The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous is a geologic period and system that spans 60
million years from the end of the
Devonian
Devonian Period 358.9 million years
ago (Mya), to the beginning of the
Permian
Permian Period, 298.9 Mya. The name
Carboniferous
Carboniferous means "coal-bearing" and derives from the
Latin
Latin words
carbō ("coal") and ferō ("I bear, I carry"), and was coined by
geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822.[6]
Based on a study of the British rock succession, it was the first of
the modern 'system' names to be employed, and reflects the fact that
many coal beds were formed globally during that time.[7] The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous is often treated in
North America
North America as two geological
periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later
Pennsylvanian.[8] Terrestrial animal life was well established
by the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous period.[9] Amphibians were the dominant
land vertebrates, of which one branch would eventually evolve into
amniotes, the first solely terrestrial vertebrates.
Arthropods were also very common, and many (such as Meganeura) were
much larger than those of today. Vast swaths of forest covered the
land, which would eventually be laid down and become the coal beds
characteristic of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous stratigraphy evident today. The
atmospheric content of oxygen also reached its highest levels in
geological history during the period, 35%[10] compared with
21% today, allowing terrestrial invertebrates to evolve to great
size.[10]
The later half of the period experienced glaciations, low sea level,
and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea. A
minor marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous
rainforest collapse, occurred at the end of the period, caused by
climate change.[11]
Contents
1 Subdivisions
2 Palaeogeography
3 Climate
4 Rocks and coal
5 Life
5.1 Plants
5.2 Marine invertebrates
5.3 Freshwater and lagoonal invertebrates
5.4 Terrestrial invertebrates
5.5 Fish
5.6 Tetrapods
5.7 Fungi
6 Extinction events
6.1 Romer's gap
6.2
Carboniferous
Carboniferous rainforest collapse
7 See also
8 References
9 Sources
10 External links
Subdivisions
In the
United States
United States the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous is usually broken into
Mississippian (earlier) and Pennsylvanian (later) subperiods. The
Mississippian is about twice as long as the Pennsylvanian, but due to
the large thickness of coal-bearing deposits with Pennsylvanian ages
in Europe and North America, the two subperiods were long thought to
have been more or less equal in duration.[12]
System
Series(NW Europe)
Stage(NW Europe)
Series(ICS)
Stage(ICS)
Age(Ma)
Permian
younger
Carboniferous
Silesian
Stephanian
Pennsylvanian
Gzhelian
298.9–303.7
Westphalian
Kasimovian
303.7–307.0
Moscovian
307.0–315.2
Bashkirian
315.2–323.2
Namurian
Mississippian
Serpukhovian
323.2–330.9
Dinantian
Visean
Visean
330.9–346.7
Tournaisian
Tournaisian
346.7–358.9
Devonian
older
Subdivisions of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous system in Europe compared with the
official ICS-stages (as of 2018)
In Europe the Lower
Carboniferous
Carboniferous sub-system is known as the
Dinantian, comprising the
Tournaisian and
Visean Series, dated at
362.5-332.9 Ma, and the Upper
Carboniferous
Carboniferous sub-system is known as the
Silesian, comprising the Namurian, Westphalian, and Stephanian Series,
dated at 332.9-298.9 Ma. The Silesian is roughly contemporaneous with
the late Mississippian
Serpukhovian plus the Pennsylvanian. In Britain
the
Dinantian is traditionally known as the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Limestone,
the
Namurian as the Millstone Grit, and the Westphalian as the Coal
Measures and Pennant Sandstone.
