The eruptions that lead to the Emeshian traps began about 260 million years ago. The traps are much smaller than the Siberian Traps, which occurred not long afterwards, about 251 million years ago. Despite this, the Emeshian traps were large enough to have an impact on the ecology of the time, and on paleontology. They are part of the mass extinction events towards the end of the Permian period.