1. Late Paleozoic Carboniferous to Permian 354-251mya
Overview
Mississippian and Pennsylvanian combine to make up Carboniferous Period
Name comes from extensive coal deposits formed from remains of plants that grew during this time
Glaciations during Carboniferous—extinction
2 major extinctions in Permian—second one was greatest mass extinction of all time!

2. Late Paleozoic marine life
After the end Devonian extinction, some organisms never fully recovered (tabulate corals, stromatoporoids, placoderms)
Some diversified:
Ammonoids
Sharks
Brachiopods
Crinoids
Fusulinids (great diversity in Permian)
Bryozoans

3. Late Paleozoic marine life

4. Mississipian rocks Limestone deposition
Period named for large proportions of limestone that were deposited in the
Well exposed in the upper Mississippi valley
Road cut on I-172 near Quincy, IL

5. Pennsylvanian rocks Coal formation
Coal is well exposed in the state of Pennsylvania
Most geologists call the two periods the Carboniferous and refer to the Lower and Upper Carboniferous
Diorama of Pennsylvanian coal swamp Denver Museum of Natural History

6. Life on Land
More plant fossils in Carboniferous strata than in any other geologic interval
Coal deposits formed from plant remains in lowland swamps
Coal represents an enormous biomass of plants
Coal swamp plants:
Lepidodendron and sygillaria—both are types of lycopod trees
Ferns—seed ferns that reproduce by seeds instead of spores like modern ferns
Glossopteris was a seed fern!
Other plants
Sphenopsids—seed ferns and spore plants
Cordaites—tall trees; belong to gymnosperm group (cones)

7. Coal swamp plants
Lepidodendron Note leaf scars on the trunk. (Trees grew to 30 m tall; 90 ft).
Ferns—grew at the feet of the trees forming undergrowth

8. Sphenopsids (like Calamites) were spore-bearing and similar to living horsetails or scouring rushes
Often interpreted as living in moist areas, even perhaps standing water
(paleoenvironmental information courtesy of Dr. Richard L. Leary, Curator of Geology (Paleobotany), Illinois State Museum)
Cordaites—fig

9. Cordaites--primitive trees; no lineage of descendants survives today
Example below:
Strap-shaped leaves which increasing in width from base to tip
Leaf veins ran parallel with the long axis of the leaf, resemble the monocot veins of corn leaves
Mazon Creek fossils
Fossil web page

10. Life on Land Insects had important ecological roles
Insects had important ecological roles
Food for other animals
Consume and decompose plants and animals
Insects first appeared in Devonian - wingless. Wings appeared by the Late Carboniferous.

11. Life on Land Vertebrates--Amphibians First appeared Late Devonian
Aquatic or semi-aquatic
Eggs and young in water
Broad spectrum of shapes, sizes, and modes of life.
Were up to 20 feet in length (but most living amphibians are small).

12. Life on Land Vertebrates--Reptiles First appeared in the Pennsylvanian
First found in Nova Scotia inside hollow trees filled with sediment

13. Life on land—reptiles cont.
Key feature in the origin of reptiles is the development of the amniotic egg
Durable outer shell protects embryo from drying
Egg can be laid on land
Yolky part of egg provides nutrition; sac contains embryo and another sac collects waste products.
Eliminated need to lay eggs in water, allowing vertebrates to live and reproduce on dry land for the first time.
Amniotic egg probably evolved in Carboniferous
First fossil eggs are early Permian

14. Paleogeography
Warm,shallow seas led to limestone and evaporite deposition—fig
Middle Mississippian Paleogeography of North America

15. Paleogeography
Gondwanaland collided w/ Euramerica—formed Pangea (not fully formed until Permian)
This collision resulted in the Alleghenian orogeny—the 3rd stage of Appalachian mtn. building
Global cooling due to great carbon sinks of the coal swamps
Ice age—extinction—drop in sea-level
Early Pennsylvanian

16. Paleogeography
Dry habitats expanded due to the configuration of the continents—most land was far away from moisture-providing oceans

17. Mississippian paleogeography

18. Pennsylvanian paleogeography

19. Permian paleogeography