scholarly journals Comparative size evolution of marine clades from the Late Permian through Middle Triassic

Paleobiology ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ellen K. Schaal ◽  
Matthew E. Clapham ◽  
Brianna L. Rego ◽  
Steve C. Wang ◽  
Jonathan L. Payne

AbstractThe small size of Early Triassic marine organisms has important implications for the ecological and environmental pressures operating during and after the end-Permian mass extinction. However, this “Lilliput Effect” has only been documented quantitatively in a few invertebrate clades. Moreover, the discovery of Early Triassic gastropod specimens larger than any previously known has called the extent and duration of the Early Triassic size reduction into question. Here, we document and compare Permian-Triassic body size trends globally in eight marine clades (gastropods, bivalves, calcitic and phosphatic brachiopods, ammonoids, ostracods, conodonts, and foraminiferans). Our database contains maximum size measurements for 11,224 specimens and 2,743 species spanning the Late Permian through the Middle to Late Triassic. The Permian/Triassic boundary (PTB) shows more size reduction among species than any other interval. For most higher taxa, maximum and median size among species decreased dramatically from the latest Permian (Changhsingian) to the earliest Triassic (Induan), and then increased during Olenekian (late Early Triassic) and Anisian (early Middle Triassic) time. During the Induan, the only higher taxon much larger than its long-term mean size was the ammonoids; they increased significantly in median size across the PTB, a response perhaps related to their comparatively rapid diversity recovery after the end-Permian extinction. The loss of large species in multiple clades across the PTB resulted from both selective extinction of larger species and evolution of surviving lineages toward smaller sizes. The within-lineage component of size decrease suggests that only part of the size decrease can be related to the end-Permian kill mechanism; in addition, Early Triassic environmental conditions or ecological pressures must have continued to favor small body size as well. After the end-Permian extinction, size decrease occurred across ecologically and physiologically disparate clades, but this size reduction was limited to the first part of the Early Triassic (Induan). Nektonic habitat or physiological buffering capacity may explain the contrast of Early Triassic size increase and diversification in ammonoids versus size reduction and slow recovery in benthic clades.

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michelle R. Stocker ◽  
Li-Jun Zhao ◽  
Sterling J. Nesbitt ◽  
Xiao-Chun Wu ◽  
Chun Li

Abstract Following the end-Permian extinction, terrestrial vertebrate diversity recovered by the Middle Triassic, and that diversity was now dominated by reptiles. However, those reptilian clades, including archosaurs and their closest relatives, are not commonly found until ~30 million years post-extinction in Late Triassic deposits despite time-calibrated phylogenetic analyses predicting an Early Triassic divergence for those clades. One of these groups from the Late Triassic, Phytosauria, is well known from a near-Pangean distribution, and this easily recognized clade bears an elongated rostrum with posteriorly retracted nares and numerous postcranial synapomorphies that are unique compared with all other contemporary reptiles. Here, we recognize the exquisitely preserved, nearly complete skeleton of Diandongosuchus fuyuanensis from the Middle Triassic of China as the oldest and basalmost phytosaur. The Middle Triassic age and lack of the characteristically-elongated rostrum fill a critical morphological and temporal gap in phytosaur evolution, indicating that the characteristic elongated rostrum of phytosaurs appeared subsequent to cranial and postcranial modifications associated with enhanced prey capture, predating that general trend of morphological evolution observed within Crocodyliformes. Additionally, Diandongosuchus supports that the clade was present across Pangea, suggesting early ecosystem exploration for Archosauriformes through nearshore environments and leading to ease of dispersal across the Tethys.


2000 ◽  
Vol 74 (5) ◽  
pp. 789-811 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katsuo Sashida ◽  
Hisayoshi Igo ◽  
Shuko Adachi ◽  
Katsumi Ueno ◽  
Yoshimichi Kajiwara ◽  
...  

