Traces of the Kellwasser Event, which occurred about 374 million years ago, have been found at the research station Samoylovsky Island in the delta of the Lena River.

      For the first time ever, specialists of the Oil and Gas Geology and Geophysics Institute of the Siberian Branch, RAS, have discovered traces of the event that led to the mass extinction of life on Earth.

      "The Kellwasser event is the second largest extinction of living organisms on Earth, not related to glaciations. It took place in the Upper Devonian, about 374 million years ago. We have found sediments of this period represented in classical form with thin black shale rocks. Such phenomena were earlier unearthed in Germany and Morocco only, "- Deputy Research Director of the Institute, Nikolai Sennikov said.

      He added that at that time the area of the present day Samoilovsky Island was located close to the equator.