Cisuralian

The Cisuralian is the first series/epoch of the Permian. The Cisuralian was preceded by the Pennsylvanian and followed by the Guadalupian. The Cisuralian Epoch is named after the western slopes of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan and dates between 298.9 ± 0.15 – 272.3 ± 0.5 Mya.^[4]

Cisuralian
298.9 ± 0.15 – 273.01 ± 0.14 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
The world at the start of the Cisuralian
Chronology
−300 — – −295 — – −290 — – −285 — – −280 — – −275 — – −270 — – −265 — – −260 — – −255 — – −250 — P a l e o z o i c M Z C P e r m i a n T P Late P C i s u r a l i a n G u a d a l u p. L o p i n. Early T Asselian Sakmarian Artinskian Kungurian Roadian Wordian Capitanian Wuchiapingian Changhsingian       ← Permian-Triassic mass extinction event ← end-Capitanian extinction event ← Olson's Extinction Subdivision of the Permian according to the ICS, as of 2022.^[1] Vertical axis scale: millions of years ago.
Etymology
Name formality	Formal
Synonym(s)	Early/Lower Permian
Usage information
Celestial body	Earth
Regional usage	Global (ICS)
Time scale(s) used	ICS Time Scale
Definition
Chronological unit	Epoch
Stratigraphic unit	Series
Time span formality	Formal
Lower boundary definition	FAD of the conodont Streptognathodus isolatus within the morphotype Streptognathodus wabaunsensis chronocline
Lower boundary GSSP	Aidaralash, Ural Mountains, Kazakhstan 50°14′45″N 57°53′29″E / 50.2458°N 57.8914°E / 50.2458; 57.8914
Lower GSSP ratified	1996^[2]
Upper boundary definition	FAD of the Conodont Jinogondolella nanginkensis
Upper boundary GSSP	Stratotype Canyon, Guadalupe Mountains, Texas, U.S.A. 31°52′36″N 104°52′36″W / 31.8767°N 104.8768°W / 31.8767; -104.8768
Upper GSSP ratified	2001^[3]

The Cisuralian is often synonymous with the informal terms early Permian or lower Permian. It corresponds approximately with the Wolfcampian in southwestern North America.^[5][6]

The series saw the appearance of beetles and flies and was a relatively stable warming period of about 21 million years.

Name and background

The Cisuralian is the first series or epoch of the Permian.^[7] The Cisuralian was preceded by the last Pennsylvanian epoch (Gzhelian) and is followed by the Permian Guadalupian Epoch.

The name "Cisuralian" was proposed in 1982,^[8] and approved by the International Subcommission on Permian Stratigraphy in 1996.^[9] The Cisuralian Epoch is named after the western slopes of the Ural Mountains in Russia and Kazakhstan.^[10][11][12]

Limestones on the edge of Russian Platform and make up the Ishimbay oil fields. These oil fields were vital to the Soviet Union during WW2 when the Germans controlled the oil fields to the west.^[10]

The International Chronostratigraphic Chart (v2018/07)^[7] provides a numerical age of 298.9 ± 0.15 – 272.3 ± 0.5 Mya.^[13]

The base of the Cisuralian series and the Permian system is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where fossils of the conodont Streptognathodus isolatus first appear. The global reference profile for the base (the GSSP or golden spike) is located in the valley of the Aidaralash River, near Aqtöbe in the Ural Mountains of Kazakhstan.^[14]

Geography

Gondwana collided with Laurussia and created the Alleghenian orogeny in present-day North America.^[10] In northwestern Europe, the Hercynian orogeny continued.^[10] This created the large supercontinent, Pangea, by the middle of the early Permian, which was to have an impact on the climate.^[10]

Climate

 

Selwyn Rock, South Australia, an exhumed glacial pavement of Permian age

At the start of the Permian, the Late Palaeozoic Ice Age, which began in the Carboniferous, was at its peak. Glaciers receded over the course of the late Cisuralian as the Earth's climate gradually warmed,^[15] particularly during the Artinskian Warming Event,^[16] drying the continent's interiors.^[17][18][19] The pan-tropical belt of Pangaea experienced particularly significant aridification during this epoch.^[20][21][22]

