The Catastrophe That Killed 90% Of Earth’s Species
Clip: Season 50 Episode 14 | 1m 34sVideo has Closed Captions
An ancient catastrophe killed nearly all life on Earth - and an asteroid wasn’t to blame.
252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction of all time wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprit? Liquid magma beneath Pangea’s northern surface that split open the crust and tore apart the landscape, spewing curtains of lava and fire.
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The Catastrophe That Killed 90% Of Earth’s Species
Clip: Season 50 Episode 14 | 1m 34sVideo has Closed Captions
252 million years ago, the most devastating mass extinction of all time wiped out around 90% of all species on Earth. The culprit? Liquid magma beneath Pangea’s northern surface that split open the crust and tore apart the landscape, spewing curtains of lava and fire.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship- [Narrator] 252 million years ago, a catastrophe killed nearly all life on earth.
- This is the closest our planet has ever been to going back to square one.
- As many as 90% of species across the earth died.
(tense music) - This extinction was much greater than the one that ended the age of the dinosaurs.
- [Narrator] But an asteroid wasn't to blame.
The culprit was lurking just beneath the surface.
Deep beneath Northern Pangaea, (tense music) superheated liquid rock, magma, is rising.
It pushes up against the Earth's rigid upper layer, the crust, until it can take no more.
The crust splits open.
Within hours, the local landscape is torn apart.
Cracks grow, forming great curtains of fire.
As lava floods onto the surface, the insides of Earth spew out.
Ancient Earth: Inferno Preview
Video has Closed Captions
How did life bounce back after a cataclysmic extinction wiped out some 90% of all species? (30s)
Providing Support for PBS.org
Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship
National Corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Carlisle Companies. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers.