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Science 25 November 1994:
Vol. 266. no. 5189, pp. 1340 - 1344
DOI: 10.1126/science.266.5189.1340
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Articles

A Double Mass Extinction at the End of the Paleozoic Era

S. M. Stanley 1 and X. Yang 2

1 Morton K. Blaustein Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
2 Department of Earth Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210008, China

Three tests based on fossil data indicate that high rates of extinction recorded in the penultimate (Guadalupian) stage of the Paleozoic era are not artifacts of a poor fossil record. Instead, they represent an abrupt mass extinction that was one of the largest to occur in the past half billion years. The final mass extinction of the era, which took place about 5 million years after the Guadalupian event, remains the most severe biotic crisis of all time. Taxonomic losses in the Late Permian were partitioned among the two crises and the intervening interval, however, and the terminal Permian crisis eliminated only about 80 percent of marine species, not 95 or 96 percent as earlier estimates have suggested.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Facies analysis and sea-level change at the Guadalupian-Lopingian Global Stratotype (Laibin, South China), and its bearing on the end-Guadalupian mass extinction.
P.B. Wignall, S. Vedrine, D.P.G. Bond, W. Wang, X.-L. Lai, J.R. Ali, and H.-S. Jiang (2009)
Journal of the Geological Society 166, 655-666
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The double mass extinction revisited: reassessing the severity, selectivity, and causes of the end-Guadalupian biotic crisis (Late Permian).
M. E. Clapham, S. Shen, and D. J. Bottjer (2009)
Paleobiology 35, 32-50
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Adjusting global extinction rates to account for taxonomic susceptibility.
S. C. Wang and A. M. Bush (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 434-455
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Press-pulse: a general theory of mass extinction?.
N. C. Arens and I. D. West (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 456-471
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Earliest Wuchiapingian (Lopingian, Late Permian) Brachiopods in Southern Hunan, South China: Implications for the Pre-Lopingian Crisis and Onset of Lopingian Recovery/Radiation.
S.-Z. Shen and Y.-C. Zhang (2008)
Journal of Paleontology 82, 924-937
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Diagenetic Cycling of Nutrients in Seafloor Sediments and the Carbonate-Silica Balance in a Paleozoic Cool-Water Carbonate System, Sverdrup Basin, Canadian Arctic Archipelago.
C. M. Reid, N. P. James, T. K. Kyser, and B. Beauchamp (2008)
Journal of Sedimentary Research 78, 562-578
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Sedimentology and paleoecology of the Lower Member of the Lower Triassic (Smithian-Spathian) Union Wash Formation, east-central California.
S. A. Mata and A. D. Woods (2008)
Palaios 23, 514-524
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Timing and selectivity of the Late Mississippian mass extinction of brachiopod genera from the Central Appalachian Basin.
M. G. Powell (2008)
Palaios 23, 525-534
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Examining the Complexity of Environmental Change during the Late Paleozoic and Early Mesozoic.
J. L. Isbell, M. L. Fraiser, and L. C. Henry (2008)
Palaios 23, 267-269
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Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time.
S. Sahney and M. J Benton (2008)
Proc R Soc B 275, 759-765
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Diversity and Distribution of Triassic Bryozoans in the Aftermath of the End-Permian Mass Extinction.
C. M. Powers and J. F. Pachut (2008)
Journal of Paleontology 82, 362-371
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Taxon characteristics that promote survivorship through the Permian-Triassic interval: transition from the Paleozoic to the Mesozoic brachiopod fauna.
L. R. Leighton and C. L. Schneider (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 65-79
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Morphologic and taxonomic history of Paleozoic ammonoids in time and morphospace.
W. B. Saunders, E. Greenfest-Allen, D. M. Work, and S. V. Nikolaeva (2008)
Paleobiology 34, 128-154
