A series of intense environmental events 100 million years ago led to widespread extinctions of marine species.
Scientists have uncovered how a “tag-team” interaction between oceans and continents millions of years ago led to a massive devastation of marine life, significantly altering the course of evolution on Earth.
Their study has unearthed a new explanation for a string of severe environmental crises, called oceanic anoxic events, which happened between 185 and 85 million years ago. These occurred when the seas became critically depleted of dissolved oxygen.
Experts from the University of Southampton, which led the study, said these events triggered significant biological upheavals, including mass extinctions of marine species. The findings were recently published in the journal Nature Geoscience.
Lead author Tom Gernon, a Professor of Earth Science at Southampton, said: “Oceanic anoxic events were like hitting the reset button on the planet’s ecosystems. The challenge was understanding which geological forces hit the button.”
The study was undertaken by Southampton in collaboration with academics from the universities of Leeds, Bristol in the UK, Adelaide in Australia, Utrecht in the Netherlands, Waterloo in Canada, and Yale in the US.
Geological Forces Behind Marine Disruptions
The researchers examined the impact of plate tectonic forces on ocean chemistry during the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods, collectively known as the Mesozoic era.
This chapter of Earth’s history is often dubbed the age of the dinosaurs, said Prof Gernon, and is famously exposed along the Jurassic Coast on the UK’s south coast as well as along the cliffs of Whitby in Yorkshire and Eastbourne in East Sussex.
The team combined statistical analyses and sophisticated computer models to explore how chemical cycles in the ocean could have feasibly responded to the breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, the great landmass once roamed by the dinosaurs.
Prof Gernon added: “The Mesozoic era witnessed the breakup of this landmass, in turn bringing intense volcanic activity worldwide. As tectonic plates shifted and new seafloors formed, large amounts of phosphorus, a nutrient essential for life, were released from weathering volcanic rocks into the oceans. Crucially, we found evidence of multiple pulses of chemical weathering on both the seafloor and continents, which alternately disrupted the oceans.”
“It’s like a geological tag team,” said Prof Gernon.
Experts from the universities found the timing of these weathering pulses matched up with most oceanic anoxic events in the rock record.
Impact on Marine Life and Ecosystems
They propose that the weathering-related influx of phosphorus to the ocean acted like a natural fertilizer, boosting the growth of marine organisms.
However, the researchers said these fertilization episodes came at a major cost for marine ecosystems.
The increase in biological activity led to huge amounts of organic matter sinking to the ocean floor, where it consumed large quantities of oxygen, said co-author Benjamin Mills, a Professor of Earth System Evolution at the University of Leeds.
He added: “This process eventually caused swathes of the oceans to become anoxic, or oxygen-depleted, creating ‘dead zones’ where most marine life perished. The anoxic events typically lasted around one to two million years and had profound impacts on marine ecosystems, the legacy of which is even felt today. The rocks rich in organic matter that accumulated during these events are by far the largest source of commercial oil and gas reserves globally.”
Insights for Modern Environmental Challenges
As well as explaining the cause of extreme biological turmoil in the Mesozoic, the study’s findings highlight the devastating effects that nutrient overloading can have on marine environments today.
The team of researchers explained how present-day human activities have reduced mean oceanic oxygen levels by about two percent – leading to a significant expanse in anoxic water masses.
Prof Gernon added: “Studying geological events offers valuable insights that can help us grasp how the Earth may respond to future climatic and environmental stresses.”
Overall, the team’s findings reveal a stronger-than-expected connection between the Earth’s solid interior and its surface environment and biosphere, especially during periods of tectonic and climatic upheaval.
“It’s remarkable how a chain of events within the Earth can impact the surface, often with devastating effects,” added Prof Gernon. “Tearing continents apart can have profound repercussions for the course of evolution.”
Reference: “Solid Earth forcing of Mesozoic oceanic anoxic events” by T. M. Gernon, B. J. W. Mills, T. K. Hincks, A. S. Merdith, L. J. Alcott, E. J. Rohling and M. R. Palmer, 29 August 2024, Nature Geoscience.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-024-01496-0
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42 Comments
Don’t we get it yet. Humans are the worst thing ever let loose on this planet. But I guess either people are ignorant or don’t care. We all are connected to everything in the universe and on earth. We are connected dumbies. When are you going to get people. . Get right or get left.
This statement is indicative of a self-shaming psychology that is unique to humans. Humans are not the “worst thing ever let loose on this planet.” From any objective standpoint, we are every bit a part of nature as any other creature, and even with all the industry we have unleashed thus far, we haven’t even cause near the environmental catastrophes that past forces have caused, from volcanos to meteor impacts. Only our monumental egos think otherwise. But we appear to be the first species to be consciously aware of our effects on the entire globe, and the first species who can make conscious cultural and industrial decisions to steer our footprint.
Keep telling yourself that. Climate Change is real and put down as false to keep the rich corporationswho want to run the USA for 💰, not for the PeopleOTUS.
Intelligent homicide know evolution is a myth.
Intelligent humans know that evolution is a myth.
