What was the root cause of the mass extinction at the close of the Paleozoic era that destroyed 70% of all vertebrate species on land and 90% of all marine organisms?

What was the root cause of the mass extinction at the close of the Paleozoic era that destroyed 70% of all vertebrate species on land and 90% of all marine organisms?

The extinction might be the result of a combination of factors, including massive glaciation, changes in sea level, and either an oversupply of carbon dioxide or an undersupply of oxygen in the oceans.

What caused the mass extinction?

Although the best-known cause of a mass extinction is the asteroid impact that killed off the non-avian dinosaurs, in fact, volcanic activity seems to have wreaked much more havoc on Earth’s biota. Volcanic activity is implicated in at least four mass extinctions, while an asteroid is a suspect in just one.

What event caused the end of the Paleozoic Era?

The Paleozoic Era ended with the largest extinction event in the history of Earth, the Permian–Triassic extinction event. The effects of this catastrophe were so devastating that it took life on land 30 million years into the Mesozoic Era to recover.

What major event happened during the Paleozoic Era?

Paleozoic Era, also spelled Palaeozoic, major interval of geologic time that began 541 million years ago with the Cambrian explosion, an extraordinary diversification of marine animals, and ended about 252 million years ago with the end-Permian extinction, the greatest extinction event in Earth history.

How long was the Paleozoic Era?

Paleozoic (541-252 million years ago) means ‘ancient life.

What was the environment like in the Paleozoic Era?

The Early Paleozoic climate was also strongly zonal. The climate became warmer, but the continental shelf marine environment became steadily colder. The Early Paleozoic ended, rather abruptly, with the short, but apparently severe, Late Ordovician Ice Age.

What are two possible causes of the mass extinction at the end of the Paleozoic?

The two possible causes of the mass extinction at the end of the Paleozoic Era are asteroid collision and volcanic eruptions, which led to climate change.

What is the most significant difference between Precambrian and Paleozoic life forms?

The most significant difference between Precambrian and Paleozoic life-forms is that Precambrian life-forms had soft body parts and Paleozoic had hard body parts.

Where were the continents during the Paleozoic Era?

During the Paleozoic there were six major continental land masses; each of these consisted of different parts of the modern continents. For instance, at the beginning of the Paleozoic, today’s western coast of North America ran east-west along the equator, while Africa was at the South Pole.

What era is the Cambrian period in?

Paleozoic

How did the Paleozoic era start?

541 (+/- 0.4) million years ago

What did the Earth look like during the Devonian period?

During most of the Devonian Period, North America, Greenland, and Europe were united into a single Northern Hemisphere landmass, a minor supercontinent called Laurussia or Euramerica.

How many years did the Devonian period last?

The “age of fish” is technically called the Devonian period. It lasted from 419 to 359 million years ago.