Learn about life through time... Permian

The most important event of the Permian period (245-286 MYA) was the mass extinction that occurred near its end. Much of the water in the oceans froze over, resulting in a drop in sea level. Great glaciers encrusted much of the Southern hemisphere, covering Antarctica, Australia and much of Africa, India and South America (These were all in very different positions to those they hold now). Away from the poles, a desert climate of low humidity and high temperature predominated. Probably as a result of these conditions, about 95% of all life on Earth disappeared, including the beautiful trilobites that had existed in the oceans since the Cambrian.

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