The Palaeozoic Era ends with the c. 47-million-year-long Permian Period. This was a major juncture in Earth history when the vast Pangean supercontinent continued its assembly and the global biota suffered the most extensive biotic decimation of the Phanerozoic, the end-Permian mass extinction. It was also the time of accumulation of vast mineral and energy deposits, notably of salt and petroleum. The temporal ordering of geological and biotic events during Permian time is, therefore, critical to the interpretation of some unique and pivotal events in Earth history. This temporal ordering is based mostly on the Permian timescale, which has been developed and refined for nearly two centuries. The Permian Timescale reviews the history of the development of the Permian chronostratigraphic scale. It also includes comprehensive analyses of Permian radioisotopic ages, magnetostratigraphy, isotope-based correlations, and timescale-relevant marine and non-marine biostratigraphy and biochronology.
- LUCAS, S. G. & SHEN, S. Z. The Permian timescale: an introduction
- LUCAS, S. G. & SHEN, S. Z. The Permian chronostratigraphic scale: history, status and prospectus
- RAMEZANI, J. & BOWRING, S. A. Advances in numerical calibration of the Permian timescale based on radioisotopic geochronology
- HOUNSLOW, M. W. & BALABANOV, Y. P. A geomagnetic polarity timescale for the Permian, calibrated to stage boundaries
- KORTE, C. & ULLMANN, C. V. Permian strontium isotope stratigraphy
- HENDERSON, C. M. Permian conodont biostratigraphy
- ZHANG, L., FENG, Q. & HE, W. Permian radiolarian biostratigraphy
- WANG, X., YAO, L. & LIN, W. Permian rugose corals of the world
- LEONOVA, T. B. Permian ammonoid biostratigraphy
- VACHARD, D. Permian smaller foraminifers: taxonomy, biostratigraphy and biogeography
- ZHANG, Y.-C. & WANG, Y. Permian fusuline biostratigraphy
- SHEN, S. Z. Global Permian brachiopod biostratigraphy: an overview
- STEPHENSON, M. H. Permian palynostratigraphy: a global overview
- CLEAL, C. J. A global review of Permian macrofloral biostratigraphical schemes
- SCHNEIDER, J. W. & SCHOLZE, F. Late Pennsylvanian–Early Triassic conchostracan biostratigraphy: a preliminary approach
- VOIGT, S. & LUCAS, S. G. Outline of a Permian tetrapod footprint ichnostratigraphy
- LUCAS, S. G. Permian tetrapod biochronology, correlation and evolutionary events