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The Carboniferous rainforest collapse was caused by a cooler drier climate that initially fragmented, then collapsed the rainforest ecosystem. [2] During most of the rest of Carboniferous times, the coal forests were mainly restricted to refugia in North America (such as the Appalachian and Illinois coal basins) and central Europe.
The name Carboniferous means "coal-bearing", from the Latin carbō ("coal") and ferō ("bear, carry"), and refers to the many coal beds formed globally during that time. [8] The first of the modern "system" names, it was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, [9] based on a study of the British rock succession.
Coal forests continued after the Carboniferous rainforest collapse. These plant fossils are from one of those forests from about 5 million years after the CRC. However, the composition of the forests changed from a lepidodendron -dominated forest to one of predominantly tree ferns and seed ferns .
The Late Carboniferous a Time of Great Coal Swamps, Paleomap project. World map from this time period. The Carboniferous – 354 to 290 Million Years Ago, University of California Museum of Paleontology. Information on stratigraphies, localities, tectonics, and life. The Pennsylvanian Epoch of the Carboniferous Period: 318 to 299 Mya, Paleos.com
In the Carboniferous period, coal forests, great tropical wetlands, extended over much of Euramerica (Europe and America). This land supported towering lycopsids which fragmented and collapsed abruptly. [8] The collapse of the rainforests during the Carboniferous has been attributed to multiple causes, including climate change and volcanism. [21]
Lepidodendron is an extinct genus of primitive lycopodian vascular plants belonging the order Lepidodendrales.It is well preserved and common in the fossil record. Like other Lepidodendrales, species of Lepidodendron grew as large-tree-like plants in wetland coal forest environments.
Throughout the Carboniferous, there was a cooling pattern, which eventually led to the glaciation of Gondwana as much of it was situated around the South Pole. This event was known as the Permo-Carboniferous Glaciation and resulted in a major loss of coal forests, known as the Carboniferous rainforest collapse. [18]
Although living species are small, during the Carboniferous, extinct tree-like forms (Lepidodendrales) formed huge forests that dominated the landscape and contributed to coal deposits. The nomenclature and classification of plants with microphylls varies substantially among authors.