title: Abrupt and gradual extinction among Late Permian land vertebrates in the Karoo basin, South Africa.
abstract: The Karoo basin of South Africa exposes a succession of Upper Permian to Lower Triassic terrestrial strata containing abundant terrestrial vertebrate fossils. Paleomagnetic/magnetostratigraphic and carbon-isotope data allow sections to be correlated across the basin. With this stratigraphy, the vertebrate fossil data show a gradual extinction in the Upper Permian punctuated by an enhanced extinction pulse at the Permian-Triassic boundary interval, particularly among the dicynodont therapsids, coinciding with negative carbon-isotope anomalies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. argo@u.washington.edu
authors.forename: Peter D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Botha
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Buick
authors.forename: Michiel O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: De Kock
authors.forename: Douglas H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Erwin
authors.forename: Geoffrey H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Garrison
authors.forename: Joseph L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Kirschvink
authors.forename: Roger
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D044822:Biodiversity; D002247:Carbon Isotopes / Q000032:analysis; D017753:Ecosystem; D004777:Environment; D005580:Fossils; D019015:Geologic Sediments; D008280:Magnetics; D010944:Plants; D013019:South Africa; D013995:Time; D014714:Vertebrates
chemical_list: D002247:Carbon Isotopes