Implications of the Newark Supergroup-based astrochronology and geomagnetic polarity time scale (Newark-APTS) for the tempo and mode of the early diversification of the Dinosauria

A high-resolution astrochronological framework (Newark-APTS) reveals that stage-level correlations of Late Triassic and Early Jurassic continental sequences were misaligned by up to 10 million years, challenging long-standing biostratigraphic assumptions. New U–Pb dating confirms the accuracy of these correlations, enabling precise dating of dinosaur diversification. Key findings include: no unequivocal Carnian-age dinosaurs; slow saurischian diversity increase in the Norian with no ornithischians; profound provinciality during the Norian and Rhaetian; persistence of classic biotic assemblages into the Rhaetian; a mid-Norian biotic transition coinciding with the Manicouagan impact; and globally homogenous, low-diversity Hettangian-Sinemurian communities. The study underscores the need for region-specific geochronologies to unravel dinosaur diversification patterns.

Olsen, P. E., Kent, D. V., & Whiteside, J. H. (2010). Implications of the Newark Supergroup-based astrochronology and geomagnetic polarity time scale (Newark-APTS) for the tempo and mode of the early diversification of the Dinosauria. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 101(3-4), 201–229. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1755691011020032