巨型季风是指二叠纪-三叠纪期间泛大陆上存在的强烈季节风,它的形成与泛大陆的形状、海陆分布及大陆的纬向分布密切相关.从晚石炭世泛大陆的聚合至晚侏罗世-早白垩世泛大陆裂解,巨型季风经历了形成、发展到衰退的过程.在三叠纪,泛大陆很大且几乎关于赤道对称,巨型季风达到最大强度.它对古气候、古环境、古生物及沉积等都产生了深刻的影响,使泛大陆低纬度地区呈现出干旱和潮湿交替的气候特征,蒸发岩和红层广泛分布;高纬度地区温暖潮湿,煤层大量分布;科罗拉多高原(美国西部)、西特提斯(欧洲)和东特提斯(中国)等地的二叠纪-三叠纪沉积地层也显示了受巨型季风影响的特征.

Megamonsoon means the strong monsoonal circulation on Pangaea during Permian and Triassic time. Formation of it was closely related with the shape of Pangaea, land-sea distribution and latitudinal distribution onland. As the Pangaea assembled in late Carboniferous epoch and broke in late Jurassic and early Cretaceous epochs, the megamonsoon had undergone the processes of formation, development and decline. During Triassic time, Pangaea was large enough and nearly symmetrical respect to the equator and the megamonsoon attained its maximum strength. The megamonsoon had a such profound influence on Pangaean paleoclimate, paleoenvironment, paleontology and sedimentation that low latitude regions showed an alternative climate of aridity and humid, and evaporites and red beds sedimentation widespread while high latitude regions were warm and humid, and coals wide spread. The Permian and Triassic sedimentary rocks in Colorado Plateau (western U.S.), western Tethys (Europe), and eastern Tethys (China), recorded the features of megamonsoon influence.