Project description
Delving into ancient mass extinctions in Europe
Two of the six major historical mass extinction events occurred during the Permian Period. While the terrestrial record of these events is best preserved in South Africa’s main Karoo Basin, the global applicability of this record has been limited due to a lack of data. The EU-funded ExtinctRecov project aims to fill this gap. Combining palaeontological, sedimentological, stratigraphical and geochronological data, researchers will try and correlate Permian-Triassic Spanish and French basins with the South African basin. The project will also explore patterns of faunal turnover, extinction and recovery during the mid-to-late Permian and across the Permo-Triassic boundary, between 250 and 265 million years ago. Results could provide a better understanding of how ecosystems recovered from past extinctions.
Objective
Drastic global climate change during the Permian resulted in two of the greatest mass extinction events of all time, one around 260 Ma ago and the other around 252 Ma ago. Arguably the best record of these events on land is preserved in the main Karoo Basin (MKB) of South Africa, which was situated in higher latitudes (~60° S) at those times. Because of the relatively poorer fossil record from lower (0-15°) palaeolatitudes, latitudinal differences in faunal assemblages, and lack of precise radiometric dates, global applicability of extinction and faunal recovery patterns observed in the MKB has long remained elusive; we simply lacked the necessary data. As such, stratigraphic correlations between basins are tenuous. Moreover, it is not known whether the terrestrial expression of the two greatest mass extinction events of the Permian, and subsequent ecosystem recovery, are preserved in western Europe. ExtinctRecov is a novel interdisciplinary project that aims to, for the first time, combine palaeontological, sedimentological, stratigraphical and geochronological data to correlate the Permian-Triassic Spanish and French basins and the MKB. ExtinctRecov will also explore patterns of faunal turnover, extinction, and recovery during the mid-to-late Permian and across the Permo-Triassic boundary i.e. between 265 and 250 Ma ago. The proposed project draws on the geological, geochronological, and palaeontological advances and work undertaken during the past two decades in the Pyrenees and Lodéve basins (Spain and France) and the main Karoo Basin (South Africa), which finally makes this ambitious project possible. Implications of the results from the proposed project include new and key insights on the faunal communities present in this part of Pangea and a better understanding of how terrestrial ecosystems were affected by and recovered from the late Capitanian and Permo-Triassic extinction.
Fields of science
Keywords
Programme(s)
- HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Main Programme
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European FellowshipsCoordinator
08201 Barcelona
Spain