Knowra Carboniferous Carboniferous The Carboniferous was a geological period from about 359 to 299 million years ago, marked by extensive coal-forming wetlands and major changes in terrestrial life.
Coal formation : The transformation of buried plant matter into coal through compaction, heat, and geological time. Carboniferous wetlands accumulated vast quantities of plant matter that later became coal.
Paleozoic : The geological era spanning roughly 541 to 252 million years ago, between the Precambrian and Mesozoic. The Carboniferous is one of the six periods of this era.
Coal : A combustible sedimentary rock formed chiefly from accumulated and altered plant material. Carboniferous coal seams became a major source of fuel in later human societies.
Lepidodendron : An extinct genus of giant, tree-like lycopsids that grew in Carboniferous coal swamps. Its abundant remains contributed to the plant-rich deposits preserved in coal measures.
Peat : Partly decomposed plant material that accumulates in waterlogged, oxygen-poor environments. Peat was the precursor to many Carboniferous coal seams.
Geological time scale : A system dividing Earth’s history into eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages. It locates the Carboniferous among the intervals used to organize Earth’s history.
Carboniferous limestone : A widespread limestone formed in warm, shallow seas during the Carboniferous. These rocks record marine environments distinct from the period’s coal-forming swamps.
Arthropleura : An extinct genus of large millipede-like arthropods known from the late Paleozoic. Its fossils exemplify the unusually large terrestrial arthropods found in Carboniferous ecosystems.
Carboniferous rainforest collapse : A late Carboniferous episode of rainforest fragmentation associated with drying climate and habitat loss. It shows how climatic shifts disrupted the coal-forming tropical forests.
Mississippian : The earlier, chiefly Mississippian subperiod of the Carboniferous in North American geological usage. This is the first major subdivision of the Carboniferous in North America.
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