March 5, 2021

Earth's position and orbit spurred ancient marine life extinction

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2021-07-09 14:30:14

March 5, 2021

by Adam Jones, University of Alabama at Birmingham

Ancient rocks from Tennessee revealed the Earth's rotation and orbit around the sun controlled the timing of oceanic dead zones in a mass extinction of marine life about 370 million years ago.

Led by researchers at The University of Alabama, the findings have important implications for modern oceans. The results of the study were published online this week in Earth and Planetary Science Letters. The study shows that oxygen depletion in the ocean was not permanent during the mass extinction , rather dead zones occurred in periodic episodes regulated by astronomical forcing.

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