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Upper Triassic Pacific vicariance as a test of geological theories
Author(s) -
Shields Oakley
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
journal of biogeography
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.7
H-Index - 158
eISSN - 1365-2699
pISSN - 0305-0270
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2699.1998.252179.x
Subject(s) - vicariance , pangaea , biogeography , paleontology , geology , terrane , earth science , biology , phylogenetic tree , tectonics , permian , biochemistry , structural basin , gene , phylogeography
Upper Triassic vicariance that spans the Pacific involving terrestrial biotas in south east Asia/south western North America and Queensland/Chile/Argentina is sum‐ marized. These terrestrial and freshwater organisms did not migrate via high‐latitude landbridges or across ocean barriers or Pangaea, are endemic to these vicariant fragments, and are mostly identical species. Rejoining the vicariant fragments is compatible with rapid earth expansion but is incompatible with other geological theories that call upon Panthalassa, Pacifica, displaced terranes and slow earth expansion. Vicariance biogeography yields a rigorous test of these models since its data are derived entirely independently of them. The Upper Triassic time‐frame was selected because it immediately preceded the break‐up of Pangaea.