Permian

This study focusses on aspects related to carbonate build-ups in an upper Paleozoic succession in the south central Norwegian Barents Sea. Seismic and well data are used to map and characterize the protozoan and heterozoan carbonate build-ups in order to assess the factors that control their distribution within the Gipsdalen- and Bjarmeland Groups. The main objectives are (1) to describe, compare, and contrast geomorphological characteristics of the carbonate succession on the Bjarmeland and Finnmark Platforms, (2) to determine the controlling factors on the distribution of the carbonate build-up development, and lastly (3) examine the impact of evaporites on the distribution and development of the carbonate build-ups.

The upper section of the Gipsdalen Group consists of protozoan carbonates and evaporites with occasional carbonate build-ups that were deposited in an arid-warm marine environment in a global icehouse period. The Bjarmeland Group consists of heterozoan carbonates with build-ups deposited in post-glacial environment. Previous studies have suggested that faults play a role in the distribution of carbonate build-ups in the Norwegian Barents Sea.

The two areas on the Finnmark Platform (north and south) have been used in order to compare against two areas on Bjarmeland Platform (east and west). The carbonate build-up sequence observed on the eastern Bjarmeland Platform is comparable with the build-up sequence on the northern Finnmark Platform. The two areas share similarities as both are located on footwall uplifts. The geomorphology of these carbonate units are characterized as large build-up complexes. In contrast, the geomorphology of the western Bjarmeland Platform and the southern Finnmark Platform differs significantly. These units consist of polygonal build-up morphologies of reticulated arrangement with cellular structures of various scales; this depositional pattern is similar in architecture to modern patch and pinnacle reef systems observed in Holocene carbonate systems (e.g. Abrolhos Islands in Western Australia). The similarities defining these elements are that carbonate build-ups stack vertically above the layered evaporite sequence of the Gipsdalen Group. The layered evaporite sequences are observed on both platforms where salt pillows are a main characteristic. The carbonate build-ups deposit vertically above thin units of evaporites, opposed to laterally absent where the salt pillows are present, suggesting that salt has been displaced by the weight of the growing build-up. The result supports antecedent topography as a dominant component affecting the carbonate build-up succession in the eastern Bjarmeland Platform and the northern Finnmark Platform. Furthermore, the build-up development in the two areas on western Bjarmeland Platform, and southern Finnmark Platform, has been controlled by physical conditions influenced by a combination of biotic self-organization, fossil reef growth and karst-induced structures caused by dissolution of the underlying carbonate strata. The current geomorphology of the carbonate build-up succession has been enhanced due to remobilization of the mobile evaporite unit as a result of differential loading by the carbonate build-ups.

Two outstanding Permian petrified forests, those of Chemnitz, in Germany, and northern Tocantins, in Brazil, contribute to the understanding of the composition, peculiarities and dynamics of Early Permian wetland ecosystems. These assemblages represent seasonally influenced, essentially contemporaneous but quite comparable, tree-fern-dominated plant communities in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Chemnitz fossils are embedded in coarse-grained pyroclastics of the Zeisigwald Tuff Horizon (Leukersdorf Formation, Erzgebirge Basin), whereas those of Tocantins occur in different lithofacies of a cyclic alluvial succession (Pedra de Fogo/Motuca formations, Parnaíba Basin). The outstanding three-dimensional preservation of particularly large fossil remains, made possible by siliceous permineralization, provides the opportunity to study the gross morphology , anatomy and internal organization of plant tissues, as well as taphonomical and ecological aspects of late Palaeozoic plants in a way not allowed by other preservational states. Recent studies of newly collected material permit a re-evaluation of the popular reconstructions of Early Permian floras. Various plant-plant and plant-animal interactions add to our understanding of two diverse lowland ecosystems that, irrespective of their different palaeogeographic position and taphonomic modes, show striking similarities.

Western Australia has one of the most diverse floras in the world. From the giant Karri and Tingle forests in the south, to the scattered tropical rainforests in the north; from the incredibly species-rich sand heath flora in the south-west, to the desert floras of the inland parts of the State, more than 12,000 species of vascular plants are estimated to exist. The changing pattern of the fossil floras in Western Australia is a legacy of both their evolutionary history and of the changing environments in which they grew. In this booklet we provide an illustrated overview of Western Australia’s fossil plant record, based on fossil collections of the Western Australian Museum, the Department of Geology and Geophysics in the University of Western Australia, and the Geological Survey of Western Australia. Although many fossil plants that have been collected over the last 30 years still remain to be described, sufficient is known to provide a broad overview of the ancestors of the state’s highly diverse modern flora.

