Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology

Ediacaran coupling of climate and biosphere dynamics

Climate change is demonstrably linked to radiations, extinctions, and turnovers in the biosphere throughout the Phanerozoic (538.8 Ma to present). Here, we suggest this connection existed as early as the late Ediacaran (ca. 579−538.8 Ma), the first interval in Earth’s history to...

Pre-Paleocene Kohistan–Karakoram Amalgamation: Evidence from the Detrital Zircon Provenance of the Baraul Banda Formation, Pakistan

The Baraul Banda Formation preserves an important Paleocene–Eocene sedimentary record within the western Kohistan–Ladakh Arc (KLA) and provides new constraints on sediment provenance and tectonic evolution during the final stages of Neo-Tethyan closure. This study integrates stra...

Global proliferation of opportunistic pleuromeian lycopsids following the disappearance of the end-Triassic forests

Abstract Environmental crises and mass extinction events on land are typically followed by ecological upheaval, during which opportunistic plants rapidly colonize devastated landscapes, forming transient ‘pioneer’ communities that precede the establishment of complex forest ecosy...