Ausonio Ronchi

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• Full professor in Stratigraphy at University of Pavia

Analysis of palynological assemblages from the Val Daone Conglomerate (VDC) Formation (central Southern Alps) provides significant new information on the age of this lithostratigraphic unit and, therefore, of the inception of the Permian tectono-stratigraphic cycle 2 (TSU2) in the Southern Alps. The VDC Formation represents a nearly 100-m thick, me...

In the central portion of the Orobic Basin (Trabuchello-Cabianca anticline), on the Valtellina side of the Orobic Alps, the Val D'Ambria (Sondrio, Italy) represents a site of exceptional paleontological richness, both for the high quality and quantity of data. This sedimentary basin is renowned for its geological complexity and the preservation of...

Recent research in upper Val d'Ambria (Sondrio, Italy) has revealed a paleontologically significant site with diverse fossils. Located in the central Orobic Basin, the site is known for its geological complexity and thick stratigraphy from the early Permian. The fossils include tetrapod footprints, invertebrate traces, and sparse macroflora remains...

At the end of the Cisuralian (early Permian), the Kungurian stage represents a key phase in plant evolution and the development of associated sporomorphs. Yet during the Artinskian, a noticeable shift begins, with vegetation and palynofloras transitioning from those suited to humid conditions to those better adapted to arid environments, a trend th...

Recent research in upper Val d'Ambria (Sondrio, Italy) has uncovered an exceptional richness from a paleontological point of view, revealing a site of significant scientific interest. The studied area is located in the central portion of the Orobic Basin, more precisely in the Trabuchello-Cabianca anticline, on the Valtellina side of the Pizzo del...

Analysis of palynological assemblages from the Val Daone Conglomerate Formation (VDC) provides new significant information on the age of this lithostratigraphic unit and, as a consequence, of the inception of the Permian tectono-stratigraphic cycle 2 (TSU2) in the Southern Alps. The VDC Formation represents a nearly 100-metres thick, medium-grained...

Although Pangea as Earth’s youngest supercontinent has continuously served as a pivotal reference mark in paleogeographic reconstructions, its assembly is still a matter of debate. This is mainly due to poor paleomagnetic data coverage for Permian times for Africa, core element of Pangea. Paleomagnetic data for Adria, thought to be the African prom...

Along the coast between Cala Viola and Cala del Turco in NW Sardinia, an upper Palaeozoic to lower Mesozoic continental sedimentary succession is wonderfully exposed. For the first time, detailed geological mapping, coupled with facies analysis and meso-structural studies, was carried out, allowing to better define the Permian- Triassic stratigraph...

The Gansfontein palaeosurface (Fraserburg, Karoo, South Africa), which is correlated with the stratigraphic lowermost part of the continental Middle–Upper Permian Teekloof Formation, is revisited. This treasure trove of peculiar and exquisitely preserved sedimentary structures and invertebrate and vertebrate traces serves as a document of a set of...

Along the coast between Cala Viola and Cala del Turco (NW Sardinia), an upper Palaeozoic to lower Mesozoic continental sedimentary succession is wonderfully exposed. Such deposits were intensively studied in the last decade also for their exceptional tetrapod body fossils and footprints that allowed to shed a light on the early-middle Permian and M...

Stratigraphic and palaeontological analyses of the Middle Triassic (latest Anisian–Ladinian) in Muschelkalk facies are performed here to further unravel the palaeogeographic evolution of Sardinia in this time-frame. These shallow marine successions reveal a significant palaeontological record comprising facies and marker fossils (ammonoids, bivalve...

The Jebilet Massif (Western Meseta, Morocco) consists of Hercynian polyphase deformed basement rocks that are, locally, unconformably overlain by a thick series of Permian siliciclastic sediments. New tectonic and tectono-sedimentary analyses offer the opportunity to propose a refined chronology of late Hercynian events of the study area and to spe...

Non-marine bivalves are key fossils in Permian continental stratigraphy and palaeogeography. Although known since the end of 19 th century, the occurrences from the continental basins of the Southern Alps have never been extensively studied. The non-marine bivalves from the Lower Permian Collio Formation (Brescian pre-Alps) are herein revised, and...

The scarce evidence of paleontological records between the upper Permian and the Anisian (Middle Triassic) of Western Europe could reflect (1) large stratigraphic gaps in the continental successions and/or (2) the persistence of disturbed conditions after the Permian–Triassic Boundary extinction event and the succession of ecological crises that oc...