The northern Perth Basin lies between about 27 and 31 30'S adjacent to the Yilgarn Craton on the western margin of Western Australia. The basin contains up to 12 km of Ordovician and mid-Carboniferous to Cretaceous, primarily nonmarine to shallow-marine strata below extensive thin, mostly non-marine, Cenozoic cover. This guide describes 37 localities in the basin, from Kalbarri to Gingin, including access and land tenure, and emphasizes stratigraphy, sedimentology, and palaeontology. These localities constitute ...

Paleozoic scorpions (Arachnida: Scorpiones) have been widely documented from the Carboniferous Period; which hosts a remarkable assemblage of more than sixty species including both putative stem- and crown-group fossils. By contrast the succeeding Permian Period is almost completely devoid of records, which are currently restricted to a trace fossil from the early Permian of New Mexico, USA and some limb fragments from the late Permian of the Vologda Region, Russia. ?Opsieobuthus tungeri sp. nov. from the Petrified Forest of Chemnitz, Germany represents the first complete body fossils of scorpions from the Permian. Explosive volcanism preserved these remarkable specimens in situ as part of the palaeosol horizon and bedrock of the Petrified Forest, immediately beneath the Zeisigwald tuff horizon. This dates to the early Permian (Sakmarian) or ca. 291 Ma. Intriguingly, the specimens were obtained from a palaeosol horizon with a compacted network of different-sized woody roots and thus...

Antarctica’s Lambert graben, Australia’s North West Shelf, and the eastern Indian Peninsula all host thick, fault-bounded Permian-Triassic successions. These terranes were adjacent to each other in Gondwana. The Lambert graben intersects the modern coastline, strikes oblique to shelf architecture, and has a geophysical signature that can be traced .1000 km inland. Vitrinite reflectance data from the graben margins record Permian-Triassic infill. Australia’s North West Shelf is the relict of an intracontinental Carboniferous-Permian rift that was infilled during the Permian-Triassic then driven to oceanic completion during Jurassic- Cretaceous Gondwana breakup. This rift was compartmentalized over length scales of ca 650 km, corresponding to accommodation zones, margin-normal geophysical lineaments, and long-lived crustal weaknesses. In eastern India, similar compartmentalization is marked by extensive coal-bearing graben systems. Gondwana reconstructions indicate that the Lambert graben corresponds to the orientation and length scale of Carboniferous-Permian rift compartmentalization. The Lambert graben represents an accommodation zone of a wide intracontinental rift that extended from Australia’s North West Shelf, between India and Antarctica, to southern Africa. This rift collected Gondwana’s thick Permian-Triassic sedimentary blanket and rich alluvial coal deposits.

Os dados a seguir são complementares e estão relacionados com as pesquisas relacionados com todos os artigos e trabalhos com a Formação Tatuí na região dos municípios de Rio Claro e Ipeúna que envolvam o afloramento principal da pesquisa, Sitio Santa Maria 1. A pesquisa destaca os depósitos sedimentares no afloramento e os icnólitos observados

Comprehensive data on the chemical composition of reservoir rocks and geothermal brines from the geothermal well doublet Grob Sch€ onebeck (North German Basin) drilled into a Rotliegend sedimentary and Permo-Carboniferous volcanic rock reservoir were sampled over the past years. They were characterized with respect to their major and minor elemental composition including various isotope ratios. The study considered the impact of drilling and reservoir operations on fluid composition and aimed at determining fluiderock interactions to gain information on fluid origin and hydraulic pathways. The highly saline fluids (up to 265 g/L TDS) show d 18 O and dD of water (2.7e5.6 and À3.1e15, respectively) as well as d 34 S of sulfate (3.6e5), and 87 Sr/ 86 Sr ratios (0.715e0.716) that resemble Rot-liegend brines from an area located around 200 km in the west (the Altmark). Halogen ratios indicated that brines developed predominantly by evaporation of meteoric water (primary brine) together with halite dissolution brine (secondary brine). Indication for mixing with Zechstein brine or with younger meteoric water was not found. No geochemical distinction was possible between fluids deriving from different rock formations (dacites or sedimentary rocks, respectively). This is due to the evolution of the sediments from the effusive rocks resulting in a similar mineralogical and chemical composition and due to a hydraulic connectivity between the two types of rock. This connection existed probably already before reservoir stimulation as indicated by a set of faults identified in the area that could connect the Rotliegend formation with both, the volcanic rocks and the lower units of the Zechstein. Additional geochemical indication for a hydraulic connectivity is given by (1) the very high heavy metal contents (mainly Cu and Pb) in fluids and scaling that derive from the volcanic rocks and were that were also found in increased amounts up at the Zechstein border (Kupferschiefer formation). (2) The 87 Sr/ 86 Sr isotope ratios of fluid samples correspond to the ratios determined for the sedimentary rocks indicating that initially the fluids developed in the sedimentary rocks and circulated later, when faults structures were created by tectonic events into the volcanic rocks.

