Carboniferous
Videos
The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period 358.9 Ma to the beginning of the Permian Period, 298.9 Ma. In North America, the Carboniferous is often treated as two separate geological periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian.
Cliff section through the Serpukhovian Red Wharf Limestone Formation, Wales. A marine limestone at the base of the cliff is overlain by an orange-coloured fluvial sandstone. Subaerial exposure of the limestone during a period of falling sea level resulted in the formation of a karstic surface, which has then been infilled by the river sands. A thin, estuarine silty mudstone overlays the sandstone, which in turn is overlain by a second marine limestone.
Hyden Formation over Pikeville Formation in the Pennsylvanian of Kentucky, US. The exposure has Pennsylvanian-aged cyclothemic sedimentary rocks of the Breathitt Group. The upper part of the roadcut is Hyden Formation, consisting of mixed siliciclastics and coal. The lower part is Pikeville Formation, also having mixed siliciclastics and coal.
A reconstruction of life on a forest floor during the Pennsylvanian Period. The reptile is Edaphosaurus, a pelycosaur. Plants are the seed ferns Neuropteris and Pectopteris, the club mosses Lepidodendron and Sigillaria, other plants include Cordaites, Calamites, climbing ferns, pond algae, and Sphenophyllum.
Etching depicting some of the most significant plants of the Carboniferous
Coal
Videos
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is a type of fossil fuel, formed when dead plant matter decays into peat which is converted into coal by the heat and pressure of deep burial over millions of years. Vast deposits of coal originate in former wetlands called coal forests that covered much of the Earth's tropical land areas during the late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian times.
Bituminous coal, the most common coal grade
Coastal exposure of the Point Aconi Seam in Nova Scotia
Coal miner in Britain, 1942
Coal production of the world in 1908 as presented by The Harmsworth atlas and Gazetter