Home / All about Upper Triassic / The Carnian Pluvial Event

A. Arche and J. López-Gómez (2014): The Carnian Pluvial Event in Western Europe: New data from Iberia and correlation with the Western Neotethys and Eastern North America-NW Africa regions. Abstract, Earth Science Reviews, 28: 196-231.

R. Aubrecht et al. (2017): Provenance of the Lunz Formation (Carnian) in the Western Carpathians, Slovakia: Heavy mineral study and in situ LA–ICP–MS U–Pb detrital zircon dating. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 471: 233–253. See also here (abstract), and there.
Please take notice: Fig. 23, paleogeographic scheme of Middle Carnian, showing probable provenance of the Lunz Formation arenites and its relation to the Stuttgart Formation in the Central European Basin.

A. Bahr et al. (2020): Mega-monsoon variability during the late Triassic: Re-assessing the role of orbital forcing in the deposition of playa sediments in the Germanic Basin. In PDF, Sedimentology, 67. See also here.
"... The recurring pattern of pluvial events during the late Triassic demonstrates that orbital forcing, in particular eccentricity, stimulated the occurrence and intensity of wet phases. It also highlights the possibility that the Carnian Pluvial Event, although most likely triggered by enhanced volcanic activity, may also have been modified by an orbital stimulus. ..."

V. Baranyi et al. (2019): Palynology and weathering proxies reveal climatic fluctuations during the Carnian Pluvial Episode (CPE) (Late Triassic) from marine successions in the Transdanubian Range (western Hungary). Abstract, Global and Planetary Change, 177: 157-172.

! M.J. Benton and F. Wu (2022): Triassic revolution. Free access, Frontiers in Earth Science, 10. See also here.
Note figure 9: Novel physiological and functional characteristics, new tetrapod, insect and plant groups in the Triassic on land.
"... On land, ongoing competition between synapsids and archosauromorphs through the Triassic was marked by a posture shift from sprawling to erect, and a shift in physiology to warm-bloodedness, with insulating skin coverings of hair and feathers. Dinosaurs, for example, originated in the Early or Middle Triassic, but did not diversify until after the CPE [Carnian Pluvial Episode]. ..."

M. Bernardi and G. Carnevale (2019): The Italian geo-palaeontological record of major turnovers in the history of life. In PDF, Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 58: 1-3.

A.-W. Blaschke et al. (2009): Petrography and reservoir characteristics of Upper Triassic sandstones from a CO₂ pilot storage site (Stuttgart Formation, Ketzin, Germany). In PDF, DGMK/ÖGEW-Frühjahrstagung 2009, Fachbereich Aufsuchung und Gewinnung (Celle, Germany 2009).
See also here.
! "... Sandstones of the Upper Triassic Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein) are currently tested
[...] The sandstones are lithic arkoses, lithic subarkoses and feldspathic litharenites. The lithoclasts comprise chert, volcanic and clastic sedimentary rock fragments, and minor metamorphic grains. Anhydrite and analcime are the most abundant authigenic minerals. Other authigenic minerals are calcite, Fe-oxides/-hydroxides, quartz, feldpar, and locally chlorite. ..."

A. Boscaini et al. (2022): Late Permian to Late Triassic Large Igneous Provinces: Timing, Eruptive Style and Paleoenvironmental Perturbations. Free access, Frontiers in Earth Science. See also here.
Note figure 1: Simplified sketches of the Siberian Traps, the Wrangellia and the CAMP.
Figure 2: Initial maximum CO₂ budgets obtained from Nb whole-rock concentrations of magmas for the Siberian Traps, the Wrangellia and the CAMP.

J. Dal Corso et al. (2022): Background Earth system state amplified Carnian (Late Triassic) environmental changes. In PDF, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 578. See also here.

! J. Dal Corso et al. (2020): Extinction and dawn of the modern world in the Carnian (Late Triassic). Open access, Science Advances, 16.

J. Dal Corso (et al. 2018): Carnian (Late Triassic) C-isotope excursions, environmental changes, and biotic turnover: a global perturbation of the Earth’s surface system. Abstract, Journal of the Geological Society, 176, 129-131. See also here (in PDF).

J. Dal Corso (et al. 2018): The Carnian pluvial episode (Late Triassic): new insights into this important time of global environmental and biological change. Open acces, Journal of the Geological Society, 175: 986-988.

J. Dal Corso (2011): The Middle-Late Triassic d13Cplant trend and the carnian pluvial event C-isotope signature. Ph.D. thesis, University of Padua. See also here (abstract).
Amber from the Triassic of the Italian Alps.

M. Franz et al. (2018): Deep geothermal resources of the North German Basin: The hydrothermal reservoirs of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein, Upper Triassic). Abstract, Z. Dt. Ges. Geowiss., 169: 53–387. See also here.

A. Fijalkowska-Mader et al. (2020): Record of the Carnian Pluvial Episode in the Polish microflora. In PDF, Palaeoworld. See also here.

M. Franz et al. (2019): The Schilfsandstein and its flora - arguments for a humid mid-Carnian episode? Journal of the Geological Society, 176: 133-148. See also here (in PDF).