Fault-bound half-graben-type Raniganj Basin in eastern peninsular India hosts thick sedimentary succession of the coal-bearing Barakar Formation (Early Permian), which constitutes a part of the Lower Gondwana Supergroup. Sedimentological attributes of the upper Barakar succession are portrayed in two predominant facies associations, viz., (i) the lower part characterized by meandering fluvial facies association with distributary channel systems and (ii) the upper part represented by a transgressive, tide-wave-influenced, fluvio-estuarine facies association. Distinct beds with various soft-sediment deformation structures (SSDSs) manifesting paleoseismic events are reported as seismites from the upper Barakar succession. The SSDSs include convolute laminae, complex deformations with folded strata, syn-sedimentary growth faults, pseudonodules, loop bedding, and various water-escape structures including sand–silt flows/dikes. The seismites are restricted at two distinct stratigraphic horizons (S1andS2) within the upper Barakar succession,separated by undeformed beds in between. The seismites record episodes of paleoearthquake events triggered by syn-sedimentary reactivation of basin marginal faults in the half-graben-type Raniganj Gondwana Basin.These demarcate phases of significant shift in the depositional conditions from fluvial dominated to a transgressive tide-wave-influenced estuarine
system,caused by post-glacial basinal adjustments in the peninsular Indian Gondwanaland.

The concept of ‘Gondwana’, an ancient Southern Hemisphere supercontinent, is firmly established in geological and biogeographical models of Earth history. The term Gondwana (Gondwanaland of some authors) derives from the recognition by workers at the Indian Geological Survey in the mid- to late 19th century of a distinctive sedimentary sequence preserved in east central India. This succession, now known to range in age from Permian to Cretaceous, is lithologically and palaeontologically similar to coeval non-marine sedimentary successions developed in most of the Southern Hemisphere continents suggesting former continuity of these landmasses. Palaeomagnetic data and tectonic reconstructions suggest that the main assembly of Gondwana took place around the beginning of the Palaeozoic in near-equatorial latitudes and that the supercontinent as a whole shifted into high southern latitudes, allowing widespread glaciation by the end of the Carboniferous. From Carboniferous to Cretaceous times the southern continents had broadly similar floras but some species-level provincialism is apparent at all times. The break-up of Gondwana initiated during the Jurassic (at about 180 million years ago) and this process is continuing. The earliest rifting (crustal attenuation) within the supercontinent initiated in the west (between South America and Africa) and in general terms the rifting pattern propagated eastward with major phases of continental fragmentation in the Early Cretaceous and Late Cretaceous to Paleogene. Gondwanan floras show radical turnovers near the end of the Carboniferous, end of the Permian and the end of the Triassic that appear to be unrelated to isolation or fragmentation of the supercontinent. Throughout the late Palaeozoic and Mesozoic the high-latitude southern floras maintained a distinctly different composition to the palaeoequatorial and boreal regions even though they remained in physical connection with Laurasia for much of this time. Gondwanan floras of the Jurassic and Early Cretaceous (times immediately preceding and during break-up) were dominated by araucarian and podocarp conifers and a range of enigmatic seed-fern groups. Angiosperms became established in the region as early as the Aptian (before the final break-up events) and steadily diversified during the Cretaceous, apparently at the expense of many seed-fern groups. Hypotheses invoking vicariance or long distance dispersal to account for the biogeographic patterns evident in the floras of Southern Hemisphere continents all rely on a firm understanding of the timing and sequence of Gondwanan continental breakup. This paper aims to summarise the current understanding of the geochronological framework of Gondwanan breakup against which these biogeographic models may be tested. Most phytogeographic studies deal with the extant, angiosperm-dominated floras of these landmasses. This paper also presents an overview of pre-Cenozoic, gymnosperm-dominated, floristic provincialism in Gondwana. It documents the broad succession of pre-angiosperm floras, highlights the distinctive elements of the Early Cretaceous Gondwanan floras immediately preceding the appearance of angiosperms and suggests that latitudinal controls strongly influenced the composition of Gondwanan floras through time even in the absence of marine barriers between Gondwana and the northern continents.

