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Environmental related issues persisted even 250 million years ago. The Permian extinction that is also known as the Great Dying, might be the result of combination of acid rain and ozone depletion layer, a new research shows. The rain was as acidic as lemon juice.

The great dying occurred around 252 million years ago which became the reason of the extinction of 96 percent of Earth’s marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial vertebrae species. After the Great Dying, it took 10 million years for the diversity to flourish again on the earth.

Some researchers have also suggested that the extinction was triggered by contemporaneous volcanic eruptions in Siberia. The main cause is thought to be the gas that released from a large swath of volcanic rock in Russia called the Siberian Traps.

Researchers with the help of advanced 3-D modeling techniques predicted that the impacts of gas released from the Siberian Traps on the end-Permian atmosphere.

The results obtained indicate that volcanic release that includes carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide contributed in creating the acidic rain. These subsequently reached the soil of nutrients and damaged the plants and other vulnerable terrestrial organisms.

The scenario discovered for the massive destruction were mainly because of natural reasons. But still we need to consider our behavior towards environment and do whatever we can to protect.

The details of the work is published in the journal Geology.