Mass Extinction Events
Event↕ | When (mya)↕ | Species Lost (est.)↕ | Likely Cause↕ | Known For↕ |
|---|---|---|---|---|
End-Ediacaran extinction | ~542 | Unknown, most Ediacaran biota | Oxygenation, predation, environmental change | Wiped out the strange soft-bodied Ediacaran fauna right before the Cambrian explosion |
Cambrian-Ordovician extinction | ~488 | ~40% genera | Cooling, anoxia | Ended the Cambrian, reset marine ecosystems |
Ordovician-Silurian extinction | ~445-444 | ~85% species | Glaciation and sea level drop | Second-largest mass extinction, triggered by sudden ice age and reef collapse |
Lau event | ~420 | Major reef losses | Ocean anoxia | One of several Silurian carbon-cycle perturbations |
Late Devonian (Kellwasser) | ~372 | ~75% species | Anoxia, cooling, land plant expansion | Crippled reef-building corals, started the 'Devonian reef gap' |
End-Devonian (Hangenberg) | ~359 | ~50% genera | Anoxia and sea level change | Wiped out placoderms (armored fish), reset vertebrate evolution |
Carboniferous rainforest collapse | ~305 | Massive plant turnover | Climate drying | Fragmented equatorial rainforests, set up reptile dominance |
End-Capitanian (Guadalupian) | ~260 | ~35-47% marine genera | Emeishan Traps volcanism | Pre-quel to the Great Dying, killed off huge brachiopods and reef fauna |
End-Permian ('Great Dying') | ~252 | ~96% marine species, ~70% terrestrial | Siberian Traps volcanism, CO2, anoxia | Largest extinction ever, came within a hair of ending complex life |
Triassic-Jurassic extinction | ~201 | ~80% species | Central Atlantic Magmatic Province volcanism | Cleared competitors from dinosaurs, enabling their dominance |
Toarcian extinction | ~183 | Major marine loss | Karoo-Ferrar volcanism, anoxia | Oceanic anoxic event, blackened ocean floors, hit marine invertebrates |
Cenomanian-Turonian event | ~94 | ~27% marine invertebrates | Ocean anoxia | Created widespread black shales that are now major oil source rocks |
Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) | ~66 | ~75% species, all non-avian dinosaurs | Chicxulub asteroid impact, Deccan Traps | The one that killed the dinosaurs, opened the way for mammals |
Eocene-Oligocene (Grande Coupure) | ~33.9 | Major European mammal turnover | Climate cooling, Antarctic glaciation | Birth of modern icehouse climate, major mammal faunal turnover |
Quaternary megafauna extinction | ~0.05-0.01 | Most large mammals in Americas, Australia | Climate change + human hunting | Wiped out mammoths, saber cats, giant ground sloths, thylacoleo |
Holocene (current) extinction | 0 to present | 100-1000x background rate | Human activity, habitat loss, climate change | Ongoing sixth mass extinction, driven entirely by humans |
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This dataset contains 16 entries, each with multiple sortable, filterable columns. The full table is visible on this page and can be downloaded as a CSV, JSON, or Excel file.
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