Biodiversity

The swampy fringes were mostly ferns, seed ferns, and lycophytes. The series saw the appearance of beetles and flies.^[10]

The coal swamps from the Carboniferous continued and the herbivores, Diadectes and Edaphosaurus.^[11] The dry interior with small insectivores. Caseids and prototherapsid Tetraceratops made their appearance.^[11] The marine life was probable more diverse than modern times as the climate warmed.^[10] Unusual sharks such as Helicoprion continued in this series.

Early Permian terrestrial faunas were dominated by pelycosaurs, diadectids, and amphibians,^[23][24] The pelycosaurs appeared during the Late Carboniferous, and reached their apex in the Cisuralian remaining the dominant land animals for some 40 million years.^[11][25] A few continued into the Capitanian. They were succeeded by the therapsids.^[11]

•  

  Dimetrodon, a pelycosaur, was at the top of the food chain in the Cisuralian

•  

  Helicoprion bessonovi with characteristic 'tooth-whorl' at front of jaw

Subdivisions

Global

• Asselian stage (298.9 ± 0.15 – 294.6 ± 0.8 Mya)
• Sakmarian stage (294.6 ± 0.8 – 290.1 ± 0.7 Mya)
• Artinskian stage (290.1 ± 0.7 – 283.5 ± 0.7 Mya)
• Kungurian stage (283.5 ± 0.7 – 272.3 ± 0.5 Mya)

Regional

• New Zealand
  • Telfordian (289 – 278 Mya)
  • Mangapirian (278 – 270.6 Mya)