One of the most significant climate changes in the history of Earth happened during the late Palaeozoic, with the melting of the Gondwanan ice sheets and a progressive warming that profoundly changed the composition of the global terrestrial biota. Nevertheless, there is a lack of studies on mid-late Cisuralian central Pangaea (present-day Europe a...

In the northern Iberian Peninsula, the Pyrenean-Cantabrian orogenic belt extends E-W for ca. 1000 km between the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. This orogen developed from the collision between Iberia and Eurasia, mainly in Cenozoic times. Lower-middle Permian sediments crop out in small, elongated basins traditionally considered independent...

The years 2020 and 2021 were marked worldwide by the corona pandemic with restrictions on fieldwork at home and abroad, with limited personal communication and restricted access to fossil and rock collections. Still, remarkable progress has been made by the international team of our working group as shown below by a number of publications, the part...

The south-central Moroccan Jebilet Massif comprises several occurrences of late Paleozoic continental red-beds. These deposits have been interpreted to be of Pennsylvanian-Permian age based on lithofacies. Any other reliable age constraint for these rocks was hitherto lacking. Recent fieldwork in late Paleozoic red-beds of the Koudiat El Hamra - Ha...

We provide a list of contribution by Italian scientists to tetrapod ichnology with papers on both material from Italy and abroad. Foreign author's contributions on tetrapod ichnology based on material from Italy are also considered. The list updates the previous one published by D'Orazi Porchetti et al. (2008) and, as a result, includes works from...

We made a comprehensive study of the collection of bivalves sampled by Berruti (1967, 1970) and Conti et al. (1991) from the Collio Fm (Collio Basin, Upper Trompia Valley, Southern Alps, Italy).The Collio Fm (700-800 m thick) consists of siliciclastic and subordinate volcanic rocks and represents the most known Early Permian unit from Italy (Marche...

The Cisuralian tetrapod ichnoassociation from Italy is long known, in fact it is the first described from the Southern Alps. After some pioneering works in the 19th Century, several new research and discoveries were undertaken starting from the second half of the 20 th Century until now. This ichnoassociation is characterised by abundant and divers...

Nonmarine biostratigraphic/biochronologic schemes have been created for all or parts of the late Carboniferous–Middle Triassic using palynomorphs, megafossil plants, conchostracans, blattoid insects, tetrapod footprints and tetrapod body fossils, and these provide varied temporal resolution. Cross correlation of the nonmarine biochronologies to the...

This work focuses on the Olenekian-Anisian (Early-Middle Triassic) continental record of the Central-Eastern Pyrenean basin (NE Spain), a near-equator (10°-14°N) basin located in the western peri-Tethys margin, inside the Variscan fold-belt. Due to the mass mortality of the end-Permian and the subsequent Smithian-Spathian Boundary (SSB) crisis, the...

The Late Carboniferous - early Permian was a time-interval of major geological and climatological changes, mostly due to the transition to greenhouse conditions from the maximum glacial coverage (Late Palaeozoic Ice Age or LPIA). This climatic change produced an increase of the extinction rates on land plants and a variation on the constitution and...

We report here on the first tetrapod tracks from the Triassic of the Nurra region (north-western Sardinia, Italy). The specimens were found on sandstone blocks used to build a fence limiting a seasonal camping, in the coastal area north of Capo Caccia promontory. Lithologic and petrographic features allowed an assignment of the track-bearing blocks...

Our recent comprehensive review of the Permian-Early Triassic tetrapod tracksites from South Africa includes a revision of the ichnotaxonomy and the incorporation of a large quantity of new material. The paper also discusses, in light of the revised ichnotaxonomy and palaeontology of several sites, trackmaker attribution and the biostratigraphy of...

From the beginning of 2018 to the autumn of 2019, a team of 18 authors worked very hard to publish Schneider et al. (2019) “Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale”. This follows some important publications on nonmarine Permian biostratigraphy and biochronology in the volume...

From the beginning of 2018 to the autumn of 2019, a team of 18 authors worked very hard to publish Schneider et al. (2019) “Late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic continental biostratigraphy — Links to the Standard Global Chronostratigraphic Scale”. This follows some important publications on nonmarine Permian biostratigraphy and biochronology in the volume...

