Late Devonian mass extinction

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/late-devonian-mass-extinction

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the primary extinction event?Kellwasser Event, approximately 372 million years ago
2. What is the estimated species loss?Up to 75% of marine species
3. What was the Great Devonian Die-Off?The Great Devonian Die-Off, also known as the Late Devonian mass extinction, was a long period when many marine species vanished, especially around 372 million years ago.
4. Why did so many sea creatures disappear during the Late Devonian?Scientists think that many plants spreading on land made the soil erode more, sending lots of nutrients into the sea. This caused huge algae blooms that used up oxygen, making the water too low in oxygen for many animals.

Anoxia: A condition in which a body of water is completely depleted of dissolved oxygen.
Eutrophication: The excessive richness of nutrients in a lake or other body of water, frequently due to runoff from the land, which causes a dense growth of plant life and death of animal life from lack of oxygen.
Benthic Organisms: Organisms that live on, in, or near the seabed.