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Over the course of Earth's existence, there have been five major extinction events, alongside countless smaller ones. A potential sixth, caused by humanity's actions, is on the horizon. In the spirit of improving our collective future, it's the perfect time to reflect on these chaotic moments and the life turnover they caused—moments we should strive to avoid in the years ahead.
From the tumultuous rise of the dinosaurs to the numerous cataclysms that darkened the skies, acidified oceans, and transformed Earth into a nightmarish wasteland, these awe-striking moments of destruction and renewal have fundamentally reshaped our planet.
10. Dinosaurs Seize the Opportunity Amidst Extinctions
Dinosaurs made their mark on evolutionary history in the same dramatic way they disappeared—with an extinction event.
This extinction took place around 232 million years ago during the Carnian Pluvial Episode, when deep-sea volcanic activity (such as the Wrangellia basalts in present-day British Columbia) triggered climate shifts and a massive turnover of ancient life.
This event plunged Earth into a cycle of wet and dry phases. Most notably, four successive waves of warming and cooling in just one million years caused several extinction events, decimating both plant and animal life.
In the aftermath, it took the dinosaurs a surprisingly brief period of just two million years to dominate the planet and fill the many empty ecological niches.
9. The Chicxulub Asteroid Makes a Fortuitous Strike
The 10-kilometer-wide (6 mi) asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs 66 million years ago was an incredibly fortunate strike, one that might not have been as deadly if it had hit anywhere else on Earth.
In fact, only 13 percent of Earth's surface contained the necessary materials for such a mass extinction event. By sheer chance, the asteroid struck a region rich in fossil fuels, hydrocarbons, and sulfur. The intense heat from the impact ignited these abundant fuel sources.
The resulting infernos released massive amounts of soot, which blocked sunlight and caused a temperature drop of up to 10 degrees Celsius (18 °F). The sulfur released into the atmosphere rained back down as acid rain.
Researchers simulated impacts at other sites and discovered that the only other locations with similarly catastrophic concentrations of fossil fuels were North America's East Coast, the Middle East, and Siberia.
8. A ‘Trickle Of Food’ Sustains Deep-Sea Life
Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid struck the Yucatan Peninsula, wiping out the dinosaurs. It also spelled the end for the giant marine reptiles and triggered the immediate extinction of countless microscopic ocean creatures like plankton, which were essential food for other life forms.
However, deep-ocean life managed to endure, sustained by a mysterious food source. Researchers attribute this survival to algae and certain bacteria, photosynthetic organisms that survived the extinction event and slowly rained down on the ocean floor, providing nourishment for larger creatures.
Life bounced back swiftly. The oceanic food chain rejuvenated in just 1.7 million years, as new species filled the ecological roles that had previously been abandoned.
7. The Neanderthals Are Displaced
Neanderthals shared many traits with us: they buried their dead, made tools, controlled fire, communicated, cared for the vulnerable, and created art. This suggests that they were not doomed by inferiority. A new theory proposes that we didn’t wipe them out in violent clashes, but rather, their population gradually declined.
Their range spanned from Europe to Central Asia. However, as other human species (with broader territories) migrated into their space, available resources became scarce.
Yet, the situation could have easily gone the other way. If we had been living in the same regions and faced similar migrations from Neanderthal groups, it might have been us who were pushed into extinction.
6. Earth Gets Struck and Shaken Like a Bell
Earth’s crust is crisscrossed with tens of thousands of miles of fractures, known as mid-ocean ridges, where lava seeps up between shifting tectonic plates.
When the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs struck, it actually caused Earth to resonate, sending seismic waves throughout the planet, registering as magnitude-11 earthquakes. As these shockwaves traveled deep into the planet, they shook the Earth like a can of soda, disturbing the mid-ocean ridges and triggering even more volcanic eruptions.
What’s the proof?
Scientists discovered two massive magma 'bumps' in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, detectable due to their increased gravitational pull. These bumps contain between 96,000 and 1,000,000 cubic kilometers (23,000–240,000 mi) of magma, which formed within a million years of the impact.
