El Nino and Massive Volcanic Eruptions Triggered Mass Extinction of Life 250 Million Years Ago

New research has revealed that about 250 million years ago, a great disaster occurred on Earth in which human life was destroyed. The El Niño cycle of that time is believed to be responsible for this, which was caused by carbon dioxide gas spread in the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide gas was released due to continuous heavy explosions in volcanoes.

There are indications of a major catastrophe due to El Niño in the Permian period. At that time, massive volcanic eruptions (in present-day Siberia) occurred which released so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that a major climate change occurred. Due to this, about 90 percent of the species on Earth were destroyed. Although such events that happened in the past are rare now, they have a serious impact in view of today’s climate crisis.

How Siberian volcano became the cause of destruction
The Siberian Traps eruptions were a series of explosions in large volcanic craters that released huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This event caused the Earth’s climate to warm considerably. This in turn triggered a series of long-lasting severe El Niño events.

Live Science According to Alex Farnsworth of the University of Bristol, this was a time when the earth’s temperature had increased beyond limits. The existing species did not have the ability to withstand this temperature, which had become accustomed to living in a certain temperature over thousands of years. Among the life present on earth, only forests were such that could absorb so much carbon dioxide. But the increasing temperature destroyed them, which made the situation even worse.

Can such a situation happen again?
Experts say that the level of carbon dioxide during the Permian period was much higher than today’s 419 ppm. However, it is not possible for the amount of gas to increase so much all of a sudden. But the way humans are throwing CO2 into the atmosphere due to their activities, it seems that to some extent similar conditions can be created again on Earth.