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135-544: 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. The first of the modern "system" names, it was coined by geologists William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822, based on a study of the British rock succession. Carboniferous is the period during which both terrestrial animal and land plant life

270-512: A cyclothem . Cyclothems are thought to have their origin in glacial cycles that produced fluctuations in sea level , which alternately exposed and then flooded large areas of continental shelf. The woody tissue of plants is composed mainly of cellulose, hemicellulose, and lignin. Modern peat is mostly lignin, with a content of cellulose and hemicellulose ranging from 5% to 40%. Various other organic compounds, such as waxes and nitrogen- and sulfur-containing compounds, are also present. Lignin has

405-430: A 100 kyr Milankovitch cycle , and so each cyclothem represents a cycle of sea level fall and rise over a 100 kyr period. Coal forms when organic matter builds up in waterlogged, anoxic swamps, known as peat mires, and is then buried, compressing the peat into coal. The majority of Earth's coal deposits were formed during the late Carboniferous and early Permian. The plants from which they formed contributed to changes in

540-480: A defined GSSP. The fusulinid Aljutovella aljutovica can be used to define the base of the Moscovian across the northern and eastern margins of Pangea, however, it is restricted in geographic area, which means it cannot be used for global correlations. The first appearance of the conodonts Declinognathodus donetzianus or Idiognathoides postsulcatus have been proposed as a boundary marking species and potential sites in

675-529: A few coalfields, such as the Nord-Pas-des-Calais basin of northern France, the decline is delayed until the mid-Bolsovian, while in other areas it may begin as early as the late Duckmantian. The overall downward diversity trend is slight, but several notable lycopsid and sphenopsid species disappear from European coal swamps at this time. Westphalian D is often referred to as the Asturian , named after

810-487: A fuel. While coal has been known and used for thousands of years, its usage was limited until the Industrial Revolution . With the invention of the steam engine , coal consumption increased. In 2020, coal supplied about a quarter of the world's primary energy and over a third of its electricity . Some iron and steel -making and other industrial processes burn coal. The extraction and burning of coal damages

945-417: A process called carbonization . Carbonization proceeds primarily by dehydration , decarboxylation , and demethanation. Dehydration removes water molecules from the maturing coal via reactions such as Decarboxylation removes carbon dioxide from the maturing coal: while demethanation proceeds by reaction such as In these formulas, R represents the remainder of a cellulose or lignin molecule to which

1080-430: A shallow, tropical seaway which stretched from Southern California to Alaska. The boundary is within a cyclothem sequence of transgressive limestones and fine sandstones , and regressive mudstones and brecciated limestones. The Moscovian Stage is named after shallow marine limestones and colourful clays found around Moscow, Russia. It was first introduced by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The Moscovian currently lacks

1215-450: A single sedimentary cycle, with an erosional surface at its base. Whilst individual cyclothems are often only metres to a few tens of metres thick, cyclothem sequences can be many hundreds to thousands of metres thick and contain tens to hundreds of individual cyclothems. Cyclothems were deposited along continental shelves where the very gentle gradient of the shelves meant even small changes in sea level led to large advances or retreats of

1350-464: A switch in fuels happened in London in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. Historian Ruth Goodman has traced the socioeconomic effects of that switch and its later spread throughout Britain and suggested that its importance in shaping the industrial adoption of coal has been previously underappreciated. The development of the Industrial Revolution led to the large-scale use of coal, as

1485-549: A tenth. Indonesia and Australia export the most, followed by Russia . The word originally took the form col in Old English , from reconstructed Proto-Germanic * kula ( n ), from Proto-Indo-European root * g ( e ) u-lo- "live coal". Germanic cognates include the Old Frisian kole , Middle Dutch cole , Dutch kool , Old High German chol , German Kohle and Old Norse kol . Irish gual

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1620-421: A variety of methods for reconstructing past atmospheric oxygen levels, including the charcoal record, halite gas inclusions, burial rates of organic carbon and pyrite , carbon isotopes of organic material, isotope mass balance and forward modelling. Depending on the preservation of source material, some techniques represent moments in time (e.g. halite gas inclusions), whilst others have a wider time range (e.g.

