1. The Late Paleozoic World
Chapter 15
The Late Paleozoic World

2. Guiding Questions
How did marine life of late Paleozoic time differ from that of middle Paleozoic time?
How did terrestrial floras change on a global scale in late Paleozoic time?
What changes occurred in terrestrial faunas during late Paleozoic time?
What major biotic changes occurred in the latter part of Permian time?

3. 251 Million years
299 Million years
318 Million years
359 Million years

4. Late Paleozoic
Carboniferous glaciation
Abundant swamps
Permian drying

5. Late Paleozoic Life in the Sea
Marine
Ammonoids abundant
Highly mobile
Brachiopods
Productids
Cone-shaped shells
Produced reefs

6. Late Paleozoic Life in the Sea
Crinoid meadows
Significant contribution to early Carboniferous (Mississippean) limestone

7. Late Paleozoic Life in the Sea
Bryozoans
Sheetlike colonial animals
Trapped sediment in mounds
Important contribution to limestone

8. Late Paleozoic Life in the Sea
Fusulinids
Foraminifera
Late Carboniferous radiation
Up to 10 cm in length
Guide fossil for Upper Carboniferous and Permian

9. Late Paleozoic Life in the Sea
Higher Mg-Ca ratio
Aragonitic algae
Important in late Carboniferous reefs
Aragonitic sponges
Play important role in Permian reefs

10. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Extensive swamps developed
Coal swamps dominated by lycopods
Lepidodendron
Up to 30 m tall
Sigillaria

11. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Seed ferns
Abundant
Small bushy plants
Large and treelike
Glossopteris

12. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Sphenopsids
Not found in coal swamps
Levees and floodplains

13. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Cordaites
Upland plants
Gymnosperms
Naked seed plants
Formed woodlands
Conifers
Cone bearing plants

14. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Permian
Gymnosperms came to dominate terrestrial environments

15. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Winged insects
Dragonflies
Mayflies

16. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Amphibians
Reptiles

17. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Reptiles
Requires amniote egg
Protects embryo
No longer needs water for development
Pelycosaurs
Dimetredon
Eryops

18. Late Paleozoic Life on Land
Therapsids
Similar to mammals
Legs no longer sprawling
Complex jaws
Endothermic
Warm-blooded
Ectothermic
Cold-blooded

19. Late Paleozoic Paleogeography
Continents clustered near each other
Early Carboniferous
High sea level
Warm, shallow seas
Abundant limestone
Evaporites on western North American continent

20. Late Paleozoic Paleogeography
Mid-carboniferous
Mississippian
Pennsylvanian
Gondwanaland collided with Eurasia (Hercynian)
Extended Appalachians
Alleghenian mountains
Formed Ouachita Belt
Oklahoma, Texas
Glaciers; Sea level drops
Later Carboniferous
Increased latitudinal gradients
Glaciation expanded

21. Late Paleozoic Paleogeography
Permian
Pangaea nearly complete
Ural Mountains
Interior
Low moisture
Evaporites and dunes
Reduced carbon burial
Led to higher atmospheric CO2
Global warming ended glaciation

22. Late Paleozoic Paleogeography
Western dunes

23. Alleghenian Orogeny Mountain building shifted to Eastern US
Valley and Ridge
Thrust faults
Blue Ridge
Grenville age rocks

24. Alleghenian Orogeny
Continued molasse deposition

25. Southwestern U.S. Ouachita Mountains
Westward continuation of Appalachians
Fold and thrust belt of offshore deposits

26. Southwestern U.S.
Microplates also accreted to Central America

27. Fountain Arkose
Eastern flank of Front Range

28. Cyclothems and Coal Cycles in coal beds that contain marine sediments
Slight change in sea level
Alternating transgressions and regressions

29. Cyclothems and Coal Transgression
Deposition of marginal marine peat on top of nonmarine deposits
Capped with marine sediments

30. Cyclothems and Coal Regression
Reversed the sequence
Oscillating glaciers led to changes in sea level

31. Delaware Basin
In Texas and New Mexico
Economically important

32. Delaware Basin Only flooded region in Permian
Significant petroleum source
Midland Basin
Filled with sediment

33. Delaware Basin Delaware Basin Capitan Limestone
Carbonate and evaporite deposition
Reef grew upward
Waters receded and stranded reef
Capitan Limestone

34. Delaware Basin Early on, benthic organisms received oxygen
When basin deepened, bottom waters deepened, stagnated

35. Glacial Striations
South Africa

36. Fossil Wood
Antarctic Wood
Growth was interrupted in winter

37. Late Paleozoic Unconformity
Global unconformity in marine sediments

38. Late Phanerozoic Life
Rates of Origination and Extinction

39. Late Permian Anoxia Japan Uplifted rocks
Gray chert replaced oxidized hematite

40. Carbon Isotope Ratios
Negative shift at Permian/Triassic boundary