As presented By Aysia Larson and Luke Hahn

1. Carboniferous Period As presented By Aysia Larson and Luke Hahn

2. Carboniferous Period • It was a time period of approximately 74 m.y. • It lies in the Paleozoic Era and is composed of the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian Period Carboniferous Period

3. Paleogeography • This was a time of active mountain building Ex. Ural and Appalachian Mountain ranges • Also, during this period sea levels were low, there were many glaciers, and swamps and forests • The forests contained bark-bearing trees Generalized geographic map of America location in Middle Pennsylvanian time.

4. Continental Position 2 main continents: • Laurasia • Gondwana 2 main oceans: • Panthalassa • Paleo-Tetheys • Near the end of the Carboniferous period Pangaea was formed Continental Position during the Carboniferous Period

5. Animal Emergences/Dominances • Sharks dominated the marine ecosystem as they underwent a major evolutionary stage during the carboniferous period • Insects during this time were immense in size and population • This is due to the fact that the environment was very moist and the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere was very high which required less effort for the insects to breathe

6. Animals Cont’d • There were huge predator griffinflies called Protodonata which had a wingspan of 71cm • There was also the giant dragonfly called Meganeura which is the largest flying insect ever to roam Earth • First animals with backbones emerged during this period like reptiles and amphibians

7. Stethacanthus, a primitive shark from the Carboniferous 4.6 m Eogyrinus, one of the largest carboniferous tetrapods 75 cm Meganeura Arthropleura: 0.3-2.6 m

8. Plant Emergences/Dominances • Early on during the Carboniferous period there were horse-tails, club mosses, scale trees, and ferns • Later sprouted cycads and seed ferns • There was also Lycophytes which were huge trees with trunks 30 m high and 1.5 m in diameter • Cordaites were tall plants that were 6-30m high with strap-like leaves and were found in swamps and mangroves • True coniferous trees appeared later in the period and preferred higher, drier ground

9. Lycophytes Cordaites Callistophytales Horse-Tails

10. Extinctions • Drop in sea level caused a major marine extinction during the middle of the period • The drop in sea level was due to climate change • There was also a less extinction event near the end of the Carboniferous period

11. Climate • Early Carboniferous period was mostly warm and had desert-like conditions • Throughout the course of the period the climate cooled and became more humid and wet • Average surface temperature over period duration was 14 °C

12. Atmosphere • The oxygen levels were at 35% compared to the present age of 21% • The increase in oxygen levels was a result of photosynthesis and the burial of biologically produced carbon • Air pressure was increasingly high but nitrogen levels didn’t drop during this period

13. Distinctive Events/Ice Age • The Carboniferous period underwent an ice age. • The earth cooled, and then warmed, glacial ice (8,000 ft deep) was made and then melted in a repeating cycle • These glaciers were driven by gravity and their own weight and destroyed everything in their path, scraping the landscape to bare bedrock causing mountains, valleys and rivers to be altered

14. Distinctive Events/ Continental Rifting • Over the period of the Carboniferous the continents drifted and rearranged most of the Earth’s landmasses into the supercontinent Pangaea which was not complete until the Permian Period

15. Bibliography • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous • http://www.geocraft.com/WVFossils/Carboniferous_climate.html • http://museum.gov.ns.ca/fossils/geol/carb.htm • http://www.nztramping.com/NZTrampingBlog/images/deadfish.jpg • http://laelaps.wordpress.com/2007/08/03/taking-in-the-carboniferous-atmosphere/ • http://i173.photobucket.com/albums/w70/shashakelley2011/ice_age.jpg • http://www.le.ac.uk/geology/art/gl209/lecture3/image43.gif