The
International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) faunal stages (in
bold) from youngest to oldest, together with some of their regional
subdivisions, are:
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Late Pennsylvanian:
Gzhelian (most recent)
Noginskian / Virgilian (part)
Late Pennsylvanian: Kasimovian
Klazminskian
Dorogomilovksian / Virgilian (part)
Chamovnicheskian / Cantabrian / Missourian
Krevyakinskian / Cantabrian / Missourian
Middle Pennsylvanian: Moscovian
Myachkovskian / Bolsovian / Desmoinesian
Podolskian / Desmoinesian
Kashirskian / Atokan
Vereiskian / Bolsovian / Atokan
Early Pennsylvanian:
Bashkirian / Morrowan
Melekesskian / Duckmantian
Cheremshanskian / Langsettian
Yeadonian
Marsdenian
Kinderscoutian
Late Mississippian: Serpukhovian
Alportian
Chokierian / Chesterian / Elvirian
Arnsbergian / Elvirian
Pendleian
Middle Mississippian: Visean
Brigantian / St Genevieve / Gasperian / Chesterian
Asbian / Meramecian
Holkerian / Salem
Arundian / Warsaw / Meramecian
Chadian / Keokuk / Osagean (part) / Osage (part)
Early Mississippian:
Tournaisian (oldest)
Ivorian / (part) / Osage (part)
Hastarian / Kinderhookian / Chouteau
Palaeogeography
A global drop in sea level at the end of the
Devonian
Devonian reversed early
in the Carboniferous; this created the widespread inland seas and the
carbonate deposition of the Mississippian.[13] There was also
a drop in south polar temperatures; southern Gondwanaland was
glaciated throughout the period, though it is uncertain if the ice
sheets were a holdover from the
Devonian
Devonian or not.[13] These
conditions apparently had little effect in the deep tropics, where
lush swamps, later to become coal, flourished to within 30 degrees of
the northernmost glaciers.[13]
Generalized geographic map of the
United States
United States in Middle
Pennsylvanian time.
Mid-Carboniferous, a drop in sea level precipitated a major marine
extinction, one that hit crinoids and ammonites especially
hard.[13] This sea level drop and the associated unconformity
in
North America
North America separate the Mississippian subperiod from the
Pennsylvanian subperiod.[13] This happened about 323 million
years ago, at the onset of the Permo-Carboniferous
Glaciation.[14]
The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous was a time of active mountain-building as the
supercontinent
Pangaea
Pangaea came together. The southern continents remained
tied together in the supercontinent Gondwana, which collided with
North America–Europe (Laurussia) along the present line of eastern
North America. This continental collision resulted in the Hercynian
orogeny in Europe, and the
Alleghenian orogeny
Alleghenian orogeny in North America; it
also extended the newly uplifted Appalachians southwestward as the
Ouachita Mountains.[13] In the same time frame, much of
present eastern
Eurasian plate
Eurasian plate welded itself to Europe along the line
of the Ural Mountains. Most of the
Mesozoic
Mesozoic supercontinent of Pangea
was now assembled, although North China (which would collide in the
Latest Carboniferous), and South China continents were still separated
from Laurasia. The Late
Carboniferous
Carboniferous
Pangaea
Pangaea was shaped like an "O."
There were two major oceans in the Carboniferous—
Panthalassa
Panthalassa and
Paleo-Tethys, which was inside the "O" in the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Pangaea.
Other minor oceans were shrinking and eventually closed - Rheic Ocean
(closed by the assembly of South and North America), the small,
shallow
Ural Ocean (which was closed by the collision of
Baltica
Baltica and
Siberia continents, creating the Ural Mountains) and Proto-Tethys
Ocean (closed by North China collision with Siberia/Kazakhstania).
Climate
Average global temperatures in the Early
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Period were
high: approximately 20 °C (68 °F). However, cooling during
the Middle
Carboniferous
Carboniferous reduced average global temperatures to about
12 °C (54 °F). Lack of growth rings of fossilized trees
suggest a lack of seasons of a tropical climate. Glaciations in
Gondwana, triggered by Gondwana's southward movement, continued into
the
Permian
Permian and because of the lack of clear markers and breaks, the
deposits of this glacial period are often referred to as
Permo-Carboniferous in age.
