The end-Triassic extinction
Three-quarters of species vanish — and the survivors include the dinosaurs.
- When
- Known to
- ± 500 thousand years
- Era
- Jurassic, Mesozoic
About 201.4 million years ago some 75% of species are lost, including the conodonts after 300 million years, most of the crocodile-line archosaurs, the giant ichthyosaurs and many marine invertebrate groups. Carbon dioxide from CAMP drives warming and ocean acidification, with mercury and platinum-group element anomalies marking the volcanic fingerprint worldwide. It is one of the big five, and the least discussed of them.