Mass extinction debate addressed at SUNY New Paltz

NEW PALTZ — The School of Science and Engineering at the State University of New York at New Paltz will continue its 2005-06 colloquium series with a lecture titled “What Caused the Largest Mass Extinction Ever?” at 4 p.m. on Thursday, March 2, in the Coykendall Science Building Auditorium, with a reception at 3:30 p.m. in the CSB 110 Lounge.

The evolution of multicellular life on earth is divided between the Paleozoic, Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods, each of which ended with a major global extinction. Dinosaurs ceased to roam the earth at the end of the Mesozoic, 65 million years ago, but the largest global extinction took place at the end of the Paleozoic, 250 million years ago. This colloquium will address the causes of these extinctions.

The speaker, Dr. Michael Rampino, is a biology professor in the Earth and Environmental Science Program at New York University. He will outline relevant arguments for the cause of the Permian Extinction and provide evidence he has gathered from field studies in Europe, Japan and South Africa to help unravel this persistent mystery.

“Scientists are in general agreement that the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 million years ago was a result of large meteor or comet impact near the Yucatan Peninsula,” said David Clark, colloquium chair and associate dean of the School of Science and Engineering, “but so much time has passed since the Permian Extinction 250 million years ago that we can find precious little evidence of its precipitating cause.”

The lecture is free and open to the public. An informal conversation with the speaker will follow in the Coykendall Science Building Lounge. For more information and directions, contact Clark at (845) 257-3728.