{{Short description|Second epoch of the Triassic period}} {{More citations needed|date=February 2024}} {{Infobox geologic timespan | name = Middle Triassic | color = Middle Triassic | time_start = 246.7 | time_end = 237 | time_end_prefix = ~ | image_map = Mollweide Paleographic Map of Earth, 240 Ma (Ladinian Age).png | caption_map = A map of Earth as it appeared 240 million years ago during the Middle Triassic Epoch, Ladinian Age | image_outcrop = Obere Schaumkalkbank am Altenberg bei Dörzbach 280308.jpg | caption_outcrop = Middle Triassic aged Muschelkalk (Schaumkalk) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany | image_art = | caption_art = <!--Chronology--> | timeline = Triassic <!--Etymology--> | name_formality = Formal | name_accept_date = | alternate_spellings = | synonym1 = | synonym1_coined = | synonym2 = | synonym2_coined = | synonym3 = | synonym3_coined = | nicknames = | former_names = | proposed_names = <!--Usage Information--> | celestial_body = earth | usage = Global (ICS) | timescales_used = ICS Time Scale | formerly_used_by = | not_used_by = <!--Definition--> | chrono_unit = Epoch | strat_unit = Series | proposed_by = | timespan_formality = Formal | lower_boundary_def = Not formally defined | lower_def_candidates = * FAD of the Conodont ''Chiosella timorensis'' * Base of magnetic zone MT1n | lower_gssp_candidates = * Desli Caira, Northern Dobruja, Romania * Guandao, Guizhou, China | upper_boundary_def = FAD of the Ammonite ''Daxatina canadensis'' | upper_gssp_location = Prati di Stuores, Dolomites, Italy | upper_gssp_coords = {{Coord|46.5269|N|11.9303|E|display=inline}} | upper_gssp_accept_date = 2008<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Mietto |first1=Paolo |last2=Manfrin |first2=Stefano |last3=Preto |first3=Nereo |last4=Rigo |first4=Manuel |last5=Roghi |first5=Guido |last6=Furin |first6=Stefano |last7=Gianolla |first7=Piero |last8=Posenato |first8=Renato |last9=Muttoni |first9=Giovanni |last10=Nicora |first10=Alda |last11=Buratti |first11=Nicoletta |last12=Cirilli |first12=Simonetta |last13=Spötl |first13=Christoph |last14=Ramezani |first14=Jahandar |last15=Bowring |first15=Samuel |title=The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Carnian Stage (Late Triassic) at Prati Di Stuores/Stuores Wiesen Section (Southern Alps, NE Italy) |journal=Episodes |date=September 2012 |volume=35 |issue=3 |pages=414–430 |doi=10.18814/epiiugs/2012/v35i3/003 |doi-access=free |url=https://stratigraphy.org/gssps/files/carnian.pdf |access-date=13 December 2020}}</ref> <!--Atmospheric and Climatic Data--> | o2 = | co2 = | temp = | sea_level = }}
In the geologic timescale, the '''Middle Triassic''' is the second of three epochs of the Triassic period or the middle of three series in which the Triassic system is divided in chronostratigraphy. The Middle Triassic spans the time between {{Period start|Middle-Triassic}} Ma and {{Period start|Upper-Triassic}} Ma (million years ago). It is preceded by the Early Triassic Epoch and followed by the Late Triassic Epoch. The Middle Triassic is divided into the Anisian and Ladinian ages or stages.<ref name=TimeScale>{{Cite web |url=https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2024-12.pdf |title=ICS - Chart/Time Scale |access-date=2025-01-14 |archive-date=2025-01-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250101170925/https://stratigraphy.org/ICSchart/ChronostratChart2024-12.pdf}}</ref>
Formerly the middle series in the Triassic was also known as Muschelkalk. This name is now only used for a specific unit of rock strata with approximately Middle Triassic age, found in western Europe.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024|reason=Citation needed for the entire above section, where none are provided}} The Ashfield Shale and Bringelly Shale of western Sydney date to this epoch, with the former featuring fluvial fossils from that era.<ref>{{cite journal |author =Roy M. Farman and Phil R. Bell|year=2020 |url= https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/australias-earliest-tetrapod-swimming-traces-from-the-hawkesbury-sandstone-middle-triassic-of-the-sydney-basin/2C787D68A8F2F300B2111A0E68E5981C|title=Australia's earliest tetrapod swimming traces from the Hawkesbury Sandstone (Middle Triassic) of the Sydney Basin |publisher=Cambridge University Press |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=94|issue=5|pages= 966–978}}</ref><ref name=uni>{{cite web|title=Sampling and Mineralogy of Bringelly Shale|url=https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/bitstream/handle/2123/1520/04chapter3.pdf?sequence=9&isAllowed=y|publisher=The University of Sydney |access-date= May 12, 2025}}</ref>
==Middle Triassic life== {{Main|:Category:Middle Triassic life}} Following the Permian–Triassic extinction event, the most devastating of all mass-extinctions, life recovered slowly. In the Middle Triassic, many groups of organisms reached higher diversity again, such as the marine reptiles (e.g. ichthyosaurs, sauropterygians, thallatosaurs), ray-finned fish and many invertebrate groups like molluscs (ammonoids, bivalves, gastropods).{{Citation needed|date=February 2024|reason=Citation needed for the entire above section, where none are provided}}
During the Middle Triassic, there were not yet any flowering plants, but instead there were seed ferns and gymnosperms. Small dinosauriforms began to appear, like ''Nyasasaurus'' and the ichnogenus ''Iranosauripus''.{{Citation needed|date=February 2024|reason=Citation needed for the entire above section, where none are provided}}
<gallery> File:Mixosaurus BW.jpg|''Mixosaurus cornalianus'' restoration, a Middle Triassic ichthyosaur </gallery>
==References== {{Reflist}} *[http://www.stratigraphy.org/geowhen/stages/Middle_Triassic.html GeoWhen Database - Middle Triassic]
{{Triassic Footer}} {{Geological history|p|m}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Middle Triassic *02 Category:Geological epochs *02