Unlocking Gondwana's 120-million-year archive: Karoo record refines timing of extinctions and climate upheavals

A new review led by Professor Emese Bordy at the University of Cape Town synthesizes over two decades of research on the Karoo Supergroup, revealing the complex and fascinating geological history of this iconic archive. The Karoo, which spans about 120 million years of Earth's history, has long been recognized as one of the most important repositories of past events in Gondwana.

Recent research has revealed that the Karoo's climatic history was more complex than previously thought, with multiple lines of evidence pointing to nonlinear climatic changes and environmental fluctuations. The review highlights how advances in research methods, including high-resolution imaging and improved evolutionary analyses, have led to new fossil discoveries and refined fossil-based correlations across Gondwana, making the Karoo one of the world's most important fossil archives.

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