This book describes and interprets the Permian and Triassic rocks of the eastern Tethyan region that record the waning phases of the Paleozoic and the early stages of the Mesozoic eras. The information is set out in a way that will allow detailed comparison with strata of comparable age in the western Tethys and other parts of the world.

Permian and Triassic rocks in the eastern Tethyan region form continuous marine sequences that record the waning phases of the Paleozoic and the early stages of the Mesozoic eras. This book describes and interprets these rocks, summarizing the distribution of major fossil groups in a way that will allow detailed comparison with strata of comparable age in the western Tethys and other parts of the world. The sixteen contributions by forty authors are the culmination of the five-year long International Geological Correlation Programme Project 203. The detailed information presented here is gathered from many areas in the eastern Tethyan region - from France to Australia - and will be of use in the evaluation of the major changes in the global marine biosphere known to have taken place at the end of the Paleozoic era. The stratigraphic record for this fascinating segment of Earth history is not widespread elsewhere in the world and is most continuous in the region covered by this book.