415-million-year-old malformed fossil plankton reveal that heavy metal pollution might have contributed to some of the world's largest extinction events
Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 11:30
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Several Palaeozoic mass extinction events during the Ordovician and Silurian periods (ca. 485 to 420 to million years ago) shaped the evolution of life on our planet. Although some of these short-lived, periodic events were responsible for eradication of up to 85 percent of marine species, the exact kill-mechanism responsible for these crises remains poorly understood.