Universal Hyperthermal Model for Mass Extinctions

INTRODUCTION Earth scientists have long sought universal features of past extinction crises. It can be argued that each past extinction event was a singularity, caused by combinations of circum-stances that are unique in each case, and therefore that the search for common causes is futile. However, a key feature of the uniformitarian approach to geology is that past processes are the same as modern-day processes and, with that in mind, earth scientists are keen to use their knowledge to contribute some understanding to the study of the present and future cli-mate crisis. Modellers require definitions of parameters to make their models work, and values for key parameters can be estimated from documentation of past events.