Pecoits et al. (Reports, 29 June 2012, p. 1693) describe bilaterian trace fossils and assign them an Ediacaran age based on the age of a granite interpreted as intrusive. We argue that the granite is not intrusive but in fact represents the basement of the sedimentary succession. Moreover, we show that identical trace fossils occur in nearby Carboniferous-Permian glacigenic rocks.

Geographic gradients in body size within and among living species are commonly used to identify controls on the long-term evolution of organism size. However, the persistence of these gradients over evolutionary time remains largely unknown because ancient biogeographic variation in organism size is poorly documented. Middle Permian fusulinoidean foraminifera are ideal for investigating the tem...

The Permian–Triassic boundary, examined at two sections in the Southern Alps, occurs 1.0 to 1.5 m above the base of the Tesero Oolite Member of the Werfen Formation in a depositionally continuous sequence of inner neritic carbonates. Lagenide foraminifers from the boundary interval comprise 27 species in 15 genera plus additional unidentified taxa, most of which became extinct during the end-Pe...

Accurate and precise dating of individual volcanogenic beds that spread across multiple sedimentary successions is a powerful tool to untangle stratigraphic age contradictions, since these horizons are deposited synchronously. In this study, we show that combining apatite chemistry with zircon age, Th/U ratio, and Hf isotope composition leads to reliable lateral correlation of volcanic horizons...

Please cite this article as: Sun, Yadong, Lai, Xulong, Wignall, Paul B., Widdowson, Mike, Ali, Jason R., Jiang, Haishui, Wang, Wei, Yan, Chunbo, Bond, David P.G., Védrine, Stéphanie, Dating the onset and nature of the Middle Permian Emeishan large igneous province eruptions in SW China using conodont biostratigraphy and its bearing on mantle plume uplift models, LITHOS (2010), doi: 10.1016/j.li...

Sun et al. (Reports, 19 October 2012, p. 366) reconstructed Permian to Middle Triassic equatorial seawater temperatures. After correct temporal positioning of their data points, their presumed trends of temperature changes, and hence their assumption of a one-to-one relationship between putative "lethally hot" seawater temperatures and a disputable equatorial "eclipse" of some organisms, are no...

Introduction The current study summarizes years of investigations of salt karst and resultant collapse features in and around the Anadarko Basin of western Oklahoma and the Texas Panhandle. These investigations have involved integrated studies of: 1) the subsurface distribution and thickness of Permian salt beds; and 2) field studies to identify areas where outcropping strata are disrupted and ...