Mass extinction 215 million years ago - Studies dismiss climate change & asteroids

The mass extinction that happened 215 million years ago did not occur due to an asteroid or climate change as believed previously. Instead, scientists have found that the extinction of a wide variety of species was not linked to any single catastrophic event. Various scientists have listed several reasons that resulted in the extinction of species on Earth.

The mass extinction did not happen due to climate change or asteroid

• The University of Rhode Island research was based on paleontological fieldwork that was performed on sediments 227 to 205 million years old in Arizona Petrified Forest National Park. Some researchers believe that the extinction was triggered by the Manicouagan Impact. This is an asteroid impact that occurred in Quebec 215.5 million years ago, which left a 750 square mile lake behind.

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• Several other researchers speculate that extinction was linked to a climate that became hotter and drier and it occurred approximately at the same time. David Fastovsky, professor at URI, believes that the extension occurred in a wide area and was ‘drawn out’. He said that the previous hypotheses seemed very nebulous as nobody had ever approached this problem in the quantitative way that they have.

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As stated by Professor David Fastovsky on the official website of URI,

'We concluded that neither the asteroid impact nor the climate change had anything to do with the extinction.'

More about quantitative methods

The Andamanian/Revueltian turnover is regarded as the perfect candidate for applying the quantitative methods for the landmark research. It is so because the fossil-rich layers at park preserve a diversity of vertebrates from the period. However, professor at URI told a media portal that he believes that it would be difficult to apply the quantitative methods to calculate other mass extinctions as equally rich fossil data and precise radiometric dates for them are unavailable at other sites and for other time periods.

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Moreover, he said that in the end, they have concluded that the reason for extinction was diachronous, which means it occurred in a different geological period and drawn out. Moreover, Professor Fastovsky from URI said that the extinction was a long-lasting suite and did not occur at the same time as the impact of climate change or anything else. 

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