The cooling and drying of the climate led to the Carboniferous
Rainforest Collapse (CRC) during the late Carboniferous. Tropical
rainforests fragmented and then were eventually devastated by climate
change.[11]
Rocks and coal
Lower
Carboniferous
Carboniferous marble in Big Cottonwood Canyon, Wasatch
Mountains, Utah.
Carboniferous
Carboniferous rocks in Europe and eastern
North America
North America largely
consist of a repeated sequence of limestone, sandstone, shale and coal
beds.[15] In North America, the early
Carboniferous
Carboniferous is largely
marine limestone, which accounts for the division of the Carboniferous
into two periods in North American schemes. The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous coal
beds provided much of the fuel for power generation during the
Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution and are still of great economic importance.
The large coal deposits of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous may owe their existence
primarily to two factors. The first of these is the appearance of wood
tissue and bark-bearing trees. The evolution of the wood fiber lignin
and the bark-sealing, waxy substance suberin variously opposed decay
organisms so effectively that dead materials accumulated long enough
to fossilise on a large scale. The second factor was the lower sea
levels that occurred during the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous as compared to the
preceding
Devonian
Devonian period. This promoted the development of extensive
lowland swamps and forests in
North America
North America and Europe. Based on a
genetic analysis of mushroom fungi, it was proposed that large
quantities of wood were buried during this period because animals and
decomposing bacteria had not yet evolved enzymes that could
effectively digest the resistant phenolic lignin polymers and waxy
suberin polymers. They suggest that fungi that could break those
substances down effectively only became dominant towards the end of
the period, making subsequent coal formation much
rarer.[16][17][18]
The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous trees made extensive use of lignin. They had bark to
wood ratios of 8 to 1, and even as high as 20 to 1. This compares to
modern values less than 1 to 4. This bark, which must have been used
as support as well as protection, probably had 38% to 58% lignin.
Lignin
Lignin is insoluble, too large to pass through cell walls, too
heterogeneous for specific enzymes, and toxic, so that few organisms
other than
Basidiomycetes
Basidiomycetes fungi can degrade it. To oxidize it requires
an atmosphere of greater than 5% oxygen, or compounds such as
peroxides. It can linger in soil for thousands of years and its toxic
breakdown products inhibit decay of other substances.[19] One
possible reason for its high percentages in plants at that time was to
provide protection from insects in a world containing very effective
insect herbivores (but nothing remotely as effective as modern plant
eating insects) and probably many fewer protective toxins produced
naturally by plants than exist today. As a result, undegraded carbon
built up, resulting in the extensive burial of biologically fixed
carbon, leading to an increase in oxygen levels in the atmosphere;
estimates place the peak oxygen content as high as 35%, as compared to
21% today.[20] This oxygen level may have increased wildfire
activity. It also may have promoted gigantism of insects and
amphibians — creatures that have been constrained in size by
respiratory systems that are limited in their physiological ability to
transport and distribute oxygen at the lower atmospheric
concentrations that have since been available.[21]
In eastern North America, marine beds are more common in the older
part of the period than the later part and are almost entirely absent
by the late Carboniferous. More diverse geology existed elsewhere, of
course. Marine life is especially rich in crinoids and other
echinoderms. Brachiopods were abundant. Trilobites became quite
uncommon. On land, large and diverse plant populations existed. Land
vertebrates included large amphibians.
Life
Plants
Etching depicting some of the most significant plants of the
Carboniferous.
Early
Carboniferous
Carboniferous land plants, some of which were preserved in coal
balls, were very similar to those of the preceding Late Devonian, but
new groups also appeared at this time.
Ancient in situ lycopsid, probably Sigillaria, with attached
stigmarian roots.
Base of a lycopsid showing connection with bifurcating stigmarian
roots.
The main Early
Carboniferous
Carboniferous plants were the Equisetales
(horse-tails),
Sphenophyllales
Sphenophyllales (scrambling plants),
Lycopodiales
Lycopodiales (club
mosses),
Lepidodendrales
Lepidodendrales (scale trees),
Filicales
Filicales (ferns),
Medullosales
Medullosales (informally included in the "seed ferns", an artificial
assemblage of a number of early gymnosperm groups) and the
Cordaitales. These continued to dominate throughout the period, but
during late Carboniferous, several other groups,
Cycadophyta
Cycadophyta (cycads),
the
Callistophytales
Callistophytales (another group of "seed ferns"), and the
Voltziales (related to and sometimes included under the conifers),
appeared.
