Anatomy of a mass extinction: Sedimentological and taphonomic evidence for drought-induced die-offs at the Permo-Triassic boundary in the main Karoo Basin, South Africa

Smith, Roger M. H.; Botha‐Brink, Jennifer

doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2014.01.002

Cited by 174 publications

(295 citation statements)

References 82 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

272

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…13). Biostratigraphy after Smith and Botha-Brink (2014) and Gastaldo et al (2017). Note the large stratigraphic inconsistency between the reported biostratigraphy and U-Pb SHRIMP ages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1) represents an extensive depositional record of Pennsylvanian-early Jurassic fossiliferous sedimentary (Rubidge et al, 1999) rocks that have been critical for understanding the rate of vertebrate turnovers for continental extinction events during the End-Guadalupian and across the Permian-Triassic boundary (Botha and Smith, 2006;Day et al, 2015;Gastaldo et al, 2015;Rubidge et al, 2013;Smith and Botha, 2005;Smith and Botha-Brink, 2014;Smith and Ward, 2001;Ward et al, 2005). The excellent preservation of the associated vertebrate assemblages has led to a large library of published faunal information, complemented by palynological data, that has been extrapolated globally to understand the patterns of tetrapod extinctions and their timing relative to the end-Permian marine extinction at ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The terrestrial PTB is considered to be broadly represented by the Last Appearance Datum of the late Permian tetrapods of the Daptocephalus (formerly Dicynodon; Viglietti et al, 2016) Assemblage Zone and the First Appearance Datum (FAD) of early Triassic taxa in the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone (Lucas, 2010;Smith and Botha-Brink, 2014), of which the Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin has long been considered the prime example. However, in the past decade a number of U-Pb SHRIMP (zircon) results have been published from this region that support a ca.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Refining the chronostratigraphy of the Karoo Basin, South Africa: magnetostratigraphic constraints support an early Permian age for the Ecca Group

Belica¹,

Tohver²,

Poyatos‐Moré

et al. 2017

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary:The Beaufort Group of the Karoo Basin, South Africa provides an important chrono-and biostratigraphic record of vertebrate turnovers that have been attributed to the End-Permian mass extinction events at ca. 252 Ma and ca. 260 Ma. However, an unresolved controversy exists over the age of the Beaufort Group due to a large dataset of published U-Pb SHRIMP zircon results that indicate a ca. 274-250 Ma age range for deposition of the underlying Ecca Group. This age range requires the application of a highly diachronous sedimentation model to the Karoo Basin stratigraphy and is not supported by published paleontologic and palynologic data. This study tested the strength of these U-Pb isotopic datasets using a magnetostratigraphic approach. Here we present a composite ~1500 m section through a large part of the Ecca Group from the Tanqua depocentre, located in the southwestern segment of the Karoo Basin. After the removal of two normal polarity overprints, a likely primary magnetic signal was isolated at temperatures above 450°C. This section is restricted to a reverse polarity, indicating that it formed during the Kiaman Reverse Superchron (ca. 318-265 Ma), a distinctive magnetostratigraphic marker for Early−Middle Permian rocks. The Ecca Group has a corresponding paleomagnetic pole at 40.8°S, 77.4°E (A95 = 5.5°). UPb SHRIMP ages on zircons are presented here for comparison with prior isotopic studies of the Ecca Group. A weighted mean U-Pb age of 269.5 ± 1.2 Ma was determined from a volcanic ash bed located in the uppermost Tierberg Formation sampled from the OR1 research core. The age is interpreted here as a minimum constraint due to a proposed Pb-loss event that has likely influenced a number of published results. A comparison with the Geomagnetic Polarity Time Scale as well as published U-Pb TIMS ages from the overlying Beaufort Group supports a ca. 290-265 Ma age for deposition of the Ecca Group.

show abstract

“…13). Biostratigraphy after Smith and Botha-Brink (2014) and Gastaldo et al (2017). Note the large stratigraphic inconsistency between the reported biostratigraphy and U-Pb SHRIMP ages.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Refining the chronostratigraphy of the Karoo Basin, South Africa: magnetostratigraphic constraints support an early Permian age for the Ecca Group

Belica¹,

Tohver²,

Poyatos‐Moré

et al. 2017

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The rocks of the Beaufort Group of the South African Karoo Basin are highly fossiliferous (23)(24)(25), and provide a nearly continuous record of terrestrial community transformation from the middle Permian to the Middle Triassic (26)(27)(28)(29). The dataset presented here is a modification of our previous works on the food webs of the Permo-Triassic communities of the Karoo Basin (30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35).…”

Section: Paleocommunity Datasetsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stability, incumbency and ecological reorganization after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction

Roopnarine

Weik

Angielczyk

et al. 2018

Preprint

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

One sentence summary: Biotic incumbency at the end of the Paleozoic, based on community functional organization, was destroyed by the Permian-Triassic mass extinction, allowing the development of novel community types.The Permian-Triassic mass extinction (PTME) altered macroevolutionary landscapes by removing incumbent biota. Here, using terrestrial paleocommunities of the Karoo Basin spanning the PTME, we show that a pre-extinction incumbent configuration of biotic interactions made significant ecological reorganizations or macroevolutionary innovations unlikely. The post-PTME ecosystem initially was more likely to be reorganized, but incumbency was re-established by the Middle Triassic. We argue that the stability of the pre-PTME ecosystem, its subsequent loss, and replacement, resulted from the influence of community-level structure and dynamics on species evolution and survival.

show abstract

“…It is dominated by fluvial deposits of four lithofacies representing mud flat, sandy distributary, small gravelly-channel and large gravellychannel deposits (Newell et al, 1999;Benton et al, 2004). Newell et al (2010) recognised a muddy playa-lacustrine depositional system in the uppermost part of the succession (Vyazniki and Gorokhovets sections), similar to that at the top of the Karoo sequence (Smith and Botha-Brink, 2014; although see Gastaldo et al, 2017;Li et al, 2017). During the late Permian, the South Urals were located around latitude 28-34°N (Scotese, 2003;Stampfli and Borel, 2004;Blakey, 2008).…”

Section: South Urals Russiamentioning

confidence: 99%

Late Permian (Lopingian) Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Global Comparison With New Data From the Low Latitude Bletterbach Biota

Petti¹,

Bernardi²,

Kustatscher³

et al. 2017

Geological Society of America Abstracts With Programs

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Keywords:Tetrapoda flora phytoprovinces plant-insect interactions climate endemism latitudinal diversity gradient A B S T R A C TThe 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 latitudinal diversity gradient characterised by decreasing richness towards higher latitudes is apparent: mid-to lowlatitude 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.

show abstract

Anatomy of a mass extinction: Sedimentological and taphonomic evidence for drought-induced die-offs at the Permo-Triassic boundary in the main Karoo Basin, South Africa

Cited by 174 publications

References 82 publications

Refining the chronostratigraphy of the Karoo Basin, South Africa: magnetostratigraphic constraints support an early Permian age for the Ecca Group

Refining the chronostratigraphy of the Karoo Basin, South Africa: magnetostratigraphic constraints support an early Permian age for the Ecca Group

Stability, incumbency and ecological reorganization after the Permian-Triassic mass extinction

Late Permian (Lopingian) Terrestrial Ecosystems: A Global Comparison With New Data From the Low Latitude Bletterbach Biota

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About