Evolution has been proven true repeatedly by many unrelated fields of science from genetics to geologists. The only deniers are the uneducated, science-phobic and the ultra-religious. Twisting yourselves into knots to deny reality and the physical world.
By
All means blame a population for global warming and to a degree this is correct …but life cycles produce children who have a parent or parents that want better for them than they had…as so on …but to return to a latter way of life hunter gatherer cold in the winter to hot in the summer …no idea where the next meal is coming from ..that’s happening now in lots of countries and its linked to over population…which the very rich love to control,their wealth has a direct effect on what happens to this planet ….mass migration to a better life that’s how a reset button is sometimes pushed too many peoplein a place that cannot sustain them…
And nature suffers in a way that will eventually eradicate humans
Thank you, it’s just incredible how ignorant so many people can be! How is it that they believe someone benefiting from their ‘facts’ over someone who has dedicated their life to finding the truth and has no bias? This may not describe all the sources but it applies to enough and they all have similar enough results to know what we’re doing to the planet. We can only estimate how much and how long but it’s clearly happening and the people that deny it are the worst of us…
This is an incredibly large and complex system that takes time to see change. If we stopped everything today things would still get worse for years if not decades! When these changes occur naturally it’s on a timeline 100x longer. If you’re religious do you think God is happy we kill off his creations not for food and shelter but for unrelated profits. All of it caused not by need but simply worship of money and power. 🤔🙄
But we haven’t curbed our impacts on the planet. As we are the only species that can “self-correct”. You are right about the big egos.
You just touched on the very real suicidal/genocidal anti-human ideology of the left. They are genetic dead ends and want to drag the rest of us into oblivion with themselves
The left remains liberal. Liberal means “to liberate” and remains a wonderful humanitarian goal for mankind. Nothing in politics is currently “leftist” and yet, the right is wildly steering into a horrible Fascist nightmare.
Fascist? I don’t see any group of people shameing others who don’t fit their mold any more then I see the leftist.
Cancel culture rides with wokeism and together they are the most racist force in America.
Merit is underattack, people should be hired because they have the merit to do the job, not because they have boobs and a specific color of skin.
Science is real, facts are provable results achived by different methods over a long period of time.
Men are not women, women are not men. The only aim in erasing that destinction is to normalize pedophilia. EQUITY is Communism EQUALITY is fair look up the words before you use them please!!
I don’t need anyone to speak for me.
-Minority
It is not “the left”. It is science, which the right chooses to ignore.
I seriously doubt that you understand what “science” is and how it works. It is not an altar that one worships at; it is a process of trying to understand and explain how the universe works, in which skepticism plays a major role to insure that one isn’t seduced by their emotions or religious indoctrinations.
We will probably end up killing ourselves from our sheer numbers of people even when we know it’s wrong the fact that you have to do what we’ve been doing for a million years to survive we keep doing it would be nice to think we can rise above it but human nature being as it is I kind of doubt it
Humans are the only ones created by God, Jesus Christ who is Lord that were created in His image
You can’t be serious
A distortion of the truth that man is the crown of God”s entire creation, self conscious and constituted of both material and spirit richly blessed with both social and divine relationships for those who desire them. And the promise of life eternal.
Looks like we were set up to fail, seriously.
Humans were ‘let loose’ as you say by nature herself. We and every living thing on this planet are products of climate change which is the driving force for evolution and extinction. This is nature at work. A changing planet is a living planet but species come and go. There is no right or wrong it is what it is. As it was in the past so it will be in the future. The geological evidence like fossils shows us that nothing stays the same or lasts forever. We must learn to accept what is inevitable. The planet will live on long after we have gone and that surely is what we all want. Isn’t it?
A mass extinction caused by environmental impact of human activities is not inevitable.
A mass extinction caused by environmental impact of human activities is not inevitable.
Absolutely agree fossils show us nothing stays the same or lasts forever and humans are one of the species that have nearly destroyed our planet, but nature will show her hand before it’s too late for our planet to regenerate.
Humans have been on this planet for millions of years of which we are just scratching the surface of with todays archeological findings Egypt and the pyramids the Aztecs ancient ancestors disappeared without a trace and so on
Earth regenerates over and over again until one day a human race will appear that understands and respects the planet……..
Will that happen?…. Not for a few million or Billion years ….. if ever…… but one thing for sure is our planet will thrive without us..
The article refers to the fact that a combination of naturally occurring events caused this event not from human involvement sooo I’m not sure what part of this article your comment refers to… Oh and if you only go left or right you will end up full circle… Something worth thinking about.
You need to reread the article.
You have a very parochial view of the history of life on Earth. If the earliest life forms had been intelligent and self-aware, they would have almost certainly condemned the changes made in the atmosphere and oceans by photosynthetic organisms. The oxygen released by the photosynthetic organisms made the air toxic for anything that relied on bio-chemical reactions other than photosynthesis. The abundance of oxygen resulted in the oxidation of the iron ions dissolved in the oceans, and most of it precipitated and settled to the bottom to form banded-iron formations that are of little use to anything except humans that use it to make steel. Even today, one of the most serious limitations on the abundance of plankton is the low concentration of iron. However, it allowed the evolution of a greater diversity of life forms of greater complexity.
