Central Europe is the type region of the classic epicontinental Triassic as defined by Alberti (1834), also referred to as the Germanic Triassic. Almost 50% of all the papers are in this section. The section South and Southeastern Europe, i.e. the northwestern Peri-Tethys, contains overview papers from Spain and Hungary, and draws attention to the important outcrops in Bulgaria and their faunas. Several contributions in the Africa section point to the important epicontinental deposits of the southwestern Peri-Tethys. Papers in the section on Eastern Europe, Svalbard and Asia cover a vast area, as exemplified by the sequence stratigraphic comparison of Svalbard and East Siberia. Other papers address paleontological and biostratigraphic aspects.

The Newark System of North America is described as a prime example of astronomically induced cyclicity. The redbeds of the Southwest are shown to be well suited for sequence stratigraphic interpretations and investigations of vertebrates. Another paper ably describes the South American connection to Gondwanaland, and corresponding shifts in climate and habitat for flora and fauna.

The purpose of these Proceedings is to enable fellow researchers from the information presented and, so that over the next decade or so, various aspects seen but murkily at present can be worked on. It is hoped that the variety of articles presented here will provide a framework for further investigation of the Triassic.

In my dreams, I want to understand what really happened. I have no desire to change past events. Few geologists take time travel seriously, nor do I. Practically, what one can do for a grand Triassic journey is buy these volumes. Reading them, we learn about the history of the only geologic period that is bounded by mass extinctions. The terminal Triassic extinction is of particular interest to me. A marine extinction "event" also took place near the Middle-Late Triassic boundary and I am in- terested in that too. From Triassic studies such as these, we dimly reconstruct part of our perilous past, those vital years from about Z45 to 205 million years ago.

Epicontinental seas are those situated on the continental shelf or on the continental interior. On all of the continents, there are Triassic rocks of epicontinental marine origin. From the Permian to the middle Late Triassic, seas that mollusks finally dominated slowly invaded the lands.

Of the 18 papers in volume 1, two thirds of them are specifically concerned with the German Triassic. As defined by Freidrich August von Alberti (1795-1878) in 1834, rocks of this age are present in a three-fold sequence based on color-red, white, and brown. Not unexpectedly, German geologists wrote most of these articles. Volume 2 contains eight papers on the Middle Triassic (all but one on the German Triassic), a paper on the Late Triassic (an ammonoid correlation of a horizon in Germany with one in the Dolomites), six papers on problems in southern and southeastern Europe (Spain, Hungary, Bulgaria), and five papers pertaining to North African problems (mostly on Moroccan localities).

These articles touch on palynology, vertebrate tracks, vertebrates, ammonoids, echinoderms, conodonts, bivalves, and brachiopods; there is a lot of stratigraphy. Fida Med.na-what a fine name-discusses the structural styles of the Moroccan Triassic basins; the paper contains extensive references. No other article takes up to any great extent the complete assembly of the supercontinent Pangea in the Early to Middle Triassic and the beginning of its fragmentation in the Late Triassic. Volume 3 begins well. The opening paper by P. J. Hancox on the continental Triassic of South Africa reawakens memorable days I spent in 1978 hammering rocks in the Karoo. (I am surprised, however, by the omission of the important studies by A. M. Anderson in what is a long list of references.) Seven papers on eastern Europe, Svalbard, and Asia follow. These deal primarily with paleontologic and stratigraphic research. Four articles on the North American Triassic, two of them by D. V. Kent and P. E. Olsen, come next. The final paper by Michael Holz and Claiton M. S. Scherer is about climates during Middle and Late Triassic time in what is now southernmost Brazil; initially semi-arid, the humidity increased during the Middle and Late Triassic.

This collection, addressed to students of the early Mesozoic, will speak to many others as well. It is not, however, a coherent step forward but, rather, a group of interesting papers. We see at once that H. G. Wells' time traveler would have had no trouble finding saline (or fresh water) lakes to loll about in. For plesiosaurs, the Jurassic was a better time.

AAPG Bulletin, May 2001, p. 914/915