Abstract In order to take into account the studies of the European and American (USA) collections carried out by one of the authors, and of the recent nomenclatural revisions from new footprint discoveries, which have occurred during the last decade, the authors present a critical review of the French Permian palichnofauna. The distribution of the ichnospecies in the stratigraphy of the Lodève Basin, taken as a reference, is outlined. The ichno-associations are then compared with those of other French (Provence), European (Italy, Germany) and USA basins. Based on the ages of different ichnofossiliferous formations, three successive ichnofaunal units can be distinguished in the Permian of Europe. The first developed in the Cisuralian (Asselian to Kungurian). The second is found in the south of France in Kazanian to Lower Tatarian strata, equivalent to the Roadian-Wordian. The third and youngest, dated as Lopingian, is only found in Italy, in the Bolzano Basin. Because of sedimentary gaps, limited observations, sometimes erroneous determinations, and ichnospecies with great vertical distribution, it currently appears that footprints have a low utility for biochronological resolution. Nevertheless, they allow us to discriminate three time intervals in the Permian, as is also the case for skeletal remains.

Abstract In the French sedimentary basins, widespread alluvial deposits sealing narrow Permian troughs are referred to as ‘Buntsandstein’. An Early Triassic age is generally put forward despite a lack of any Scythian biochronological elements. In Provence (Southeast Basin) some doubts remain about the age of the latest Permian deposits, and the oldest Triassic fossils (Anisian palynomorphs) appear in the upper ‘Buntsandstein’. Three types of contact occur: disconformity overlain by a quartz-Conglomérate, apparent transition, and angular unconformity, according to an increasing basal incompleteness of the ‘Buntsandstein’. Whereas the Conglomérate was deposited under arid conditions, the overlying fluvial deposits indicate a marked climate change. A transect from France up to the Germanic Basin centre shows that the ‘French Buntsandstein’ cycle might begin considerably before the end of the Permian; the Early Triassic arid ‘event’ is Dienerian/Smithian in age; and the Provençal ‘basal’ Conglomérate corresponds to the uppermost part of a coeval subordinate cycle, and thus the underlying sub-Triassic unconformity represents a hiatus estimated at 10–15 Ma. Works in proGréss confirm that sedimentary climate indicators constitute powerful tools for correlations within non-marine formations devoid of biostratigraphical marker that straddle the Permian–Triassic boundary, at least on the scale of the Western European Plate.