What really happened in the late Triassic?

Abstract

Major extinctions occurred both in the sea and on land during the Late Triassic in two major phases, in the middle to late Carnian and, 12–17 Myr later, at the Triassic‐Jurassic boundary. Many recent reports have discounted the role of the earlier event, suggesting that it is (1) an artefact of a subsequent gap in the record, (2) a complex turnover phenomenon, or (3) local to Europe. These three views are disputed, with evidence from both the marine and terrestrial realms. New data on terrestrial tetrapods suggests that the late Carnian event was more important than the end‐Triassic event. For tetrapods, the end‐Triassic extinction was a whimper that was followed by the radiation of five families of dinosaurs and mammal‐like reptiles, while the late Carnian event saw the disappearance of nine diverse families, and subsequent radiation of 13 families of turtles, crocodilomorphs, pterosaurs, dinosaurs, lepidosaurs and mammals. Also, for many groups of marine animals, the Carnian event marked a more signific...