The
Carboniferous
Carboniferous lycophytes of the order Lepidodendrales, which are
cousins (but not ancestors) of the tiny club-moss of today, were huge
trees with trunks 30 meters high and up to 1.5 meters in diameter.
These included
Lepidodendron
Lepidodendron (with its cone called Lepidostrobus),
Anabathra, Lepidophloios and Sigillaria. The roots of several of these
forms are known as Stigmaria. Unlike present-day trees, their
secondary growth took place in the cortex, which also provided
stability, instead of the xylem.[22] The Cladoxylopsids were
large trees, that were ancestors of ferns, first arising in the
Carboniferous.[23]
Wikisource
Wikisource has the text of the 1879
American Cyclopædia
American Cyclopædia article Coal
Plants.
The fronds of some
Carboniferous
Carboniferous ferns are almost identical with those
of living species. Probably many species were epiphytic. Fossil ferns
and "seed ferns" include Pecopteris, Cyclopteris, Neuropteris,
Alethopteris, and Sphenopteris; Megaphyton and Caulopteris were tree
ferns.
The
Equisetales included the common giant form Calamites, with a trunk
diameter of 30 to 60 cm (24 in) and a height of up to
20 m (66 ft).
Sphenophyllum
Sphenophyllum was a slender climbing plant
with whorls of leaves, which was probably related both to the
calamites and the lycopods.
Cordaites, a tall plant (6 to over 30 meters) with strap-like leaves,
was related to the cycads and conifers; the catkin-like reproductive
organs, which bore ovules/seeds, is called Cardiocarpus. These plants
were thought to live in swamps. True coniferous trees (Walchia, of the
order Voltziales) appear later in the Carboniferous, and preferred
higher drier ground.
Marine invertebrates
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In the oceans the marine invertebrate groups are the Foraminifera,
corals, Bryozoa, Ostracoda, brachiopods, ammonoids, hederelloids,
microconchids and echinoderms (especially crinoids). For the first
time foraminifera take a prominent part in the marine faunas. The
large spindle-shaped genus Fusulina and its relatives were abundant in
what is now Russia, China, Japan, North America; other important
genera include Valvulina, Endothyra, Archaediscus, and Saccammina (the
latter common in Britain and Belgium). Some
Carboniferous
Carboniferous genera are
still extant.
The microscopic shells of radiolarians are found in cherts of this age
in the Culm of
Devon
Devon and Cornwall, and in Russia, Germany and
elsewhere. Sponges are known from spicules and anchor ropes, and
include various forms such as the Calcispongea Cotyliscus and
Girtycoelia, the demosponge Chaetetes, and the genus of unusual
colonial glass sponges Titusvillia.
Both reef-building and solitary corals diversify and flourish; these
include both rugose (for example, Caninia, Corwenia, Neozaphrentis),
heterocorals, and tabulate (for example, Chladochonus, Michelinia)
forms.
Conularids
Conularids were well represented by Conularia
Bryozoa
Bryozoa are abundant in some regions; the fenestellids including
Fenestella, Polypora, and Archimedes, so named because it is in the
shape of an Archimedean screw. Brachiopods are also abundant; they
include productids, some of which (for example, Gigantoproductus)
reached very large (for brachiopods) size and had very thick shells,
while others like
Chonetes were more conservative in form. Athyridids,
spiriferids, rhynchonellids, and terebratulids are also very common.
Inarticulate forms include Discina and Crania. Some species and genera
had a very wide distribution with only minor variations.
