The Evolution of Trace Fossils across the Permian-Triassic Mass Extinction in Deep Marine from the Western Qinling
Feng Xueqian
Chen Zhong-Qiang
Zhao Laishi
Huang Yuangeng
Yan Pengbing
Abstract：The ichnoecological variations across the Permian-Triassic mass extinction have been well studied,but most studies focused on shallow marine environments.The ichnological characteristic and its evolution in deep marine remain unclear across the mass extinction.This paper investigates abundant ichnofossils in three deep marine sections from the West Qinling area of North China,and systematically describes 18 ichnogenera.The study shows that the diversity of ichnofossil in deep marine did not change across the mass extinction,but a large number of graphoglyptid trace fossils appeared in the Early Triassic.Further quantitative analysis by using ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering methods reveals that ecospace utilization and ecosystem engineering parameters of trace-making organisms apparently declined after the mass extinction,especially in the deep tier.Unlike the siliciclastic nearshore'habitable zone'refuges,the feedback effects of ecosystem engineers on the recovery of in deep marine ecosystem after the mass extinction is relatively weak.The deep marine environmental setting is unfavourable to the colonization of shallow-sea opportunistic organisms and may not have acted as a refuge after the mass extinction.
Keywords：trace fossilsdeep marinerefugeecosystem engineersWest Qinling areaecologystratigraphy
Publication Date：2025-03-14
Online Publishing Date：2025-08-15(First online date of this platform, not the publication date of the document)
Pages：23( 1000-1022 )