The scientists published the findings in an article this week in the journal Nature Geoscience after their search on Anticosti Island.

Andre DeRochers, a researcher in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of Ottawa, reports that the team of scientists has shed light on this new hypothesis about the causes of this first long mass extinction which is attributed to the lack of oxygen in seawater.

This made it possible to make important discoveries about hypoxia, to suspect that climate cooling was the most likely cause of the mass extinction event and climate change., André Desrochers explains.

A mixture of polyps and corals in the Ellis Bay formation on Anticosti Island.

Photo: Courtesy of University of Ottawa/André Desrochers

The cause of the mass extinction is a hot topic for researchers, because understanding the environmental conditions that have wiped out most species in the past can help us prevent a similar event from happening again.

André Desrochers believes that Anticosti Island is the best laboratory for monitoring sedimentary layers and fossils for this period of the Earth. There is another reason, he says, to recognize Anticosti Island UNESCO World Heritage.