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Devonian extinctions
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Line graph showing the number of marine animal families from the Precambrian era to the present, with illustrations of key groups such as trilobites, ammonoids, marine reptiles, and diatoms. The graph highlights major extinction events and a rise to 1,900 living families today.
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Line graph showing the number of marine animal families from the Precambrian era to the present, with illustrations of key groups such as trilobites, ammonoids, marine reptiles, and diatoms. The graph highlights major extinction events and a rise to 1,900 living families today.
marine family diversity The diversity of marine animal families since late Precambrian time. The data for the curve comprise only those families that are reliably preserved in the fossil record; the 1,900 value for living families also includes those families rarely preserved as fossils. The several pronounced dips in the curve correspond to major mass-extinction events. The most catastrophic extinction took place at the end of the Permian Period.

Devonian extinctions

series of mass extinctions
Written by
Michael R. House
Professor of Geology, University of Southampton, England. Author of Continental Drift and the Devonian System and others.
Michael R. House
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
Britannica Editors
History

Devonian extinctions, a series of mass extinction events primarily affecting the marine communities of the Devonian Period (419.2 million to 359 million years ago). At present it is not possible to connect this series definitively with any single cause. It is probable that they may record a combination of several stresses—such as excessive sedimentation, rapid global warming or cooling, bolide (meteorite or comet) impacts, or massive nutrient runoff from the continents. Collectively, the extinctions (which...

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