This book documents timely and systematically marvelous fossils (plants and sporopollen) related to the biggest mass extinction of the Permian–Triassic transition. Numerous beautiful pictures and comprehensive records on the plants of this unique and critical interval of geohistory are presented in this book. It greatly contributes to understanding of the Permian–Triassic plant diversity and evolution. For geologists, it is important to understand the Permian–Triassic crisis, and for students, it is attractive to learn about the plants’ response to palaeoclimatic changes.

This text covers a wide range of exploration topics from the regional to the field scale. It provides new information on Neogene to recent stratigraphy and sedimentation in the North Atlantic. A significant amount of exploration has taken place since the publication of Geological Society special publication no. 93 in 1995.

The Permian was a remarkable time period. It represents the maximum stage of Pangean continental assembly, includes a major global climatic shift from glacial to nonglacial conditions (icehouse-greenhouse transition), and is ter minated by one of the most profound faunal/floral extinction events in the Earth's history. In addition, Permian oceans, although poorly understood, must have had some quite unique characteristics. Permian seas reached the most extreme values of carbon, sulfur, and strontium isotopic ratios ever achieved in Phanerozoic time, and the isotopic ratios of all three elements abruptly returned to more "normal" values at, or very close to, the Permo Triassic boundary. Finally, the Permian is marked by an abundance of important sedimentary mineral resources. It has large fossil fuel concentra tions (coal, oil, and natural gas), enormous phosphate reserves, and very extensive evaporite deposits, including gypsum, anhydrite, and halite, as well as a variety of potash salts. Study of the Permian has been hampered, however, by a number of factors. These include a scattered geologic literature (presented in a variety of languages), a confusing regional and global stratigraphic framework (based, in part, on inadequate type sections), and largely provincial, often poorly correlatable faunas. All have contributed to the sparsity and inadequacy of overviews of this critical geological interval. These two volumes attempt to bring together some of the widely scattered observations about these fascinating rocks, at least for the northern (predominantly nonglacial) parts of Pangea.

This book provides complete coverage of all aspects of the study of all fossil palynomorphs yet studied. It is a profusely illustrated treatment. The book serves both as a student text and general reference work. Palynomorphs yield information about age, geological and biological environment, climate during deposition, and other significant factors about the enclosing rocks. Extant spores and pollen are treated first, preparing the student for more difficult work with fossil sporomorphs and other kinds of palynomorphs. An appendix describes laboratory methods. The glossary, bibliographies and index are useful tools for study of the literature.

This book describes and interprets Upper Permian and Lower Triassic rocks and their fossils in the region of the eastern Tethys, bringing together information gathered in the International Geological Correlation Programme Project 203.

The Mesozoic Era begins with the approximately 50-million-year-long Triassic Period, a major juncture in Earth history when the vast Pangaean supercontinent completed its assembly and began its fragmentation, and the global biota diversified and modern-ized after the end-Permian mass extinction, the most extensive biotic decimation of the Phanerozoic. The temporal ordering of geological and biotic events during Triassic time thus is critical to the interpretation of some unique and pivotal events in Earth his-tory. This temporal ordering is mostly based on the Triassic time-scale, which has been developed and refined for nearly two centu-ries. This book reviews the state of the art of the Triassic timescale and includes comprehensive analyses of Triassic radio-isotopic ages, magnetostratigraphy, isotope-based and cyclostratigraphic correlations and timescale -relevant marine and non-marine bio-stratigraphy.

The Geology of Ireland is about the island of Ireland as a physical whole and includes chapters on marine geology and the history of geology in Ireland. The text is intended for professional geologists and students of geology.