Editing Permian (section)

==Paleogeography==
[[File:280 Ma plate tectonic reconstruction.png|thumb|230px|left|Geography of the Permian world]]
During the Permian, all the [[Earth]]'s major landmasses were collected into a single supercontinent known as [[Pangaea]], with the [[Continental fragment|microcontinental]] terranes of [[Cathaysia]] to the east. Pangaea straddled the [[equator]] and extended toward the poles, with a corresponding effect on ocean currents in the single great ocean ("[[Panthalassa]]", the "universal sea"), and the [[Paleo-Tethys Ocean]], a large ocean that existed between Asia and Gondwana. The [[Cimmeria (continent)|Cimmeria]] continent [[rift]]ed away from [[Gondwana]] and drifted north to [[Laurasia]], causing the Paleo-Tethys Ocean to shrink. A new ocean was growing on its southern end, the [[Tethys Ocean|Neotethys Ocean]], an ocean that would dominate much of the [[Mesozoic]] Era.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Scotese |first1=C. R. |last2=Langford |first2=R. P. |title=The Permian of Northern Pangea |chapter=Pangea and the Paleogeography of the Permian |date=1995 |pages=3–19 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-78593-1_1|isbn=978-3-642-78595-5 }}</ref> A magmatic arc, containing Hainan on its southwesternmost end, began to form as Panthalassa subducted under the southeastern South China.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hu |first1=Lisha |last2=Cawood |first2=Peter A. |last3=Du |first3=Yuansheng |last4=Xu |first4=Yajun |last5=Wang |first5=Chenghao |last6=Wang |first6=Zhiwen |last7=Ma |first7=Qianli |last8=Xu |first8=Xinran |date=1 November 2017 |title=Permo-Triassic detrital records of South China and implications for the Indosinian events in East Asia |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018217303516 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=485 |pages=84–100 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.06.005 |bibcode=2017PPP...485...84H |issn=0031-0182 |access-date=9 December 2023|hdl=10023/14143 |hdl-access=free }}</ref> The [[Central Pangean Mountains]], which began forming due to the collision of Laurasia and Gondwana during the Carboniferous, reached their maximum height during the early Permian around 295 million years ago, comparable to the present [[Himalayas]], but became heavily eroded as the Permian progressed.<ref name="Scotese-2017">{{Citation|last1=Scotese|first1=C.R.|title=Late Permian-Early Jurassic Paleogeography of Western Tethys and the World|date=2017|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780128094174000045|work=Permo-Triassic Salt Provinces of Europe, North Africa and the Atlantic Margins|pages=57–95|publisher=Elsevier|language=en|doi=10.1016/b978-0-12-809417-4.00004-5|isbn=978-0-12-809417-4|access-date=2021-03-15|last2=Schettino|first2=A.|archive-date=2021-10-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211005232332/https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/B9780128094174000045|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The [[Kazakhstania]] block collided with Baltica during the Cisuralian, while the [[North China craton|North China Craton]], the [[South China Block]] and [[Indochina Block|Indochina]] fused to each other and Pangea by the end of the Permian.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Liu|first1=Jun|last2=Yi|first2=Jian|last3=Chen|first3=Jian-Ye|date=August 2020|title=Constraining assembly time of some blocks on eastern margin of Pangea using Permo-Triassic non-marine tetrapod records|url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012825220302610|journal=[[Earth-Science Reviews]]|language=en|volume=207|pages=103215|doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103215|bibcode=2020ESRv..20703215L|s2cid=219766796|access-date=2021-08-29|archive-date=2022-03-09|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309030744/https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012825220302610|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> The [[Zechstein Sea]], a hypersaline [[epicontinental sea]], existed in what is now northwestern Europe.<ref name="ZechsteinHaloarchaea">{{cite journal |last1=Radax |first1=Christian |last2=Gruber |first2=Claudia |last3=Stan-Lotter |first3=Helga |date=August 2001 |title=Novel haloarchaeal 16S rRNA gene sequences from Alpine Permo-Triassic rock salt |url=https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s007920100192 |journal=Extremophiles |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=221–228 |doi=10.1007/s007920100192 |pmid=11523891 |s2cid=1836320 |access-date=5 June 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606051025/https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s007920100192 |url-status=live |url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Large continental landmass interiors experience climates with extreme variations of heat and cold ("[[continental climate]]") and [[monsoon]] conditions with highly seasonal rainfall patterns. [[Desert]]s seem to have been widespread on Pangaea.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Parrish |first1=J. T. |title=The Permian of Northern Pangea |chapter=Geologic Evidence of Permian Climate |date=1995 |pages=53–61 |doi=10.1007/978-3-642-78593-1_4|isbn=978-3-642-78595-5 }}</ref> Such dry conditions favored [[gymnosperm]]s, plants with seeds enclosed in a protective cover, over plants such as [[fern]]s that disperse [[spore]]s in a wetter environment. The first modern trees ([[Pinophyta|conifers]], [[ginkgo]]s and [[cycad]]s) appeared in the Permian.

Three general areas are especially noted for their extensive Permian deposits—the [[Ural Mountains]] (where Perm itself is located), China, and the southwest of North America, including the [[Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma|Texas red beds.]] The [[Permian Basin (North America)|Permian Basin]] in the [[U.S. state]]s of [[Texas]] and [[New Mexico]] is so named because it has one of the thickest deposits of Permian rocks in the world.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hills |first1=John M. |title=Late Paleozoic Sedimentation in West Texas Permian Basin |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1972 |volume=56 |issue=12 |pages=2302–2322 |doi=10.1306/819A421C-16C5-11D7-8645000102C1865D}}</ref>

=== Paleoceanography ===
Sea levels dropped slightly during the earliest Permian (Asselian). The sea level was stable at several tens of metres above present during the Early Permian, but there was a sharp drop beginning during the Roadian, culminating in the lowest sea level of the entire Palaeozoic at around present sea level during the Wuchiapingian, followed by a slight rise during the Changhsingian.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Haq|first1=B. U.|last2=Schutter|first2=S. R.|date=3 October 2008|title=A Chronology of Paleozoic Sea-Level Changes|journal=Science|volume=322|issue=5898|pages=64–68|doi=10.1126/science.1161648|pmid=18832639|bibcode=2008Sci...322...64H|s2cid=206514545}}</ref>