Live Breaking News & Updates on Wegener Halv|Page 1

The Capitanian (Middle Permian) mass extinction event, prior to and separate from the end-Permian mass extinction, has been suggested as a severe biotic crisis comparable to the big five mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic. However, there is still controversy about its global significance. In particular, this purportedly disastrous event in the Capitanian was mostly documented in the eastern Tethys, especially South China and Japan, whereas its extent in higher latitudinal regions remains unclear. A few recent studies have reported biostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic evidence for the Capitanian extinction at the northwestern marginal shelf of Pangea, including in the Kapp Starostin Formation in Spitsbergen. However, we here report a different result from these previous studies based on a study of abundant brachiopod fossils collected from eight geological sections that represent the same formation in western and central Spitsbergen, Arctic Norway. Our biostratigraphic investigation ....

Wegener Halv , Middle Permian , South China , Kapp Starostin Formation , Schuchert Dal Formations , East Greenland ,