Latest Permian paleosols from Wapadsberg Pass, South Africa: Implications for Changhsingian climate

Comment on: “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” by R.M.H. Smith and J. Botha-Brink, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 396:99-118

“…Smith (1993), working in the Teekloof Formation of the Beaufort Group, derived a minimum accretion rate necessary to preserve fossil vertebrate assemblages in proximal floodplain settings, but did not propose an average floodplain accretion rate. Our field observations and published stratigraphic sections from Bethulie data repository 2009056) and Wapadsberg Pass (Prevec et al, 2010;Gastaldo et al, 2014) indicate that such features exist below the purportedly "unique" 3\5 m thick interval in the latest Permian, as well as above (e.g., Old Lootsberg Pass, unpublished observations). The time estimates for post-boundary ecological stasis and extinction used by Smith and Botha-Brink (2014) conform to the lower limits as first proposed by Ward et al (2000Ward et al ( , p. 1742, and would differ markedly if either of the above rates from Pickup (1991) is applied.…”

“…Smith and Botha-Brink (2014, p. 100) state that the results of our plant taphonomic study on fossil-assemblage characteristics (Gastaldo et al, 2005) support a floral extinction, intimated to be the demise of the Glossopteris biome (Benton and Newell, 2014), which is coincident with the vertebrate pattern evidenced by an increased abundance of fungal spores . 3;Gastaldo et al, 2014). 3;Gastaldo et al, 2014).…”

The base of the Lystrosaurus Assemblage Zone, Karoo Basin, predates the end-Permian marine extinction

“…Assemblages characterized by taeniate bisaccate Protohaploxypinus and Striatopodocarpidites pollen are replaced by assemblages rich in algal remains and low abundance of nontaeniate, alete bissacate pollen and cavate spores. There is an absence of Glossopteris macroflora above that horizon in Australia, although leaves of this taxon are preserved in the P. crenulata zone of the Karoo 21,[58][59][60] indicating their persistence in southern Africa. The P. crenulata zone is recognized as latest Changhsingian in age, and does not represent the typical Late Permian Glossopteris palynofloras.…”

A multistratigraphic approach to pinpoint the Permian-Triassic boundary in continental deposits: The Zechstein–Lower Buntsandstein transition in Germany

“…Alternatively, the "chemical index minus potassium" (CIA-K) can be used in order to exclude any potentially influences of potassium mobility. The CIA-K is known to serve as proxy for palaeoprecipitation conditions of Late Permian to Early Triassic sections (e.g., Thomas et al, 2011;Gastaldo et al, 2014). The CIA-K is calculated by using molar masses in the following equation: CIA-K = (Al/[Al + Ca + Na])*100 (Sheldon and Tabor, 2009).…”

“…In the present study we conduct a multistratigraphic analysis of the crucial stratigraphic interval in continental deposits of the Zechstein-Buntsandstein transition in central Germany integrating new data on δ 13 Corg-, δ 13 Ccarb-, δ 18 Ocarb-analyses, magnetostratigraphy, and biostratigraphy with palynomorphs and conchostracans (Crustacea: Branchiopoda). New geochemical results of major-/trace-element analyses are used for assessing proxies on palaeoclimatical conditions as previously done in continental Permian-Triassic boundary sections such as in the Bogda Mountains in NW-China (e.g., Thomas et al, 2011), western Guizhou and eastern Yunnan in South-China (e.g., Yu et al, 2007), the Karoo Basin in South Africa (e.g., Gastaldo et al, 2014), and northern Germany in the Central European Basin (e.g., Hiete et al, 2006Hiete et al, , 2013. Our interdisciplinary study was performed on classical and new sections of the Zechstein-Buntsandstein transition in Thuringia, Saxony-Anhalt, and Hesse ( Table 1).…”