnantian Age of Ordovician Period and the subsequent Rhuddanian Age of the Silurian Period). It was known as the second largest extinction event of marine life just below the Permian-Triassic Extinction because of the tremendous number of marine species lost. Besides, it has been ranked as the third largest extinction in the "Big Five" because of the percent genera lost.
(The Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction diagram)


What happened in the event?

In the Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction, an estimated 85% of species became extinct, 61% of genera and 12-24% of families (Brenchley,et al. 2001). 
In details, about 60-75% of genera in the mainly benthic groups (eg. branchiopods, echinoderms, corals, trilobites and bivalves) went extinct., about 85% of the pelagic graptolites and 89% of the conodonts went extinct simultaneously. In all, more than 100 families of marine invertebrates died out in this extinction event.
(What species lived in the sea in Ordovician period)
As mentioned in part one, the OSME can be divided into two phases. Some groups like brachiopods and trilobites had the similar levels of extinction in these two phases, while the extinction of graptolites groups took place mostly in phase one. 

(Figure shows the diversity changes in the OSME)



Why did it happen?

To put it simple, the most possible culprit that caused the OSME was the change of climate which could break the balance of environment. This was also the reason why the extinction rate was particularly high around the tropical areas in the two phases mass extinction as the long-established environment stability there leaded to the evolution of poor adaptive species.  
(Figure presents the Late-Ordovician-Early Silurian stratigraphy, isotope stratigraphy, environmental change and survival faunas)
The stable isotopic composition of marine carbon indicate the global environmental changes that 
  • the oxygen isotope excursion suggests the growth of ice caps and drop of seawater temperature
  • the carbon isotope excursion indicates the onset of major changes in carbon cycle


To explain in details, the main cause of the two phases mass extinction was a brief glacial interval (Sheehan,2001). 
The primary phase occurred at the beginning of the glaciation (Katian/Hirnantian stage) coincided with a rapid growth of south polar ice sheets on Gondwana. Together with the expansion ice sheets, there were a substantial cooling of the tropical oceans, a major perturbation of global carbon cycle and  a large sea-level decline which drained the wide cratonic seaways. This situation made it difficult for all the shallow marine life (most of the marine life at that time were the shallow type) to live on Earth. 
After the first phase extinction when the survival faunas can adapt to the new ecologic condition, the second phase occurred. The glaciation ended unexpectedly which leaded to a rise in sea-level and temperature, and also resulted in a stagnation of oceanic circulation. The sudden change in the world made some life difficult to survive which was the second phase extinction.
Those fall and rise sea-level, changes in the oceanic structure, nutrient fluxes,etc. which were all related to climatic change leaded to the consequence of the Ordovician-Silurian Mass Extinction. 


Reference:
P.J.Brenchley,et al. (2001) Do all mass extinctions represent an ecological crisis? Evidence from the Late Ordovician. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK.
P.M.Sheehan (2001) The Late Ordovician Mass Extinction. Department of Geology, Milwaukee Public Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53233.

Saturday, 20 October 2012

The starter: an introduction to the mass extinction

What is a mass extinction? 


The definition should include three parts as following:
1. It  must be an event happening within a geologically short time period (usually varies from a few hundred thousand to a couple million years).
2. In this period, a significant part (above 75%) of all life on earth became extinct.
3. The extinct life forms should have belonged to different phyla and lived in different places with different habitats in the whole world.

In the year 1982, Jack Sepkoski and David M. Raup identified the world had suffered five major mass extinctions (can be named as "big five") in the past 540 million years in a landmark paper.

(The graph above shows the timeline and the highlighting points are the major mass extinctions)

The "big five" events:



1. Ordovician-Silurian extinction event

450 to 440 million years ago which killed about 27% of all families and 57% of all genera.

2. Late Devonian extinction event

375 to 360 million years ago. 19% of all families, 50% of all genera and 70% of all species on earth became extinct.
3. Permian-Triassic mass extinction event 
251 million years ago. Only 4% of species survived on Earth.
4. Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event
205 million years ago. 23% of all families and 48% of all genera died out. 
5. Cretaceous-Paleogene extinction event 
65.5 million years. 17% of families, 50% of all genera and three quarters of all species went extinct. 

(The figure shows the time and types of species went extinct in those major mass extinction events)


I will then introduce those big five mass extinction events in details and analyze what are the causes of mass extinctions in this blog. After that, based on the research of this area, I will develop whether our Earth will suffer the six mass extinction and whether the anthporocene will accelerate the event.

Reference:
http://mindblowingscience.com/science-by-numbers/the-5-major-mass-extinction-events/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/extinction_events