There is growing evidence for the presence of viable microorganisms in geological salt formations that are millions of years old. It is still not known, however, whether these bacteria are dormant organisms that are themselves millions of years old or whether the salt crystals merely provide a habitat in which contemporary microorganisms can grow, perhaps interspersed with relatively short peri...

Abstract To help resolve current controversies surrounding the fundamental question of synchrony between end-Permian mass extinction on land and in sea, we examined marine Permian–Triassic reference section at Meishan (southeastern China) for land-derived molecular degradation products pentacyclic triterpenoids with oleanane carbon skeletons, diagnostic Permian plant genus Gigantopteris. We ide...

The biggest known mass extinction in the history of animal life occurred at Permian–Triassic boundary and has often been linked to global warming. Previous studies have suggested that a geologically rapid (<40 kyr) temperature increase more than 10°C simultaneously with main pulse. This hypothesis is challenged by geochemical palaeontological data indicating profound environmental perturbations...

—The end-Guadalupian extinction, at the end of the Middle Permian, is thought to have been one of the largest biotic crises in the Phanerozoic. Previous estimates suggest that the crisis eliminated 58% of marine invertebrate genera during the Capitanian stage and that its selectivity helped the Modern evolutionary fauna become more diverse than the Paleozoic fauna before the end-Permian mass ex...

Nineteen sites with 198 oriented-core samples have been collected from the Upper Permian-Lower Triassic volcanic rocks of Vien Nam Formation at Quynh Nhai locality, Son La Province, northwestern Vietnam. The characteristic remanent magnetization components carried by magnetite and hematite were successfully isolated secondary reveal a mean paleomagnetic direction Ds = 48.3°, Is -10.0°, a95 8.0°...