Annelids such as Serpulites are common fossils in some horizons. Among
the mollusca, the bivalves continue to increase in numbers and
importance. Typical genera include Aviculopecten, Posidonomya, Nucula,
Carbonicola, Edmondia, and Modiola. Gastropods are also numerous,
including the genera Murchisonia, Euomphalus, Naticopsis. Nautiloid
cephalopods are represented by tightly coiled nautilids, with
straight-shelled and curved-shelled forms becoming increasingly rare.
Goniatite
Goniatite ammonoids are common.
Trilobites are rarer than in previous periods, on a steady trend
towards extinction, represented only by the proetid group. Ostracoda,
a class of crustaceans, were abundant as representatives of the
meiobenthos; genera included Amphissites, Bairdia, Beyrichiopsis,
Cavellina, Coryellina, Cribroconcha, Hollinella, Kirkbya, Knoxiella,
and Libumella.
Amongst the echinoderms, the crinoids were the most numerous. Dense
submarine thickets of long-stemmed crinoids appear to have flourished
in shallow seas, and their remains were consolidated into thick beds
of rock. Prominent genera include Cyathocrinus, Woodocrinus, and
Actinocrinus. Echinoids such as
Archaeocidaris
Archaeocidaris and Palaeechinus were
also present. The blastoids, which included the Pentreinitidae and
Codasteridae and superficially resembled crinoids in the possession of
long stalks attached to the seabed, attain their maximum development
at this time.
Aviculopecten
Aviculopecten subcardiformis; a bivalve from the Logan Formation
(Lower Carboniferous) of
Wooster, Ohio
Wooster, Ohio (external mold).
Bivalves (Aviculopecten) and brachiopods (Syringothyris) in the Logan
Formation (Lower Carboniferous) in Wooster, Ohio.
Syringothyris sp.; a spiriferid brachiopod from the Logan Formation
(Lower Carboniferous) of
Wooster, Ohio
Wooster, Ohio (internal mold).
Palaeophycus ichnosp.; a trace fossil from the
Logan Formation
Logan Formation (Lower
Carboniferous) of Wooster, Ohio.
Crinoid
Crinoid calyx from the Lower
Carboniferous
Carboniferous of Ohio with a conical
platyceratid gastropod (Palaeocapulus acutirostre) attached.
Conulariid from the Lower
Carboniferous
Carboniferous of Indiana.
Tabulate coral (a syringoporid); Boone
Limestone
Limestone (Lower Carboniferous)
near Hiwasse, Arkansas.
Freshwater and lagoonal invertebrates
Freshwater
Carboniferous
Carboniferous invertebrates include various bivalve
molluscs that lived in brackish or fresh water, such as Anthraconaia,
Naiadites, and Carbonicola; diverse crustaceans such as Candona,
Carbonita, Darwinula, Estheria, Acanthocaris, Dithyrocaris, and
Anthrapalaemon.
The upper
Carboniferous
Carboniferous giant spider-like eurypterid
Megarachne
Megarachne grew
to legspans of 50 cm (20 in).
The Eurypterids were also diverse, and are represented by such genera
as Adelophthalmus,
Megarachne
Megarachne (originally misinterpreted as a giant
spider, hence its name) and the specialised very large Hibbertopterus.
Many of these were amphibious.
Frequently a temporary return of marine conditions resulted in marine
or brackish water genera such as Lingula, Orbiculoidea, and Productus
being found in the thin beds known as marine bands.
Terrestrial invertebrates
Fossil remains of air-breathing insects,[24] myriapods and
arachnids[25] are known from the late Carboniferous, but so
far not from the early Carboniferous.[9] The first true
priapulids appeared during this period. Their diversity when they do
appear, however, shows that these arthropods were both well developed
and numerous. Their large size can be attributed to the moistness of
the environment (mostly swampy fern forests) and the fact that the
oxygen concentration in the Earth's atmosphere in the Carboniferous
was much higher than today.[26] This required less effort for
respiration and allowed arthropods to grow larger with the up to
2.6-meter-long (8.5 ft) millipede-like
Arthropleura
Arthropleura being the
largest-known land invertebrate of all time. Among the insect groups
are the huge predatory
Protodonata
Protodonata (griffinflies), among which was
Meganeura, a giant dragonfly-like insect and with a wingspan of ca.
