When Life Nearly Died : The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history happened some 251 million years ago. In this cataclysm at least 90% of life was killed, both on land and in the sea, almost bringing evolution to a halt.What caused destruction on such an unimaginable scale?Was it the impact of a huge meteorite, or prolonged volcanic eruption in Siberia? In this acclaimed book, newly available in paperback, Michael Benton assembles all the evidence and gives his verdict.

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CHOICE Review

Life on Earth suffered a catastrophic collapse about 250 million years ago at the end of the Permian Period. The events were so enormous that life in the oceans and on land nearly disappeared. Curiously, this greatest mass extinction was long the subject of considerable debate as to whether it even happened, later followed by disagreements about its timing and, finally, the mechanisms behind it. This revised edition of the 2003 original (CH, Sep'03, 41-0322) gives an excellent description of the scientific concept of mass extinctions, beginning in the earliest days of stratigraphy and paleontology, and then relates the events of the Late Permian Period as we understand them. Benton (vertebrate paleontology, Univ. of Bristol, UK) is skilled at weaving his own field stories into the narrative of the developing scientific ideas about the scope, nature, and ultimate causes of the multiple catastrophes at the end of the Paleozoic Era. He is even-handed with the competing hypotheses, which include massive volcanic eruptions, ocean chemistry disruption, and impacts by meteorites or comets. The book ends with a description of life's recovery after this devastation and an assessment of the sixth major extinction taking place today. Highly recommended for all libraries. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readership levels. --Mark A. Wilson, College of Wooster