A new record of fossil chondrichthyan tooth was found from a float of the Early Permian limestone block of the Omama complex of the Ashio tectonic belt, Kiryu City, Gunma Prefecture, central Japan. The specimen (GMNH-PV-2405) is composed of a flattened root with a median cusp. Though the lingual side of the root (base) is broken, the basolabial shelf is recognized in a labial rim of its radical side. The basolabial shelf is weakly disrupted. The median cusp inclines distally. It has a tall triangular shape with fine striations in the radical half of the lingual surface. The shape of the cusp cross section is convex on its lingual surface. The presence of lateral cusps and intermediate cusplets is uncertain. Through the combination of some characteristics, GMNH-PV-2405 is identified as Ctenacanthidae gen. et sp. indet. GMNH-PV-2405 marks the second record of Paleozoic vertebrate fossils from Gunma Prefecture, and the fifth vertebrate remains from the Ashio tectonic belt. The occurrence of GMNH-PV-2405 provides important paleontological information regarding the paleogeographical setting of the Ashio tectonic belt in the late Paleozoic, and also the radiation in the oceanic environment of the ctenacanthiform shark.

This Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps shows the changing paleogeography from the Early Mississippian (Tournasian, 352.3 Ma) to the Early Permian (Kungurian, 273.1 Ma).  The maps are from volume 4 of the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS (Scotese, 2014). Absolute age assignments are from Gradstein, Ogg & Smith (2008). 

The following maps are included in the Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps:

Map 53  Early Permian (Kungurian, 273.1 Ma) Highstand Systems Tract
Map 54  Early Permian (Artinskian, 280 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface 
Map 55  Early Permian (Sakmarian, 289.5 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 56  Early Permian (Asselian, 296.8 Ma) Sakmarian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 57  Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian, 301.2 Ma) Asselian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 58  Late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian, 305.3 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 59  Middle Pennsylvanian (Moscovian, 309.5) Transgressive Systems Tract
Map 60  Early Pennsylvanian (Bashkirian, 314.9 Ma) Bashkirian Supersequence Boundary & Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 61  Late Mississippian (Serpukhovian, 323.2 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 62  Middle Mississippian (late Visean, 332.5 Ma) Highstand Systems Tract
Map 63  Middle Mississippian (early Visean, 341.1 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface
Map 64  Early Mississippian (Tournasian, 352.3 Ma) Maximum Flooding Surface


This work should be cited as
Scotese,  C.R., 2014.  Atlas of Permo-Carboniferous Paleogeographic Maps (Mollweide Projection), Maps 53 – 64, Volumes 4, The Late Paleozoic, PALEOMAP Atlas for ArcGIS, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

ABSTRACT--Charting the broad patterns of vascular plant evolution for Gondwana against the major global environmental shifts and events is attempted here for the first time. This is based on the analysis of the major vascular plant-bearing formations of the southern continents (plus India) correlated against the standard geological time-scale. Australia, followed closely by South America, are shown to yield by far the most complete sequences of productive strata. Ten seminal turnover pulses in the unfolding evolutionary picture are identified and seen to be linked to continental drift, climate change and mass global extinctions. The rise of vascular plants along the tropical belt, for instance, followed closely after the end-Ordovician warming and extinction. Equally remarkable is that the Late Devonian extinction may have caused both the terrestrialisation of the vertebrates and the origin of the true gymnosperms. The end-Permian extinction, closure of lapetus, together with warming, appears to have set in motion an unparalleled, explosive, gymnosperm radiation; whilst the Late Triassic extinction dramatically curtailed it. It is suggested that the latitudinal diversity gradient clearly recognised today, where species richness increases towards the tropics, may have been partly reversed during phases of Hot House climate. Evidence hints at this being particularly so at the heyday of the gymnosperms in the Late Triassic super-Hot House world. As for the origin of terrestrial, vascular, plant life, the angiosperms seem closely linked to a phase of marked shift from Ice House to Hot House.
Insect and tetrapod evolutionary patterns are discussed in the context of the plants providing the base of the ever-changing ecosystems. Intimate co-evolution is often evident. This isn't always the case, for example the non-linkage between the dominant, giant, long-necked, herbivorous sauropod dinosaurs and the dramatic radiation of the flowering plants in the Mid-Cretaceous.

