日批在线视频_内射毛片内射国产夫妻_亚洲三级小视频_在线观看亚洲大片短视频_女性向h片资源在线观看_亚洲最大网

National

Regional

Taiwan, HK, Macao

Special Coverage

Focus

Society

Profiles

Ancient eruption 'killed off world's sea life'

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-05-30 11:52

WASHINGTON - A huge volcanic eruption in China some 260 million years ago led to the sudden extermination of marine life clear around the world, British paleontologists announced in a report being published this week in the journal Science.

The researchers were able to pinpoint the exact timing of the massive eruption thanks to a layer of fossilized rock which showed mass extinction of different life forms - clearly linking the volcanic blasts to a major environmental catastrophe.

Related readings:  Galapagos volcano erupts, could threaten wildlife  Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt erupts 5 times  Undersea volcano erupts off Tonga coast  Team heads to undersea volcano  Chile's Chaiten volcano spews molten rock, ash

"The abrupt extinction of marine life we can clearly see in the fossil record firmly links giant volcanic eruptions with global environmental catastrophe," said Paul Wignall, a professor and palaeontologist at the University of Leeds, who was the lead author of the research paper in the May 29 edition of Science.

The eruption in southwest China unleashed about a half million cubic kilometers of lava, covering an area five times the size of Wales, according to the research by scientists at the British university.

The mass extinction of ocean life came about because of the collision of fast flowing lava with shallow sea water, which caused a violent explosion at the start of the eruptions and threw huge quantities of sulphur dioxide into the stratosphere.

"When fast flowing, low viscosity magma meets shallow sea ... there's spectacular explosion producing gigantic clouds of steam," Wignall said.