In 2004, Looy and her former Ph.D. advisor Henk Visscher proposed one way this might have played out, bases on fossilized abnormal plant spores found worldwide: volcanic gases —
halocarbons like methyl chloride and methyl bromide — destroyed much or all of Earth's ozone layer, boosting UV - B exposure that would have affected life and potentially increased the genetic mutation rates in pollen and spores of plants worldwide.