You remember that elementary school science experiment where you make a volcano out of baking soda and vinegar? This story isn’t like that at all!! Earth has had many mass extinctions but one particular event about 250 million years ago was specifically….bad, with 90% of species in the oceans dying. What started this New Years party? Massive volcanic activity and subsequent lava bursts (covering an area about the size of Western Europe) ignited huge coal deposits and the billowing toxic ash essentially choking the oceans.
Ars technica has a great write up on the article, which was originally posted in the journal Nature Geoscience. If you love words and phrases like “The Great Dying” or Gigatonnes or ”The Siberian Traps” you need to read this article. It’ll make your next horror movie seem like a baking soda volcano.
Source: Ars Technica
