The mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic Boundary, ~252 million years ago, is recognized as the most devastating extinction in Earth’s history (>80% of all genera went extinct). In 2026, Prof. Jay Zambito will start a new project as part of the DeepDUST working group focused on the extreme continental conditions leading up to and after the extinction event, in particular, hot and arid saline lake environments. This research uses fluid inclusions within salt that precipitated in these settings to reconstruct lake water temperatures which are a proxy for paleoweather. When studied in time succession this type of data allows us to make interpretations about paleoclimatic changes leading up to the mass extinction at the Permian-Triassic Boundary. Samples for this study will come from newly acquired and existing drill cores.