In the Karawanken and Carinthian mountains limestones with swollen Fusulina and some species recalling the Permo-Carbon iferous of Nebraska, follow directly on, or are in intimate con nection with, the marine Carboniferous. A Bellerophon limestone with a rich Permo-Carboniferous fauna occurs in southern Tyrol. Fusulina limestones with an extraordinary number of Ammo noidea, some similar to those of the Artinsk stage, others of newer genera, occur in Sicily. In Asia a similar rich Permian fauna occurs near Djulfa in the valley of the Araxes and the Artinsk fauna appears again at Bokhara.
The lowest part of the Productus Limestone of the Indian Salt Range represents approximately the Artinsk stage. The higher part is Middle and Upper Permian. At the top (which is succeeded by Triassic formations) is a rich fauna of Ammonoidea, Nautili, Productidae, etc., some of the forms being common to the Zech stein. Marine Permian deposits occur also in the northern zone of the Himalayas, in Burma and at Timor in the Moluccas; whilst in the northern part of the Malay Peninsula the Permo Carboniferous (and probably Permian) consists of marine lime stones which become more shaly towards the east and south (Raub Series).
Beds equivalent to a part of the Permian of Russia occur in North America, but as there is frequently a complete upward transition from Coal Measures there is some disagreement as to where the line between the two should be drawn. The flooding by the sea northward and eastward, of the continent, continued throughout Pennsylvanian (Upper Coal Measure) times; it then began to retreat south-westward and in early Permian times the continent had again nearly emerged. Thus the greater part of the marine development in Kansas and south-west Texas is replaced by continental red beds in Oklahoma, northern Texas, and the southern Great Plains country. In Oklahoma tremendous amounts of gypsum are incorporated in the red beds.
In Texas the beds classed as Permian (7,00o ft.) in the suite are the Wichita (or Wreford of Kansas) followed by the Clear Fork, Double Mountain and Capitan of Trans-Pecos: in Penn sylvania, the Dunkard : in Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick Permo-Carboniferous beds consist of soft red shales and sandstones.
To the south of the Tethys the dominant feature of the southern hemisphere (and a smaller part of the northern) at this period is a vast pile of shales and coals of a deltaic and terrestrial facies, comprising what is known in India as the "Gondwana System," which ranges in age from Permo-Carboniferous to Jurassic.
In Peninsular India the coal-bearing Damuda series (about 10,000 ft.) contains the peculiar "Glossopteris" flora, with such forms as Glossopteris, Gangamopteris and Sagenopteris. At the base is the Talchir series, including a fossil boulder-clay or "til lite." A glacial boulder bed occurs also at the base of the speckled sandstones beneath the Productus Limestone of the Salt Range. Similar formations have been found in Afghanistan.
In Africa the thick Dwyka series, at the base of the Permo Triassic Karroo system, extends from the southern to the central parts of the continent, with a horizontal range of Soo miles. The
Dwyka conglomerate at or near its base is a tillite (maximum 1,50o ft.) which forms a sheet encircling the Karroo basin. It is succeeded by the Upper Dwyka shales and these by the coal bearing Ecca beds, both with the Glossopteris flora.
At Bacchus Marsh and other places in Victoria coal-bearing beds with the Glossopteris flora are interstratified with the glacial deposits (which occur also as moraines in South Australia and Tasmania) ; whilst in Western Australia the Lyons Conglomerate analogous to similar deposits in New South Wales—associated with a marine Permo-Carboniferous fauna—can be traced without break from south-south-east to north-north-west through 3° of latitude.
In New Zealand the Permian (said to be 7,000-10,000 ft. thick) contains neither coal nor evidence of ice-action, but includes lava-flows.
Glacial conglomerates, associated with rocks of Permo-Carbon iferous age, occur in many parts of South America typically Brazil and Argentina, in both cases with strata containing Glossopteris.
In the Falkland Islands Permo-Carboniferous beds with Glos sopteris overlie a tillite, and with these the coal-bearing Beacon Sandstone of South Victoria Land (Antarctica), which also con tains Glossopteris is tentatively correlated.
The Gondwana continent, margined by sediments with the Glossopteris flora, was probably traversed by alpine chains with valley glaciers spreading out as piedmonts on the shores of inland basins and land-locked seas. The movement of ice in India was apparently northward, in South Africa southward.
Certain tillites occur also in North America about Boston, Mass., but here the movement was from north to south, as in the Pleistocene period.
Glacial moraines are said to occur in the Lower Rothliegende of Westphalia in Germany.
The fauna of the continental types of the Permian generally possesses a terrestrial facies and comprises insects, molluscs, crus taceans, fish, amphibians (Labyrinthodonts) and reptiles (Palaeo liatteria, Proterosaurus, etc.), the latter now making their first appearance. The richest and most varied fauna of amphibians and reptiles is that of America, especially Texas and Oklahoma, where it had an independent and isolated development.
The fauna of the inland seas shows signs of degeneration, but forms living in the open seas, such as Tethys, flourished and fol lowed a normal course of development and new forms made their appearance. Ammonites (Medlicottia, Wagenoceras, etc.), so characteristic of the Mesozoic era, began to appear and are associated with Bryozoa, corals and molluscs. The last representa tives of the trilobites occur in the Permian of North America. Plants are represented by many survivors from the Carbon iferous (e.g., Calamites) ; others show that a change of type was in progress. The distinctive Glossopteris flora was that of a cool climate. (B. SM.)