There was a problem loading your book clubs. When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time by Michael J. Benton The greatest mass extinction in Earth's history happened some 251 million years ago. The evidence has been accumulating through the 1990s and into the new millennium, and Michael Benton gives his verdict at the end of the volume. Following the Permian strata around the world you'll make stops in North America, Greenland, China, Russia and the Karoo formations in South Africa. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for When Life Nearly Died : The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time by Michael Benton (2003, Hardcover) at the best online prices at eBay! I love natural history and the study of our biological and geological past. Evolution: The Whole Story Steve Parker. Highly recommended to anyone interested in Earth's history. It is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact 65 million years ago that killed half of all species then living, but far less well-known is a much greater catastrophe that took place 251 million years ago: at least 90 per cent of life was destroyed, including sabre-toothed reptiles and their rhinoceros-sized prey, as well as vast numbers of fish and other species in the sea. From reading this book it also seems to me that any number of the "random" elements that continually disrupt our planet could, simply by chance, occur at the same time with devastating results. Was there really an extinction event at the P-Tr boundary or was that concept just caused by gaps in the fossil record? After viewing product detail pages, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. You may also wish to purchase from either Amazon or Blackwell’s. It is far less widely understood that a much greater catastrophe took place at But anyone who has some experience in reading paleontology or geological books shouldn't really have a problem. From field camps in Greenland and Russia to the laboratory bench, When Life Nearly Died involves geologists, palaeontologists, environmental modellers, geochemists, astronomers and experts on biodiversity and conservation. 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? This book documents not only what happened during this gigantic mass extinction, but also the recent reviving of the idea of catastrophism. Reviewed in the United States on December 8, 2017. You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition. The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans, and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions, The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs: A New History of a Lost World, The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, Michael J. Benton is professor of vertebrate palaeontology at the University of Bristol. So I learned a great deal of paleontology, geology and history, making this book well worth the time and effort. 251 MILLION years ago, at the end of the Permian period, life on Earth was almost completely wiped out by an environmental catastrophe of a … But I'm no at all convinced that we currently know exactly what happened all those millennia ago. --. It is far less widely understood that a much greater catastrophe took place at the end of the Permian period 251 million years ago: at least 90 percent of life on earth was destroyed. From either Amazon or Blackwell ’ s an event where 90 – 95 % of life came to complete!. 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