2nd Mass Extinction, Late Devonian
365 million BCE
"The Late Devonian mass extinction was determined by a combination of impact events and extensive volcanism. They produced similar effects: emissions of harmful chemical compounds and aerosols to cause greenhouse warming; darkening of the atmosphere, which prevented photosynthesis; and stagnation of oceans and development of anoxia. Food chains collapsed and biological productivity decreased. As a result, all vital processes were disturbed and a large portion of the biota became extinct... The number of species decreased by 70–82%."
Causes of the great mass extinction of marine organisms in the Late Devonian; Barash, M.S. Oceanology (2016) 56: 863.
image source: “Tetracorallia” from Ernst Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur, 1904. coral species that went extinct in the Late Devonian. public domain via wikimedia commons
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