The main culprit of these rapid environmental crises were massive volcanic eruptions. What had been puzzling scientists is that some of these gigantic eruptions resulted in severe extinctions, while others only resulted in minor environmental disturbances.

Highlights

• "Other deadly supervolcanoes wiped out life primarily through rapid release of enormous volumes of carbon dioxide. Perhaps the Kerguelen eruptions emitted much slower or much less carbon dioxide, or both," Dr. Olierook said."

• "Earth naturally has mechanisms by which carbon dioxide is taken out of our atmosphere and oceans and stored in rocks and soil, but these processes are gradual over hundreds of thousands of years and work only when the rate of emissions is moderate. However, alarmingly our calculations also show that we are now currently emitting carbon dioxide 200 times faster than those supervolcanic eruptions that caused the most severe mass extinctions."

• "Archives from the past clearly show that slowing down carbon dioxide emissions is crucial to mitigate Earth's climate change and avoid potentially disastrous consequences that are projected based on current human-induced emissions."

See full article