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 This contribution is a tentative reconstruction of the still-debated geological history in the primarily continental domains now represented in various parts of southwestern Europe, between the end of the Variscan diastrophism and the beginning of the Alpine sedimentary evolution. Data and interpretations vary from one region of terrestrial rocks to another. Despite this, we have tried to highlight the most typical and significant geological features. From the Carboniferous to Triassic, palaeontological investigations of the macroflora, microflora and tetrapod footprints, as well as radiometric data, generally point out the presence of three main ‘tectono-stratigraphic units’ (TSUs), separated by marked unconformities and gaps of as yet uncertain duration. The most important geological episode generally started about the Early/Middle Permian boundary and later spanned discontinuously and intensely throughout Middle Permian (Guadalupian) time. It was characterized by specific tectonic, magmatic, thermal and basinal features, which could mark the presumed change suggested by some authors from a Pangaea B to a Pangaea A. In this context, it is worth mentioning that the unconformable Middle?-Upper Permian higher TSU in Spain consists of ‘Buntsandstein’-type red beds, sometimes yielding a Thuringian flora; differently, in southern France, such as in the Lodève area, the Buntsandstein is Anisian and thus constitutes a later Triassic sequence, which rests unconformably above the as yet undefined (Mid-Late) Permian age assessment of the ‘La Lieude fossil site’; in the Southern Alps, the ‘Second tectono-sedimentary Cycle’ emphasized from the recent literature, which is initially made up of the Verrucano Lombardo-Val Gardena Sandstone red clastics, is in part laterally and upwardly replaced, east of the Adige Valley, by the sulphate evaporite to shallow-marine Bellerophon Formation. It is thus represented by continental and marine sediments generally pertaining to Late Permian (post-‘Lower Tatarian’) time and can be interpreted, in the light of the geological context of the region, as an Upper Permian and Lower Triassic TSU of a slightly younger numerical order (i.e. TSU 3 in place of TSU 2).

Abstract: Tetrapod footprints are among the most common fossil remains in continental Permian strata and thus are of biostratigraphic interest. Based on the vertical distribution of the 13 best-known Permian tetrapod ichnotaxa, three footprint biochrons are suggested for the period: (1) Dromopus – latest Carboniferous (approximately Gzhelian) to late Early Permian (approximately Artinskian), representing ichnoassemblages dominated by tracks of temnospondyls, reptiliomorphs, pelycosaurs and early diapsids; (2) Erpetopus – late Early Permian (approximately Kungurian) to late Middle Permian (approximately Capitanian), representing ichnoassemblages dominated by tracks of non-diapsid eureptiles; and (3) Paradoxichnium – Late Permian (Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian), representing ichnoassemblages dominated by tracks of medium- and large-sized parareptiles, non-diapsid eureptiles and early saurians. This is the most conservative ichnostratigraphic concept, and it may be possible to refine it to almost stage-level resolution by future comprehensive analysis, especially of Permian captorhinomorph and therapsid footprints. Other major tasks to improve Permian tetrapod footprint ichnostratigraphy include enhanced knowledge of Middle Permian tetrapod footprints, and clarification of the palaeoenvironmental factors that may control the distribution of tetrapod footprints in space and time.

Abstract Permian tetrapod footprints are known from localities in North America, South America, Europe and Africa. These footprints comprise four ichnofacies, the Chelichnus ichnofacies from aeolianites and the Batrachichnus, Brontopodus and Characichnos ichnofacies from water-laid (mostly red-bed) strata. Permian track assemblages of the Chelichnus ichnofacies are of uniform ichnogeneric composition and low diversity, range in age from Early to Late Permian, and thus are of no biostratigraphic significance. Footprints of the Batrachichnus and Brontopodus ichnofacies represent two biostratigraphically distinct assemblages: (1) Early Permian assemblages characterized by Amphisauropus, Batrachichnus, Dimetropus, Dromopus, Hyloidichnus, Limnopus and Varanopus ; and (2) Middle to Late Permian assemblages characterized by Brontopus, Dicynodontipus, Lunaepes, Pachypes, Planipes , and/or Rhynchosauroides . Few Permian footprint assemblages are demonstrably of Middle Permian (Guadalupian) age, and there is a global gap in the footprint record equivalent to at least Roadian time. Permian tetrapod footprints represent only two biostratigraphically distinct assemblages, an Early Permian pelycosaur assemblage and a Middle to Late Permian therapsid assemblage. Therefore, footprints provide a global Permian biochronology of only two time intervals, much less than the ten time intervals that can be distinguished with tetrapod body fossils.

