A new study reveals that Earth's biomes changed dramatically in the wake of mass volcanic eruptions 252 million years ago.

Scientists have found a rare life "oasis" where plants and animals thrived during Earth's deadliest mass extinction 252 million years ago.

About 252 million years ago, 80 to 90 percent of life on Earth was wiped out. In the Turpan-Hami Basin, life persisted and bounced back faster.

A new study reveals that a region in China's Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or "life oasis," for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.

Exploding stars known as supernovas may have sparked mass extinctions that wiped out up to 85% of animals on Earth. ‘Supernova explosions are some of the most energetic explosions in the Universe’, said Dr Nick Wright, an astrophysics lecturer at Keels University.

NANJING -- A new study has revealed that a region of the Turpan-Hami Basin in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was an "oasis of life" for terrestrial plants during a catastrophic biological crisis that occurred on Earth about 252 million years ago.

Scientists have uncovered a hidden prehistoric ecosystem in China that defied Earth's deadliest mass extinction, revealing a lost world that thrived while most life perished.

Even during one of Earth's largest mass extinction events, where heat waves kill of a majority of Earth's species, at least one oasis of survival existed. The findings suggest that there may have been pockets of protection throughout Earth - challenging the notion that the heat affected life on the planet uniformly,