除了通常的有机质小团，他们还发现了一种名为“煤胞”的中空微粒。

Besides the usual miniscule clumps of organic matter, they also found tiny bubble-filled particles called cenospheres.

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研究者推测，当这些远古的小“煤胞”最终落入海中，它们会将海水毒化。

When the ancient cenospheres eventually dropped into the seas, they would have converted surface waters into a toxic soup, the researchers speculate.

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Grasby说，只要在全球范围的二叠纪岩石中发现“煤胞”的存在，那由这些致命微粒导致大灭绝的理念就可以得到极大的佐证。

Finding cenospheres in late Permian rocks worldwide would bolster the notion that the tiny particles played a major role in causing the extinction, says Grasby.

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