This book reports new developments in research on the Zechstein basin which is one of the classical saline giants. Recently much information was gathered which changes earlier ideas on the deposition and diagenesis of the Zechstein basin.

Characteristic examples of evaporite basins, mostly of moderate size, are discussed in terms of type (playas, continental sabkhas, barred basins), deposits, fossils, relics and pseudomorphs of gypsum found, and complex of diagenesis, e.g. in the Red Sea Miocene where reef complexes predate the deposition of massive evaporites. Two models, the sabkha model and the deep desiccation basin model, are both employed to explain the formation of "evaporite basins." In many cases both models must be combined as many evaporites were formed in subaqueous environments.

The Permian was a remarkable time period. It represents the maximum stage of Pangean continental assembly, includes a major global climatic shift from glacial to nonglacial conditions (icehouse-greenhouse transition), and is ter minated by one of the most profound faunal/floral extinction events in the Earth's history. In addition, Permian oceans, although poorly understood, must have had some quite unique characteristics. Permian seas reached the most extreme values of carbon, sulfur, and strontium isotopic ratios ever achieved in Phanerozoic time, and the isotopic ratios of all three...

The Permian was a remarkable time period. It represents the maximum stage of Pangean continental assembly, includes a major global climatic shift from glacial to nonglacial conditions (icehouse-greenhouse transition), and is ter minated by one of the most profound faunal/floral extinction events in the Earth's history. In addition, Permian oceans, although poorly understood, must have had some quite unique characteristics. Permian seas reached the most extreme values of carbon, sulfur, and strontium isotopic ratios ever achieved in Phanerozoic time, and the isotopic ratios of all three...