Brutal cause of mass extinctions found with terrifying implications for world's demise
dailystar.co.ukREAD MORE: UK set to suffer as hurricane season expected to bring thunder, lightning and heavy rainHowever, an "as-yet unexplored" theory may at last offer an explanation, according to a study published in scientific publication Science Advances on Friday.The team behind the theory believe the extinction event may have been caused by a slowdown in the movement of continents, which are constantly in motion.The change in speed during the Jurassic era may have allowed time for underground magma to burst out onto the surface and create huge expanses of volcanic rock that can still be seen in Southern Africa and Antarctica today.Not only that, but their theory also fits with the timing of several other major volcanic events throughout history."We started looking at other major volcanic events, because there have been quite a few in the past, and we observed that the same thing is happening for many of these volcanic events," said Micha Ruhl, an assistant professor in sedimentology at Trinity College Dublin who led the team who came up with the theory."So the model might be applicable to quite a large part of Earth’s history."And the new theory could also help to predict the next mass-extinction event.Continents today are shifting at a rate of several centimeters per year - considered relatively fast for the giant land masses.They were also moving speedily millions of years before the T-OAE before they began to slow.And not only that, but the new findings could help us figure out what to expect as human-driven climate change means gasses such as carbon dioxide are pumped into our atmosphere in a relatively short time span, just like they were during periods of major volcanic activity millions of years ago.So what does this.
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