Tetrapod footprints have recently proven to be a valid and useful stratigraphic tool in the late Palaeozoic-early Mesozoic continental stratigraphy. The Southern Alps of Italy (SA) show a number of very thick and well-exposed successions and preserve one of the best tetrapod footprint records of this time interval, either for the abundance, quality...

The Koudiat El Hamra Basin in the western Jebilet Massif, central Morocco, includes Pennsylvanian–Permian continental deposits (HUVLEIN 1977). The stratigraphic succession cropping out in this basin shows about 300 m thick siliciclastic deposits with alternation of gray brownish shaly-silty to sandy horizons in the lower part and reddish sandstones...

The Carboniferous, Permian, and Triassic chronostratigraphic scales based on marine rocks and fossils are reasonably well defined and of global utility, but the situation is much different for non-marine deposits of this time interval. Due to the Carboniferous–Permian glaciation, the Hercynian-Appalachian-Ancestral Rocky Mountain orogenies, and oth...

When reconstructing the pre-Jurassic paleogeography of Pangea based on paleomagnetic data and assuming a Wegenerian or Pangea “A” model a significant latitudinal overlap between Laurasia and Gondwana can be observed (e.g., MUTTONI et al. 2003, 2009 and references therein). Besides alternative paleogeographical models (e.g., Pangea “B” as proposed b...

Several siltstone/claystone levels of the Permian succession in the Southern Pyrenees were sampled for a detailed palynostratigraphic study. A new well preserved palynological assemblage was obtained from this succession, which stands out because of its red continental deposits interlayered by volcanic rocks radiometrically dated (281.5 ±2.3 Ma and...

Since 2008 more than fifteen fieldworks have been conducted in the Nurra area in NW Sardinia, were a well-known thick succession of more than 600 m of post-Variscan continental deposits crops out. The fieldworks, headed by a team of the Department of Earth Sciences of Sapienza of Rome in collaboration with the University of Pavia, led to the collec...

The Permian-Triassic rifting represents the first of the two Mesozoic rifting stages recorded in the Iberian Peninsula. Its first phases of development started during the Early Permian, and were linked to the beginning of the break-up of Pangea, the large, unique and rheologically unstable supercontinent that mainly resulted from the collision of G...

The fossil record of mid to late Permian terrestrial vertebrates in the South African Karoo Basin is regarded as the most abundant and diverse in the world. Despite the extensive research on body fossils, to-date the vertebrate footprint sites have not been subjected to an anatomy-consistent ichnotaxonomic investigation. Here we present a comprehen...

Graphical abstract

Supplemental photos of all the studied material with scale, midline and footprint orientation

In recent years there is growing evidence of the importance of the Smithian-Spathian (Early Triassic) ecological crisis to explain the delayed recovery of life after the Permian-Triassic Boundary mass extinction. This study focuses on sedimentary continental rocks of middle Permian to Middle Triassic age from four different Peritethys basins in sub...

In their paper, Mujal et al. (2017) describe as exceptional a section in the E Pyrenees (namely the Coll de Terrers), considering it a continental succession that continuously spans in time from the Late Permian to the Early Triassic. These authors describe the sandy-clayey red-beds of the upper Buntsandstein unit as the upper part of the Upper Red...

The tetrapod footprint record of Permian eolian environments has long been underestimated because of overall poor preservation and its apparent monospecifity. The best known and most abundant Cisuralian record of tetrapod footprints is from the Coconino and De Chelly formations of Arizona, which, however, thus far encompassed only the ichnogenera C...

In the western European basins, the paleoflora of late Pennsylvanian-early Permian transition is still a matter of discussion in terms of its age determination and biostratigraphic ranges. This study represents a review of the Upper Carboniferous and Permian stratigraphy of the Central and Eastern Pyrenees from continental successions with interbed...

In the Upper Permian continental to marginal-marine succession of the Southern Alps (Dolomites, north Italy), the ichnological record consists of diverse vertebrate footprints and non-diverse invertebrate trace fossils, mainly occurring in the “Bletterbach ichnoassociation” of the Val Gardena Sandstone Formation. After the Permian- Triassic Boundar...

We present new paleomagnetic results for the early and middle Permian (18 sites and 167 samples) from sedimentary and volcanic rocks from northern and central-southern Sardinia (Italy). Characteristic directions magnetization have been retrieved using stepwise thermal demagnetization techniques. The bedding corrected site mean directions for the no...

