The Carboniferous Period
The Carboniferous Period is famous for its vast swamp forests, such as the one depicted here. Such swamps produced the coal from
which the term Carboniferous, or "carbon-bearing," is derived.
Submitted by; STEM 1-B
Jonathan Samulde
Micah Joy Manguino
Wendy Lictawa
EuniceViquiera
The Carboniferous Period
The Carboniferous Period lasted from about 359.2 to 299 million years ago* during the
late Paleozoic Era. The term "Carboniferous" comes from England, in reference to the rich
deposits of coal that occur there. These deposits of coal occur throughout northern Europe, Asia,
and midwestern and eastern North America. The term "Carboniferous" is used throughout the
world to describe this period, although in the United States it has been separated into the
Mississippian (early Carboniferous) and the Pennsylvanian (late Carboniferous) Subsystems. This
division was established to distinguish the coal-bearing layers of the Pennsylvanian from the
mostly limestone Mississippian, and is a result of differing stratigraphy on the different
continents. The Mississippian and Pennsylvanian, in turn, are subdivided into a number of
internationally recognized stages based on evolutionary successions of fossil groups . These
stages are (from early to late) Tournaisian, Visean, and Serpukhovian for the Mississippian
and Bashkirian, Moscovian, Kasimovian, and Gzhelian for the Pennsylvanian.
In addition to having the ideal conditions for the formation of coal, several major biological,
geological, and climatic events occurred during this time. Biologically, we see one of the greatest
evolutionary innovations of the Carboniferous: the amniote egg, which allowed for the further
exploitation of the land by certain tetrapods. It gave the ancestors of birds, mammals, and
reptiles the ability to lay their eggs on land without fear of desiccation. Geologically, the Late
Carboniferous collision of Laurasia (present-day Europe, Asia, and North America) into Gondwana
(present-day Africa, South America, Antarctica, Australia, and India) produced the Appalachian
Mountain belt of eastern North America and the Hercynian Mountains in the United Kingdom. A
further collision of Siberia and eastern Europe created the Ural Mountains of Russia. And
climatically, there was a trend towards mild temperatures during the Carboniferous, as evidenced
by the decrease in lycopods and large insects, and an increase in the number of tree ferns.
Life
The beginning of the Carboniferous generally had a more uniform, tropical, and humid climate
than exists today. Seasons if any were indistinct. These observations are based on comparisons
between fossil and modern-day plant morphology. The Carboniferous plants resemble those that
live in tropical and mildly temperate areas today. Many of them lack growth rings, which
suggests a uniform climate. This uniformity in climate may have been the result of the large
expanse of ocean that covered the entire surface of the globe, except for a localized section
where Pangea, the massive supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and
early Triassic, was coming together.
Shallow, warm, marine waters often flooded the continents. Attached filter feeders such as
bryozoans, particularly fenestellids, were abundant in this environment, and the sea floor was
dominated by brachiopods. Trilobites were increasingly scarce while foraminifers were abundant.
The heavily armored fish from the Devonian became extinct, being replaced with more modern-
looking fish fauna.
Pederpes
Pederpes ('Peter's Foot') is an extinct genus of early Carboniferous tetrapod, dating from
348 - 347.6 Ma in the Tournaisian age (lower Mississippian). Pederpes contains one species, P.
finneyae, 1 m long.
Pederpes
Temporal range: Tournasian, Early Carboniferous 348
347.6 Ma
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
This most basal Carboniferous tetrapod had
a large, somewhat triangular head, similar to
Superclass: Tetrapoda that of later American sister-
genus Whatcheeria, from which it is
Family: Whatcheeriidae distinguished by various skeletal features, such
as a spike-like latissimusdorsi (an arm muscle)
attachment on the humerus and several minor
Genus: Pederpes skull features. The feet had characteristics that
Clack, 2002 distinguished it from the paddle-like feet of
the Devonian Ichthyostegalia and resembled the
feet of later, more terrestrially adapted
Species Carboniferous forms. Pederpes is the earliest-
known tetrapod to show the beginnings of
P. finneyae Clack, 2002 (type terrestrial locomotion and despite the probable
presence of a sixth digit on the forelimbs it was
at least functionally pentadactyl.
Hylonomus
Hylonomus (/halnms/; hylo- "forest" + nomos "dweller")[1] is an
extinct genus of reptile that lived 312 million years ago during the Late Carboniferous period.
[2]
It is the earliest unquestionable reptile (Westlothiana is older, but in fact it may have been
an amphibian, and Casineria is rather fragmentary). The only species is the type
species Hylonomouslyelli.
