Dawn of the Modern World: Life, Death and Rain in the late Triassic – Mike Simms

In November 1987 two young geologists stumbled upon evidence that the prevailing aridity
of the Late Triassic was interrupted, for about a million years, by an interval of greatly
increased rainfall that appeared synchronous with mass extinction and diversification
events in both marine and terrestrial environments. This key episode in the evolution of
taxa from dinosaurs to dinoflagellates, coccoliths to coral reefs, has been described as the
Dawn of the Modern World. First published in 1989, the Carnian Pluvial Episode was
virtually ignored for almost 20 years. Since 2010 there has been a huge upsurge in interest
worldwide. Research groups have confirmed much of what was reported, and hypothesized,
in that first paper. The CPE is now entering the scientific ‘mainstream’. It featured
prominently in episode 1 of the recent BBC documentary Earth and was the main focus of a
recent Japanese documentary.
This talk will provide a history of the discovery of the CPE, the evidence for the climatic and
biotic changes discovered back in the late-1980s, and more recent developments in the
study of the CPE. The speaker is well placed to describe these events. He was one half of
that geological partnership of 1987, still works with his co-author Alastair Ruffell all these
years later, and recently published another major paper on the CPE.

This lecture will be offered in a hybrid format. Please join us in person if you can, or register to
attend virtually via zoom using the link below.

Register in advance for this meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84030428334?pwd=4oGPSMLvuEr1CfOads98GHNI858DJz.1

Venue:
St Francis Of Assisi RC Church, 110 Warwick Rd, Kenilworth CV8 1HL
https://maps.app.goo.gl/9CGWRNdgFfttDKtd7