CHANGE: An Explosion of Life Happens on Earth Every 36 Million Years. Now We Know Why.

A deep analysis of the fossil and geological record reveals a changing sea level that occurs in response to a 36-million-year cycle of tectonic movement.

This, a team led by geologist Slah Boulila of Sorbonne University in France has found, disrupts several ecosystems, causing many species to struggle – and new ones to blossom to fill the new ecological niches that emerge.

“In terms of tectonics, the 36-million-year cycle marks alterations between faster and slower seafloor spreading, leading to cyclical depth changes in ocean basins and in the tectonic transfer of water into the deep Earth,” says geoscientist Dietmar Müller of the University of Sydney.

“These in turn have led to fluctuations in the flooding and drying up of continents, with periods of extensive shallow seas fostering biodiversity.”

A close look at the fossil record shows that biodiversity is not a nice, even constant. Instead, it fluctuates dramatically on scales of tens of millions of years, punctuated by extinction events and the rise of new species.

It’s unclear how SUVs are involved in the process.