These were some of the largest volcanic eruptions in Earth history. Not only did lava smother the land, but noxious gases that rode up with the lava poisoned the atmosphere and caused runaway global warming. These things triggered one of the biggest mass extinctions in the history of life, a mass die-off that claimed over 30 percent of all species and maybe much more. Paradoxically, however, it was also a mass extinction that helped dinosaurs break out of their early-life slump and become the enormous, dominant animals that stoke our imaginations.
