A new study reveals that a region in China's Turpan-Hami Basin served as a refugium, or "life oasis," for terrestrial plants during the end-Permian mass extinction, the most severe biological crisis since the Cambrian period.

A groundbreaking discovery in China's Turpan-Hami Basin suggests that some terrestrial ecosystems remained largely unaffected by the catastrophic end-Permian mass extinction, offering fresh insight into the resilience of life in Earth's darkest period.

NANJING -- A new study has revealed that a region of the Turpan-Hami Basin in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region was an "oasis of life" for terrestrial plants during a catastrophic biological crisis that occurred on Earth about 252 million years ago.

The End-Permian mass extinction killed an estimated 80% of life on Earth, but new research suggests that plants might have done okay.

Scientists have uncovered a hidden prehistoric ecosystem in China that defied Earth's deadliest mass extinction, revealing a lost world that thrived while most life perished.

Even during one of Earth's largest mass extinction events, where heat waves kill of a majority of Earth's species, at least one oasis of survival existed. The findings suggest that there may have been pockets of protection throughout Earth - challenging the notion that the heat affected life on the planet uniformly,