The Permian to Triassic transition in Jordan is characterised by a sequence boundary underlain by
red-bed, alluvial lithofacies deposited in a humid-tropical climate by low-sinuosity rivers, and overlain by shallow
marine siliciclastics with thin carbonates. The low-gradient alluvial floodplain was repeatedly subjected to the development
of ferralitic and pisolitic paleosols on the interfluves. In contrast, dysaerobic environments in the fluvial
channels and abandoned lakes resulted in the preservation of a prolific flora of macro-plants and palynomorphs
that indicate a probable range from Mid- to Late Permian age, though the abundant presence of the distinctive
pollen Pretricolpipollenites bharadwajii indicates the youngest part of that range. Above the sequence boundary, reddened
shallow-marine beds characterised by ripple cross-laminated, siltstones/sandstone with desiccation cracks
and sparse surface burrows mark the initial Triassic marine transgression in the region (Arabian Plate Tr 10). These
are followed by two thin limestone (packstone) beds with shallow scours and bivalve shell lags, that have yielded a
low diversity assemblage of conodonts (e.g. Hadrodontina aequabilis) and foraminifera (“Cornuspira” mahajeri) that are
interpreted as euryhaline taxa characterising the early Induan (Early Triassic). Thus the absence of body fossils and
vertical infaunal burrows in the lowest marine beds may reflect low-diversity ecosystems following the Permian-
Triassic extinction event, or be a result of stressed shallow marine environments. A gradational upward increase in
grey, green and yellow siltstones beds accompanied by a concomitant increase in bioturbation (and infaunal vertical
burrows) and thin-shelled bivalves about 15 m above the boundary indicates colonisation of the substrate under
more normal shallow marine conditions perhaps indicating recovery phase following the extinction event