Moderately well-preserved Late Permian to Middle Triassic radiolarians are identified in chert beds that occur in the Shan-Thai Block of northern Thailand. These radiolarians are identical to the faunas of the Late Permian Neoalbaillella ornithoformis and N. optima Assemblage Zones and the Triassic Parentactinia nakatsugawaensis and Triassocampe coronata Assemblage Zones reported in chert sequences of Japan. We discovered the radiolarian faunas, apparently indicating Late Permian and Early Triassic ages, in almost continuous sequences of chert and shale exposed in the north of Chiang Mai. The occurrence of these radiolarian faunas provides important data to solve the P/T (Permian/Triassic) boundary in pelagic sequences. Our present discovery also furnishes significant data to reconstruct the paleobiogeography of Mainland Thailand during Late Permian to Middle Triassic times. Fifty species belonging to 35 genera, including three unidentified genera, are investigated taxonomically. Four new species Pseudospongoprunum? chiangdaoensis, Cenosphaera igoi, Cenosphaera? rugosa, and Tlecerina? apsornae are described.


Lithosphere ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. 683-696 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gui-chun Wu ◽  
Zhan-sheng Ji ◽  
Wei-hua Liao ◽  
Jian-xin Yao

Abstract Triassic deposits in the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone are important for understanding its tectonic nature and evolutionary history, but have not been systematically studied due to a lack of biostratigraphic data. For a long time, the Upper Triassic Quehala Group featuring clasolite has been regarded as the only rocky unit. In recent years, the silicite-dominated Gajia Formation that bears radiolarian fossils was suggested to represent Ladinian to Carnian deposits. The Upper Permian and Lower Triassic rocks have never been excavated and thus are considered to be absent. This research, however, reveals that fossils aged from the Late Permian to Anisian of the Middle Triassic and Norian of the Late Triassic have been preserved in the central Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone, which provides evidence of Upper Permian to early Middle Triassic deposits and provides new insights on the Upper Triassic strata as well. A new Triassic strata succession is thus proposed for the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone, and it demonstrates great similarities with those from Lhasa to the south and Qiangtang to the north. Therefore, we deduce that the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone was under a similar depositional setting as its two adjacent terranes, and it was likely a carbonate platform background because limestones were predominant across the Triassic. The newly acquired biostratigraphic data indicate that Lhasa and Qiangtang could not have been located on two separate continents with disparate sedimentary settings; therefore, the Bangong-Nujiang Suture Zone likely did not represent a large ocean between them. This conclusion is supported by lithostratigraphic and paleomagnetic research, which revealed that Lhasa and Qiangtang were positioned at low to middle latitudes during the Early Triassic. Combining this conclusion with fossil evidence, we suggest that the three main Tibetan terranes were in the same palaeobiogeographic division with South China, at least during the Latest Permian to Early Triassic. The Early Triassic conodont species Pachycladina obliqua is probably a fossil sign of middle to low latitudes in palaeogeography.


2019 ◽  
Vol 157 (4) ◽  
pp. 677-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
Binsong Zheng ◽  
Chuanlong Mou ◽  
Renjie Zhou ◽  
Xiuping Wang ◽  
Zhaohui Xiao ◽  
...  

AbstractPermian–Triassic boundary (PTB) volcanic ash beds are widely distributed in South China and were proposed to have a connection with the PTB mass extinction and the assemblage of Pangea. However, their source and tectonic affinity have been highly debated. We present zircon U–Pb ages, trace-element and Hf isotopic data on three new-found PTB volcanic ash beds in the western Hubei area, South China. Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb dating of zircons yields ages of 252.2 ± 3.6 Ma, 251.6 ± 4.9 Ma and 250.4 ± 2.4 Ma for these three volcanic ash beds. Zircons of age c. 240–270 Ma zircons have negative εHf(t) values (–18.17 to –3.91) and Mesoproterozoic–Palaeoproterozoic two-stage Hf model ages (THf2) (1.33–2.23 Ga). Integrated with other PTB ash beds in South China, zircon trace-element signatures and Hf isotopes indicate that they were likely sourced from intermediate to felsic volcanic centres along the Simao–Indochina convergent continental margin. The Qinling convergent continental margin might be another possible source but needs further investigation. Our data support the model that strong convergent margin volcanism took place around South China during late Permian – Early Triassic time, especially in the Simao–Indochina active continental margin and possibly the Qinling active continental margin. These volcanisms overlap temporally with the PTB biocrisis triggered by the Siberian Large Igneous Province. In addition, our data argue that the South China Craton and the Simao–Indochina block had not been amalgamated with the main body of Pangea by late Permian – Early Triassic time.


