Lopingian

System (period)		Series	Stage (age)	Lower boundary, Ma
Triassic		Lower	Induan	251.902±0.024
Permian		Lopingian	Changhsingian	254.14±0.07
			Wuchiapingian	259.51±0.21
		Guadalupian	Capitanian	264.28±0.16
			Wordian	266.9±0.4
			Roadian	273.01±0.14
		Cisuralian	Kungurian	283.5±0.6
			Artinskian	290.1±0.26
			Sakmarian	293.52±0.17
			Asselian	298.9±0.15
Carb.	Pen.	Upper	Gzhelian	older
Subdivisions and "golden spikes" according to IUGS as of September 2023

The Lopingian is a third and upper series of the Permian system, corresponding to the Lopingian epoch of the Permian period. It lasted from 259.51 ± 0.21 Ma (million years ago) to 251.902 ± 0.024 Ma (IUGS 2023). As the last epoch of the Paleozoic era, it started after the Capitanian age of the Guadalupian and lasted until the Induan age of the Early Triassic. During this epoch, theradpids were actively evolving. This epoch began with or shortly after the Capitanian mass extinction. At the Lopingian-Early Triassic boundary, another, the most massive extinction in Earth's history, occurred.

In Russian regional stratigraphic chart, the whole Lopingian corresponds to the single Vyatkian stage of the Tatarian series.

Definition

The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Lopingian series and the Wuchiapingian stage was ratified in 2004. The beginning of the epoch is related to the first appearance of the conodont Clarkina postbitteri postbitteri. The type section is located in Penglaitan, Guangxi Province, China.

Subdivisions

The Lopingian divided into two stages: Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian. In geochronology, both correspond to the same ages.

Paleogeography

Almost all land was united into a single continent, Pangaea. To the east of it, collisions of microcontinents continued. The resulting eruptions contributed to the drying out of the climate and, according to some studies, became the cause of the Capitanian mass extinction, which is associated with the Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary.

Many inland seas had dried up by this time and continental conditions had established over vast areas. Since fossils form rarely in such an environment, the fauna of this epoch is not well known. At the end of the Lopingian, eruptions of the Siberian Traps began, as a result of which the modern Putorana plateau was formed. It was the largest cataclysm in the Phanerozoic, and reasons for this event have not been fully established. It is assumed that the eruptions began as a result of a mantle superplume breaking through to the surface of the continent, but the reasons for the formation of plumes and superplumes in the Earth's core are unknown. Some researchers suggest that superplumes are formed after collisions with huge cosmic objects (meteorites, comets, etc.) and burst out to the surface on the opposite side of the Earth from the impact place. Wilkes Land crater in modern Antarctica, according to some scientists, may be a sign of such an impact event.

Climate

The central regions of Pangaea were covered with vast deserts in Lopingian.

The Karoo ice age, the last ice age of the Paleozoic, ended in the southern hemisphere in this epoch. As a result, the planet became warmer. The largest desert since the Devonian formed in the center of Pangaea, and the active life probably concentrated on the coasts.

Lopingian life

This epoch began with a mass extinction known as the Capitanian or Guadalupian-Lopingian boundary mass extinction. The diversity of algae, corals, bryozoans and brachiopods was greatly reduced. The most severely affected were organisms that lived in equatorial and shallow sea basins, as well as organisms with sensitive respiratory systems. On land, many large and sedentary synapsids, including dinocephalians and some anomodonts, became extinct. However, ecosystems recovered quickly enough, and the main groups of animals survived.

Sarcoprion

The last trilobites, eurypterids and goniatids of the ammonite group lived in the Lopingian. The largest marine animals remained cartilaginous fish from the order Eugeneodontiformes such as Erikodus, Fadenia, and Sarcoprion. All these genera probably extinct before the Changhsingian age. Many temnospondyls still lived in fresh waters, although drying up of inland lakes led to their massive deaths. Lopingian temnospondyl genera include Dvinosaurus, Rhinesuchus, Lydekkerina, and Uranocentrodon. Seymouriamorphs like Karpinskiosaurus tried to adapt to life on land, but this group of amphibians became completely extinct by the end of the epoch.

Procynosuchus

Euchambersia

Inostrancevia and Scutosaurus

Coelurosauravus

On land, therapsids were still the dominant group of vertebrates. By this time, cynodonts, the direct ancestors of mammals, spread throughout the Pangaea. Dvinia, Uralocynodon and Nanocynodon were found in Vyatkian (Lopingian) sediments of european Russia, while Procynosuchus, Charassognathus, and Vetusodon are known from the Lopingian of South Africa. Small dicynodonts, like Diictodon, lived in burrows near water bodies and ate vegetation. They were hunted by therocephalians like Theriognathus, Euchambersia and Annatherapsidus and the largest predators of their time, gorgonopsians. The largest of these early sabre-toothed animals were Inostrancevia and Rubidgea, similar in size to modern tigers. Hot temperatures contributed to the spread of reptiles. The largest parareptiles, the herbivorous pareiasaurids, lived at this time. Such animals as Scutosaurus from Russia and Pareiasaurus from South Africa had armor on their backs that protected them from attacks by predators. At this time, reptiles appeared that could glide on their wings, consisting of elongated ribs with a stretched membrane. Coelurosauravus and Weigeltisaurus were such reptiles capable of gliding flight. By the end of the Lopingian, almost all modern orders of insects probably appeared.

External links

• https://paleobiodb.org/classic/displayTimescale?interval=Lopingian