A team led by paleontologists and geologists at the University of Washington has uncovered new fossils in Zambia and Tanzania and has examined previously collected fossils and analyzed specimens in museums around the world in an attempt to understand life in the Triassic across different geographic areas. Findings from the past decade of fieldwork and analysis are reported March 28 in a publication of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology.

“Most of what we know about the major mass extinction is from the South African Karoo Basin. I was always interested in understanding, do we see the exact same pattern around the world, or do we not?” said co-editor Christian Sidor, a UW biology professor and curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture.

“The fossil record can be great to understand timing and sequence, but not always great at looking at things in a geographic context.”

Read the entire article on UW Today.