History classes have thought us that the Earth has been through many events, including five mass extinction phases. As scientists tell us, nowadays, we are heading towards the sixth, so, in order to take urgent measures, you should know more about the past. One of the greatest mass extinctions in the Earth’s history happened 252 million years ago and, during those times, almost every creature living on Earth and under the sea was extinct. Only a few species survived and the animals living today are their descendants. The extinction was so big, that life on Earth recovered in about 10 million years.
These are facts that people fascinated by history, anthropology and geology already know. The news comes from the scientists’ latest discovery – life on Earth was extinct during that time due to burning coal. The breakthrough is unexpected, especially because so far other theories were connected to the event: the Earth was hit by an asteroid, some acid rain ended everything, beings were poisoned with mercury and others.
The recent findings were concluded thanks to Dr. Benjamin Burger, a scientist that identified and connected to the great extinction a special rock layer in Utah. While conducting the research on this rock layer, the scientist discovered that it was created by a coal ignition that rapidly destroyed everything, including life under the sea. Since the fire extended rapidly, the entire planet turned into hell. This discovery shows that, even without human intervention, the wildlife could disappear as fast as lighting a coal.
Furthermore, the findings reveal that today we are under the same threat. The greenhouse effect and the increased level of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as well as the global heating are causing more and more fires in forests from hot areas. This could only be the beginning, so we should be worried and do everything we can to protect the environment.
