A team of geologists from China and Australia has found evidence that episodic eruptions from vast marine large igneous provinces (LIPs) drove repeated lower-order extinction events in the Triassic period. “Mass extinctions are extremely catastrophic events on Earth,” said Dr. Jian-Jun Fan and colleague from Jilin University and Curtin University. During the Triassic, three major episodes of marine LIPs formed at 250-248, 233-231, and 210-208 million years ago. By integrating geological records of these LIP episodes with Triassic geological datasets, the researchers demonstrated a correlation between marine LIPs and at least four extinctions in marine biota, driven by the resultant anoxic-euxinic events. “Marine LIPs account for half of the extinctions with an identifiable geological trigger during the Triassic,” the scientists said.