The vast majority of animal species went extinct 252 million years ago, and when the dust settled, the planet entered into
Scientists are still studying patterns amongsurviving and extinct animals. In the new study, the authors found that the extinction occurred quickly in the oceans, but the process was delayed on land.
One of the reasons why scientists study marineextinction—underwater fossils are better preserved. Therefore, paleontologists have long known that 252 million years ago, at the end of the Permian period, a mass extinction occurred: within 100 thousand years, more than 85% of the species living in the ocean became extinct. At sea, extinction took 100 thousand years.
To find out what the situation was on land,The authors of the new work studied 588 fossil animals that lived in the territory of modern South Africa in the Karu River basin during the mass extinction of Perm.
As a result, it turned out that the mass extinctionon land lasted ten times longer than in water. One reason for this difference may be that the oceans can absorb chemicals quickly and in large quantities, and also stabilize themselves to a certain point. In other words, sudden changes occur faster and more abruptly in water.
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