Comments on “Terrestrial Permian-Triassic boundary in southern China: New stratigraphic, structural and palaeoenvironment considerations” by Bourquin et al. (2018)

The terrestrial Permian-Triassic transitional section at Chahe in western Guizhou Province, South China has served as a key reference section for the study of terrestrial PTB, as well as the end-Permian mass extinction on land in South China. However, Bourquin et al. (2018) recently reported that the PTB interval at Chahe has undergone serious tectonic deformation and thus is not suitable for studying the PTB transition or the terrestrial end-Permian extinction due to an unknown amount of stratigraphy removed/displaced by faulting. In order to clarify the observations of Bourquin et al. (2018), we re-surveyed the Chahe section in further detail recently and our observations suggest that the interpreted deformation by Bourquin et al. (2018) cannot be verified and it also contradicts the regional litho- and bio-stratigraphic and chemostratigraphic results. We provide detailed outcrop imagery and data for all colleagues who are interested in this section to check our observations.