M. Franz et al. (2014): Eustatic control on epicontinental basins: The example of the Stuttgart Formation in the Central European Basin (Middle Keuper, Late Triassic. Abstract, Global and Planetary Change, 122 :305-329. See also here (in PDF).

Richard Gibson, History of the Earth: September 24. The Carnian Pluvial Event.

A.E. Götz and D. Uhl (2022): Triassic micro-charcoal as a promising puzzle piece in palaeoclimate reconstruction: An example from the Germanic Basin. Free access, Annales Societatis Geologorum Poloniae, 92.
See also here.
"The Triassic has long been regarded as a period without evidence of wildfires; however, recent studies on macro-charcoal have provided data indicating their occurrence throughout almost the entire Triassic. Still, the macro-palaeobotanical record is scarce ..."
[...] Comparison with the global record indicates that charcoal occurrence corresponds to warming phases and thus is vital in Triassic climate reconstruction. ..."
Note figure 1: Stratigraphic framework of charcoal discoveries in the Germanic Basin.
! Figure 4: First-order warming cycles based on Tethyan surface open-marine temperatures inferred from the conodont record of stratigraphic sections of the central and western Tethyan realm.

C.T. Griffin et al. (2022): Africa’s oldest dinosaurs reveal early suppression of dinosaur distribution. Abstract, Nature.
See also: here.
"... By the Late Triassic (Carnian stage, ~235 million years ago), cosmopolitan ‘disaster faunas’ had given way to highly endemic assemblages on the supercontinent.
[...] palaeolatitudinal climate belts, and not continental boundaries, are proposed to have controlled distribution. During this time of high endemism ..."

B.L.H. Horn et al.(2018): A loess deposit in the Late Triassic of southern Gondwana, and its significance to global paleoclimate. Abstract, Journal of South American Earth Sciences, 81: 189-203. See also here.
Note fig. 10: Paleomap of Late Triassic showing the climatic zones.

T. Hornung et al. (2007): Multistratigraphic constraints on the NW Tethyan "Carnian crisis". In PDF, In: Lucas, S.G. and Spielmann, J.A. (eds.): The Global Triassic. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin, 41.
Snapshot provided by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

X. Jin (2019): The Carnian (Late Triassic) Extreme Climate Event: Comparison of the Italian Tethys and South China Geological Records. Ph.D. thesis. See also here (in PDF).

! H.W. Kozur and G.H. Bachmann (2010): The Middle Carnian Wet Intermezzo of the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein), Germanic Basin. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 290: 107-119. See also here (in PDF).

E. Kustatscher 2018; starting on PDF page 5): The Carnian pluvial party event for plants. Abstract, in PDF, in: Dal Corso, J. et al. (2018). First workshop on the Carnian Pluvial Episode (Late Triassic): a report. Albertiana, 44, 49-57.

L. Li et al. (2022): Palynological record of the Carnian Pluvial Episode from the northwestern Sichuan Basin, SW China. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany.

Q. Li et al. (2022): Response of Carnian Pluvial Episode evidenced by organic carbon isotopic excursions from western Hubei, South China. In PDF, Palaeoworld, 31: 324-333.
See also here.

S. Lin et al. (2022): A millimeter-scale insight into formation mechanism of lacustrine black shale in tephra deposition background. Free access, Scientific Reports, 12.

! J. Lu et al. (2021): Volcanically driven lacustrine ecosystem changes during the Carnian Pluvial Episode (Late Triassic). Free access, PNAS, 118.
"... Here, we show, in a detailed record from a lake in North China, that the CPE can actually be resolved into four distinct events, each one driven by a discrete pulse of intense volcanism associated with enormous releases of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. These triggered a major intensification of the hydrological cycle and led to lake eutrophication. ..."

A. Lukeneder and P. Lukeneder (2022): Taphonomic history and trophic interactions of an ammonoid fauna from the Upper Triassic Polzberg palaeobiota. Open access, Scientific Reports, 12.

A. Lukeneder and P. Lukeneder (2021): The Upper Triassic Polzberg palaeobiota from a marine Konservat-Lagerstätte deposited during the Carnian Pluvial Episode in Austria. Free access, Scientific Reports, 11.

A.C. Mancuso et al. 2022): Paleoenvironmental and Biotic Changes in the Late Triassic of Argentina: Testing Hypotheses of Abiotic Forcing at the Basin Scale. Free access, Front. Earth Sci., 10:883788. doi: 10.3389/feart.2022.883788.
See also here.
Note chapter 1.1: Climate and Evolution in the Triassic of Gondwana.
"... we synthesize a multi-proxy basin-scale dataset of paleoenvironmental data, including new information from clay mineralogy and paleosol major- and trace-element geochemistry, to understand paleoclimate changes ..."

A.C. Mancuso et al. (2020): Evidence for the Carnian Pluvial Episode in Gondwana: New multiproxy climate records and their bearing on early dinosaur diversification. Abstract, Gondwana Research.

