About 252 million years ago, 80 to 90 percent of life on Earth was wiped out. In the Turpan-Hami Basin, life persisted and bounced back faster.

Scientists have found a rare life "oasis" where plants and animals thrived during Earth's deadliest mass extinction 252 million years ago.

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.

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.

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,