Conodont Survival and Low Iridium Abundances across the Permian-Triassic Boundary in South China

The Permian-Triassic sedimentary sequence of China includes one of the most complete and fossiliferous Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundaries known. Closely spaced sampling across the boundary, which is an important extinction event for most organisms, has produced good conodont faunas that show little diver...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1986-08, Vol.233 (4767), p.984-986
Main Authors: Clark, David L., Cheng-yuan, Wang, Orth, Charles J., Gilmore, James S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Carbonates
China
Conodonta
Conodonts
Fauna
Geology
Geology, Stratigraphic
Geophysics
Iridium
Mass extinction
Mass extinction events
Mass extinction theory
Oceans
Paleontology
Permian
Permian period
Soil erosion
Species
Species diversity
Stratigraphy
Territorial issues
Triassic
Triassic period
Volcanic ash
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The Permian-Triassic sedimentary sequence of China includes one of the most complete and fossiliferous Paleozoic-Mesozoic boundaries known. Closely spaced sampling across the boundary, which is an important extinction event for most organisms, has produced good conodont faunas that show little diversity change. A drop in conodont abundance is the only apparent response to the extinction event. A low concentration of iridium in the boundary clay (0.002 part per billion $\pm $20 percent), as well as in samples immediately below and above, that range from 0.004 to 0.034 part per billion do not support the proposal of an extraterrestrial impact event at this boundary in China.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.233.4767.984