- NEWS FEATURE
An extended bout of warm wet weather 232 million years ago may have profoundly altered life on Earth.
- By
- Michael Marshall0
- Michael Marshall
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar
Alastair Ruffell could see there was something odd about the rocks near his childhood home in Somerset, UK. The deposits hail from the Triassic period, more than 200 million years ago, and most are a dull orange-red, signifying that they formed when the region was a parched landscape, baked by the sun. Nothing strange there. But outcrops on Somerset’s Lipe Hill have a thin stripe of grey running through the heart of the red stone. That band signals a time when arid desert disappeared and the region transformed into a swampy wetland. For some reason, an incredibly dry climate had turned wet, and stayed that way for more than a million years.
Access options
Change institution
Buy or subscribe
Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals
Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription
$29.99 /30days
cancel any time
Learn more
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Learn more
Rent or buy this article
Prices vary by article type
from$1.95
to$39.95
Learn more
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Nature 576, 26-28 (2019)
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-019-03699-7
References
Simms, M. J. & Ruffell, A. H. Geology 17, 265–268 (1989).
Visscher, H. et al. Rev. Palaeobot. Palynol. 83, 217–226 (1994).
Datta, P. M. J. Vert. Paleontol. 25, 200–207 (2005).
Lucas, S. G., Heckert, A. B., Harris, J. D., Seegis, D. & Wild, R. J. Vert. Paleontol. 21, 397–399 (2010).
Preto, N., Willems, H., Guaiumi, C. & Westphal, H. Facies 59, 891–914 (2013).
Stanley, G. D. Jr Science 312, 857–858 (2006).
See AlsoAntarctic weatherFranz, M. et al. Glob. Planet. Change 122, 305–329 (2014).
Dal Corso, J. et al. Geology 40, 79–82 (2012).
Dal Corso, J. et al. Earth Sci. Rev. 185, 732–750 (2018).
Bernardi, M., Gianolla, P., Petti, F. M., Mietto, P. & Benton, M. J. Nature Commun. 9, 1499 (2018).
Related Articles
-
How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs
-
How giant marine reptiles terrorized the ancient seas
-
Extreme climate change slowed dinosaurs’ rise
-
The biologist using insect eggs to overturn evolutionary doctrine
Subjects
- Evolution
- Palaeontology
- Geology
- Climate sciences
Latest on:
Jobs
-
Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Medicine
Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Southern University of Science and Technology, School of Medicine
-
Research Associate - Neuroscience and Respiratory Physiology
Houston, Texas (US)
Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)
-
Histology Laboratory Manager
Houston, Texas (US)
Baylor College of Medicine (BCM)
-
Postdoctoral Scholar - Research-Pediatrics
Memphis, Tennessee
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)
-
Postdoctoral Scholar
Postdoctoral Scholar - PHAST Investigate Novel Roles of Linear Deubiquitinase Otulin In NeuroDegenerato
Memphis, Tennessee (US)
The University of Tennessee Health Science Center (UTHSC)
Change institution
Buy or subscribe
Related Articles
-
How the earliest mammals thrived alongside dinosaurs
-
How giant marine reptiles terrorized the ancient seas
-
Extreme climate change slowed dinosaurs’ rise
-
The biologist using insect eggs to overturn evolutionary doctrine
Subjects
- Evolution
- Palaeontology
- Geology
- Climate sciences
Sign up to Nature Briefing
An essential round-up of science news, opinion and analysis, delivered to your inbox every weekday.