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An Analysis of the History of Marine Animal Diversity.
S. M. Stanley (2007)
Paleobiology 33, 1-55
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From the Cover: Prolonged Permian Triassic ecological crisis recorded by molluscan dominance in Late Permian offshore assemblages.
M. E. Clapham and D. J. Bottjer (2007)
PNAS 104, 12971-12975
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The effect of geographic range on extinction risk during background and mass extinction.
J. L. Payne and S. Finnegan (2007)
PNAS 104, 10506-10511
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Confidence intervals for pulsed mass extinction events.
S. C. Wang and P. J. Everson (2007)
Paleobiology 33, 324-336
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Middle-Late Permian mass extinction on land.
G. J. Retallack, C. A. Metzger, T. Greaver, A. H. Jahren, R. M.H. Smith, and N. D. Sheldon (2006)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 118, 1398-1411
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PATTERNS AND PROCESSES OF LATEST ORDOVICIAN GRAPTOLITE EXTINCTION AND RECOVERY BASED ON DATA FROM SOUTH CHINA.
C. XU, M. J. MELCHIN, H. D. SHEETS, C. E. MITCHELL, and F. JUN-XUAN (2005)
Journal of Paleontology 79, 842-861
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Evolutionary dynamics of gastropod size across the end-Permian extinction and through the Triassic recovery interval.
J. L. Payne (2005)
Paleobiology 31, 269-290
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Origination, extinction, and mass depletions of marine diversity.
(2004)
Paleobiology 30, 522-542
Morphological Disparity of Ammonoids and the Mark of Permian Mass Extinctions.
L. Villier and D. Korn (2004)
Science 306, 264-266
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Age and Timing of the Permian Mass Extinctions: U/Pb Dating of Closed-System Zircons.
R. Mundil, K. R. Ludwig, I. Metcalfe, and P. R. Renne (2004)
Science 305, 1760-1763
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The Non-Actualistic Early Triassic Gastropod Fauna:A Case Study of the Lower Triassic SinbadLimestone Member.
(2004)
Palaios 19, 259-275
Increased Longevities of Post-Paleozoic Marine Genera After Mass Extinctions.
A. I. Miller and M. Foote (2003)
Science 302, 1030-1032
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Permian-Triassic boundary interval as a model for forcing marine ecosystem collapse by long-term atmospheric oxygen drop.
O. Weidlich, W. Kiessling, and E. Flugel (2003)
Geology 31, 961-964
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Paleobiogeographical extinction patterns of Permian brachiopods in the Asian-western Pacific region.
(2002)
Paleobiology 28, 449-463
Survival without recovery after mass extinctions.
D. Jablonski (2002)
PNAS 99, 8139-8144
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Paleoclimatic significance of Phanerozoic reefs.
W. Kiessling (2001)
Geology 29, 751-754
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Altered River Morphology in South Africa Related to the Permian-Triassic Extinction.
P. D. Ward, D. R. Montgomery, and R. Smith (2000)
Science 289, 1740-1743
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{delta}13C depth profiles from paleosols across the Permian-Triassic boundary: Evidence for methane release.
E. S. Krull and G. J. Retallack (2000)
Geological Society of America Bulletin 112, 1459-1472
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U/Pb Zircon Geochronology and Tempo of the End-Permian Mass Extinction.
S. A. Bowring, D. H. Erwin, Y. G. Jin, M. W. Martin, K. Davidek, and W. Wang (1998)
Science 280, 1039-1045
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Mass extinctions in Phanerozoic time.
A. Hallam (1998)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications 140, 259-274
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Extinction and the Loss of Evolutionary History.
S. Nee and R. M. May (1997)
Science 278, 692-694
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Molluscan Diversity in the Late Neogene of Florida: Evidence for a Two-Staged Mass Extinction.
E. J. Petuch (1995)
Science 270, 275-277
   Abstract »    PDF »
Synchrony and Causal Relations Between Permian-Triassic Boundary Crises and Siberian Flood Volcanism.
P. R. Renne, P. R. Renne, M. T. Black, Z. Zichao, M. A. Richards, and A. R. Basu (1995)
Science 269, 1413-1416
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