Abstract: In 1841, Murchison coined the term Permian for strata in the Russian Urals. Recognition of the Permian outside of Russia and central Europe soon followed, but it took about a century for the Permian to be accepted globally as a distinct geological system. The work of the Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy began in the 1970s and resulted in current recognition of nine Permian stages in three series: the Cisuralian (lower Permian) – Asselian, Sakmarian, Artinskian and Kungurian; the Guadalupian (middle Permian) – Roadian, Wordian and Capitanian; and the Lopingian (upper Permian) – Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian. The 1990s saw the rise of Permian conodont biostratigraphy, so that all Permian Global Stratigraphic Sections and Points (GSSPs) use conodont evolutionary events as the primary signal for correlation. Issues in the development of a Permian chronostratigraphic scale include those of stability and priority of nomenclature and concepts, disagreements over changing taxonomy, ammonoid v. fusulinid v. conodont biostratigraphy, differences in the perceived significance of biotic events for chronostratigraphic classification, and correlation problems between provinces. Further development of the Permian chronostratigraphic scale should focus on GSSP selection for the remaining, undefined stage bases, definition and characterization of substages, and further integration of the Permian chronostratigraphic scale with radioisotopic, magnetostratigraphic and chemostratigraphic tools for calibration and correlation.

Abstract: The most extensive Permian tetrapod (amphibian and reptile) fossil records from the western USA (New Mexico to Texas) and South Africa have been used to define 11 land vertebrate faunachrons (LVFs). These are, in ascending order, the Coyotean, Seymouran, Mitchellcreekian, Redtankian, Littlecrotonian, Kapteinskraalian, Gamkan, Hoedemakeran, Steilkransian, Platbergian and Lootsbergian. These faunachrons provide a biochronological framework with which to assign ages to, and correlate, Permian tetrapod fossil assemblages. Intercalated marine strata, radioisotopic ages and magnetostratigraphy were used to correlate the Permian LVFs to the standard global chronostratigraphic scale with varying degrees of precision. Such correlations identified the following significant events in Permian tetrapod evolution: a Coyotean chronofaunal event (end Coyotean); Redtankian events (Mitchellcreekian–Littlecrotonian); Olson’s gap (late Littlecrotonian); a therapsid event (Kapteinskraalian); a dinocephalian extinction event (end Gamkan); and a latest Permian extinction event (Platbergian–Lootsbergian boundary). Problems of incompleteness, endemism and taxonomy, and the relative lack of non-biochronological age control continue to hinder the refinement and correlation of a Permian timescale based on tetrapod biochronology. Nevertheless, the global Permian timescale based on tetrapod biochronology is a robust tool for both global and regional age assignment and correlation. Advances in Permian tetrapod biochronology will come from new fossil discoveries, more detailed biostratigraphy and additional alpha taxonomic studies based on sound evolutionary taxonomic principles.

Abstract: Radioisotopic age determinations targeted at key stratigraphic successions worldwide continue to refine the geological timescale with increasing precision and accuracy and to unravel the tempo of global geological, palaeoclimatic and palaeobiotic processes that have shaped our planet. The last decade has witnessed significant progress in the calibration of the Permian Period through integrated stratigraphic, palaeontological and high-precision geochronological investigations. These studies have largely focused on the Cisuralian and Lopingian stages, particularly the end-Permian mass extinction, whereas much of the Guadalupian and its associated events remain inadequately calibrated. A compilation of the high-precision U–Pb geochronology generated in the past ten years yields ages of 298.92±0.19 Ma for the onset of the Permian, 293.52±0.17 Ma for the base-Sakmarian, 290.10±0.14 Ma for the base-Artinskian, 272.95±0.11 Ma for the Cisuralian–Guadalupian boundary, 265.22±0.34 Ma for the base-Capitanian, 254.14±0.12 Ma for the base-Changhsingian and 251.90±0.10 Ma for the Permian–Triassic boundary. Extension of modern astrochronological methods to the Palaeozoic Era presents new opportunities for broader stratigraphic correlations and enhanced calibration of the Permian timescale. Supplementary material: Table S1 (U–Pb data) is available at https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.c.3917425

ABSTRACT Integration of geochronological analyses of in situ zircons with the petrological study of their microstructural growth microdomains (through petrography and phase diagram modeling) yields a more precise interpretation and understanding of any geological process than the study of ages from separate zircons. This is essential especially for those rocks affected by polymetamorphic histories. We present new in situ U-Pb zircon dating from metapelitic granulites exposed in the contact with the ultramafic massif of Beni Bousera (northern Morocco, Western Mediterranean). Geochronological data scatter from Paleoproterozoic (1508 ± 23 Ma) to Miocene (22.9 ± 0.7 Ma), though the majority of ages range between 100 and 400 Ma, with four main peak ages clustering around 390–319, 286–264, 193, and 105 Ma. The Middle Permian (ca. 286–264 Ma) and earliest Miocene (22.9 ± 0.7 Ma) ages are constrained from a thermobarometric point of view: The former ages represent the formation of the zircons at depth (higher pressure), and the latter ages represent the exhumation process (lower pressure). Combining these petrological results with previous geophysical and geodynamical studies from the literature in the area, we propose a four-step geodynamic model for the Beni Bousera orogenic peridotite since the end of the Paleozoic (i.e., Middle Permian) to the present, supporting an evolution linked to a subduction-related scenario since Late Cretaceous times.