The late Triassic World : Earth in a time of transition /

This comprehensive edited volume contains 15 chapters addressing a fascinating segment of Earth history. This is a time when major changes in plate positions were taking place--along with bolide impacts, large igneous province activity, and associated climate change and mass extinction. Although this interval is perhaps best known for changes in dinosaur populations, many other shifts, biological and otherwise, were occurring. The book focuses on geobiology, but the treatment is broad. The volume is logically arranged to cover the underpinnings first, namely the topics of time scale, plate tectonics, climate, magmatism, and bolides. The remaining chapters focus on biota, including both terrestrial and marine realms. Specifics include conodonts, ammonoids, reptiles, tetrapods, cynodonts, trace fossils, flora, and arthropods. The volume closes with a provocative chapter on the "missing" mass extinction at the end of the Triassic Period. Figures are presented throughout, and are in color and of high quality. The index is useful. This item is a valuable addition to the literature and to geology collections. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty and professionals. --Ira D. Sasowsky, University of Akron