Permian Extinction
Around 252 million years ago, immense Siberian volcanism helped drive rapid warming and ocean oxygen loss. Warmer water held less oxygen while animals needed more, creating a deadly squeeze during Earth’s largest mass extinction.
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CO₂280ppm
Temp14.3°C
Sea0m
O₂21%
Annual surface temperature from CESM (T): a model estimate, not a direct observation of the past.
0 Ma: pre-industrial climate/CO₂; modern sea-level and O₂ references.
Data references
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Quaternary
Ice Ages and Humanity
Glacial-interglacial cycles with 120m+ sea level swings. Homo sapiens spread from Africa across the globe, and most megafauna went extinct.
Key Life
🧑Homo sapiens🦣Mammoth🧔Neanderthals
Innovations
- ›Language and culture
- ›Agricultural revolution (~10,000 years ago)
- ›Birth of civilization
Simplified Köppen
Af Rainforest
Am Monsoon
Aw Savanna
BW Desert
BS Steppe
Cf Temperate wet
Cs/Cw Temperate dry
Df Cold wet
Dw Cold dry
ET Tundra
EF Ice
CESM (Li et al. 2022)
Annual model means · 0 Ma: pre-industrial
🦴 Fossils—
Vertebrates
Invertebrates
Mapped sample / window records · not abundance
0–2.5 Ma
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Map sources & limits
API records whose numeric ages miss the queried window are excluded from the map and counts, with exclusions retained in provenance.
Plate boundaries are a separate model comparison. Their reference frame differs from PALEOMAP terrain and coordinates; coastlines may not align.
· 0 Ma
Data & licenses ↗Precambrian
Paleozoic
Mesozoic
Cenozoic
Hadean
Archean
Proterozoic
Cambrian
Ordovician
Devonian
Carbonif.
Permian
Triassic
Jurassic
Cretaceous
Paleogene
Present