the last gasp after the Permo-Triassic

[Jeff Hecht <jeff@jeffhecht.com>]

Greg Retallack has come up with an interesting explanation for the 
terrestrial extinctions at the Permo-Triassic boundary. Massive 
releases of methane would have triggered a series of events that 
seriously depleted oxygen levels (from 35% to 12% according to Bob 
Berner), so land animals would have been left gasping for breath in a 
low-oxygen world. I have more details at

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99994138

The paper is in the September Bulletin of the Geological Society of America.
--
Jeff Hecht, science & technology writer
jeff@jeffhecht.com; http://www.jeffhecht.com
Boston Correspondent: New Scientist magazine
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