Paleobiology ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 38 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brianna L. Rego ◽  
Steve C. Wang ◽  
Demir Altiner ◽  
Jonathan L. Payne

One of the best-recognized patterns in the evolution of organismal size is the tendency for mean and maximum size within a clade to decrease following a major extinction event and to increase during the subsequent recovery interval. Because larger organisms are typically thought to be at higher extinction risk than their smaller relatives, it has commonly been assumed that size reduction mostly reflects the selective extinction of larger species. However, to our knowledge the relative importance of within- and among-lineage processes in driving overall trends in body size has never been compared quantitatively. In this study, we use a global, specimen-level database of foraminifera to study size evolution from the Late Permian through Late Triassic. We explicitly decompose size evolution into within- and among-genus components. We find that size reduction following the end-Permian mass extinction was driven more by size reduction within surviving species and genera than by the selective extinction of larger taxa. Similarly, we find that increase in mean size across taxa during Early Triassic biotic recovery was a product primarily of size increase within survivors and the extinction of unusually small taxa, rather than the origination of new, larger taxa. During background intervals we find no strong or consistent tendency for extinction, origination, or within-lineage change to move the overall size distribution toward larger or smaller sizes. Thus, size stasis during background intervals appears to result from small and inconsistent effects of within- and among-lineage processes rather than from large but offsetting effects of within- and among-taxon components. These observations are compatible with existing data for other taxa and extinction events, implying that mass extinctions do not influence size evolution by simply selecting against larger organisms. Instead, they appear to create conditions favorable to smaller organisms.


2021 ◽  
pp. jgs2020-186
Author(s):  
Emilio Carrillo ◽  
Roberto Barragán ◽  
Christian Hurtado ◽  
Ysabel Calderón ◽  
Germán Martín ◽  
...  

Late Permian to Early Jurassic strata in northern Peru allows us to carry out a seismo-stratigraphic, litho-tectonic and chemostratigraphic analysis connecting the Andean-Amazonian foreland basins of Huallaga, Ucayali, southern Marañón, and the Eastern Cordillera. This analysis and data integration from Ecuador to western Brazil and southern Peru and Bolivia, allow us to redefine the timing of the major documented tectonic phases and corresponding palaeogeographies of western Gondwana from the late Permian to Triassic. Three litho-tectonic sequences and four associated deformation stages are recognized: 1) A sequence, tectonic relaxation, during late Permian; 2) A-B intra-sequence, folding-and-thrusting attributed to a continuation in time of the Gondwanide Orogeny, during the Early to Middle Triassic; 3) B sequence, rifting, attributed to Gondwana breakup during the Middle and Late Triassic; and 4) C Sequence, thermal sag, during the Late Triassic. Evaporites and carbonates (A sequence) dominated a low subsidence basin with southern restricted marine inflow at the Permian-Triassic boundary. A novel palaeogeographic model for these evaporites suggests that this saline basin extended up to 50,000 km2 in a restricted environment area with a potential bullseye pattern. The last pulse of the Gondwanide Orogeny and associated fold and thrust belt (A-B intra-sequence) exhumed previous the sequence generating emerged areas with little to no sedimentation. Red beds (B sequence) characterize the rifting stage, representing the syn-depositional infill of continental grabens, likely extending to the Acre Basin in Brazil. Finally, during the thermal sag, a marine inflow likely from the northwestern part of Peru generated sedimentation of carbonates and evaporites (C Sequence) to the west and east of the Peruvian margin. This sediment differentiation was, in part, controlled by the existence of pre-existing grabens associated to the previous rifting stage. This interpretation, together with other evaporitic occurrences attributed here to a Late Triassic epoch in south and north Peru and west Brazil, suggest the existence of an evaporitic basin filling an undeformed area of probably ca. 170,000 km2. It is therefore suggestive of the existence of a Late Triassic (Norian to Rhaetian; 217 to 204 Ma) salt giant controlled by thermal sag in western Gondwana. Our results are of great relevance for any future interpretation related to mass extinctions, paleoclimatic analysis and ocean dynamics during the Permian and Triassic as well as natural resources distribution between Ecuador and Bolivia.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria S. Engelschiøn ◽  
Øyvind Hammer ◽  
Fredrik Wesenlund ◽  
Jørn H. Hurum ◽  
Atle Mørk

