Volcanic activity may have played a a key role in triggering the mass extinction even about 200 million years ago, which set the scene for the rise and age of the dinosaurs, an Oxford study has founded . The Triassic extinction, one of the largest mass extinctions of animal life on record, was proceeded by the dinosaur era. The causality list includes large crocodile like reptiles and several marine invertebrates.While it remains a mystery why the dinosaurs survived this event, they went on to fill the vacancies left by the now extinct wildlife species, alongside early mammals and amphibians.
This mass extinction has long been linked to a large and abrupt release of carbon diode into the atmosphere, but the exact sources of this emissions has been unknown. Following the discovery of volcanic rocks of the same age as the extinction, volcanic rocks of the same age as the extinction, volcanic carbon dioxide(CO2) emission had previously been suggested as an important contributors to this extinction event. Previous studies have also shown that this volcanic might have occurred in pluses, but the global extent and potential impact of these volcanic episode has remained unknown. These volcanic episodes has remained unknown.These volcanic rocks covered a huge area, across four continents, representing the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP).
Researchers from the Oxford University Department of Earth Science worked in collaboration with the Universities of Exeter and Southampton to trace the global impact of major volcanic gas emissions and their link to the end of the Triassic period. The findings link volcanism to the previously observed repeated large emissions of carbon dioxide that had a profound impact on the global climate, causing the mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period, as well as slowing the recovery of animal life afterwards.
Lawrence Percival, Lead author and Geochemistry graduate student at Oxford University, said: ‘These results strongly support repeated episodes of volcanic activity at the end of the Triassic, with the onset of volcanism during the end-Triassic extinction.'This research greatly strengthens the link between the Triassic mass extinction and volcanic emissions of CO2. This, further evidence of episodic emissions of volcanic CO2 as the likely driver of the extinction, enhances our understanding of this event, and potentially of other climate change episodes in Earth’s history.'
