Landscape ecological shift at the Permian‐Triassic boundary in Antarctica

Palaeosols across the Permian‐Triassic boundary in Antarctica provide evidence of a marked change in ecosystems at this greatest of all extinctions in the history of life on Earth. The boundary can now be recognised from evidence of carbon isotopic (δ¹³C) stratigraphy, reptiles of the earliest Triassic Lystrosaurus zone, and Late Permian glossopterid fructifications and pollen. The boundary is a profound change in palaeosols, with very different suites of pedotypes in Permian compared with Triassic sequences. Permian palaeosols include coals, rooted lithic sandstones and rooted tuffaceous silt‐stones. Triassic palaeosols in contrast are largely rooted, green‐red‐mottled claystones. These palaeosols represent a shift from Late Permian cold temperate broadleaf deciduous swamp woodlands to Early Triassic cool temperate conifer forests. Indications of more intense weathering during the earliest Triassic confirm a significantly warmer palaeoclimate in the earliest Triassic than in the latest Permian. Palaeoclimate remained humid with low evapotranspiration in both Permian and Triassic, but Triassic ecosystems were more oligotrophic, humus‐poor and more oxidised than Permian ones. Yet both Permian and Triassic palaeosols were unpodzolised, unlike soils today under such climates and vegetation. Palaeosols in Antarctica confirm several peculiarities of the earliest Triassic: (i) a global coal gap; (ii) a high‐latitude greenhouse; and (iii) a Gondwanan tuff gap. Palaeosols support evidence from fossil plants and reptiles and from carbon isotopic studies for a shift toward oligotrophic, low‐productivity ecosystems, dominated by opportunistic and stress‐tolerant organisms in the earliest Triassic. Life was difficult on land as well as in the sea following the terminal Permian mass extinction.