extinction event
Species-ending catastrophe
An extinction event is a period in Earth's history when a significant proportion of species die out in a geologically short time.
The term usually refers to mass extinctions like the one that killed the dinosaurs 66 million years ago.
Scientists recognize five major extinction events in the fossil record, with some arguing we're now in a sixth, human-caused one.
Space rock collision event
- volcanismSubterranean magma expulsion process
- Deccan TrapsIndian flood basalt province
- bolideDetonating meteor, very bright
- anoxiaAbsence of oxygen supply
ocean acidification · supervolcano · climate shift · sea level change · glaciation · greenhouse effect · cosmic radiation · nuclear winter
Widespread simultaneous death event
- species lossDisappearance of organism types
- dinosaursExtinct prehistoric reptiles
- trilobitesExtinct marine arthropods
- ammonitesExtinct coiled-shell cephalopods
endemic species · keystone species · population crash · survival rate · recovery period
Late Paleozoic geological period
- CretaceousFinal Mesozoic period
- TriassicFirst Mesozoic period
- DevonianGeologic period, 419-359 million years ago
- OrdovicianPaleozoic geological period
Holocene · K-Pg boundary · Anthropocene · Cambrian · Paleozoic · Mesozoic · Cenozoic · Big Five
Proposed human-impact epoch
- habitat destructionEliminating natural living spaces
- deforestationLarge-scale woodland elimination
- overhuntingExcessive wildlife killing
- invasive speciesHarmful non-native organism
pollution · climate change · coral bleaching · rewilding · endangered species · conservation · human impact · industrial agriculture
asteroid impact
Space rock collision event
- volcanismSubterranean magma expulsion process
- Deccan TrapsIndian flood basalt province
- bolideDetonating meteor, very bright
anoxia · ocean acidification · supervolcano · climate shift · sea level change · glaciation · greenhouse effect · cosmic radiation · nuclear winter · ozone depletion
mass die-off
Widespread simultaneous death event
- species lossDisappearance of organism types
- dinosaursExtinct prehistoric reptiles
- trilobitesExtinct marine arthropods
ammonites · endemic species · keystone species · population crash · survival rate · recovery period
Permian
Late Paleozoic geological period
- CretaceousFinal Mesozoic period
- TriassicFirst Mesozoic period
- DevonianGeologic period, 419-359 million years ago
Ordovician · Holocene · K-Pg boundary · Anthropocene · Cambrian · Paleozoic · Mesozoic · Cenozoic · Big Five · deep time
Anthropocene
Proposed human-impact epoch
- habitat destructionEliminating natural living spaces
- deforestationLarge-scale woodland elimination
- overhuntingExcessive wildlife killing
invasive species · pollution · climate change · coral bleaching · rewilding · endangered species · conservation · human impact · industrial agriculture · poaching
- extinctiondodo, died out, passenger pigeon, Tasmanian tiger, thylacine
- catastrophesdisasters, disaster, natural disasters, catastrophe, apocalypse
- Disaster Films2012, Armageddon, Deep Impact, The Day After Tomorrow, The Towering Inferno
- eco-disastersclimate collapse, oil spill, ocean warming, coral bleaching, biodiversity loss
- ecological crisisspecies loss, habitat loss, coral bleaching, pollinator decline, rainforest loss
- global threatsterrorism, nuclear war, cyberattacks, pandemic, nuclear weapons
extinction eventCambrian explosion
Sudden appearance of complex life
diversification · biogenesis · origin of life · ecological recovery · abiogenesis
extinction eventsurvival
Remaining alive against odds
preservation · genesis · biogenesis · origin of life · abiogenesis
event, extinct, extinguish, extinction, extinguished, extinguisher, extinguishing, extinction events