Remote geological fieldwork conducted over several years by researchers from the University of Southampton and The Sedgwick Museum of Earth Sciences, Cambridge, and supported by CASP has led to a recent publication in Science Advances.

The findings investigate an extinction event at the Devonian-Carboniferous boundary whose cause, unlike other mass-extinction events recorded in Earth history, cannot be readily attributed to a meteorite impact or massive volcanic eruptions. Instead, the research team led by Prof. John Marshall of the University of Southampton, use evidence from misshapen and dark-pigmented spores to suggest that the mass extinction was triggered by the collapse of the ozone layer for a short period, exposing life on land to harmful levels of UV radiation. The event occurred during a period of rapid global warming, and has implications for climate change and life on Earth today.

Press Release

27 May 2020