Upper Triassic and Jurassic fossil lagerstaetten of North Victoria Land

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The Mesozoic of Antarctica continues to yield exceptional terrestrial fossil deposits that show exquisite and often unique forms of preservation, especially with regard to plant fossils. However, the enormous potential of Antarctic fossil deposits is still far from being fully explored. This project proposal is to be regarded as a pilot study to carry out palaeontological fieldwork during the GANOVEX XI, with a special focus on the biotic changes across the Triassic-Jurassic boundary at southern high latitudes. The aims of this project are (1) a detailed collecting of macro- and microfloras at recently discovered fossil sites in the Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic of north Victoria Land, and (2) exploratory fieldwork in promising outcrop areas that have so far remained unstudied by palaeontologists. If fieldwork proves to be very successful, a separate project proposal for more detailed studies of the material will be submitted. The study of the Mesozoic Antarctic fossils will contribute to a better understanding of the physiology and growth strategies of southern high-latitude biotas during times of global warmth, and promises to shed new light on how the end-Triassic biotic crisis affected the Gondwanan terrestrial realm compared to well-studied northern high-latitude biotas.