A considerable amount of information on palynological assemblages in the Permian and Triassic of Western Europe has become available over the past 15 years. It is already evident that palynology, alone or in combination with other methods, can be applied successfully in regional correlation of Permian and Triassic successions. On the other hand, it has never been emphasized that palynology might provide the primary biostratigraphic criteria for subdividing the Permian and Triassic systems in Europe. Palynological literature shows that there has been a strong tendency to attempt to correlate palynological data strictly with the conventional stratigraphic time-scale used in the area of investigation.

Although Western European classifications are now far more detailed, their nineteenth-century framework, essentially lithostratigraphic, is still frequently claimed to represent a reliable chronostratigraphic subdivision of a virtually complete sequence of Permian and Triassic rocks. However, the palynological data so far available cannot be reconciled with the existing schemes of chronostratigraphic classification and correlation. An alternative concept of the Western European Upper Permian and Lower Triassic, although tentative until supporting information is available, has been summarized in Figure 3.

Two general conclusions can be drawn: 1) The traditional reliance upon facies as an infallible means of subdividing the Permian and Triassic systems must be opposed. For example, the classic Permian-Triassic boundary in Western Europe cannot be accepted because of the diachronous position of the Zechstein-Buntsandstein facies transition. 2) There are no reasons for maintaining complete Permian and Triassic sequences in the generalized stratigraphic column of Western Europe. With regard to the Permian, only the existence of the lowermost part (Autunian) and the uppermost part (Thuringian) can be demonstrated, a regional hiatus embracing the greater part of the Permian System. Also the Triassic seems to be incomplete. At least within the Lower Triassic there exists another hiatus of regional importance.

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