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K-State Today

March 4, 2013

Geology lecture to focus on understanding the largest biocrisis in Earth history

Submitted by Saugata Datta

Thomas Algeo, professor at the University of Cincinnati, will present "Recent Progress in Understanding the Largest Biocrisis in Earth History" from 3-4 p.m. Friday, March 8, in 213 Thompson Hall.

Abstract: The 252-million-year-old Permian-Triassic boundary, or PTB, mass extinction represents the largest biocrisis in Earth history, during which approximately 90 percent of marine invertebrate species disappeared. Algeo’s work on PTB sections around the globe has yielded significant new insights into the causes of this biocrisis and the prolonged recovery of marine ecosystems in its aftermath, including evidence of extreme Earth-surface temperatures, a major expansion of oceanic anoxia, large fluctuations in marine productivity, and changes in global weathering rates and siliciclastic sediment fluxes to marine systems.

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