It is only humans that make judgements about good and bad. Some do so without the benefit of any real knowledge about the world they live in, relying largely on what they are told by other ignorant people.
Its because we had a beggining and we have an end so as they say the global warming is real but what comes after we lose earth were will our next generation live so some of them aimlessly looking for another planet like Nasa wich is the funniest thing ever
The Universe the earth and everything on it all tells us a story and we yet deny every single reason that we’re here Just see The Islamic teachings and You’ll have a deep understanding of the universe and how it all works .
Its because we had a beggining and we have an end so as they say the global warming is real but what comes after we lose earth were will our next generation live so some of them aimlessly looking for another planet like Nasa wich is the funniest thing ever
The Universe the earth and everything on it all tells us a story and we yet deny every single reason that we’re here Would you please like to see Quran the Holy words of The creator and You’ll have a deep understanding of the universe and how it all works .
Mass extinctions have occurred during previous epochs. It’s possible they’ll happen again.
We’re not in charge of the solar system, or even much of our own planet. What happens along the way? We’re along for the ride.
Cheers!
This is the most stupid thing i have ever read. Stupid climate change tards will believe this crap. Show up the chemical chain reaction if you morons….wait, chemicals you say, those are bad, don’t use those. Even the equations on a chalk board cause harm to the climate!
So you think you know better than scientists who spend entire careers studying these phenomena. Cling to your ignorance while calling them tards and morons.
To paraphrase an old saying, “You can lead a scientist to water, but you can’t make them think.” Many of the press releases published here demonstrate that the exalted status you assign to ‘scientists’ is unwarranted. They are more like technologists with advanced degrees who aren’t fit to polish the shoes of real scientists.
It takes more faith to believe in evolution than to believe in God; in fact geneticists and molecular biologists are the least likely to believe in evolution as they aknowledge the impossbility of the cell (the hardware) coming into existance at the same time as the genetic code (the software)… in simple terms its the chicken and egg situation… everyone agrees that behind every language (code) there is an intelligence, the DNA code is the most sophisticated of codes, there is nothing equal to it, and there will never be anything like it, and some people will still deny the existence of intelligence behind the DNA code… go figure!
You don’t need faith to know evolution, it’s observable. God is currently not observable. For belief you need faith. Only faith.
You’re Ignorant if you don’t observe Your creator while He gave you all this knowledge
We know a 9 planets tell me why don’t it rain on any single one of them why there is no oxygen there or why there are no any single animal Just Ignore the ones that are audible and in the earth why its only the humans that are all the same species have got a sense may I say or a mind oh its all a Chance , why earth is only one in it that is Good to contain a life Look deep at your self It will take a life time for you and You still won’t figure out it at all why cant any human create a life if this was a chance when the earth fail as they know finally one day it will fail They plan to live in the moon and mars 😂
This knowledge is vast and Indeed we werent given from knowledge except a little but What else do we want to see so that we finally come to our senses
Protect and Preserve our Celestial Beings Spirits my fellow Earthlings 😍❤️🤩🙌☺️🙏✌️🌍🌏🌎🌠🌕☀️🌌👑🤚
All of these cataclysms would also greatly affect the parent isotopes used in radiometric dating, making the process even more useless than it already is. But they won’t tell you that because all the theories of the age of the earth depend on a flawed dating system.
The first Law of Thermodynamics states that the universe is eternal. No dating system will work, therefore.
“First law of thermodynamics, thermodynamic relation stating that, within an ISOLATED system, the total energy of the system is constant, even if energy has been converted from one form to another. This law is another way of stating the law of conservation of energy. It is one of four relations underlying thermodynamics, the branch of physics concerning heat, work, temperature, and energy.” [ https://www.britannica.com/science/first-law-of-thermodynamics ]
Where does that say anything about the universe being eternal? You are trying to sound authoritative, when all you have done is show that you don’t know what you are talking about.
Personally, I feel the exponential proliferation of EMF’s that every p/c, cellular device emanates is in conflict with the Earths natural EMF’s. The ionosphere is not well understood & extreme variations in our mesosphere, gravity fields have been gauged/observed by low Earth orbit telemetry.
Just a hypotheses~
I feel we are here for a reason don’t know why but we are. I really think that anyone knows why but we hold on to what we have because we have nothing else. But I believe that if we can work together somehow that we might be able to make it and if we don’t ,we yriedi I’m not very smart but I do have one thing hope..why fight about it strength comes in numbers..
“…the weathering-related influx of phosphorus to the ocean acted like a natural fertilizer, boosting the growth of marine organisms.”
Those marine organisms were primarily algae who released lots of oxygen as well as biomass. Anoxic waters are created by organic productivity.in excess of oxygen. So, unless the biomass is buried away from some of that oxygen, aerobic respiration of the animals that fed on those algae will have been recycled back to CO2 and water. That’s the chain reaction that has been taking place for billions of years. It’s not catastrophic without some instant input from outside the system…an asteroid for example. Tearing continents apart takes time but the carbon cycle operates constantly.