Publisher's Synopsis
Mass extinctions, the apparently sudden and regular disappearance of large numbers of species from the fossil record, are one of the mostly keenly contested and controversial debates in contemporary science. A great deal of research effort has gone into the topic and certain claims, notably that mass extinction eras display a periodicity of 24 million years, have caused great interest and disagreement.;This book brings together contributions from authorities around the world in order to produce a comprehensive and balanced assessment of the evidence for and theories of mass extinction events through geological time. While unorthodox views are not shirked, the contributors are at pains to evaluate critically the various views. The book represents an up-to-date review of diverse research literature.;The approach is both thematic - embracing palaeontology and geochemistry - and chronological, from the Precambrian to the Quaternary period.
