The West Texas desert has a surprising feature: a prehistoric ocean reef. There is a surprising natural wonder in the middle of the vast West Texas desert: a prehistoric ocean reef built from the ...

Our planet’s first known mass extinction happened about 440 million years ago. Species diversity on Earth had been increasing over a period of roughly 30 million years, but that would come to a halt ...

Therapsids, the ancient relatives of mammals, once roamed Earth in great numbers during the middle to late Permian period. These land-dwelling creatures would later evolve into mammals, but their ...

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 ...

Roughly 252 million years ago, Earth experienced its deadliest known extinction. Known as the Permian–Triassic Mass Extinction, or “The Great Dying,” this cataclysm wiped out over 80% of marine ...

An artistic rendering of an evening approximately 252 million years ago during the late Permian in the Luangwa Basin of Zambia. The scene includes several saber-toothed gorgonopsians and beaked ...

Geological time-scale -- Antediluvian Sauria -- Murchison names the permian -- Death of catastrophism -- Concept that dared not speak its name -- Impact! -- Diversity, extinction and mass extinction - ...

Consequences: The Permian-Triassic extinction drastically altered Earth’s ecosystems, paving the way for the rise of dinosaurs in the subsequent Triassic period. Evidence: Fossil records show a ...