One mass extinction has been nicknamed The Great Dying, since 96% of all species on Earth died out. All life on Earth today is descended from the 4% of species that survived. The event turns out to have been complex, as there were at least two separate phases of extinction spread over millions of years but it occurred about 248 million years ago. Marine organisms were particularly affected and insects suffered the only mass extinction in their history. Many causes have been proposed for the event: asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic methane release, a drop in oxygen levels, sea level fluctuations or a combination of any of these.

Question

One mass extinction has been nicknamed The Great Dying, since 96% of all species on Earth died out. All life on Earth today is descended from the 4% of species that survived. The event turns out to have been complex, as there were at least two separate phases of extinction spread over millions of years but it occurred about 248 million years ago. Marine organisms were particularly affected and insects suffered the only mass extinction in their history. Many causes have been proposed for the event: asteroid impact, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic methane release, a drop in oxygen levels, sea level fluctuations or a combination of any of these.

Based on this description, we are talking about the ____________ mass extinction.
Responses
A late Devonian
B late Ordovician
C Permian Triassic
D Cretaceous Tertiary

Answer 1