References

1. "Chart/Time Scale". www.stratigraphy.org. International Commission on Stratigraphy.
2. Davydov, Vladimir; Glenister, Brian; Spinosa, Claude; Ritter, Scott; Chernykh, V.; Wardlaw, B.; Snyder, W. (March 1998). "Proposal of Aidaralash as Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for base of the Permian System" (PDF). Episodes. 21: 11–18. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1998/v21i1/003. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
3. "GSSP for Roadian Stage". International Commission on Stratigraphy. International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
4. Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Smith, Alan G. (2004). A Geologic Time Scale 2004. ISBN 9780521786737.
5. Ross, C. A.; Ross, June R. P. (1995). "Permian Sequence Stratigraphy". The Permian of Northern Pangea: 98–123. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-78593-1_7. ISBN 978-3-642-78595-5.
6. "Permian: Stratigraphy". UC Museum of Paleontology. University of California Berkeley. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
7. International Commission on Stratigraphy. "Chart". Retrieved 10 July 2018.
8. Gradstein, Felix M.; Ogg, James G.; Smith, Alan G. (2004). A geologic time scale 2004. Cambridge University Press. p. 250. ISBN 978-0-521-78673-7.
9. Ganelin, V.G.; Goman'kov, A.V.; Grunt, T.A.; Durante, M.V. (January 1997). "On the revised stratigraphic scale for the Permian System adopted at the Second Guadalupian Symposium, alpine, Texas, USA, April 1996". Stratigraphy and Geological Correlation. 5 (2): 126–130.
10. Ross, June R.P.; Ross, Charles A. (16 October 2018). "Permian Period". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
11. Kazlev, M. Alan (4 May 2002). "The Cisuralian Epoch". palaeos.com. Retrieved 18 April 2019.
12. Allaby, Michael (2015). A Dictionary of Geology and Earth Sciences (4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/acref/9780199653065.001.0001. ISBN 9780199653065.
13. International Commission on Stratigraphy. "GSSPs". Retrieved 10 July 2018.
14. Davydov, V.I.; Glenister, B.F.; Spinosa, C.; Ritter, S.M.; Chernykh, V.V.; Wardlaw, B.R. and Snyder, W.S.; 1998: Proposal of Aidaralash as Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for base of the Permian System, Episodes 21(1): pp 11–18.
15. Scotese, Christopher R.; Song, Haijun; Mills, Benjamin J. W.; van der Meer, Douwe G. (April 2021). . Earth-Science Reviews. 215: 103503. Bibcode:2021ESRv..21503503S. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103503. ISSN 0012-8252. S2CID 233579194. Archived from the original on 8 January 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2023.
16. Marchetti, Lorenzo; Forte, Giuseppa; Kustatscher, Evelyn; DiMichele, William A.; Lucas, Spencer G.; Roghi, Guido; Juncal, Manuel A.; Hartkopf-Fröder, Christoph; Krainer, Karl; Morelli, Corrado; Ronchi, Ausonio (March 2022). "The Artinskian Warming Event: an Euramerican change in climate and the terrestrial biota during the early Permian". Earth-Science Reviews. 226: 103922. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103922. S2CID 245892961. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
17. Michel, Lauren A.; Tabor, Neil J.; Montañez, Isabel P.; Schmitz, Mark D.; Davydov, Vladimir (15 July 2015). "Chronostratigraphy and Paleoclimatology of the Lodève Basin, France: Evidence for a pan-tropical aridification event across the Carboniferous–Permian boundary". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 430: 118–131. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2015.03.020.
18. Palaeos: Life Through Deep Time > The Permian Period 2013-06-29 at the Wayback Machine Accessed 1 April 2013.
19. Grossman, Ethan L.; Yancey, Thomas E.; Jones, Thomas E.; Bruckschen, Peter; Chuvashov, Boris; Mazzullo, S. J.; Mii, Horng-sheng (24 October 2008). "Glaciation, aridification, and carbon sequestration in the Permo-Carboniferous: The isotopic record from low latitudes". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 286 (3–4): 222–233. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2008.03.053. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
20. Forte, Giuseppa; Kustatscher, Evelyn; Roghi, Guido; Preto, Nereo (15 April 2018). "The Permian (Kungurian, Cisuralian) palaeoenvironment and palaeoclimate of the Tregiovo Basin, Italy: Palaeobotanical, palynological and geochemical investigations". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 495: 186–204. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.01.012. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
21. Mujal, Eudald; Fortuny, Josep; Marmi, Josep; Dinarès-Turell, Jaume; Bolet, Arnau; Oms, Oriol (January 2018). "Aridification across the Carboniferous–Permian transition in central equatorial Pangea: The Catalan Pyrenean succession (NE Iberian Peninsula)". Sedimentary Geology. 363: 48–68. doi:10.1016/j.sedgeo.2017.11.005. S2CID 133713470. Retrieved 22 December 2022.
22. Matamales-Andreu, Rafal; Mujal, Eudald; Dinarès-Turell, Jaume; Kustatcher, Evelyn; Roghi, Guido; Oms, Oriol; Galobart, Àngel; Fortuny, Josep (May 2022). "Early–middle Permian ecosystems of equatorial Pangaea: Integrated multi-stratigraphic and palaeontological review of the Permian of Mallorca (Balearic Islands, western Mediterranean)". Earth-Science Reviews. 228: 103948. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.103948. S2CID 246438404. Retrieved 3 January 2023.
23. Huttenlocker, A. K., and E. Rega. 2012. The Paleobiology and Bone Microstructure of Pelycosaurian-grade Synapsids. Pp. 90–119 in A. Chinsamy (ed.) Forerunners of Mammals: Radiation, Histology, Biology. Indiana University Press.
24. "NAPC Abstracts, Sto – Tw". berkeley.edu.
25. Brocklehurst, Neil; Kammerer, Christian F.; Fröbisch, Jörg (23 June 2013). "The early evolution of synapsids, and the influence of sampling on their fossil record". Paleobiology. 39 (3): 470–490. doi:10.1666/12049. Retrieved 2 April 2023.