Scientific name: Hylonomus
Higher classification: Romeriida
Rank: Genus
Hylonomus was 20 centimetres (8 in) long (including the tail) and probably would have
looked rather similar to modern lizards. It had small sharp teeth and likely ate small invertebrates
such as millipedes or early insects.[3]
Fossils of Hylonomus have been found in the remains of fossilized club moss stumps
in Joggins, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is supposed that, after harsh weather, the club mosses would
crash down, with the stumps eventually rotting and hollowing out. Small animals such
as Hylonomus, seeking shelter, would enter and become trapped, starving to death. An alternative
hypothesis is that the animals made their nests in the hollow tree stumps. Fossils of the
basal pelycosaur Archaeothyris and the basal diapsidPetrolacosaurus are also found in the same
region of Nova Scotia, although from a higher stratum, dated approximately 6 million years later.
Petrolacosaurus
Petrolacosaurus was a small, 40-centimetre (16 in)
etrolacosaurus long, reptile, and the earliest diapsid known. It lived
during the late Carboniferous period. The strata where
Temporal range: Pennsylvanian, 302 Ma
Archaeothyris it was found in Kansas, USA, are
Temporal range: Late Carboniferous, 306 Ma of Pennsylvanian age, and are approximately 302
million years old. The prehistoric reptile's diet may
have consisted mainly of
small insects. Petrolacosaurus had distinctive canine-
like secondary-sized teeth, a trait found primarily
in therapsids, and later in mammals. Its fossils were
found in Kansas, USA
Petrolacosauruskansensis
Scientific classification
Life Kingdom: Animalia
restoration of Archaeothyris
More images
Phylum:classification
Scientific Chordata
Archaeothyris
Kingdom: Class:
Animalia Reptilia
Phylum: Subclass:
Chordata Diapsida
Family: Order: Araeoscelida
Ophiacodontidae Archaeothyris,
extinct genus of ophiacodontid synapsid that lived
Genus: Family: Petrolacosauridae
Archaeothyris during the Late Carboniferous and is known
Reisz, 1972Peabody, 1952 from Nova Scotia. Dated to 306 million years
ago, Archaeothyris, along with a more poorly known
Genus: Petrolacosaurus
Type species
Lane, 1945
Archaeothyrisflorensis
Species:
Reisz, 1972P. kansensis
synapsid called Echinerpeton, are the oldest undisputed synapsids known.
[1]
Protoclepsydrops also from Nova Scotia is slightly older but is known by very fragmentary
materials.
Meganeura
Meganeura is a genus of extinct insects from the Carboniferous period (approximately
300 million years ago), which resembled and are related to the present-day dragonflies. With
wingspans of up to 65 cm (25.6 in), M. monyi is one of the largest known flying insect species;
the PermianMeganeuropsispermiana is another. Meganeura were predatory, and fed on other
insects.
Fossils were discovered in the French Stephanian Coal Measures of Commentry in 1880.
In 1885, French paleontologist Charles Brongniartdescribed and named the fossil "Meganeura"
(large-nerved), which refers to the network of veins on the insect's wings. Another fine fossil
specimen was found in 1979 at Bolsover in Derbyshire. The holotype is housed in the Musum
national d'histoirenaturelle, Paris.
Meganeura
Temporal range: 305299 Ma
Late Carboniferous
Reconstruction
Meganeuramonyi
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Superorder: Odonatoptera
Order: Meganisoptera
Lepidodendron
Lepidodendron also known as scale tree is an extinct genus of primitive, vascular,
arborescent (tree-like) plant related to thelycopsids (club mosses). They were part of the coal
forest flora. They sometimes reached heights of over 30 metres (100 ft), and the trunks were
often over 1 m (3.3 ft) in diameter. They thrived during the Carboniferous Period (about 359.2
2.5 Mya (million years ago) to about 299.0 0.8 Mya) before going extinct. [1] Sometimes
erroneously called "giant club mosses", they were actually more closely related to
today's quillworts than to modern club mosses. The name Lepidodendron comes from
the Greek lepido, scale, and dendron, tree.
Sigillaria
Sigillaria is a genus of extinct, spore-bearing, arborescent (tree-like) plants. It was
a lycopodiophyte, and is related to the lycopsids, or club-mosses,[1] but even more closely
to quillworts, as was its associate Lepidodendron.
Sigillaria
Temporal
range: Carboniferous toPermian
Sigillaria tree (Stigmaria) from
Stanhope, County Durham, UK
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Lycopodiophyta
Class: Isoetopsida.
Order: Lepidodendrales
Family: Sigillariaceae
Coal forest
Coal forests were the vast swathes of wetlands that covered much of the Earth's tropical
land areas during the late Carboniferous(Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.[1][2] As vegetable
matter from these forests decayed, enormous deposits of peat accumulated, which later changed
into coal.
Much of the carbon in the peat deposits produced by coal forests came
from photosynthetic splitting of existing carbon dioxide, which released the accompanying split-
off oxygen into the atmosphere. This process may have greatly increased the oxygen level,
possibly as high as about 35%, making the air more easily breathable by animals with inefficient
respiratory systems, as indicated by the size of Meganeura compared to modern dragonflies.
