You might be wondering, "What is that The Halls Of Extinction?."
This is well described in the series named as "Cosmos A Spacetime Odyssey". If you haven't watched that series yet, I would strongly suggest you to watch that. And if you are a fan of Carl Sagan, this series is for you. So go and have a look.
By seeing the above architecture you might get surprised "What an amazing monument". Well it does not exist at all. As it does not exist, designers have you built a digital hall of extinction.
About in 500 Millions years, Earth has experienced 5 mass extinctions.
It is a monument to the 5 mass extinction events that planet earth has experienced. As depicted in the series, the monument has the vast central rotunda with radiating that each contains dioramas illustrating the range of extinct species that were wiped out by a variety of cataclysms that overwhelmed the planet.
End Ordovician
This took place about 444 Million years ago - 86% of species lost.
Graptolites, like the most Ordovician life, were sea creatures. They were filter feeding animals and colony builders. Their extinction was caused by a shirt, some ice age that lowered sea levels, possibly triggering by the uplift of the Appalachians. The newly exposed silicate rock sucked CO2 out of the atmosphere, chilling the planet.
Late Devonian
This took place about 375 Million years ago - 75% of species lost.
Trilobites were the most diverse and abundant of the animals that have appeared in the Cambrian explosion about 550 Million years ago. Spiky armor and multifaceted eyes helped to their great success.
They had survived the first extinction but nearly wiped out in the second.For their extinction the likely culprit was the evolved land plants that emerged, covering the plant during Devonian period. Their root stripped up the earth, releasing nutrients in the ocean. This might have triggered algal blooms which sucked the oxygen out of the water, which lead to the suffocating bottom dwellers like the trilobites.
End Permian
This took place about 251 Million years ago - 96% of species lost.
This was the worst extinction event ever seen. This is also known as"the great dying". It nearly ended the life on earth. The tabulate corals were lost in this period. A cataclysmic eruption near Siberia blasted CO2 in the atmosphere. Methanogenic bacteria responded by bleaching out methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Due to this global temperature surged while oceans acidified and stagnated, bleaching poisonous hydrogen sulfide. "It set life back 300 Million years", says Schmidt.Rocks after this period records no coral reefs or coal deposits.
End Triassic
This took place about 200 Million years ago - 80% of species lost.
This is also called as Triassic - Jurassic extinction event. This extinction was the key moment that allowed dinosaur to become the dominant land animal in the earth. Although this event was less devastating that its counter at the end of the Permian Period, which occurred roughly 50 Million years earlier and wiped out more than 95% of marine species and more than 70% of terrestrial ones, it did result in drastic reduction of some living populations.
End Cretaceous
This took place about 66 Million years ago - 76% of species lost.
It was sudden mass extinction of three-quarter of the planet and animal species on earth. Some ectothermic species such as leatherback sea turtles and crocodiles survived.
Dinosaurs may have ruled the land during the Cretaceous period but the oceans belonged to the ammonities. The asteroid which was about 10-15 Kms wide hit the earth, and the impact ended the dinosaurs reign provided the final blow.
Today the ammonites oldest surviving relative is the nautilus. Will it survive the sixth great extinction?
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