TIME

The Great Dying

≈ 252 million years ago

Illustration of the Siberian eruptions: columns of black smoke rise from lines of fire on a scorched lava plain under an orange sky, with bare dead trees in the foreground and a dark sea at the horizon.

Earth & LifeThe Great Dying

The largest known mass extinction.

The Great Dying is the Permian mass extinction, the largest known in Earth’s history. It devastated life in the seas and on land.

Massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia are the leading explanation. More than 80 percent of marine species were lost, though estimates vary and the exact causes are debated.

252 million years ago, placed on the scale of its era on a line leading toward now.

Era
Earth & Life
Period
≈ 252 million years ago
Edition
1/1
Status
Not Released
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Background artwork

An original illustration generated for TIME with an AI image model, 2026. An artistic reconstruction of the volcanic eruptions in Siberia, the leading explanation for the Permian extinction. It is an interpretation of the scene.