1755-723: A warmer climate. This rapid rise in CO 2 may have been due to a peak in pyroclastic volcanism and/or a reduction in burial of terrestrial organic matter. The LPIA peaked across the Carboniferous-Permian boundary. Widespread glacial deposits are found across South America, western and central Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Tasmania, the Arabian Peninsula, India, and the Cimmerian blocks, indicating trans-continental ice sheets across southern Gondwana that reached to sea-level. In response to

1890-403: A weight basis. This composition reflects partly the composition of the precursor plants. The second main fraction of coal is ash, an undesirable, noncombustable mixture of inorganic minerals. The composition of ash is often discussed in terms of oxides obtained after combustion in air: Of particular interest is the sulfur content of coal, which can vary from less than 1% to as much as 4%. Most of

2025-406: A weight composition of about 54% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 30% oxygen, while cellulose has a weight composition of about 44% carbon, 6% hydrogen, and 49% oxygen. Bituminous coal has a composition of about 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on a weight basis. The low oxygen content of coal shows that coalification removed most of the oxygen and much of the hydrogen

2160-722: A whole) are uncommon in the following "Cantabrian" substage of the Stephanian Stage. The end of the Asturian is a topic of strong debate; most estimates place the Westphalian-Stephanian boundary before the start of the Kasimovian global stage (~307 Ma), whereas a few place the boundary within the Kasimovian. U-Pb radiometric dating of tonstein beds in Spain estimate that the Asturian lasted from 310.7 to 307.5 Ma, ending just prior to

2295-449: 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. Coal is used primarily as

2430-577: Is also a cognate via the Indo-European root. The conversion of dead vegetation into coal is called coalification . At various times in the geologic past, the Earth had dense forests in low-lying areas. In these wetlands, the process of coalification began when dead plant matter was protected from oxidation , usually by mud or acidic water, and was converted into peat . The resulting peat bogs , which trapped immense amounts of carbon, were eventually deeply buried by sediments. Then, over millions of years,

2565-429: Is burned in a turbine). Hot exhaust gases from the turbine are used to raise steam in a heat recovery steam generator which powers a supplemental steam turbine . The overall plant efficiency when used to provide combined heat and power can reach as much as 94%. IGCC power plants emit less local pollution than conventional pulverized coal-fueled plants. Other ways to use coal are as coal-water slurry fuel (CWS), which

2700-651: Is difficult. The Tournaisian Stage is named after the Belgian city of Tournai . It was introduced in scientific literature by Belgian geologist André Dumont in 1832. The GSSP for the base of the Carboniferous System, Mississippian Subsystem and Tournaisian Stage is located at the La Serre section in Montagne Noire , southern France. It is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Siphonodella sulcata within

2835-594: Is entirely vertical; however, metamorphism may cause lateral changes of rank, irrespective of depth. For example, some of the coal seams of the Madrid, New Mexico coal field were partially converted to anthracite by contact metamorphism from an igneous sill while the remainder of the seams remained as bituminous coal. The earliest recognized use is from the Shenyang area of China where by 4000 BC Neolithic inhabitants had begun carving ornaments from black lignite. Coal from

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2970-455: Is made when metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal ) is baked in an oven without oxygen at temperatures as high as 1,000 °C, driving off the volatile constituents and fusing together the fixed carbon and residual ash. Metallurgical coke is used as a fuel and as a reducing agent in smelting iron ore in a blast furnace . The carbon monoxide produced by its combustion reduces hematite (an iron oxide ) to iron. Pig iron , which

3105-409: Is more abundant, and anthracite. The % carbon in coal follows the order anthracite > bituminous > lignite > brown coal. The fuel value of coal varies in the same order. Some anthracite deposits contain pure carbon in the form of graphite . For bituminous coal, the elemental composition on a dry, ash-free basis of 84.4% carbon, 5.4% hydrogen, 6.7% oxygen, 1.7% nitrogen, and 1.8% sulfur, on

