What are greatly accelerated rates of extinction called?

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Greatly accelerated rates of extinction are called mass extinctions, where a large number of species go extinct over a relatively short period of geological time. This is in contrast to gradualism, which refers to the slow and steady process of evolution over millions of years, and punctuated equilibrium, which describes the hypothesis that evolution occurs in sudden bursts separated by long periods of stasis. Disasters and normal rates of extinction do not necessarily refer to the same phenomenon as mass extinctions.

What Are Greatly Accelerated Rates of Extinction Called