The Torre del Porticciolo palaeontological locality (Alghero, N-W Sardinia, Italy) returned the skeletal remains of the first Permian basal synapsid from Italy, Alierasaurus ronchii (Romano & Nicosia, 2014, 2015; Romano et al., 2017), the largest late early Permian to early middle Permian non-therapsid synapsid known to date. Recently, other skelet...

The break-up of Pangea remains one of the most interesting moments in the Earth's history. In the Pyrenees this geological moment is represented by continental successions, giving rise to a magnificent example of the creation of new basins and their sedimentary fill. In this work we present a study based on stratigraphy, sedimentology and synsedime...

The Torre del Porticciolo palaeontological locality (Alghero, northwest Sardinia, Italy) is important for having provided the skeletal remains of the first Permian basal synapsid from Italy, Alierasaurus ronchii, the largest late early Permian to early middle Permian non-therapsid synapsid known to date. Recently, other skeletal remains preliminari...

The Torre del Porticciolo fossil locality is notable for producing the first osteological material of a basal non-mammalian synapsid from Italy, the giant herbivore Alierasaurus ronchii, which likely represents one of the largest non-therapsid synapsids (6-7 m total length). Recently, a new productive site was discovered approximately 100 metres fr...

In this contribution we present a new productive site discovered at Torre del Porticciolo fossil locality (NW Sardinia, Alghero, Italy). The site is close to the outcrop which yielded the fragmentary osteological material of the first basal synapsid from Italy, the herbivore caseid Alierasaurus ronchii, representing to date the largest known non-th...

A comprehensive ichnotaxonomic revision with the study of a large amount of new material was undertaken on the invertebrate trace fossils of the Cisuralian continental basins of the Southern Alps (Italy). The ichnoassociation comprises the following ichnogenera: Avolatichnium, Circulichnis, Cochlichnus, Cruziana, Dendroidichnites, Diplichnites, Dip...

The Torre del Porticciolo fossil locality is notable for producing the first osteological material of a basal (i.e., non‐mammalian) synapsid in Italy, the giant herbivore Alierasaurus ronchii, which although known from fragmentary remains, likely represents the largest known late early to early middle Permian synapsid (6–7 m total length). Recently...

The Upper Carboniferous–early Permian stratigraphic succession of the Pyrenees is represented by the volcanic-volcanoclastic deposits of the Grey Unit (GU), followed by the fluvial and lacustrine deposits of the Transition Unit and the Lower Red Unit (Gisbert, 1981). The present work shows new palynological data from the GU. The GU is defined prima...

The late Palaeozoic-early Mesozoic stratigraphic succession of the Central Pyrenees provides the opportunity to study the evolution of sedimentary and volcano-sedimentary units deposited in a series of intracontinental basins. The genesis of these basins starts with a permo-carboniferous post-collisional, strike-slip tectonics, followed by an Early...

The late Carboniferous-Lower Triassic basins of the Central-eastern Pyrenees are the result of the post-orogenic transtension and extension after the Variscan orogeny. Several intramontane continental troughs formed in SW Europe following the Upper Carboniferous-Lower Permian crustal-scale dextral shearing. In this geodynamic scenario, a strong tec...

Vertebrate tracks are linked to the depositional environment where they were formed. Several studies hypothesized a paleoenvironmental control on vertebrate track ichnocoenoses, although this issue was never analyzed thoroughly. A new study of the sedimentology and tetrapod ichnology of two key stratigraphic sections in the Pizzo del Diavolo Format...

New characters of the giant caseid Alierasaurus ronchii are described here based on material recovered from the type locality in the Permian deposits of Cala del Vino Formation (Sardinia NW) and additional preparation of the previously collected material. All new described osteological elements are characterized by the same state of preservation an...

The latest Carboniferous to lower Permian volcanism of the southern Variscides in Sardinia developed in a regional continental transpressive and subsequent transtensile tectonic regime. Volcanism produced a wide range of intermediate–silicic magmas including medium- to high-K calc-alkaline andesites, dacites, and rhyolites. A thick late Palaeozoic...

The Permian and Triassic successions of the Catalan Pyrenees provide key information on the stratigraphic and paleontological record of Southern Europe. These deposits are encompassed in a long terrestrial succession ranging from the Late Carboniferous to the Middle Triassic, having been historically studied by different disciplines (e.g., Mey et a...

After some pioneering studies during the sixties and eighties of the last century, a few researches have been carried out on the continental Permian to Triassic sedimentary successions of central Pyrenees since the very recent and detailed insights of Gretter et al. (2015) and Mujal et al. (2016). In the frame of these last works, our aim is to cla...