3240-516: Is named after the Russian village of Gzhel , near Ramenskoye , not far from Moscow. The name and type locality were defined by Sergei Nikitin in 1890. The Gzhelian currently lacks a defined GSSP. The first appearance of the fusulinid Rauserites rossicus and Rauserites stuckenbergi can be used in the Boreal Sea and Paleo-Tethyan regions but not eastern Pangea or Panthalassa margins. Potential sites in

3375-587: Is named after the village of Duckmanton in Derbyshire , England. The base of the Duckmantian is defined by the ammonoid Anthracoceratites vaderbeckei . The boundary between the global Bashkirian and Moscovian stages (~315.2 Ma) corresponds to the mid-late part of the Duckmantian. The lower-middle part of the Duckmantian corresponds to the Lonchopteris rugosa Assemblage-zone, the most diverse plant biozone in

3510-624: Is that a delay between the development of trees with the wood fibre lignin and the subsequent evolution of lignin-degrading fungi gave a period of time where vast amounts of lignin-based organic material could accumulate. Genetic analysis of basidiomycete fungi, which have enzymes capable of breaking down lignin, supports this theory by suggesting this fungi evolved in the Permian. However, significant Mesozoic and Cenozoic coal deposits formed after lignin-digesting fungi had become well established, and fungal degradation of lignin may have already evolved by

3645-660: Is too rich in dissolved carbon, is also produced. Westphalian (stage) The Westphalian is a regional stage or age in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe, with an age between roughly 315 and 307 Ma (million years ago) . It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous System or Period and the regional Silesian Series . The Westphalian is named for the region of Westphalia ( German : Westfalen ) in western Germany where strata of this age occur. The Coal Measures of England and Wales are also largely of Westphalian age, though they also extend into

3780-641: Is underway in the Urals and Nashui, Guizhou Province, southwestern China for a suitable site for the GSSP with the proposed definition for the base of the Serpukhovian as the first appearance of conodont Lochriea ziegleri . The Pennsylvanian was proposed by J.J.Stevenson in 1888, named after the widespread coal-rich strata found across the state of Pennsylvania. The closure of the Rheic Ocean and formation of Pangea during

3915-452: Is used as fuel. 27.6% of world energy was supplied by coal in 2017 and Asia used almost three-quarters of it. Other large-scale applications also exist. The energy density of coal is roughly 24 megajoules per kilogram (approximately 6.7 kilowatt-hours per kg). For a coal power plant with a 40% efficiency, it takes an estimated 325 kg (717 lb) of coal to power a 100 W lightbulb for one year. In 2022, 68% of global coal use

4050-536: The Calymmotheca ("Lyginopteris") hoeninghausii assemblage zone. Many widespread plant species first appear near the base of the Langsettian, indicating a spike of diversification in tropical coal swamp habitats. Plant diversity steadily increases through the entire Langsettian, though this may be a result of ecological factors such as the receding coastline. The Duckmantian , previously known as Westphalian B ,

4185-476: The Asturias region of northwest Spain . In most of Europe, Westphalian D is distinguished by plant fossils. Asturias is one of the few European regions with enough late Westphalian marine fossils to allow for precise correlations with other marine strata. The proposal to fully implement the name "Asturian" has yet to be ratified, as some stratigraphic difficulties in Spain are not fully resolved. The lower part of

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4320-691: The Bronze Age (3000–2000 BC), where it formed part of funeral pyres . In Roman Britain , with the exception of two modern fields, "the Romans were exploiting coals in all the major coalfields in England and Wales by the end of the second century AD". Evidence of trade in coal, dated to about AD 200, has been found at the Roman settlement at Heronbridge , near Chester ; and in the Fenlands of East Anglia , where coal from

4455-512: The Fushun mine in northeastern China was used to smelt copper as early as 1000 BC. Marco Polo , the Italian who traveled to China in the 13th century, described coal as "black stones ... which burn like logs", and said coal was so plentiful, people could take three hot baths a week. In Europe, the earliest reference to the use of coal as fuel is from the geological treatise On Stones (Lap. 16) by