75 cm (30 in)—the largest flying insect ever to roam the
planet. Further groups are the Syntonopterodea (relatives of
present-day mayflies), the abundant and often large sap-sucking
Palaeodictyopteroidea, the diverse herbivorous Protorthoptera, and
numerous basal
Dictyoptera
Dictyoptera (ancestors of cockroaches).[24]
Many insects have been obtained from the coalfields of Saarbrücken
and Commentry, and from the hollow trunks of fossil trees in Nova
Scotia. Some British coalfields have yielded good specimens:
Archaeoptitus, from the Derbyshire coalfield, had a spread of wing
extending to more than 35 cm (14 in); some specimens
(Brodia) still exhibit traces of brilliant wing colors. In the Nova
Scotian tree trunks land snails (Archaeozonites, Dendropupa) have been
found.
The late
Carboniferous
Carboniferous giant dragonfly-like insect
Meganeura
Meganeura grew to
wingspans of 75 cm (30 in).
The gigantic
Pulmonoscorpius
Pulmonoscorpius from the early
Carboniferous
Carboniferous reached a
length of up to 70 cm (28 in).
Fish
Many fish inhabited the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous seas; predominantly
Elasmobranchs (sharks and their relatives). These included some, like
Psammodus, with crushing pavement-like teeth adapted for grinding the
shells of brachiopods, crustaceans, and other marine organisms. Other
sharks had piercing teeth, such as the Symmoriida; some, the
petalodonts, had peculiar cycloid cutting teeth. Most of the sharks
were marine, but the
Xenacanthida
Xenacanthida invaded fresh waters of the coal
swamps. Among the bony fish, the
Palaeonisciformes
Palaeonisciformes found in coastal
waters also appear to have migrated to rivers. Sarcopterygian fish
were also prominent, and one group, the Rhizodonts, reached very large
size.
Most species of
Carboniferous
Carboniferous marine fish have been described largely
from teeth, fin spines and dermal ossicles, with smaller freshwater
fish preserved whole.
Freshwater fish were abundant, and include the genera Ctenodus,
Uronemus, Acanthodes, Cheirodus, and Gyracanthus.
Sharks (especially the Stethacanthids) underwent a major evolutionary
radiation during the Carboniferous.[27] It is believed that
this evolutionary radiation occurred because the decline of the
placoderms at the end of the
Devonian
Devonian period caused many environmental
niches to become unoccupied and allowed new organisms to evolve and
fill these niches.[27] As a result of the evolutionary
radiation
Carboniferous
Carboniferous sharks assumed a wide variety of bizarre
shapes including
Stethacanthus
Stethacanthus which possessed a flat brush-like
dorsal fin with a patch of denticles on its top.[27]
Stethacanthus's unusual fin may have been used in mating
rituals.[27]
Akmonistion
Akmonistion of the shark order
Symmoriida
Symmoriida roamed the oceans of the
early Carboniferous.
Falcatus
Falcatus was a
Carboniferous
Carboniferous shark, with a high degree of sexual
dimorphism.
Tetrapods
Carboniferous
Carboniferous amphibians were diverse and common by the middle of the
period, more so than they are today; some were as long as 6 meters,
and those fully terrestrial as adults had scaly skin.[28] They
included a number of basal tetrapod groups classified in early books
under the Labyrinthodontia. These had long bodies, a head covered with
bony plates and generally weak or undeveloped limbs. The largest were
over 2 meters long. They were accompanied by an assemblage of smaller
amphibians included under the Lepospondyli, often only about
15 cm (6 in) long. Some
Carboniferous
Carboniferous amphibians were
aquatic and lived in rivers (Loxomma, Eogyrinus, Proterogyrinus);
others may have been semi-aquatic (Ophiderpeton, Amphibamus,
Hyloplesion) or terrestrial (Dendrerpeton, Tuditanus, Anthracosaurus).
