42,000 years ago, a breakdown in Earth’s magnetic field led to environmental catastrophes and mass extinctions. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/magnetic-field-reversal-42000-years-ago-neanderthal-extinction…
Tag: Megafauna
Deep Frozen Arctic Microbes Are Waking Up
An anonymous reader shares an opinion piece from Scientific American: Permafrost covers 24 percent of the Earth’s land surface, and the soil constituents vary with local geology. Arctic lands offer unexplored microbial biodiversity and microbial feedbacks, including the release of carbon to the atmosphere. In some locations, hundreds of millions of years’ worth of carbon is buried. The layers may still…
Clovis made stone tools for only around 300 years
The Clovis, some of North America’s earliest inhabitants, only made stone tools during a brief 300-year period from 13,050 to 12,750 years ago, new research shows. Source: https://earthsky.org/human-world/clovis-stone-tools-300-years…
Did asteroid collision trigger Earth’s abrupt cooling 12,800 years ago?
Why did Earth’s climate rapidly cool 12,800 years ago? New evidence suggests that a comet or asteroid collision is to blame, with support coming from the bottom of a South Carolina lake. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/asteroid-comet-younger-dryas-abrupt-cooling…
Why super-sized beavers went extinct
Super-sized beavers were as big as black bears. They suddenly became extinct 10,000 years ago, while small modern beavers survived. Now scientists know why. Source: https://earthsky.org/earth/why-giant-beavers-went-extinct…