RÉSUMÉ--Pour la première fois, une tentative de reconnaissance des modes principaux de l'evolution de la plante vasculaire du Gondwana en fonction des variations d'environnements et des événements globaux majeurs est présentée ici. Elle se fonde sur l'analyse des grandes formations à plantes vasculaires des continentaux méridionaux (plus l'Inde) corrélées avec les niveaux d'étage en fonction de l'échelle standard des temps géologiques. L'Australie, suivie de près par l'Amérique du Sud, montre les séquences de strates productives de loin les plus complètes. Dix épisodes de bouleversement sont identifiés dans l'établissement du tableau de l'évolution et sont liés de façons variées à la dérive des continents, aux changements climatiques et aux extinctions globales en masse. Par exemple, la progression des plantes vasculaires dans la zone tropicale a suivi de près le réchauffement et l'extinction de la fin de l'Ordovicien. Il est également remarquable que l'extinction du Dévonien tardif a pu déclencher à la fois la sortie des eaux des Vertébrés et l'origine des vrais Gymnospermes. L'extinction de la fin du Permien, et la fermeture de l'Ocean Iapetus, avec le réchauffement, semble avoir mis en mouvement une expansion explosive, sans parallèle, des Gymnospermes que l'extinction du Trias tardif a stoppée de façon brutale. Il est suggéré que le gradient de diversité en fonction de la latitude, clairement reconnu aujourd'hui, la richesse en nombre d'espèces augmentant vers les tropiques, a pu s'inverser en partie lors des phases de climat à effet de serre. L'apogée des Gymnospermes au Trias tardif sous un climat de super-effet de serre constitue un argument. Comme dans le cas de l'origine des plantes vasculaires terrestres, l'origine des Angiospermes semble étroitement liée à une phase de transition marquée d'un climat glaciaire à un climat chaud.
Les modes d'évolution des Insectes et des Tétrapodes, quoique non reportés, sont discutés dans le contexte des végétaux constituant la base des écosystèmes toujours en réorganisation. Des évolutions intimement mêlées sont souvent évidentes. Ce n'est pas toujours le cas, par exemple l'absence de lien entre les Dinosaures Sauropodes herbivores à long cou dominants et l'expansion extraordinaire des plantes à fleurs au cours du Crétacé moyen.

These maps (rectilinear projection) are from the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS (Scotese, 2013a-f).  This is a digital atlas of plate tectonic, paleogeographic, and paleoclimatic reconstructions designed for use with the GIS software, ArcMap (ESRI).  Table 1 lists the various types of maps that comprise the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas.  The maps included in this folio are highlighted in bold text (Table 1).
The last map in each folio is a rectilinear graticule that can be overlain on the maps to provide a geographic reference frame.  A rectilinear projection was used because it can be easily georeferenced in ArcMap and transformed into a variety of other map projections.  The rectilinear map projection can also be directly “wrapped” onto a spherical projection, like the oneused by Google Earth. A set of Google Earth paleoglobes has made from the maps in this folio. These Google Earth paleoglobes can be downloaded at: www.globalgeology.com. 
If the map you need is missing, or if there doesn’t seem to be a map folio for the exact time interval of interest, please contact me (cscotese@gmail.com). Table 2 lists all the time intervals that comprise the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS. The PaleoAtlas contains one map for every stage in the Phanerozoic, as well as 6 maps for the late Precambrian.  Eventually, Map Folios, like this one, will be published for every time interval in the PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas.  The following section is a brief description of the maps that makeup the Map Folio.

This map folio should be referenced as:
Scotese, C.R., 2013. Map Folio 57, Late Pennsylvanian (Gzhelian 301.2 Ma), PALEOMAP PaleoAtlas for ArcGIS, volume 4, Late Paleozoic Paleogeographic, Paleoclimatic and Plate Tectonic Reconstructions, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

This diagram show the rise and fall of global temperatures during the last 540 million years.  Scotese (2016) describes how this curve was made.  It replaces the curve published in Scotese et al., (1999).

PETM= Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (55.8 Ma), EEOC = Early Eocene Climatic Optimum (54 Ma – 46 Ma), MECO = Mid-Eocene Climatic Optimum(42 Ma), EOT = Eocene-Oligocene Transition (40 Ma – 33 Ma), MMCO=Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (15Ma – 13Ma), LGM = Last Glacial Maximum (21,000 years ago), 2016 = Modern MAT, PAW = Post-Anthropogenic Warming .  White stars indicate rapid cooling episodes (Stoll-Schrag Events26) at 160Ma, 127Ma, 97Ma, 91Ma, 71Ma, and 65 Ma).  Black stars represent rapid warming episodes (Kidder-Worsley Events16) at (Present-day, 15Ma, 43Ma, 56Ma, 65Ma, 93Ma, 120Ma, 183Ma, 200Ma, 251Ma, 300Ma, 359Ma, 374Ma, 444Ma, 499Ma, 520Ma, and 542 Ma).

