313 This is equivalent to ten-thousand times the explosive power of the world's stockpile of nuclear warheads at the time of the 1980's.

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plankton, algae, fish and ocean organisms found themselves on land and died.
     And magma spurted from the Deccan Traps in India. And a cloud of ash and gas two-thousand kilometers in size did hover there. And lava flowed on top of lava. And lava ignited forests to the north and east. And as in proto-Central-America, a ring of fire ranged outward, burning vegetation in its path. And flames spread rapidly as if transported by horses and by chariots. And heat incinerated creatures living on the continent of India. The flames raised their heads and hands to heaven and quivered with the fear of hell.
     Now the air in southern proto-North-America and in northern South America was black and full of particles. Visibility was half a meter. And as living creatures breathed in soot, they coughed and choked, and their lungs filled up with dirt and smoke. They toppled to the ground and died.
     And ants and other insects had a feast feeding on the dead.
     And clouds of dust, meteorite debris, water vapor, smoke and ash spread around the globe. And asteroid dust and ash relatively rich in iridium settled on the Earth. And the atmosphere was full of particles and soot. And all around the world, the largest creatures suffocated so.
     And Earth's environment was ruined. And as for creatures, being big was suddenly a big big disadvantage.
     And large pieces of atmospheric fallout rubbed against the molecules of air, became incandescent and caught fire. It was as if fireworks were everywhere around the globe. And incandescent pieces landed in the trees, setting them ablaze. And half the forests of the world were trees of flames. And hell was upon the face of Earth. And smoke added to the black of an already black black atmosphere.
     And soon the Sun was no longer visible from anywhere on Earth -- a curtain of darkness had descended on thy Earth.
     And during the next day, it was night. And during night, it was also night. And during the day after, it was still night. Indeed, for the next nine months, it would be night.
     And being robbed of light, plants no longer photosynthesized. And many plants thus died. And bacteria and microorganisms multiplied profusely in decaying bio-matter.
     On the surface of the oceans and the seas, algae succumbed and formed a scum. Oceans stank. And inland, swamps and marshes turned green, then brown. And they too gave off a putrid stink. And plankton-feeding fish and water-life feasted on the dead remains. But for many, it was but their last supper.
     And the surviving small herbivores on land ate decaying plants and trees. And these creatures feasted as if without a worry.
     And nitrous oxide in the atmosphere mixed with water and made nitric acid. Then clouds let loose their rain. And it rained an acid rain. And although the rain washed away some smoke and soot, when it landed on the leaves of plants and trees, the acid ate into organic matter. And leaves of plants and trees had holes. And when rain landed on

560                       The Bible According to Einstein

the shellfish on the sandy beaches, the shells dissolved and disappeared. And the worm-like creatures living in the shells were exposed to Nature's elements and to hungry seashore birds.
     And a month went by. And still darkness reigned on Earth. And weed-like plants turned yellow. And withered were the leaves of trees. And plants grew weak and stems bent over, as if to pray.
     In the tropics, the temperature went down. And in the polar regions, the temperature went up somewhat. But overall, the Earth began to cool.
     And several months went by. And trees in forests fell. And in Earth's seas, bacteria and microorganisms consumed the dead remains of photosynthetic plankton. And plankton-feeding fish and shellfish died. Dead fish floated on the surface of the oceans and the seas. And marine predators fed on the dead. And they feasted as if without a worry. But for many, it was but their last supper.
     And some dead fish and shellfish washed up onto sandy shores. And small amphibians, reptiles and mammals, which had survived the first wave of Nature's holocaust, feasted on the dead.
     And the living ate the dead until the dead were gone. And then the living starved. And some of them grew weak and passed away. And those that did survive ate those that had just died.
     Thus the four elements -- fire, water, air and earth -- inflicted death upon the living of the Earth.
     And summer came. But summer was without the Sun -- it was as cold as in December. And two years of winter would so follow.
     And emissions from the Deccan Traps raged on and filled the air with sulfur compounds, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and other toxic gases. And the gases combined with water vapor in the atmosphere and formed sulfuric and carbonic acids. And when it rained, it rained an acid rain.
     And several months went by. And the temperature in the tropics dropped. And on the continents, cold-blooded creatures such as insects, reptiles, worms, amphibians and other animals became lethargic, for their metabolism dropped. And beetles crawled more slowly. And worms barely budged in earth. And lizards, snakes, frogs and salamanders seemed asleep. But warm-blooded creatures, such as birds and mammals, were more active. And they ate slowly moving bugs and worms. Some placentals fed on small lethargic frogs and snakes. And on reptiles such as baby lizards, other mammals ate.
     And from the heavens fell the acid rains and washed away some soot. And the rain collected in the ponds and lakes. And the waters of some pools became acidic. And the acid burned the skin of fish and other water life. And some fish bled. Some turned blue and red and white. And in small ponds, many fish were dead.
     And darkness was upon the face of Earth. And the temperature of air declined. And water in the lakes in non-tropic regions turned to ice. And salamanders, small aquatic reptiles, frogs and fish froze in ice. And animals north of the tropic of Cancer and south of the tropic of

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Capricorn were cold. And both warm- and cold-blooded creatures succumbed to cold and died.
     At first, it had seemed as if the world were going to end in fire. Now it seemed as if the world would end in ice. And it was a nightmare for all life, as night lasted for nine months.
     And rain fell steadily for another month, washing away the atmospheric particles and dust. And behold, in one cloud appeared a hole. Through it did sunbeams stream -- they looked like the light from heaven streaming through a window in a church.
     Now the death toll was enormous -- four-fifths of the species of pre-existing plants and animals had gone extinct. And in a layer of earth, the dead were buried so.³¹⁴

And although all ammonoids had died, a few nautiloids survived. And amphibians, using both water and land to their advantage, faired relatively well. And so did snakes and turtles. And some fresh-water life in large lakes did survive. And deep-sea ocean organisms mostly were unscathed.
     And the small did better than the big. And this was true from the giant reptiles to the tiny protozoa. And for example, the protozoa, which lived on, were one-tenth the size of Jurassic protozoa. And no land animal more than twenty-five kilograms survived.

Now most of bio-history had been without catastrophes. In such times, evolution had responded well to regular, continuous and slowly changing situations. The creatures of the world had played the game of life; they had obeyed the rules of evolution; and they had followed the laws of Nature. They had been rewarded so. The rules had for years been fixed, or so it seemed.

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562                                          The Bible According to Einstein