The end-Triassic extinction

What happened

The end of the Triassic period brought another mass extinction during a time of strong greenhouse warming. On land, plant communities changed, and fire played a large part.

What the evidence shows

• A 2026 study reports widespread wildfire across fern-dominated landscapes during end-Triassic warming.

What is uncertain

• The fire evidence is regional. It does not show a single planet-wide fire, or how any particular mammal-line animal survived.
• Dinosaurs did not disappear at this boundary; their great age came afterwards.

Sources

• Hollaar et al. 2026. Continental-scale fern savannah wildfires during end-Triassic greenhouse warming. Nature Geoscience. (opens the publisher’s site)

  What it supports: Records of widespread wildfire in fern-dominated landscapes during end-Triassic warming. It is regional evidence, not a single planet-wide fire.

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