17 Carboniferous Period Facts That Give Insights Into Earth's History

Life had begun to colonize the land from the water by the Carboniferous period.

The Late Devonian extinction event ushered during the next geological period, the Carboniferous epoch, which spanned from 354-290 million years ago, almost 60 million years before the first dinosaurs appeared on the scene. The Carboniferous period has the most significant amount of oxygen in the atmosphere ever, as shown by air stuck in the ice from that period.

The Carboniferous planet was very different from the one we currently know, although it was essential. The name Carboniferous comes from the Latin word meaning coal-bearing, which is fitting given that most of the coal supplies we use nowadays were generated during this period.

Earth's climate was hot in the early Carboniferous Period. Glaciers developed at the poles subsequently, while the equatorial regions remained hot and wet.

Carboniferous Period History

During the Carboniferous Period, the massive landmasses of Gondwana and Euramerica continued to march toward each other. As a result of the collisions, some of the ground was raised and became mountains. These mountains were devoid of vegetation. Gondwana and  Eurameica were becoming Pangea, a massive supercontinent that would be vital during the following phase of the Paleozoic Era.

The warm, swampy conditions and humid climate allowed for the development of new plants. The middle Carboniferous marshes were home to huge trees having bark and massive ferns.

The air contained far more oxygen because the plants emitted so much oxygen. It enabled animals and plants to grow to sizes unimaginable in today's environment.

When the massive trees and ferns died, they fell into waterways devoid of microbes to aid decomposition, and these plants formed peat beds. These peat beds eventually converted to coal due to the weight of layers upon layers.

Warm, shallow waters flooded North America during the early Carboniferous Period or Mississippian Epoch. The various animals that lived in these seas contributed to the development of limestone with their shells. Since the circumstances were ideal, dead plants accumulated and created peat beds. During the late Carboniferous, several shark and fish species evolved.

The Pennsylvanian Epoch: The Carboniferous is separated into two epochs in the United States. The older third is the Mississippian Epoch, whereas the more recent two-thirds are the Pennsylvanian Epoch.

The land began rising out from the oceans during the middle to late Carboniferous Period. Some of it was due to lands moving closer together and forcing the land upward, yet it was also due to the Earth's crust hardening.

A substantial amount of water was also taken out of the seas and the hydrological cycle by two ice layers over the South Pole.

At this time, more of the ground was released into the air. Plants and animals alike have to adjust to the shifting environment.

The invertebrates that resided in the shallow seas suffered mass extinctions due to short periods of dryness induced by the glaciers. Between the dry land and the ocean, the shallow seas formed marshes.

When did the Carboniferous period occur?

The Paleozoic Era's Carboniferous Period started 354 million years ago. The Carboniferous epoch (about 358.9-298.9 million years ago) is defined by coal-bearing strata created from prehistoric flora and spanning 60 years. That implies we can all credit the Carboniferous age for the massive coal and natural gas reserves we have today.

Animals in Carboniferous Period

Animals evolved on land rather than in the sea during this time. There were massive corals and coal-forming swamps at this epoch, as well as the seed-bearing plants and first reptiles.

When it came to animal life, the Carboniferous epoch saw a lot of variety. Some were early amphibians who spent their lives inside the water before moving to land.

Some of the early reptiles evolved leathery skin as they traveled to the driest portions of the continent.

These early reptiles evolved leathery coverings on their eggs to keep the insides from drying up while the infant inside grew. Since the oxygen in the air, insects were also enormous.

Because the size of insects is supposed to be restricted by the amount of air they can breathe, the oxygen content is the reason why they developed to such enormous proportions. The Carboniferous isn't recognized for its marine life, except for sharks, crinoids, corals, and arthropods.

As land areas expanded, terrestrial animals became increasingly diversified. In the late Devonian period, four-legged vertebrates called tetrapods began to travel onto land.

During the late Carboniferous period, species of tetrapods evolved. Insect wings evolved from appendages that allowed insects to fly between plants in the Carboniferous forests.

Reptiles had traveled well into Pangea's interior by the end of the Carboniferous, and they continued to spawn archosaurs, therapsids, and pelycosaurs for the Permian epoch. The reptiles are thought to have evolved in response to the late Carboniferous period's progressively cold and arid climate.

Earth in Carboniferous Period

During the Carboniferous Period, life significantly impacted the Earth's atmosphere when plants developed themselves on land. Approximately 350 million years ago, oxygen formed up to 20% of the atmosphere (almost equal to today's level), and it climbed to as high as 35% over the next 50 million years.

As a result, carboniferous forests were thick and marshy, resulting in substantial peat deposits. Peat has converted into vast coal reserves in North America and Western Europe throughout the millennia.

As a result, peat beds were produced from layers upon layers of prehistoric plant components. As a result, plant debris deposits transformed into coal, and the expansion of coal bed deposits during this period gave rise to the term Carboniferous.

Plants varying in size from small shrubby expansion to trees reaching 100 feet grew throughout the Carboniferous epoch. But it was the plants that lived in the swamp forests surrounding the equator that was the most significant throughout the Carboniferous epoch.

Giant club mosses, great horsetails, tree ferns, and towering trees having strap-shaped leaves make up the bark-bearing trees. In addition, vascular land plants like sphenopsids, lycopods, seed ferns, Cordaites, and genuine ferns inhabited the terrestrial ecosystems.

Many plants and trees grew as a result of the warm weather. Large trees covered by skin and huge ferns grew in extensive swamps, but there was no grass.

Because of the large number of plants that thrived, the atmosphere was brimming with oxygen. As a result, great trees flourished during the Carboniferous Era (Pennsylvanian), 318 until 299 million years ago, while massive swamps flooded low-lying regions. Microbes decompose dead plants and animals, combining their carbon and oxygen in the air to form carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas.

However, as vast swaths of dead plants were buried beneath wetlands and cut off from oxygen, atmospheric carbon dioxide decreased. As a result, the world became a little less hot.

The buried ruins of these massive factories were turned into vast coal stockpiles after millions of years of pressure and heat. We liberate carbon dioxide from dead organisms that existed millions of years ago when people burn fossil fuels like oil, coal, and natural gas. As a result, carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere rise, making the Earth hotter.

Due to the glaciers that buried the South Pole, the end of the Carboniferous period is characterized by worldwide climate shifts. Although there were no significant extinctions like those seen after past geologic periods, numerous species perished during this time.

Because these climate shifts had the most significant impact on marine habitats, the extinctions were primarily invertebrates that lived in the oceans.

The Carboniferous rainforest crash, which resulted in numerous extinctions and the elimination of most of the world's forests, was among the most significant occurrences of the time. About 300 million years ago, the Carboniferous concluded with the Permian-Carboniferous Glacial Period.

Glaciers spread far and broad, covering about 50 degrees of latitude between the poles. Oxygen levels also fell, a trend that sealed innumerable species, mainly arthropods. But, in the early Permian, the Earth began to recover, resulting in the birth of primitive mammals and various other lifeforms.