Re:Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of ...
by nicksrose7224 on Friday October 28, 2022 @12:42PM
(#33373846)
Is there any data to back this up? (not attacking, just genuinely curious, i love learning about mass extinctions)
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Re:Brightest-Ever Space Explosion Reveals Possible Hints of ...
by jfengel on Friday October 28, 2022 @02:09PM
(#33375090)
Only extremely circumstantial evidence. Some guesses about which species died off vs being protected, some climate change signatures that are consistent with a high UV burst.
About the best you can say for it is "you can't prove it didn't happen". Which, given that it was half a billion years ago, may be the best you can get. There isn't a real smoking gun.
The leading hypothesis is more that a long-term climate change caused secondary effects in a vicious cycle. We know the climate change was happening; there's very strong evidence. But it's not clear exactly what caused it or exactly how it led to mass extinction.