Please cite as:  Scotese, C.R., 2015.  Phanerozoic Temperature Curve, PALEOMAP Project, Evanston, IL.

To learn more about how this curve was produced see:
Scotese, C.R., 2016.  Some thoughts Global Climate Change: The Transition from Icehouse to Hothouse, in Scotese, C.R., Earth History: The Evolution of the Earth System as Revealed through Plate Tectonics, Paleogeography, Paleoclimate, and the Evolution of Life, PALEOMAP Project, (in preparation), Evanston, IL.

Permian non-marine strata in the southern Bowen Basin, Queensland, Australia, yield abundant plant megafossils preserved as impressions, coalified compressions, siliceous petrifactions, and mudstone casts. Plant megafossi1s (excluding glossopterid leaves and fruits) are described from 11 lithostratigraphic units and five subprovinces of the southern Bowen Basin. Several new fossil localities (including a deposit of silicified peat) are described, yielding typical Gondwanic plant assemblages and extending the stratigraphic and geographic ranges of some common pteridophyte and gymnosperm species. New species of gymnospermous seeds (viz., Samaropsis carinata, S. cometensis, S. excellens and S. minniensis) are described. Several plant genera, including Lelstotheca, Puudoctenis, and Pterophyllum, are recorded for the first time from the southern Bowen Basin. Comparison with other Australian and Gondwanic assemblages indicates a Late Permian age for the studied floras.

The Permian and Triassic were key time intervals in the history of life on Earth. Both periods are marked by a series of biotic crises including the most catastrophic of such events, the end-Permian mass extinction, which eventually led to a major turnover from typical Palaeozoic faunas and floras to those that are emblematic for the Mesozoic and Cenozoic. Here we review patterns in Permian-Triassic bony fishes, a group whose evolutionary dynamics are understudied. Based on data from primary literature, we analyse changes in their taxonomic diversity and body size (as a proxy for trophic position) and explore their response to Permian-Triassic events. Diversity and body size are investigated separately for different groups of Osteichthyes (Dipnoi, Actinistia, 'Palaeopterygii', 'Subholostei', Holostei, Teleosteomorpha), within the marine and freshwater realms and on a global scale (total diversity) as well as across palaeolatitudinal belts. Diversity is also measured ...

Mass extinction events near the Palaeozoic/Mesozoic boundary had a major impact on life on Earth. Here we present an updated analysis of the diversity dynamics and size changes of Chondrichthyes and Osteichthyes during the Permian/Triassic. We show that chondrichthyan genus diversity declined during the Middle–Late Permian. Many Palaeozoic groups (e.g. Petalodontiformes) were largely replaced by hybodonts and modern sharks (Neoselachii). A significant overall decrease in tooth size and body length observed across the Permian/Triassic boundary suggests a selective loss of large-sized chondrichthyans. The largest extinction occurred amongst marine groups, with benthic and pelagic groups suffering most, but selectivity for these palaeoecological traits is not evident. Osteichthyes show a general pattern of low diversity during the Permian to higher levels in the Triassic, leading to increased diversity among the modern ray-finned fishes (Neopterygii). Palaeopterygii experienced a significant increase in body size across the Middle/Late Permian boundary and remain among the larger fishes during the Triassic. Neopterygians mostly remained smaller and, thus, mostly occupied lower positions within aquatic food webs. Our data indicates an important evolutionary turnover among fishes, changing from chondrichthyan-dominated communities of the Carboniferous–Permian to osteichthyan (actinopterygian)-dominated associations of the Meso- and Cenozoic.

Terrestrial floras underwent important changes during the Lopingian (late Permian), Early Triassic, and Middle Triassic, i.e., before, during, and after the end-Permian mass extinction. An accurate account of these developments requires reliable correlation. Macrofossils of land plants can only provide a low-resolution biostratigraphy, while detailed zonation schemes based on palynomorphs are available for many regions. Their applicability is still limited due to several factors, such as (micro-)floral provincialism, a lack of suitable marker taxa commonly occurring at important boundaries, and in many cases a lack of independent age control. Nevertheless, these palynostratigraphic schemes are regularly used for dating and correlation of successions between different regions. To support such efforts, the biozonation schemes based on palynomorphs from the Lopingian up to and including the Middle Triassic from across the world are summarized and revised. Thus, a consistent correlation of palynozones with the currently recognized international stages is established.

