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.

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,