Scientists working in South China have pinpointed the timing of the Earth's most dramatic extinction, an event that killed 96 per cent of all marine species, and 70 per cent of those on land.
Their findings show the so-called end-Permian mass extinction, sometimes referred to as the 'Great Dying', peaked just before 252 million years ago and took place very quickly, over a period of less than 200,000 years.
This precise timing should help scientists settle the contentious issue of what exactly stripped so much biodiversity from the face of the planet, says study author Sam Bowring, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
