The Late Devonian Mass Extinction

by George R. McGhee

Based on two decades of research, The Late Devonian Mass Extinction reviews the many theories that have been presented to explain the global mass extinction that struck the earth over 367 million years ago, considering in particular the possibility that the extinction was triggered by multiple impacts of extraterrestrial objects.

Genres: Science

378 pages, Hardcover

First published April 15, 1996

About the author

George McGhee is Distinguished Professor of Paleobiology in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Rutgers University and a Member of the Konrad Lorenz Institute for Evolution and Cognition Research in Klosterneuburg, Austria. He is the author of Convergent Evolution: Limited Forms Most Beautiful (MIT Press)

Also published as George R. McGhee Jr.

Reviews

[Bill · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gave this book four stars instead of five because it is written for the advanced student rather than the average reader like me. The book is curiously inconclusive. The evidence of cause sits so far back in time the cause of the extinction is fuzzy as best. Large meteors seem to fit the bill but the evidence for this is still a work in progress.