Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland / 07:51 / POSTED 24.03.15

Hunting for mass extinction #4

The end-Triassic mass extinction event (201.5 million years ago) was one of the five largest mass extinctions during the last 541 million years of our earth’s history. It is marked by major decrease in biodiversity (>80%) primarily in the marine realm. The biotic catastrophe coincides with the initial break-up of the supercontinent Pangea. 

In the “Hunting for Mass extinction” series, we follow the multidisciplinary team of researchers from GEUS, IGN and AU in their search for answers regarding the causes and consequences of the end-Triassic mass extinction event.

In this episode the team will conduct a closer examination of the sediment cores and select areas of certain interest. Gunver explains how much they already at this stage, can tell from looking at the cores.

To read more: http://geocenter.dk/projekter/2013_the_triassic_jurassic_boundary/index.html