250 million years ago, 80% of the Earth’s species disappeared. These researchers believe it was a Hyperchild

About 250 million years ago, the world became empty. It was a catastrophe in the most literal sense of the word. 80% of marine species and around 70% of terrestrial vertebrate species disappeared in what was once a the largest mass extinction in history of the planet.

The most terrible thing is that we don’t know why it happened.

We don’t know why it happened? Of course scientists have theories: the most well-known blames the extinction on warming caused by the massive emission of greenhouse gases produced by a huge episode of volcanism that covered almost everything with lava what we call Siberia today.

The reason is obvious: the almost perfect temporal coincidence between the second phase of the macro-volcanic event and the beginning of the extinction. In addition, the script was predictable“acid rain, loss of oxygen from the oceans and, most importantly, temperatures beyond the tolerance levels of almost all organisms.”

However, not everything fits together. The most obvious thing is that we know that the Earth has experienced volcanic episodes similar to the Siberian one and we have never seen an extinction like that. But there are more subtle things: “When the tropics got too warm, why didn’t species migrate to higher and colder latitudes (as is happening today)? If the warming was sudden and rapid, why did terrestrial species become extinct tens of thousands of years before those in the sea?”

Literally that was what They wondered three British researchers (Alex Farnsworth, David Bond and Paul Wignall) just before trying to find an answer.

Putting all the (computational) meat on the grill. Researchers simulated the climate and weather conditions 252 million years ago. The first surprise is that the world seemed much more likely to extreme temperatures and precipitation. The main reason is that in the centre of Pangaea the inertias that we see in the centre of the continents (low humidity, extreme temperatures) were raised to their maximum power.

What they discovered is that the ocean warmed and cooled with a structure very similar to El Niño.

Volcanoes + El Niño. According to their modelsthe planetary balance was being balanced until Siberia introduced an enormous quantity of CO2 into the atmosphere and that triggered the effects of that prehistoric El Niño. That is what explains why terrestrial animals disappeared earlier: each climatic impact degraded the ecosystems of Pangea further and, in a few years, the forests became pastures for the flames.

We are talking about temperatures of up to 60 degrees. The problem is that, as the macrocontinent was destroyed, the quality of life in the sea began to deteriorate. Checkmate.

Are there parallels with our world? It is inevitable to ask this question when we talk about the strength of El Niño in the context of a rapid increase in CO2, but It seems hastyAs far as we know, there is no room in the contemporary world for phenomena of this magnitude to occur.

However, it is worth remembering the thermal potential of El Niño and its ability to turn contemporary societies upside down. Even more so now that, with La Niña gone, we are not entirely sure where the planet is heading.

Image | Javier Miranda

In Xataka | Pangea, the gigantic single continent, redrawn according to the borders of the present