Volcanic mayhem drove evolution

• Autores: Catherine Brahic
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2952, 2014, págs. 6-7
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • Volcanoes can cause global warming because eruptions often spew huge amounts of the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide. Now a study of volcanic rocks from early in life's evolutionary story shows that such eruptions coincided with a change in the climate from frigid chill to sweltering heat. Last year, a study suggested that microbes helped form continents by encouraging volcanic activity. Now Ryan McKenzie of the University of Texas at Austin and colleagues have shown that, in turn, volcanism may have shaped life during the crucial Cambrian period. Here, Brahic discusses how the violent birth of a mega-continent 550 million years ago may have fueled an explosion of life.