Reply to the comment on "Chronostratigraphy and paleoclimatology of the Lodève Basin, France: Evidence for a pan-tropical aridification event across the Carboniferous-Permian boundary" by Michel et al., (2015). Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 430, 118-131

Michel et al. (2015) present new radioisotopic age estimates coupled with paleosol data from the Lodève basin, France that indicate a Pennsylvanian-Permian trend toward aridity that is similar to trends seen in other western equatorial basins across tropical Pangaea. In their comment, Pochat and Van Den Driessche (2015) call into question these newly published U-Pb zircon chemical-abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry (CAIDTIMS) age estimates from volcanic ash layers preserved within the Lodève Basin. Furthermore, Pochat and Van Den Driessche (2015) reject our assertion that the rates of sediment accumulation for the Carboniferous-Permian strata in the Lodève basin are in need of recalculation as a result of the new geochronological dates. Finally, Pochat and Van Den Driessche (2015) suggest that the paleosol data presented in Michel et al. (2015) do not providemeaningful proxies of paleoclimate change, and reassert the position presented in Pochat and Van Den Driessche (2011) that sedimentary strata are not strongly affected by paleoclimatic change compared with the influence of tectonic processes of the Lodève basin.