More Details
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Summary:
- More than 200 million years ago, a cataclysm known as the Permian extinction destroyed nearly 97 percent of all living things. Its origins have long been a puzzle. Paleontologist Ward, fresh from helping prove that an asteroid had killed the dinosaurs, turned to the Permian problem, and he has come to a stunning conclusion: that the near-total devastation at the end of the Permian period was caused by rising levels of carbon dioxide leading to climate change. The story of the discovery makes for a globe-spanning adventure. Here, Ward explains how the Permian extinction as well as four others happened, and describes the freakish oceans--belching poisonous gas--and sky--slightly green and always hazy--that would have attended them. Those ancient upheavals demonstrate that the threat of climate change cannot be ignored, lest the world's life today--ourselves included--face the same dire fate.--From publisher description.
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Table of Contents:
- Welcome to the revolution!
- The overlooked extinction
- The mother of all extinctions
- The misinterpreted extinction
- A new paradigm for mass extinctions
- The driver of extinction
- Bridging deep past with near past
- The oncoming extinction of winter
- Back to the Eocene.
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Language Notes:
- Item content: English
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General Notes:
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
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Physical Description:
- xiv, 242 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
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Call Numbers:
- QE721.2.E97 W384 2007
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ISBNs:
- 9780061137914
006113791X
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Library of Congress Control Numbers:
- 2006052250
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OCLC Numbers:
- 964436781
76168082 [Invalid]