Prehistory
Late Devonian Extinction: The Kellwasser and Hangenberg Events
Roughly three-quarters of marine species disappeared in several pulses; the great Devonian reef systems collapsed and the armoured placoderm fishes died out.
Era · Before c. 3000 BC
Prehistory
From the formation of Earth and the age of dinosaurs to the first cave art and monuments, before writing was invented.
Prehistory
Carboniferous Coal Forests: How the World's Coal Was Formed
Buried peat from swamp forests turned into thick coal seams that later fuelled the Industrial Revolution.
Prehistory
Arthropleura: The Giant Millipede of the Carboniferous Period
The largest known land arthropod lived for over 50 million years before dying out in the early Permian.
Prehistory
Pangaea: The Supercontinent That United All of Earth's Land
All major continents were joined for over 100 million years before rifting apart in the Jurassic to form the Atlantic Ocean and today's continents.
Prehistory
Meganeura: Giant Insects of the Oxygen-Rich Carboniferous
One of the largest flying insects ever known, Meganeura became the classic example in the debate over oxygen levels and insect size.
Prehistory
Glossopteris: The Fossil Plant That Helped Reveal Gondwana
Glossopteris fossils on all the southern continents became one of the strongest early arguments that they had once formed a single landmass.
Prehistory
Dimetrodon: The Sail-Backed Synapsid of the Early Permian
Dimetrodon was a top land predator of the early Permian and is now a key fossil for understanding the early evolution of the mammal lineage.
Prehistory
Helicoprion: The Permian Fish With a Spiral Buzzsaw Tooth Whorl
CT scans in 2013 showed the tooth whorl sat inside the lower jaw and that Helicoprion was related to ratfishes rather than true sharks.
Prehistory
Siberian Traps: The Volcanic Eruptions Behind the Great Dying
One of the largest volcanic episodes in Earth's history released enormous volumes of greenhouse and toxic gases and is widely regarded as the main trigger of the end-Permian mass extinction.
Prehistory
Permian-Triassic Extinction: Earth's Worst Mass Extinction
An estimated 80 to 90 percent or more of marine species and around two-thirds or more of land vertebrate species died out, ending the Paleozoic Era and reshaping life for the Mesozoic.
Prehistory
Triassic-Jurassic Extinction: Volcanism and the Rise of Dinosaurs
Roughly three-quarters of marine species and many land reptile groups died out, leaving dinosaurs as the dominant large land animals of the Jurassic.
Prehistory
Breakup of Pangaea: How the Atlantic Ocean Was Born
Pangaea split into the northern landmass Laurasia and the southern landmass Gondwana, the Central Atlantic Ocean opened, and the continents began moving towards their modern positions.