Editing Extinction event (section)

====Sea-level fall====
These are often clearly marked by worldwide sequences of contemporaneous sediments that show all or part of a transition from sea-bed to tidal zone to beach to dry land – and where there is no evidence that the rocks in the relevant areas were raised by geological processes such as [[orogeny]]. Sea-level falls could reduce the continental shelf area (the most productive part of the oceans) sufficiently to cause a marine mass extinction, and could disrupt weather patterns enough to cause extinctions on land. But sea-level falls are very probably the result of other events, such as sustained [[global cooling]] or the sinking of the [[plate tectonics|mid-ocean ridges]].

Sea-level falls are associated with most of the mass extinctions, including all of the "Big Five"—[[Ordovician–Silurian extinction events|End-Ordovician]], [[Late Devonian extinction|Late Devonian]], [[Permian–Triassic extinction event|End-Permian]], [[Triassic–Jurassic extinction event|End-Triassic]], and [[Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event|End-Cretaceous]], along with the more recently recognised Capitanian mass extinction of comparable severity to the Big Five.<ref name="Weidlich2002">{{cite journal| author=Weidlich, O.| year=2002| title=Permian reefs re-examined: extrinsic control mechanisms of gradual and abrupt changes during 40 my of reef evolution| url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016699502000669| journal=[[Geobios]]| volume=35| issue=1| pages=287–294| doi=10.1016/S0016-6995(02)00066-9| bibcode=2002Geobi..35..287W| access-date=8 November 2022| url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="CapitanianCoralFaunas">{{cite journal |author1=Wang, X.-D. |author2=Sugiyama, T. |name-list-style=amp |title=Diversity and extinction patterns of Permian coral faunas of China |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1080/002411600750053853 |journal=[[Lethaia]] |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=285–294 |date=December 2000 |doi=10.1080/002411600750053853 |bibcode=2000Letha..33..285W |access-date=8 November 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

A 2008 study, published in the journal ''Nature'', established a relationship between the speed of mass extinction events and changes in sea level and sediment.<ref name=Peters2008>{{cite journal | vauthors = Peters SE | title = Environmental determinants of extinction selectivity in the fossil record | journal = Nature | volume = 454 | issue = 7204 | pages = 626–629 | date = July 2008 | pmid = 18552839 | doi = 10.1038/nature07032 | s2cid = 205213600 | bibcode = 2008Natur.454..626P | url = http://doc.rero.ch/record/15860/files/PAL_E2269.pdf }}
</ref> The study suggests changes in ocean environments related to sea level exert a driving influence on rates of extinction, and generally determine the composition of life in the oceans.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://newswise.com/articles/view/541743/ |website=Newswise |title=Ebb and flow of the sea drives world's big extinction events |date=13 June 2008 |publisher=[[University of Wisconsin]] |place=Madison, WI |access-date=June 15, 2008}}</ref>