DEVASTATION!

The end-Permian mass extinction event ranks as the most devastating to terrestrial faunas in the history of the Earth.

Marking the end of the great Palaeozoic era, it saw to the death of about 95% of marine species and 70% of land families. This is the most extensive extinction event ever, the closest that metazoans have come to being exterminated in the 600 million years since they first evolved in the Cambrian radiation.

The following diagram shows the number of organism species present on Earth since the Cambrian radiation. The mass extinctions can be seen when this plot has sharp declines. There have been 5 major mass extinctions, of which it can be seen that the drop of families at the Permo-Triassic boundary has been the greatest.


Extinctions(1)end Ordovician. (2)late Devonian. (3)end Permian. (4)end Triassic. (5)end Cretaceous.
By studying the species which became extinct at this time, the rate at which they became extinct, and the regions of the Earth in which the greatest extinction occurred, hypotheses about possible mechanisms for the cause of the extinction can be devised.

Palaeontological evidence of Permo-Triassic extinction event

What species were killed out in the Permo-Triassic extinction?

What caused the Permo-Triassic extinction event?

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