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Carboniferous Period

Lucy Allen

Created on September 15, 2025

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Carboniferous Period

Time Period

359–299 Million Years Ago

Major Events

The Carboniferous Period lasted from about 359 to 299 million years ago, around 60 million years in total. It’s a Period in the Paleozoic Era.

The vast swamp forest turned into coal deposits giving it the period name of the 'Carboniferous'

Time Period

Climate

Oxygen rose to around 35% because of the vast forests which trapped carbon and let insects and arthropods grow much larger then today

The climate was hot, humid and had swampy forests. The oxygen was around 35% which today it is 21%. This was the start of continental drifing.

References

1. Nel, A., Garrouste, R., Roques, P., Gueriau, P., Guyot, T., Legendre, F. and Clément, G. (2018) ‘Palaeozoic giant dragonflies were hawker predators’, Scientific Reports, 8(1), 12132. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-30629-w (Accessed: 15 September 2025). 2. International Commission on Stratigraphy (2023) International Chronostratigraphic Chart. International Union of Geological Sciences. Available at: https://stratigraphy.org/chart (Accessed: 15 September 2025). 3. Encyclopaedia Britannica (n.d.) Pangaea. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/place/Pangea (Accessed: 15 September 2025). 4. Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History (n.d.) The Age of Oxygen. Available at: https://forces.si.edu/atmosphere/02_02_06.html (Accessed: 15 September 2025). 5. National Geographic (n.d.) Carboniferous: The Coal Age. Available at: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/carboniferous (Accessed: 15 September 2025). 6. Natural History Museum (n.d.) Griffinflies: The earliest flying insects. Available at: https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/giant-dragonflies.html (Accessed: 15 September 2025).