Marine microorganisms from the P/T boundary of Iran

Research project P 14490 Marine microorganisms from the R/T boundary of Iran W. METTE 26.6.2000 The biotic crisis at the Permian-Triassic boundary was among the severest crises since the development of life on Earth . Evidence for an impact of an extraterrestrial body is missing thus pointing to a terrestrial cause for the biotic crisis. Iran is the only place in the world, where the PIT boundary it recorded in pelagic open sea Tethyan warm Water- deposits which are exposed over a distance of more than 2000 km. The Iranian sections offer the great opportunity to study the P/T boundary of high resolution, because they are rich in stratigraphicaly important fossils (conodonts, ammoniods) and the sedimentation rate was higher as in other comparable selections throughout the world. There were no anoxia at the P/T boundary in Iran. The Iranian selections whow continous pelegac sedimentation across the P/T boundary and are therefore highly suited to study the role anoxia played during the worldwide mass extinctions at the P/T boundary. The extinction patterns of foramindera at the P/T boundary will be investigated and the palaieoecologic conditions will be reconstructed by evaluating both foraminifera, ostracods as well as carbonate microfacies and stable isotopes. It is anticipated that these results will help to understand whether the extinction pattern in the Shahreza section depends partly or entirely on local ecologic factors or whether it is related exclusively to the global mass extinction.