Permian–Triassic extinction event

High school (ages 12+)
Environment & Earth

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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/permian-triassic-extinction-event

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 estimated duration of main extinction phase?Likely occurred within a geologically short period, possibly less than 100,000 years
2. What is the key volcanic province?Siberian Traps, covering an area of approximately 2 million square kilometers
3. Why did so many animals die during the Permian–Triassic extinction?About 96% of marine species and 70% of land animals died because the planet got very hot, the oceans lost oxygen, and the air and water became acidic.
4. How did the volcanic eruptions cause the extinction?Huge volcanoes in Siberia erupted for hundreds of thousands of years, releasing a lot of carbon dioxide, methane, and sulfur dioxide, which made the Earth heat up and caused acid rain.

Large Igneous Province (LIP): Vast areas of the Earth's crust covered by extrusive igneous rocks, indicative of massive volcanic events.
Oceanic Anoxia: A condition in which the oceans lack sufficient dissolved oxygen for marine life to survive.
Ocean Acidification: The ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth's oceans, caused by the uptake of anthropogenic CO2.
Synapsids: A group of amniote vertebrates that includes mammals and their extinct relatives.