A cataclysm engulfed the planet some 252 million years ago, wiping out more than 90% of all life. Known as the Great Dying, the mass extinction that ended the Permian geological period was the worst ...

A new study reveals that a region in China's Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or "life oasis," for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis ...

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Fossils in China suggest ...

The biggest mass extinction of all time happened 251 million years ago, at the Permian-Triassic boundary. Virtually all of life was wiped out, but the pattern of how life was killed off on land has ...

Volcanic eruptions in Siberia 251 million years ago may have started a cascade of events leading to high hydrogen sulfide levels in the oceans and atmosphere and precipitating the largest mass ...

A key reason the end- Permian extinction was so dire was because the mega El Niños created incredibly warm conditions in the tropics, which spread quickly to higher latitudes, resulting in the loss of ...

While El Niño climate patterns today are responsible for prolonged droughts and high temperatures, during the end-Permian (some 251 million years ago), they contributed to what was nearly the end of ...

Though the End-Permian mass extinction event is predicted to have killed off 80% of all life on Earth, new research is revealing survivors. In what is now China, it seems that plants were able to ...