"Ocean acidification triggered by massive volcanic eruptions helped cause the worst mass extinction in the history of life on Earth, according to a new study.

The findings, published in the journal Science, shed light on the dangers of rising ocean acidity – a phenomenon that is contributing to the deaths of coral and other marine life today.

If you thought the worst extinction event on Earth was the one that killed the dinosaurs some 66 million years ago, think again. A far worse event, the Permo-Triassic Boundary mass extinction event, happened some 252 million years ago, which over the course of about 60,000 years is thought to have wiped out more than two-thirds of land species and more than 90% of marine species on the planet."

Amina Khan reports for the Los Angeles Times April 9, 2015. [2]