Mass extinction traced to oceanic methane burp

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Mass extinction traced to oceanic methane burp July 27, 2000 Web posted at: 2:34 PM EDT (1834 GMT)

(AP) -- Huge reservoirs of methane trapped beneath the ocean floor rapidly escaped during prehistoric global warming and depleted much of the sea's oxygen, according to new research into why many forms of life suddenly vanished 183 million years ago.

The findings, reported in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, shed new light not only on the disappearance of as many as 80 percent of some deep-sea species but also a process suspected in other prehistoric mass extinctions. The study also raised questions about today's sea floor reservoir of methane hydrate, which the federal government plans to study as a possible energy source.

http://www.cnn.com/2000/NATURE/07/27/ocean.methane.ap/

-- K (infosurf@yahoo.com), July 27, 2000


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