The early Mesozoic (Triassic/Early Jurassic) witnessed the initial fragmentation of Pangea, the evolution of fundamental components of modern biota, the evolutionary/ecological ascent of dinosaurs, two mass extinctions, a major biotic turnover, and is distant enough in time to provide distinctly different greenhouse gas boundary conditions for developing climate models and recognizing apparently anomalous astronomical climatic pacing related to the chaotic behavior of the Solar System. Conceptually developed over two decades and successor to the first phase (Early to mid-Late Triassic) of the ICDP-NSF CPCP I, this project seeks to obtain a complete latest Triassic through Early Jurassic record at low-paleolatitude Colorado Plateau (USA) sites and correlative continental high-paleolatitude Junggar Basin sites (Xinjiang, western China).

Keywords: North America, USA, Arizona, Colorado, Flagstaff, Junggar, Astrochronology, CO₂, EMCT, Jurassic, Mass Extinction, Paleoclimate