List of extinction events
This is a list of extinction events, both mass and minor:
"Big Five" major extinction events (see graphic)
| Period or supereon | Extinction | Date | Probable causes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Quaternary | Holocene extinction | c. 10,000 BC – Ongoing | Humans |
| Late Pleistocene extinctions | 50,000 to 13,000 years ago | Human overhunting and climate change | |
| Neogene | Pliocene–Pleistocene boundary extinction | 2 Ma | Possible causes include a supernova or the Eltanin impact |
| Middle Miocene disruption | 14.5 Ma | Climate change due to change of ocean circulation patterns. Milankovitch cycles may have also contributed | |
| Paleogene | Eocene–Oligocene extinction event | 33.9 Ma | Multiple causes including global cooling, polar glaciation, falling sea levels, and the Popigai impactor |
| Cretaceous | Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event | 66 Ma | Chicxulub impactor; the volcanism which resulted in the formation of the Deccan Traps may have contributed. |
| Cenomanian-Turonian boundary event | 94 Ma | Most likely underwater volcanism associated with the Caribbean large igneous province, which would have caused global warming and acidic oceans | |
| Aptian extinction | 117 Ma | Unknown, but may be due to volcanism of the Rajmahal Traps | |
| Jurassic | End-Jurassic (Tithonian) | 145 Ma | No longer regarded as a major extinction but rather a series of lesser events due to bolide impacts, eruptions of flood basalts, climate change and disruptions to oceanic systems |
| Pliensbachian-Toarcian extinction (Toarcian turnover) | 186-178 Ma | Formation of the Karoo-Ferrar Igneous Provinces | |
| Triassic | Triassic–Jurassic extinction event | 201 Ma | Volcanism from the Central Atlantic magmatic province |
| Carnian Pluvial Episode | 234-232 Ma | Wrangellia flood basalts, or the uplift of the Cimmerian orogeny | |
| Olenekian-Anisian boundary event | 247 Ma | Ocean acidification | |
| Smithian-Spathian boundary event | 249 Ma | Late eruptions of the Siberian Traps | |
| Griesbachian-Dienerian boundary-event | 252 | Late eruptions of the Siberian Traps | |
| Permian | Permian–Triassic extinction event | 252 Ma | Large igneous province (LIP) eruptions from the Siberian Traps, an impact event (the Wilkes Land Crater), an anoxic event, an ice age, or other possible causes |
| End-Capitanian extinction event | 260 Ma | Volcanism from the Emeishan Traps, resulting in global cooling and other effects | |
| Olson's Extinction | 270 Ma | Unknown. Possibly a change in climate, but evidence for this is weak. This event may actually be a slow decline over 20 Ma. | |
| Carboniferous | Carboniferous rainforest collapse | 305 Ma | Possibilities include a series of rapid changes in climate, or volcanism of the Skagerrak-Centered Large Igneous Province |
| Serpukhovian extinction | ~ 325 Ma | Onset of the Late Paleozoic icehouse | |
| Devonian | Hangenberg event | 359 Ma | Anoxia, possibly related to the Famennian glaciation or volcanic activity |
| Late Devonian extinction (Kellwasser event) | 372 Ma | Viluy Traps, Woodleigh Impactor? | |
| Taghanic Event | ~384 Ma | Anoxia | |
| Kačák Event | ~388 Ma | Anoxia | |
| Silurian | Lau event | 420 Ma | Changes in sea level and chemistry? |
| Mulde event | 424 Ma | Global drop in sea level? | |
| Ireviken event | 428 Ma | Deep-ocean anoxia; Milankovitch cycles? | |
| Ordovician | Late Ordovician mass extinction | 445-444 Ma | Global cooling and sea level drop, and/or global warming related to volcanism and anoxia |
| Cambrian | Cambrian–Ordovician extinction event | 488 Ma | Kalkarindji Large Igneous Province? |
| Dresbachian extinction event | 502 Ma | ||
| Sinsk event (End-Botomian extinction event) | 513 Ma | ||
| Precambrian | End-Ediacaran extinction | 542 Ma | Anoxic event |
| Great Oxygenation Event | 2400 Ma | Rising oxygen levels in the atmosphere due to the development of photosynthesis as well as possible Snowball Earth event. (see: Huronian glaciation.) |