Methane and Microbes and Mass Death

http://www.sciencedaily.com/...ases/2014/03/140331153608.htm

quote:

---

Ancient whodunit may be solved: Methane-producing microbes did it!
Date: March 31, 2014
Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

​

Summary:
Methane-producing microbes may be responsible for the largest mass extinction in Earth's history. Fossil remains show that sometime around 252 million years ago, about 90 percent of all species on Earth were suddenly wiped out -- by far the largest of this planet's five known mass extinctions. It turns out that Methanosarcina had acquired a particularly fast means of making methane, and the team's detailed mapping of the organism's history now shows that this transfer happened at about the time of the end-Permian extinction.

​

​

An outburst of methane produced effects similar to those predicted by current models of global climate change: a sudden, extreme rise in temperatures, combined with acidification of the oceans. In the case of the end-Permian extinction, virtually all shell-forming marine organisms were wiped out -- consistent with the observation that such shells cannot form in acidic waters.

---

An interesting idea from this is that these microbes could be harnessed to produce methane (natural gas) from CO2 for energy use (rather than getting it from fracking): a clean source that also reduces (or recycles) CO2 ? win win imho.