THAT ANCIENT AUTOMOBILE AGE?:

The team discovered evidence that high levels of ultraviolet radiation devastated the ancient forest ecosystem, which was largely driven by changes in the Earth's temperatures and climate cycles, leading to the erosion of the ozone layer.

The study's lead researcher John Marshall, who is a professor at the University of Southampton's School of Ocean and Earth Science, said the ozone layer likely vanished for a short period, and that deadly event occurred at a time when the planet was warming.

"Our ozone shield vanished for a short time in this ancient period, coinciding with a brief and quick warming of the Earth," he said in a release. "Our ozone layer is naturally in a state of flux--constantly being created and lost--and we have shown this happened in the past, too, without a catalyst such as a continental scale volcanic eruption."

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