High-precision temporal calibration of Late Permian vertebrate biostratigraphy: U-Pb zircon constraints from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa

Research Article| March 01, 2013 High-precision temporal calibration of Late Permian vertebrate biostratigraphy: U-Pb zircon constraints from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa Bruce S. Rubidge; Bruce S. Rubidge 1Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, School of Geosciences, University of the Witwatersrand, PO Wits, Johannesburg 2050, South Africa Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Douglas H. Erwin; Douglas H. Erwin 2Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C. 20560, USA3Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Jahandar Ramezani; Jahandar Ramezani * 4Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA *E-mail: ramezani@mit.edu. Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Samuel A. Bowring; Samuel A. Bowring 4Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar William J. de Klerk William J. de Klerk 5Department of Geology and the Albany Museum, Rhodes University, Grahamstown 6140, South Africa Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Geology (2013) 41 (3): 363–366. https://doi.org/10.1130/G33622.1 Article history received: 14 May 2012 rev-recd: 25 Sep 2012 accepted: 01 Oct 2012 first online: 09 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Search Site Citation Bruce S. Rubidge, Douglas H. Erwin, Jahandar Ramezani, Samuel A. Bowring, William J. de Klerk; High-precision temporal calibration of Late Permian vertebrate biostratigraphy: U-Pb zircon constraints from the Karoo Supergroup, South Africa. Geology 2013;; 41 (3): 363–366. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/G33622.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGeology Search Advanced Search Abstract Therapsid and other tetrapod fossils from the South African Karoo Supergroup provide the most detailed and best studied terrestrial vertebrate record of the Middle and Late Permian. The resulting biostratigraphic scheme has global applicability. Establishing a temporal framework for these faunas has proven difficult: magnetostratigraphy has been hampered by a Jurassic overprint, and intercorrelation with Permian marine sequences has been equivocal. Here we report U-Pb zircon isotope dilution–thermal ionization mass spectrometry (ID-TIMS) dates for five volcanic ashes interbedded with fossils from the Pristerognathus, Tropidostoma, and Cistecephalus vertebrate biozones of the Beaufort Group. This temporal framework allows correlation to marine zonations and improves understanding of rates of faunal evolution and patterns of basin evolution. Our results identify no correlative vertebrate extinctions in the Karoo Supergroup to the marine end-Guadalupian mass extinction and raise the question of whether there is any record of a terrestrial extinction related to the Emeishan large igneous province. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.