The continental Permian-Triassic transition in southern Europe presents little paleontological evidence of the Permian mass extinction and the subsequent faunal recovery during the early stages of the Triassic. New stratigraphic, sedimentological and paleontological analyses from Middle-Upper Permian to Lower-Middle Triassic deposits of the Catalan...

Until recently the climate of the Early–Middle Triassic at low latitudes was broadly considered as generally temperate-warm with no major climate oscillations. This work examines the climate of this period through a detailed study of the sedimentary, plant, soil and mineral records of continental rocks (Buntsandstein facies) in eastern Iberian basi...

During the Cretaceous, the Neuquén Basin transitioned from an extensional back-arc to a retroarc foreland basin. We present a multi-proxy provenance study of Aptian to Santonian (125-84 Ma) continental sedimentary rocks preserved in the Neuquén Basin used to resolve changes of sediment drainage pattern in response to the change in tectonic regime....

The Eastern Catalan Pyrenees form the southernmost segment of the Pyrenean Axial Zone. They experienced complex multistage process as the result of both the Variscan and the Pyrenean orogenic cycles. After the Late Palaeozoic, several small extensional sub-basins were filled by continental successions as a response to the changing tectonic setting...

In the Southern Alps the late Cisuralian cycle 1, or lower tectono-stratigraphic unit (TSU1), lies unconformably over the Variscan crystalline basement and ranges up to a maximum thickness of more than 2,000 m. It starts with polygenic conglomerates, interbedded with sandstones and finer-grained clastics (Basal Conglomerate, Ponte Gardena Conglomer...

The recent studies on Permian captorhinomorph (non-diapsid eureptile) footprints from North America, North Africa and Europe raised the interest on their taxonomic and biostratigraphic significance. They seem to radiate in the late Early Permian, but the scarcity of absolute dating in the classic sections bearing these trace fossils is not helpful...

The Upper Carboniferous–Early Triassic stratigraphic succession of Catalan Pyrenees consists of volcano-sedimentary Units that deposited in intracontinental sub-basins. The genesis of these troughs, starts with a post-collisional, strike-slip tectonic, followed by a Permian extensional setting with fluvial and lacustrine facies accompanied by exten...

A distinctive feature of the Late Variscan geodynamic reorganization in Southern Europe can be found in the progressive collapse of the southern Variscides and the occurrence of a widespread related magmatism (Cortesogno et al., 1998; Buzzi et al., 2008). Prevalent transpressive/transtensional tectonic movements drove the build up of continental de...

Anatectic melt inclusions (nanogranites and nanotonalites) have been found in garnet of kyanite-gneiss at the bottom of the Greater Himalayan Sequence (GHS) along the Kali Gandaki valley, central Nepal, c. 1 km structurally above the Main Central Thrust (MCT). In situ U–Th–Pb dating of monazite included in garnets, in the same structural positions...

The Himalayan mountain belt is characterized by the impressive continuity over 2500 km of tectonic units, thrusts and normal faults, as well as large volumes of high-grade ‐ metamorphic rocks and granite exposed at the surface (Visonà et al., 2012). Although there are many studies on metamorphism, melt generation and deformation concentrated in the...

Decapod crustaceans are among the most efficient ecosystem engineers of the Phanerozoic, but the path that led to their engineering success is poorly known. The Permian–Triassic continental succession of Nurra (early Cisuralian–early Middle Triassic; Sardinia, Italy) sheds light on this obscure subject, because it preserves the oldest (Roadian) flu...

Paleomagnetic studies of dyke swarms from the Variscan belt of Europe can be used to reconstruct internal post-orogenic rotations within the fold belt. Here, we present paleomagnetic data from 13 late Variscan dykes from Sardinia ranging in age from 298 ± 5Ma to 270 ± 10Ma. The dykes can be grouped on the basis of their different directions in stri...

A taxonomical and behavioral study has been attempted on the historical Val Gerola section (Pizzo del Diavolo Fm.), which represents one of the best tetrapod ichnosite of the whole Southern Alps. With respect to previous studies the ichnoassociation is now enriched by the ichnogenera: Hyloidichnius, Erpetopus, Limnopus, cf. Batrachichnus. In additi...

Online Resource 1: analytical methods and standards isotopic ratios were described in detail in the online supplementary material