These eruptions are comparable to the largest in Earth's history, and volcanic activity remained heightened for hundreds of thousands of years following the asteroid impact.
5. A Series of Extinctions Trigger The Great Dying
The End-Permian Extinction, which occurred 252 million years ago, stands as the deadliest of Earth’s five mass extinctions. It eradicated 70–75 percent of land-dwelling species and as much as 95 percent of marine life (with some estimates suggesting it’s closer to 80 percent). This catastrophe is often referred to as the Great Dying.
However, recent studies propose that it might be more accurate to call it the Great Dyings. This extinction was a result of a double geological assault. First, massive volcanic eruptions engulfed the planet, while the oceans became more acidic. Next, a surge of anoxia stripped the seas of oxygen.
After the main event, which involved the Siberian Traps releasing enough lava to cover an area greater than Alaska, two additional smaller extinctions followed.
Volcanoes are again at fault. Carbon isotopes indicate that two significant events took place half a million and 1.5 million years after the Great Dying, a period of destruction that required 10 million years to recover from.
4. Hidden Eruptions Prove More Lethal
Massive volcanic activity is always dangerous, but its location can be more crucial than its size or duration. During the Great Dying, subsurface eruptions caused far greater chaos. When the Siberian Traps erupted, not all the lava surfaced. Some of it spread over an area of 1.6 million kilometers (1 million mi) beneath the Earth's crust.
It might seem like a fortunate turn, since lava usually belongs underground. However, when it pooled below the surface, it heated up carbon-rich sediments and released massive amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
The outcome was ocean acidification, a rise in temperature, and a cataclysmic haze that wiped out life. In total, enough lava was released to cover an area the size of the United States, up to 1 kilometer (0.6 mi) deep in molten rock.
3. Seed-Eating Creatures Rise to Dominance
Approximately 66 million years ago, a massive asteroid struck Earth, wiping out most of the dinosaurs. However, the birdlike maniraptorans survived.
The bird-like dinosaurs came in two primary types—those with teeth and those without. They had diverse diets, but the toothless ones, with their short, sturdy beaks, were seed-eaters. This is why they managed to survive the end-Cretaceous extinction while their toothed counterparts did not.
Despite acid rain, darkened skies, raging fires consuming landscapes, and the extinction of most food sources, maniraptorans managed to keep themselves nourished. How? They foraged for seeds buried in the soil, left by the remarkable new life forms known as flowers, which flourished during the Cretaceous.
2. The Cosmos Has Its Eyes on Us
There may be an unseen force behind extinctions: dark matter.
Our Earth and solar system hurtle through the galaxy at speeds exceeding 800,000 kilometers per hour (500,000 mph). Every 30 million years or so, we pass through the galactic disc in events that seem to correlate with previous mass extinctions.
Dark matter typically exists in halos around galaxies similar to the Milky Way. However, it also gathers in the central midplane of the galactic disk. So, when our solar system passes through this region, dark matter’s gravitational pull disrupts space rocks, sending some hurtling toward Earth.
As Earth traverses these invisible clusters, dark matter accumulates at its core. The particles interact, triggering explosions that generate energies up to a thousand times hotter than typical core temperatures. This process drives material to the surface, sparking volcanic activity, magnetic field reversals, and fluctuations in sea levels.
1. The Dinosaurs Were Already Declining Before the Asteroid
Statistical analysis of the dinosaur family tree shows a noticeable decline long before the asteroid impact 66 million years ago. The decline began around 140 million years ago. Prior to this, new species emerged more quickly than old ones vanished. However, by 90 million years ago, 24 million years before the extinction event, biodiversity had already begun to take a downturn.
Factors like climate change and the fragmentation of continents began to chip away at the dominant dinosaur groups: theropods (T. rex and others), ornithischians (Stegosaurus family), and sauropods (the Brontosaurus group). Meanwhile, horned and duck-billed dinosaurs started gaining a stronger presence, possibly due to the emergence of flowering plants as a new food source.
Given these patterns, some researchers argue that the dinosaurs might have faded out even without the cosmic catastrophe that eventually struck.