! T. McKie (2014): Climatic and tectonic controls on Triassic dryland terminal fluvial system architecture, central North Sea. In PDF, Int. Assoc. Sedimentol. Spec. Publ., 46: 19-58. See also here (provided by Google books).
! Palaeogeographic response to regional climate wettening depicted in Fig. 19.

T. McKie and B. Williams (2009): Triassic and fluvial dispersal across the northwest European Basins. Abstract.

! C.S. Miller and V. Baranyi (2019): Triassic Climates. In PDF. See also here.

! C.S. Miller et al. (2017): Astronomical age constraints and extinction mechanisms of the Late Triassic Carnian crisis. Sci Rep., 7: 2557.

S. Mueller et al. (2015): Integrated stratigraphy and palaeoclimate history of the Carnian Pluvial Event in the Boreal realm; new data from the Upper Triassic Kapp Toscana Group in central Spitsbergen (Norway). In PDF, Journal of the Geological Society. See also here.

S. Mueller et al. (2015): Climate variability during the Carnian Pluvial Phase - A quantitative palynological study of the Carnian sedimentary succession at Lunz am See, Northern Calcareous Alps, Austria. In PDF, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology.

! J.G. Ogg (2015): The mysterious Mid-Carnian "Wet Intermezzo" global event. In PDF, Journal of Earth Science, 26: 181-191.
The link is to a version archived by the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

! N. Preto et al. (2019): The Carnian Pluvial Episode in Italy: History of the research and perspectives. In PDF, Bollettino della Società Paleontologica Italiana, 58: 35-49.

N. Preto et al. (2010): Triassic climates. State of the art and perspectives. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 290: 1-10. For PDF download go to "Download PDF" and choose "Article". See also here (in PDF).

Revolvy (?): Carnian Pluvial Event.

M. Rigo et al. (2007): A rise in the carbonate compensation depth of western Tethys in the Carnian (Late Triassic): deep-water evidence for the Carnian Pluvial Event. Abstract, Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, 246: 188-205.
See also here.

! G Roghi et al. (2022): An Exceptionally Preserved Terrestrial Record of LIP Effects on Plants in the Carnian (Upper Triassic) Amber-Bearing Section of the Dolomites, Italy. In PDF, Frontiers in Earth Science.
Note figure 1: Pangaean floristic subprovinces during the Late Triassic.
! Fig. 6: Fossil plant remains and palynomorphs enclosed in the amber droplets.

D.A. Ruban (2022): A review of the Late Triassic conodont conundrum: survival beyond biotic perturbations. Open access, Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments, 102: 373–382.
See also here.
Note fig. 3: The Middle–Late Triassic biotic perturbations.

A. Ruffell et al. (2018): Triassic extinctions and explosions. Geoscientist, 28: 10-15. See also here.

! A. Ruffell et al. (2016): The Carnian Humid Episode of the late Triassic: a review. Abstract, Geological Magazine, 153: 271-284. See also here (in PDF).

A. Ruffell and M. Hounslow 2006): Triassic: seasonal rivers, dusty deserts and saline lakes. In PDF, In P.F. Rawson, & P. Brenchley (eds.), The Geology of England & Wales. (pp. 295-325). Geological Society of London.
Now recovered from the Internet Archive´s Wayback Machine.

L.J. Seyfullah et al. (2018): The Carnian Pluvial Episode and the first global appearance of amber. Abstract, Journal of the Geological Society, 175: 1012-1018.
Also of interest in this context:
Pflanzliche Botschaften aus der Urzeit (by Tamara Worzewski, November 08, 2022, Spektrum.de, in German).

M.J. Simms and A.H. Ruffell (2018): The Carnian Pluvial Episode: from discovery, through obscurity, to acceptance. Abstract, Journal of the Geological Society, 175: 989-992.

! M.J. Simms and A.H. Ruffell (1989): Synchroneity of climatic change and extinctions in the Late Triassic. Abstract, Geology, 17: 265-268.

Y.D. Sun et al. (2018): Perturbations in carbon cycle during the Carnian Humid Episode: Carbonate carbon isotope records from southwestern China and northern Oman. Abstract, See also here (in PDF).

Y.D. Sun et al. (2016): Climate warming, euxinia and carbon isotope perturbations during the Carnian (Triassic) Crisis in South China. Abstract, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 444: 88–100. See also here (in PDF).

H. Visscher et al. (1994): Rejection of a Carnian (Late Triassic)"pluvial event" in Europe. Abstract, Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology, 83: 217-226.

Wikipedia the free encyclopedia:
! Carnian Pluvial Event.

! A. Zeh et al. (2021): Zircon of Triassic Age in the Stuttgart Formation (Schilfsandstein)-Witness of Tephra Fallout in the Central European Basin and New Constraints on the Mid-Carnian Episode. Free access, Front. Earth Sci. See also here.
Note figure 1: Ladinian-Carnian global and regional palaeogeography.
Note figure 2: Schematic SSW-NNE cross-section through the Central European Basin summarizing depositional environments and stratigraphy of the Stuttgart Formation.