Sun. May 24, 2015 6:15 PM - 7:30 PM Convention Hall (2F)

Convener:*Yukio Isozaki(Department of Earth Science and Astronomy, Multi-disciplinary Sciences - General Systems Studies, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo), Yusuke Sawaki(Tokyo Institute of Technology)

Biotic evolution was the consequence of repeated extinction and following diversification in the past, which was caused by large-scale environmental changes, in particular, by extremely rapid and drastic forcing that changed the environments of the biosphere. Irreversible and episodic episodes, such as the changes in material cycling by mantle plume and the increase in cosmic radiation by the encounter with dark cloud, are nominated as major driving mechanisms for the alleged rapid, large-scale environmental perturbations. As to the biodiversity change in the end-Proterozoic to Phanerozoic, many essential questions are still not answered yet by the conventional viewpoints and procedures.
This session discusses the Phanerozoic biodiversity change under a new light of the recent progress in geology.