Massive plate tectonic reorganization with initial stages of the breakup of Pangea

Emplacement of at least 3 giant flood basalt provinces (Siberian, Camp, Karoo-Ferrar)

End member of Earth’s climate system - extreme greenhouse conditions with no evidence of polar ice

Evolution of all major extant groups of terrestrial vertebrates

Establishment of modern extant invertebrate groups in present ecological roles

Two major and one minor mass extinctions (Permo-Triassic, Triassic-Jurassic, end-Pliensbachian)

It is the textbook example of layered sedimentary rocks

It some of has some of the thickest and most well studied Triassic-Jurassic continental sequences

The strata represent a diverse suite of depositional environments of tropical Pangea

The deposits span the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, one of the five largest extinctions of the Phanerozoic

But, further progress is impeded by the striking lack of temporal resolution and uncertainties in global correlations

Especially true of the tectonic history recorded by strata, including sequence boundaries and block rotations