4590-686: The Gulf of Mexico in the west to Turkey in the east. The orogeny was caused by a series of continental collisions between Laurussia, Gondwana and the Armorican Terrane Assemblage (much of modern-day Central and Western Europe including Iberia ) as the Rheic Ocean closed and Pangea formed. This mountain building process began in the Middle Devonian and continued into the early Permian. The Armorican terranes rifted away from Gondwana during

4725-659: The Kuznetsk Basin . The northwest to eastern margins of Siberia were passive margins along the Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean on the far side of which lay Amuria. From the mid Carboniferous, subduction zones with associated magmatic arcs developed along both margins of the ocean. The southwestern margin of Siberia was the site of a long lasting and complex accretionary orogen. The Devonian to early Carboniferous Siberian and South Chinese Altai accretionary complexes developed above an east-dipping subduction zone, whilst further south,

4860-588: The Maritime Provinces of Canada. The Langsettian , previously known as Westphalian A , is named after the village of Langsett in South Yorkshire , England. It marks the base of the Westphalian regional stage, as defined by the ammonoid Gastrioceras subcrenatum . The base of the Langsettian (and the Westphalian as a whole) has been dated to around 319.9 or 319.2 Ma. The Langsettian corresponds to

4995-590: The Midlands was transported via the Car Dyke for use in drying grain. Coal cinders have been found in the hearths of villas and Roman forts , particularly in Northumberland , dated to around AD 400. In the west of England, contemporary writers described the wonder of a permanent brazier of coal on the altar of Minerva at Aquae Sulis (modern day Bath ), although in fact easily accessible surface coal from what became

5130-756: The Pennsylvanian Subsystem/Subperiod (323-299 Ma) of the Carboniferous System/Period. As a regionally defined stage, the Westphalian overlaps with official ICS stages which are in use on an international level. The Westphalian extends from the approximately the upper half of the Bashkirian Stage through the Moscovian Stage, and possibly includes a small portion of the Kasimovian Stage. Many older scientific sources refer to

5265-702: The Somerset coalfield was in common use in quite lowly dwellings locally. Evidence of coal's use for iron -working in the city during the Roman period has been found. In Eschweiler , Rhineland , deposits of bituminous coal were used by the Romans for the smelting of iron ore . No evidence exists of coal being of great importance in Britain before about AD 1000, the High Middle Ages . Coal came to be referred to as "seacoal" in

5400-655: The Ural Ocean , collided with the passive margin of northeastern Laurussia ( Baltica craton ). The suture zone between the former island arc complex and the continental margin formed the Main Uralian Fault , a major structure that runs for more than 2,000 km along the orogen. Accretion of the island arc was complete by the Tournaisian, but subduction of the Ural Ocean between Kazakhstania and Laurussia continued until

5535-491: The coal gap in the Permian–Triassic extinction event , where coal is rare. Favorable geography alone does not explain the extensive Carboniferous coal beds. Other factors contributing to rapid coal deposition were high oxygen levels, above 30%, that promoted intense wildfires and formation of charcoal that was all but indigestible by decomposing organisms; high carbon dioxide levels that promoted plant growth; and

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5670-444: The steam engine took over from the water wheel . In 1700, five-sixths of the world's coal was mined in Britain. Britain would have run out of suitable sites for watermills by the 1830s if coal had not been available as a source of energy. In 1947 there were some 750,000 miners in Britain, but the last deep coal mine in the UK closed in 2015. A grade between bituminous coal and anthracite

5805-407: The 13th century; the wharf where the material arrived in London was known as Seacoal Lane, so identified in a charter of King Henry III granted in 1253. Initially, the name was given because much coal was found on the shore, having fallen from the exposed coal seams on cliffs above or washed out of underwater coal outcrops, but by the time of Henry VIII , it was understood to derive from the way it

