Supervolcano

[UnderseaLcpl]

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/0...xtinction.html

Feb. 4, 2009 -- An ancient killer is hiding in the remote forests of Siberia. Walled off from western eyes during the Soviet era and forgotten among the endless expanse of wilderness, scientists are starting to uncover the remnants of a supervolcano that rained Hell on Earth 250 million years ago and killed 90 percent of all life.

This popped up on Yahoo! today. Evidently, a supervolcano in Siberia caused the near-extinction of all life on earth 250 million years ago by causing rampant global warming and/or ozone destruction, and/or, a lot of atmospheric toxcicty.

In my (admittedly biased) opinion, this seems like a thinly veiled attempt to link carbon emissions to global warming, since all previous major volcano activity that I am aware of caused a decrease in average temperatures while active, but I'm no expert. I've also been unable to locate much corroborating evidence from bore-hole sample data or sedimentary evidence that clearly point to a certain climatological trend during the paleolithic era (in either direction).

Helpful links, discussions, and opinions are welcome. Also, if anyone has seen the PBS or BBC programs that covered these phenomena, I'd be grateful for any web sources where I could find them (internet is a bit slow right now, and I haven't the patience to explore the sites myself )

[Frame57]

Quite possibly the reason for the extinction of the Al Goreonasaur...

[baggygreen]

An article weak on fact, and high in both discovery sensationalism and unproven theories.

They claim that it was the excessive amounts of methane in the atmosphere which made the atmosphere toxic - one can attribute that as a probable cause of the mass extinction. The only thing heat can be blamed for is releasing these noxious gases.

Where any correlation between CO2 and this extinction has me beat. Krakatoa, the largest eruption in modern times, caused global cooling not warming.

Sigh.

[SteamWake]

Id be more concearned with the activitys in the grand canyon and Alaska to be honest.

[UnderseaLcpl]

Originally Posted by Frame57

Quite possibly the reason for the extinction of the Al Goreonasaur...

:rotfl:

But didn't the Al Goreonasaur evolve complex adaptions like slideshows and sensational rhetoric to protect it from that fate?

[nikimcbee]

Originally Posted by UnderseaLcpl

:rotfl:

But didn't the Al Goreonasaur evolve complex adaptions like slideshows and sensational rhetoric to protect it from that fate?

Also known as the "borasaurus", he would stun his preadators with his slow, boring speeches.

[Weiss Pinguin]

Originally Posted by nikimcbee

Also known as the "borasaurus", he would stun his preadators with his slow, boring speeches.

:rotfl:

To be honest, everytime one of these articles pops up on Yahoo/CNN/Fox/etc, I feel like laughing. I'm no scientist, but come on... The sensational titles are all I need to see.

[Digital_Trucker]

Yep, knda reminds me of Geraldo Rivera and Al Capone's vault. Whole lot of show and not much result.