Photo: Did Million-Year-Long Eruptions Cause Mass Extinction?

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Viscous lava hardens as it flows down the flank of Mauna Ulu in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park.

Warming and acid rain caused by the Siberian flood basalts—giant volcanic eruptions that lasted up to a million years—are prime suspects for causing a mass extinction some 250 million years ago.

Photograph by D.W. Peterson/courtesy USGS

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