the following:
"The new results, reported on page 1039, show that a shift in the ratio of
carbon isotopes recorded in marine rocks-an event intimately tied to the
extinctions-lasted perhaps as little as 10,000 years.' It's the final nail
in the coffin of those who say the extinction was prolonged,' says
paleontologist Paul Wignall of the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.
"The telltale rocks, near the village of Meishan in southern China, are
beds of ancient marine sediments that record the disappearance of marine
animals and, at the same time, a huge spike in the ratio of carbon-13 to
carbon-12. . . .
The team's dates showed that the isotopic drop and a partial recovery took
165,000 years at most, and possibly as few as 10,000 years." ~ Richard A.
Kerr, "Biggest Extinction Looks Catastrophic," Science, 280(1998):1007
It would appear that the major extinction at the end of the Permian may
have been almost instantaneous (at least geologically speaking.
glenn
Adam, Apes and Anthropology
Foundation, Fall and Flood
& lots of creation/evolution information
http://www.isource.net/~grmorton/dmd.htm