Triassic-Jurassic Extinction (201 million years ago)

The Triassic-Jurassic Extinction ranks as the fourth most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth's history, wiping out roughly 80% of species. Massive volcanic eruptions from the Central Atlantic Magmatic Province pumped over 100,000 gigatons of CO2 and vast amounts of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere over 600,000 years, triggering catastrophic global warming and ocean acidification. This event outperforms #5 (the Permian-Triassic Extinction) in scale of terrestrial collapse, clearing ecological space for dinosaurs to dominate the Jurassic. The extinction eliminated many large terrestrial amphibians and reptiles, while marine losses exceeded 30% of genera.