The Barren Measures Formation (middle Permian, ~271e260 Ma), the non-coaliferous lithounit sandwitched
between two major coal-bearing formations in the Indian Lower Gondwana succession, was
earlier interpreted as continental fluvio-lacustrine deposits. The present contribution documents sedimentary
attributes of marginal marine tideewave interference from the Barren Measures Formation of
eastern peninsular India, exposed along the Bokaro River section, West Bokaro Coalfield, Jharkhand.
Tidalites, including various tidal bundle sequences with frequent reactivation surfaces (velocity asymmetry)
and single/double mud drapes (pause planes), systematic arrangement of tidal beddings (flaser,
wavy, lenticular) and tidal rhythmites with alternate sand-dominated and mud-dominated planelaminated
units, manifest sedimentation by open marine springeneapespring tidal cycles under diurnal
inequalities in a semi-diurnal tidal system. The architecture of tidalites attests to sedimentation in
shallow subtidal to intertidal flat facies, affected by intermittent strong to week reworking by open
marine waves/storms. Wave reworking is manifested by wave ripples, combined-flow ripples and wavegenerated
tidal bundles. Their coexistence and gradation with tidalites indicate low-energy wave/storm
interference with tidal currents in a sheltered, tide-dominated estuary, especially on tidal flats along
estuary channel banks. Overall fining-up facies sequence, upward increase of prodeltaic mud over tide
ewave led sediments, signify a sustained transgressive phase onlaping the estuary system in eastern
peninsular India during middle Permian (Guadalupian).

The late Palaeozoic is a pivotal period for the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems. Generalised warming and aridification trends resulted in profound floral and faunal turnover as well as increased levels of endemism. The patchiness of well-preserved, late Permian terrestrial ecosystems, however, complicates attempts to reconstruct a coherent, global scenario. In this paper, we provide a new reconstruction of the Bletterbach Biota (Southern Alps, NE Italy), which constitutes a unique, low-latitude record of Lopingian life on land. We also integrate floral, faunal (from skeletal and footprint studies), and plant–insect interaction data, as well as global climatic interpretations , to compare the composition of the 14 best-known late Permian ecosystems. The results of this ecosystem-scale analysis provide evidence for a strong correlation between the distribution of the principal clades of tetrapod herbivores (dicynodonts, pareiasaurs, captorhinids), phytoprovinces and climatic latitudinal zonation. We show that terrestrial ecosystems were structured and provincialised at high taxonomic levels by climate regions, and that latitudinal distribution is a key predictor of ecosystem compositional affinity. A lati-tudinal diversity gradient characterised by decreasing richness towards higher latitudes is apparent: mid-to low-latitude ecosystems had the greatest amount of high-level taxonomic diversity, whereas those from high latitudes were dominated by small numbers of higher taxa. The high diversities of tropical ecosystems stem from their inclusion of a mixture of late-occurring holdovers from the early Permian, early members of clades that come to prominence in the Triassic, and contemporary taxa that are also represented in higher latitude assemblages. A variety of evidence suggests that the Permian tropics acted as both a cradle (an area with high origination rates) and museum (an area with low extinction rates) for biodiversity.

Almost 200 years after the discovery and formal description of Glossopteris, a widespread fossil gymnosperm of India and the southern continents, several key questions remain unanswered about this plant group. Glossopteris achieved iconic status through its use as evidence in support of early concepts of continental drift, but the precise geographic limits of this plant group remain poorly constrained. Glossopterids have been interpreted with a broad range of growth habits, but whole-plant reconstructions via association of normally detached organs are now providing a clearer image of these forest mire plants. Greatest controversy surrounds interpretation of the architecture of glossopterid ovuliferous organs. The many morphogenera established for these fossils require systematic revision but fundamental questions of organ homology between glossopterids and other groups will require careful anatomical investigations of three-dimensionally preserved permineralized fossils. The puzzle of glossopterid growth in polar latitudes in the Permian and the rapid decline of this widespread order throughout Gondwana at the close of the Permian will require high-resolution macrofossil and palynological sampling together with investigations of glossopterid ecological signatures in conjunction with other palaeoenvironmental proxy evidence.