The
Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
,_Llewellyn_Formation,_St._Clair,_Schuykill_County,_Pennsylvania,_USA_-_Houston_Museum_of_Natural_Science_-_DSC01757.JPG/500px-thumbnail.jpg)
Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse slowed the evolution of
amphibians who could not survive as well in the cooler, drier
conditions. Reptiles, however, prospered due to specific key
adaptations.[11] One of the greatest evolutionary innovations
of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous was the amniote egg, which allowed the laying of
eggs in a dry environment, allowing for the further exploitation of
the land by certain tetrapods. These included the earliest sauropsid
reptiles (Hylonomus), and the earliest known synapsid (Archaeothyris).
These small lizard-like animals quickly gave rise to many descendants,
reptiles, birds, and mammals.
Reptiles underwent a major evolutionary radiation in response to the
drier climate that preceded the rainforest
collapse.[11][29] By the end of the Carboniferous
period, amniotes had already diversified into a number of groups,
including protorothyridids, captorhinids, araeoscelids, and several
families of pelycosaurs.
The amphibian-like Pederpes, the most primitive Mississippian tetrapod
Hylonomus, the earliest sauropsid reptile, appeared in the
Pennsylvanian.
Petrolacosaurus, the first diapsid reptile known, lived during the
late Carboniferous.
Archaeothyris
Archaeothyris was a very early synapsid and the oldest known.
Fungi
Because plants and animals were growing in size and abundance in this
time (for example, Lepidodendron), land fungi diversified further.
Marine fungi still occupied the oceans. All modern classes of fungi
were present in the Late
Carboniferous
Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian
Epoch).[30]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (June
2008)
Extinction events
Romer's gap
Main article: Romer's gap
The first 15 million years of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous had very limited
terrestrial fossils. This gap in the fossil record is called Romer's
gap after the American palaentologist Alfred Romer. While it has long
been debated whether the gap is a result of fossilisation or relates
to an actual event, recent work indicates the gap period saw a drop in
atmospheric oxygen levels, indicating some sort of ecological
collapse.[31] The gap saw the demise of the
Devonian
Devonian fish-like
ichthyostegalian labyrinthodonts, and the rise of the more advanced
temnospondyl and reptiliomorphan amphibians that so typify the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous terrestrial vertebrate fauna.
Carboniferous
Carboniferous rainforest collapse
Main article:
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
Before the end of the
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Period, an extinction event
occurred. On land this event is referred to as the Carboniferous
Rainforest Collapse (CRC).[11] Vast tropical rainforests
collapsed suddenly as the climate changed from hot and humid to cool
and arid. This was likely caused by intense glaciation and a drop in
sea levels.[32]
The new climatic conditions were not favorable to the growth of
rainforest and the animals within them. Rainforests shrank into
isolated islands, surrounded by seasonally dry habitats. Towering
lycopsid forests with a heterogeneous mixture of vegetation were
replaced by much less diverse tree-fern dominated flora.
Amphibians, the dominant vertebrates at the time, fared poorly through
this event with large losses in biodiversity; reptiles continued to
diversify due to key adaptations that let them survive in the drier
habitat, specifically the hard-shelled egg and scales, both of which
retain water better than their amphibian counterparts.[11]
See also
Carboniferous portal
Carboniferous
Carboniferous tetrapods
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Rainforest Collapse
Important
Carboniferous
Carboniferous Lagerstätten
East Kirkton Quarry; c. 350 mya; Bathgate, Scotland
Hamilton Quarry; 320 mya; Kansas, US
Mazon Creek; 300 mya; Illinois, US
List of fossil sites
List of fossil sites (with link directory)
References
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This article incorporates text from a publication now in
the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Carboniferous
System" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge
University Press.
External links
Wikisource
Wikisource has original works on the topic: Paleozoic#Carboniferous
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"Geologic Time Scale 2004". International Commission on Stratigraphy
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January 15, 2013.
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