Abstract Three fundamental terms in ichnology are: (1) assemblage, which is equivalent to an assemblage of body fossils; (2) ichnocoenosis, which is a trace fossil assemblage produced by a biological community that can be characterized by morphological criteria; (3) ichnofacies, which refers to recurrent ichnocoenoses that represent a significant portion of Phanerozoic time. There are five archetypal vertebrate ichnofacies for non-marine environments ( Chelichnus, Grallator, Carichnium, Batrachichnus, Characichichnos ) of which four are present in the Permian: (1) Chelichnus ichnofacies — Chelichnus ichnocoenosis; (2) Batrachichnus ichnofacies — Batrachichnus ichnocoenosis; (3) Brontopodus ichnofacies — Pachypes ichnocoenosis; (4) Characichichnos ichnofacies — Serpentichnus ichnocoenosis. The Chelichnus and Characichichnos ichnofacies occur throughout the Permian, the Batrachichnus ichnofacies is restricted to the Early Permian and the Brontopodus to the Middle to Late Permian. The Batrachichnus ichnocoenosis can be divided into the Ichniotherium sub-ichnocoenosis, Amphisauropus sub-ichnocoenosis and the Dimetropus subichnocoenosis, which represent a spectrum of non-marine environments from alluvial fan to tidal flat.

Abstract Recent work indicates that most modern continental sedimentary basins are filled primarily by distributive fluvial systems (DFS). In this article we use depositional environment interpretations observed on Landsat imagery of DFS to infer the vertical succession of channel and overbank facies, including paleosols, from a hypothetical prograding DFS. We also present rock record examples that display successions that are consistent with this progradational model. Distal DFS facies commonly consist of wetland and hydromorphic floodplain deposits that encase single channels. Medial deposits show larger channel belt size and relatively well-drained soils, indicating a deeper water table. Proximal deposits of DFS display larger channel belts that are amalgamated with limited or no soil development across the apex of the DFS. The resulting vertical sedimentary succession from progradation will display a general coarsening-upward succession of facies. Depending on climate in the sedimentary basin, wetland and seasonally wet distal deposits may be overlain by well-drained medial DFS deposits, which in turn are overlain by amalgamated channel belt deposits. Channel belt size may increase upward in the section as the DFS fills its accommodation. Because the entry point of rivers into the sedimentary basin is relatively fixed as long as the sedimentary basin remains at a stable position, the facies tracts do not shift basinward wholesale. Instead, we hypothesize that as the DFS fills its accommodation, the accommodation/sediment supply (A/S) ratio decreases, resulting in coarser sediment upward in the section and a greater degree of channel belt amalgamation upward as a result of reworking of older deposits on the DFS. An exception to this succession may occur if the river incises into its DFS, where partial sediment bypass occurs with more proximal facies deposited basinward below an intersection point for some period of time. Three rock record examples appear to be consistent with the hypothesized prograding DFS signal. The Blue Mesa and Sonsela members of the Chinle Formation at Petrified Forest National Park, Arizona; the Tidwell and Salt Wash members of the Morrison Formation in southeastern Utah; and the Pennsylvanian-Permian Lodéve Basin deposits in southern France all display gleyed paleosols and wetland deposits covered by better-drained paleosols, ultimately capped by amalgamated channel belt sandstones. In the Morrison Formation succession, sediments that represent the medial deposits appear to have been partially reworked and removed by the amalgamated channel belts that show proximal facies, indicating that incomplete progradational successions may result from local A/S conditions. The prograding DFS succession provides an alternative hypothesis to climate change for the interpretation of paleosol distributions that show a drying upward succession.