The late Cisuralian (Artinskian–Kungurian) is a key time interval for Permian tetrapod evolution. In all the main low-latitude Pangean sites, the fossil footprint record clearly shows a diversification and dispersal of non-synapsid amniote tracks compared to the early Cisuralian (Asselian– Sakmarian). However, data on latest Cisuralian (i.e. late Kungurian) sites are quite fragmentary. A new ichnotaxo-nomic study was carried out in the central part of the Oro-bic Basin, where the highly-fossiliferous Pizzo del Diavolo formation crops out and can potentially cover this gap in knowledge. The following tetrapod ichnogenera were identi-Varanopus; they can be attributed to seymouriamorph and temnospondyl amphibians; pelycosaur synapsids; and diapsid, parareptile and captorhinid reptiles. Dimetropus and Merifontichnus are identified for the first time in the Permian of Italy. The ichnoassociation, in agreement with the radio-metric dating of the underlying Cabianca formation, suggests a late Kungurian (latest Cisuralian) age for the Pizzo del Diavolo formation. It includes the youngest and most diverse non-synapsid amniote ichnofauna of the Cisuralian with five different ichnogenera and possibly six ichnospecies, and thus constitutes a key area for the study of eureptile and pararep-tile dispersal at low latitudes of Pangaea in the time span that immediately pre-dates the first therapsid synapsid radiation .

The fertile glossopterid Senotheca is represented by linear fructifications with broad wings attached to the midribs of Glossopteris leaves. The architecture of the reproductive structures supports their placement within the Dictyopteridiaceae. The genus is emended, the validity of two established species (Senotheca murulidihensis and S. kingii) is confirmed, two new species (Senotheca keiraensis and S. magna) are formally defined and one taxon characterized by an attached leaf with coarse venation is retained under open nomenclature. Senotheca is distributed from northeastern India to eastern Australia and ranges from the (?)Artinskian to Changhsingian but the biostratigraphic utility of the genus is constrained by its rarity. Several other reports of the genus from Antarctica and southeastern Australia remain doubtful.

This paper presents an overview of the space and time distributions of Lopingian strata and biotas in Australia, New Zealand, Timor and New Caledonia. Based on this review, we propose a new schematic Late Permian (Lopingian) regional palaeogeographical reconstruction and marine palaeobiogeographical synthesis. The latter also incorporates some key features of the ocean circulation patterns around southeastern Gondwana, inferred primarily from the distribution of regional marine Lopingian faunas.
Across Australasia, Lopingian successions accumulated in a wide range of tectonic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeolatitudinal settings. In New Zealand, Lopingian strata are found in several tectonostratigraphical terranes, notably the Brook Street, Dun Mountain–Maitai, Caples, Waipapa and Torlesse terranes/superterranes, each originating as a distinctive basin, island arc or ocean ridge. For the most part, these successions represent displaced segments of volcanic arcs, arc-flanking clastic aprons, intra- and fore-arc basins and accretionary complexes, some of which have been traced via stratigraphical, biostratigraphical and petrological correlations into New Caledonia and eastern Australia. This spectrum of Lopingian tectono-sedimentary environments in New Zealand is interpreted to have been originally located near northeastern Australia on a convergent continental margin (i.e. the Panthalassan margin of southeastern Gondwana). Brachiopod and bivalve faunas occur widely throughout the Lopingian successions of New Zealand and have been closely studied. A total of five successive faunal zones are recognized, ranging in age from mid-late Wuchiapingian to the end of the Changhsingian.
In Australia, Lopingian deposits are dominated by non-marine successions in a large number of widely distributed sedimentary basins; onshore exposures of marine deposits are known only from the Gympie Terrane in eastern Australia and the Canning and Bonaparte basins in Western Australia. Lopingian terrestrial sediments are most extensively represented in eastern Australia within a major meridional foreland basin complex (the Tasmania, Sydney, Gunnedah and Bowen basins), for which the evolution through the Lopingian and Early Triassic was governed by the dynamics of the New England Orogen along the Panthalassan margin of southeastern Gondwana. Most of the non-marine successions in eastern Australia are rich in coal measures and plant fossils and locally contain well-preserved non-marine invertebrate and vertebrate fossils. A succession of six palynostratigraphical zones has been recognized in eastern Australia spanning the Lopingian through the Early Triassic. Several of these palynozones have also been recognized in Western Australia, allowing the discrimination and correlation of Lopingian deposits in both onshore and offshore successions. In contrast to eastern Australia and New Zealand, the marine Lopingian successions of Western Australia and Timor are dominated by carbonates that are only locally interbedded with siliciclastic sediments and sparse volcaniclastics; these successions accumulated in a giant sedimentary basin located on a passive and actively rifting continental margin. Marine connections and free and frequent biotic interchanges between this Western Australian superbasin (including Timor) and the Himalayan region of Nepal, southern Tibet and northern India throughout the Lopingian are evident from the shared occurrences of many shallow-marine invertebrate species.