5940-459: The Asturian belongs to the Linopteris obliqua assemblage zone (sometimes termed the Linopteris bunburii zone). This biozone is notably lower in diversity than previous Westphalian biozones. Plant fossils are still common over much of Europe, with Neuropteris ovata as a particularly abundant species. An important ecological turnover occurs about halfway through the Asturian (~309 Ma), with

6075-461: The Bashkirian when the ocean finally closed and continental collision began. Significant strike-slip movement along this zone indicates the collision was oblique. Deformation continued into the Permian and during the late Carboniferous and Permian the region was extensively intruded by granites . The Laurussian continent was formed by the collision between Laurentia , Baltica and Avalonia during

6210-465: The Bashkirian, the late Moscovian and the latest Kasimovian to mid-Gzhelian are inferred from the disappearance of glacial sediments, the appearance of deglaciation deposits and rises in sea levels. In the early Kasimovian there was short-lived (<1 million years) intense period of glaciation, with atmospheric CO 2 concentration levels dropping as low as 180 ppm. This ended suddenly as a rapid increase in CO 2 concentrations to c. 600 ppm resulted in

6345-717: The Carboniferous Earth's atmosphere, and the coal fueled the Industrial Revolution . During the Pennsylvanian, vast amounts of organic debris accumulated in the peat mires that formed across the low-lying, humid equatorial wetlands of the foreland basins of the Central Pangean Mountains in Laurussia, and around the margins of the North and South China cratons. During glacial periods, low sea levels exposed large areas of

6480-475: The Carboniferous System by Phillips in 1835. The Old Red Sandstone was later considered Devonian in age. The similarity in successions between the British Isles and Western Europe led to the development of a common European timescale with the Carboniferous System divided into the lower Dinantian , dominated by carbonate deposition and the upper Silesian with mainly siliciclastic deposition. The Dinantian

6615-511: The Carboniferous coalfields of Europe. The rising diversity trend of the Langsettian continues into this biozone, with few notable changes in species composition. In the majority of European coalfields, plant diversity reached a plateau around halfway through the Duckmantian. Coal swamps became increasingly unstable in the Paripteris linguaefolia assemblage zone, which begins in the upper part of

6750-455: The Carboniferous, and suggested that climatic and tectonic factors were a more plausible explanation, reconstruction of ancestral enzymes by phylogenetic analysis corroborated a hypothesis that lignin degrading enzymes appeared in fungi approximately 200 MYa. One likely tectonic factor was the Central Pangean Mountains , an enormous range running along the equator that reached its greatest elevation near this time. Climate modeling suggests that

6885-591: The Carboniferous, the Tarim craton lay along the northwestern edge of North China. Subduction along the Kazakhstanian margin of the Turkestan Ocean resulted in collision between northern Tarim and Kazakhstania during the mid Carboniferous as the ocean closed. The South Tian Shan fold and thrust belt , which extends over 2,000 km from Uzbekistan to northwest China, is the remains of this accretionary complex and forms

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7020-587: The Central Pangean Mountains contributed to the deposition of vast quantities of coal in the late Carboniferous. The mountains created an area of year-round heavy precipitation, with no dry season typical of a monsoon climate. This is necessary for the preservation of peat in coal swamps. Coal is known from Precambrian strata, which predate land plants. This coal is presumed to have originated from residues of algae. Sometimes coal seams (also known as coal beds) are interbedded with other sediments in

7155-598: The Devonian. At the beginning of the Carboniferous, some models show it at the equator, whilst others place it further south. In either case, the continent drifted northwards, reaching low latitudes in the northern hemisphere by the end of the Period. The Central Pangean Mountain drew in moist air from the Paleo-Tethys Ocean resulting in heavy precipitation and a tropical wetland environment. Extensive coal deposits developed within

7290-746: The Dinantian, Moscovian and Uralian stages. The Serpukivian was proposed as part of the Lower Carboniferous, and the Upper Carboniferous was divided into the Moscovian and Gzhelian . The Bashkirian was added in 1934. In 1975, the ICS formally ratified the Carboniferous System, with the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subsystems from the North American timescale, the Tournaisian and Visean stages from

