Preface: Lopingian (Late Permian) stratigraphy of the world, major events and environmental change SHU-ZHONG SHEN 1 * , CHARLES M. HENDERSON 2 and IAN D. SOMERVILLE 3 1 LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, Nanjing, China 2 Department of Geoscience, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada 3 UCD School of Geological Sciences, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland This Special Issue of Geological Journal represents the third volume of the proceedings of the 16th International Congress on Carboniferous and Permian Stratigraphy (ICCP2007) which was held between 21 and 24 June 2007 in Nanjing, China. The first volume of the proceedings was a special issue of Palaeoworld (Shen et al., 2007) that was dedicated to the late Professor Yu-gan Jin who made great contributions to the study of Permian stratigraphy, brachiopod palaeontology and end-Permian mass extinctions. The second volume of ICCP2007 (Wang et al., 2009) had the theme ‘Carboniferous and Permian biota, integrative stratigraphy, sedimentology, palaeogeo- graphy, and palaeoclimatology’. All papers published in the second volume dealt with Carboniferous and Permian aspects before the Lopingian (Late Permian). This volume mainly focuses on the high-resolution timescale of the Lopingian Series, Lopingian biostratigraphy and global correlation, marine and terrestrial lithofacies and biota in different regions, major biological events immediately before the Lopingian and at the end of the Changhsingian, isotopic geochemistry and Lopingian palaeobiogeography and palaeogeography. The Lopingian Epoch, comprising the Wuchiapingian and Changhsingian stages, is bracketed by two of the most severe biotic mass extinctions—the end-Guadalupian or pre-Lopingian crisis and the end-Changhsingian mass extinction (Jin, 1993; Jin et al., 1994; Stanley and Yang, 1994). To understand the extinction pattern, tempo and causes, establishing a high-resolution timescale of the Lopingian Series and realizing precise intercontinental correlation are fundamental. However, Lopingian deposits, in particular, marine deposits, are very limited in their distribution because of the greatest regression during the Phanerozoic that occurred at the end of the Guadalupian times. The supercontinent Pangaea mostly emerged during the Lopingian and lacks well-preserved Lopingian deposits from many regions. The Tethys Ocean (both Palaeotethys and Neotethys) became the best region to accommodate complete Lopingian deposits of different biofacies and lithofacies. Recently, South China in the eastern Palaeo- tethys has become the most extensively studied area of the end-Permian mass extinctions (Bowring et al., 1998; Jin et al., 2000; Mundil et al., 2004; Isozaki et al., 2007), which greatly enhanced the Lopingian resolution and led to the establishment of all three Global Stratotype Sections and Points (GSSPs; base Wuchiapingian, base Changhsingian and Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB)), calibrating the Lopingian Series in South China (Yin et al., 2001; Jin et al., 2006a; Jin et al., 2006b). Thirteen papers are included in this volume. Shen et al. first provide a high-resolution timescale of the Lopingian Series of South China. This timescale includes the latest biostratigraphic framework based on conodonts using a sample population approach, ammonoids, fusulinids and brachiopods, new geochronologic ages within the Lopin- gian, latest chemostratigraphic framework based on d 13 C carb and multiple 87 Sr/ 86 Sr data in South China, which can serve as a standard for global correlation of the marine Lopingian. Shen and Mei also use a sample population approach to develop a high-resolution conodont biostratigraphic frame- work for the Lopingian of Iran based on a re-examination of collections studied by Sweet in Teichert et al. (1973) from northwest Iran and other collections. Fourteen conodont zones are recognized in the Lopingian in Iran. They first describe and figure all the zone-naming species using a sample-population taxonomic concept. The high-resolution Lopingian conodont zonation in Iran is closely correlative with its counterpart in South China. Ehiro and Shen present GEOLOGICAL JOURNAL Geol. J. 45: 119–121 (2010) Published online 5 April 2010 in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI: 10.1002/gj.1239 * Correspondence to: S. Z. Shen, LPS, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology, 39 East Beijing Road, Nanjing 210008, China. E-mail: szshen@nigpas.ac.cn Copyright # 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.