Abstract Two outstanding Permian petrified forests, those of Chemnitz, in Germany, and northern Tocantins, in Brazil, contribute to the understanding of the composition, peculiarities and dynamics of Early Permian wetland ecosystems. These assemblages represent seasonally influenced, essentially contemporaneous but quite comparable, tree-ferndominated plant communities in the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. The Chemnitz fossils are embedded in coarse-grained pyroclastics of the Zeisigwald Tuff Horizon (Leukersdorf Formation, Erzgebirge Basin), whereas those of Tocantins occur in different lithofacies of a cyclic alluvial succession (Pedra de Fogo/Motuca formations, Parnaíba Basin). The outstanding three-dimensional preservation of particularly large fossil remains, made possible by siliceous permineralization, provides the opportunity to study the gross morphology, anatomy and internal organization of plant tissues, as well as taphonomical and ecological aspects of late Palaeozoic plants in a way not allowed by other preservational states. Recent studies of newly collected material permit a re-evaluation of the popular reconstructions of Early Permian floras. Various plant-plant and plant-animal interactions add to our understanding of two diverse lowland ecosystems that, irrespective of their different palaeogeographic position and taphonomic modes, show striking similarities.

Abstract Stratigraphical correlation within continental red beds is hampered by uniformity of sediments and the lack of fossils, such that classical lithostratigraphical and biostratigraphical methods often fail. For a drilled section of Upper Carboniferous non-marine sediments of the Variscan intermontane Saale Basin, almost 800 m in thickness, an alternative approach is proposed. Wavelet-based time-series analysis is used to identify the internal organization of the cyclicity, and to distinguish cycles of different magnitude and origin as being autocyclically, tectonically or climatically controlled. Based on this distinction, basin-wide correlations of fluvial red beds are possible using a combination of high-resolution stratigraphy, biostratigraphy and classical lithostratigraphy. The analyses of well Querfurt 1/64 suggest the presence of short and long eccentricity cycles, and a duration of 5–7 Ma if the grey facies at the base of the section is to be correlated with the Grillenberg Subformation sediments. This subformation is of Stephanian A or Barruelian age, respectively, such that the well Querfurt 1/64 exposes a nearly complete section of the Mansfeld Subgroup (complete Stephanian stage).

Abstract Although Permian fossils have been known from the Parnaíba Basin for two centuries, and some faunal and flora elements are well known worldwide, research on the fossil assemblages from this basin has lagged relative to other, more accessible basins. In the last decade, however, there has been a significant increase in the study of fossils from the two Permian units of the basin: the Pedra de Fogo and Motuca formations. The goal of this contribution is to synthesize and update the existing data on the Permian macrofossils from these formations, and to use them to address biostratigraphic, palaeoenvironmental and palaeogeographical questions. The Pedra de Fogo and Motuca formations are likely to be Cisuralian in age. Contrary to previous reports, there is more than one stratigraphic interval that preserves petrified fossil plants. The possible marine influence proposed for the Pedra de Fogo Formation must be reassessed based on the strongly terrestrial character of its fossil assemblages. Palaeoenvironmental and palaeoclimatic conditions are inferred to be wetter than is typically predicted for this region of the globe based on climatic modelling. Despite sharing some taxa with the Euramerican and Gondwanan biogeographical provinces, the Parnaíba Basin was likely to have been part of a distinct biogeographical province, as indicated by the high degree of endemism displayed by its Permian floras and faunas.