7425-528: The Duckmantian. The Bolsovian , previously known as Westphalian C , is named after the town of Bolsover in Derbyshire. The base of the Bolsovian is defined by the ammonoid Donetzoceras aegiranum , and has an estimated age of around 313.8 or 313.7 Ma. The Paripteris linguaefolia assemblage zone continues into the Bolsovian, and a decline in plant diversity is apparent across the entirety of Europe. In

7560-459: The Early to Middle Mississippian, carbonate production occurred to depth across the gently dipping continental slopes of Laurussia and North and South China ( carbonate ramp architecture) and evaporites formed around the coastal regions of Laurussia, Kazakhstania, and northern Gondwana. From the late Visean, the cooling climate restricted carbonate production to depths of less than c. 10 m forming carbonate shelves with flat-tops and steep sides. By

7695-413: The Greek scientist Theophrastus (c. 371–287 BC): Among the materials that are dug because they are useful, those known as anthrakes [coals] are made of earth, and, once set on fire, they burn like charcoal [anthrakes]. They are found in Liguria ... and in Elis as one approaches Olympia by the mountain road; and they are used by those who work in metals. Outcrop coal was used in Britain during

7830-434: The ICS ratify global stages based on a Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) from a single formation (a stratotype ) identifying the lower boundary of the stage. Only the boundaries of the Carboniferous System and three of the stage bases are defined by global stratotype sections and points because of the complexity of the geology. The ICS subdivisions from youngest to oldest are as follows: The Mississippian

7965-430: The Kasimovian covers a period of globally low sea level, which has resulted in disconformities within many sequences of this age. This has created difficulties in finding suitable marine fauna that can used to correlate boundaries worldwide. The Kasimovian currently lacks a defined GSSP; potential sites in the southern Urals, southwest USA and Nashui, Guizhou Province, southwestern China are being considered. The Gzhelian

8100-406: The Kasimovian. The Westphalian interval is widely recognized for its coal deposits-- rocks that were deposited broadly across regions that were in low paleolatitudes. These deposits, from so-called "coal swamps" have yielded rich assemblages of fossils including spore-bearing and seed-bearing plants, fishes, and tetrapods. Amphibians were diverse and dominated some communities. The collapse of

8235-416: The Late Ordovician . As they drifted northwards the Rheic Ocean closed in front of them, and they began to collide with southeastern Laurussia in the Middle Devonian. The resulting Variscan orogeny involved a complex series of oblique collisions with associated metamorphism , igneous activity, and large-scale deformation between these terranes and Laurussia, which continued into the Carboniferous. During

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8370-479: The Late Pennsylvanian, deformation along the Alleghanian orogen became northwesterly-directed compression . The Uralian orogeny is a north–south trending fold and thrust belt that forms the western edge of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt . The Uralian orogeny began in the Late Devonian and continued, with some hiatuses, into the Jurassic . From the Late Devonian to early Carboniferous, the Magnitogorsk island arc , which lay between Kazakhstania and Laurussia in

8505-440: The Moscovian, the waxing and waning of the ice sheets led to cyclothem deposition with mixed carbonate-siliciclastic sequences deposited on continental platforms and shelves. Coal 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

8640-438: The Paleo-Tethys to the southwest and Panthalassa to the northeast. Cyclothem sediments with coal and evaporites were deposited across the passive margins that surrounded both continents. The Carboniferous climate was dominated by the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA), the most extensive and longest icehouse period of the Phanerozoic, which lasted from the Late Devonian to the Permian (365 Ma-253 Ma). Temperatures began to drop during

8775-411: The Pennsylvanian, cyclothems were deposited in shallow, epicontinental seas across the tropical regions of Laurussia (present day western and central US, Europe, Russia and central Asia) and the North and South China cratons . The rapid sea levels fluctuations they represent correlate with the glacial cycles of the Late Paleozoic Ice Age. The advance and retreat of ice sheets across Gondwana followed

