Volcanic activity now believed to have triggered Triassic climate change

Research offers 'a sobering warning' on the impact of today's climate emergency

Volcanic eruptions played an important and direct role in triggering the extreme climate that killed off swathes of life at the end of the Triassic period 201m years ago, researchers have found.

Experts say they have discovered bubbles of carbon dioxide trapped in volcanic rocks dating to the end of the Triassic, backing up the theory that such activity contributed to the greenhouse climate that is believed to have been behind the mass extinction.