<p>Several carbon isotope curves were recently published for the Early and Middle Triassic in Tethys. Recent work has also been done on the Early Triassic of Svalbard, but not yet for the Middle Triassic. This work is the first to measure δ<sup>13</sup>C for different Middle Triassic localities on Svalbard, which was then part of the Boreal Ocean on northern Pangea. Our aim is to understand the controls on the Svalbard carbon isotope curve and to place them in a global setting.</p><p>Correlating Triassic rocks around the world is interesting for several reasons. The Triassic Period was a tumultuous time for life, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard has shown to be an important locality to understand the early radiation of marine vertebrates in the Triassic. Much effort is also made to understand the development of the Barents Sea through Svalbard’s geology.</p><p>Carbon isotope curves are controlled by depositional environment and global fluctuations. Global factors such as the carbon cycle control the long-term carbon isotopic compositions, while short-term fluctuations may reflect the origin of organic materials in the sediment (e.g. algal or terrestrial matter), stratification of the water column, and/or surface water productivity. Carbon isotopes can therefore be useful to understand the depositional environment and to correlate time-equivalent rocks globally.</p><p>The dataset was collected through three seasons of fieldwork in Svalbard with localities from the islands Spitsbergen, Edgeøya and Bjørnøya. Detailed stratigraphic sampling has resulted in high-resolution δ<sup>13</sup>C curves. These show three strong transitions; 1) on the boundary between the Early and Middle Triassic, 2) in the middle of the formation and 3) at the Middle and Late Triassic boundary. Several Tethyan localities show a possibly similar Early-Middle Triassic signal. Current work in progress is sedimentological analysis by thin sections and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy (XRF) to further understand the sedimentary environment.</p>


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mikhail Kurapov ◽  
Victoria Ershova ◽  
Andrey Khudoley ◽  
Aleksandr Makariev ◽  
Elena Makarieva

<p>The studied intrusions are located within the Northern Taimyr domain (southern part of the Kara terrane) on the northwestern coast of the Taimyr Peninsula and on several islands in Kara Sea. Intrusions cut the Lower Paleozoic metasedimentary rocks.</p><p>Late Permian – Early Triassic intrusions are represented by coarse- to medium-grained quartz-syenites and alkali-feldspar-granites. U-Pb dating of these granites yelled age of 253 Ma. Ar-Ar micas ages varies from 236 to 251 Ma. The granites are high- to medium acidic, high alkaline (alkali-calcic to alkalic), ferroan and magnesian, mainly peraluminous. Granites are characterized by relatively low initial <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr ratio (0.7041) and slightly positive εNd(t) value (1.03).</p><p>Middle – Late Triassic intrusions are represented by coarse-grained granodiorites and granites. U-Pb zircon ages of these granites range from 228 to 238 Ma. Ar-Ar micas and amphibole ages varies from 206 to 235 Ma. They are acidic to low acidic, moderately alkaline (alkali-calcic, calc-alkalic), magnesian, peraluminous and metaluminous. Middle – Late Triassic granites are characterized by higher initial <sup>87</sup>Sr/<sup>86</sup>Sr ratios (0.7045-0.7060) and negative εNd(t) values (-5.47 to -0.80).</p><p>Late Permian – Early Triassic high alkalic predominantly ferroan granites are most likely related to A-type granites. Middle – Late Triassic moderate alkalic magnesian granites have transitional I/S-type character. Thus, Late Permian – Early Triassic granites likely form an outer rim of the Permo-Triassic Siberian plume. Middle – Late Triassic granites of Northern Taimyr were formed from different source with more significant crustal component contribution. Obtained data suggests two magmatic events throughout Early Mesozoic that affected Northern Taimyr.</p><p>This research was supported by RFBR project No. 19-35-90006</p>


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