Big bang theories on the past..

CRITTER-CAL EVIDENCE: Scientists believe a type of volcanic activity called flood basalt covered vast areas in lava several times during prehistory, blanketing the planet in toxic fumes and material, leading to mass extinctions of life.

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It may even have contributed to the demise of the dinosaurs 66million years ago, when an asteroid strike helped spark the phenomenon.

BIRTH OF ATLANTIS: The myth of the lost city of Atlantis, first related by the Greek writer Plato, may have been spurred by the volcanic eruption on the island of Santorini in around 1600BC, which destroyed the civilisation there.