8910-399: The Pennsylvanian, together with widespread glaciation across Gondwana led to major climate and sea level changes, which restricted marine fauna to particular geographic areas thereby reducing widespread biostratigraphic correlations. Extensive volcanic events associated with the assembling of Pangea means more radiometric dating is possible relative to the Mississippian. The Bashkirian Stage

9045-423: The Period. This was not a steady rise, but included peaks and troughs reflecting the dynamic climate conditions of the time. How the atmospheric oxygen concentrations influenced the large body size of arthropods and other fauna and flora during the Carboniferous is also a subject of ongoing debate. The changing climate was reflected in regional-scale changes in sedimentation patterns. In the relatively warm waters of

9180-428: The Permian. The Kazakhstanian microcontinent is composed of a series of Devonian and older accretionary complexes. It was strongly deformed during the Carboniferous as its western margin collided with Laurussia during the Uralian orogen and its northeastern margin collided with Siberia. Continuing strike-slip motion between Laurussia and Siberia led the formerly elongate microcontinent to bend into an orocline . During

9315-431: The Urals and Nashui, Guizhou Province, southwestern China are being considered. The Kasimovian is the first stage in the Upper Pennsylvanian. It is named after the Russian city of Kasimov , and was originally included as part of Nikitin's 1890 definition of the Moscovian. It was first recognised as a distinct unit by A.P. Ivanov in 1926, who named it the " Tiguliferina " Horizon after a type of brachiopod . The boundary of

9450-429: The Urals and Nashui, Guizhou Province, southwestern China for the GSSP are being considered. The GSSP for the base of the Permian is located in the Aidaralash River valley near Aqtöbe , Kazakhstan and was ratified in 1996. The beginning of the stage is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Streptognathodus postfusus . A cyclothem is a succession of non-marine and marine sedimentary rocks , deposited during

9585-411: The Visean of c. 15.3%, although with large uncertainties; and, pyrite records suggest levels of c. 15% early in the Carboniferous, to over 25% during the Pennsylvanian, before dropping back below 20% towards the end. However, whilst exact numbers vary, all models show an overall increase in atmospheric oxygen levels from a low of between 15-20% at the beginning of the Carboniferous to highs of 25-30% during

9720-524: The Western European and the Serpukhovian, Bashkirian, Moscovian, Kasimovian and Gzhelian from the Russian. With the formal ratification of the Carboniferous System, the Dinantian, Silesian, Namurian, Westphalian and Stephanian became redundant terms, although the latter three are still in common use in Western Europe. Stages can be defined globally or regionally. For global stratigraphic correlation,

9855-620: The Westphalian as an epoch or series, which are higher geological ranks than its current status. Since 1935, the Westphalian has been split into four substages, from oldest to youngest: Langsettian (Westphalian A), Duckmantian (Westphalian B), Bolsovian (Westphalian C), and "Asturian" (Westphalian D). These substages are defined by guide fossils, or "index fossils ," particularly plant macrofossils , miospores , and ammonoids . The Westphalian exhibits distinctive changes in plant diversity, and many plant macrofossil assemblage zones have been defined across an area encompassing Europe, Turkey , and

9990-510: The Zharma-Saur arc formed along the northeastern margin of Kazakhstania. By the late Carboniferous, all these complexes had accreted to the Siberian craton as shown by the intrusion of post-orogenic granites across the region. As Kazakhstania had already accreted to Laurussia, Siberia was effectively part of Pangea by 310 Ma, although major strike-slip movements continued between it and Laurussia into

10125-636: The arrival of the Crenulopteris acadica assemblage zone (previously known as the Lobatopteris vestita zone). Lycopsid fossils become very rare, while marattialean ferns become abundant in coal swamp deposits. Many European coalfields were positioned in a foreland basin north of the Variscan orogeny . As mountain-building continued, uplift accelerated in the basin, endangering the survival of coal swamp environments. Plant fossils (and coal deposits as

10260-751: The boundary, is not seen at the La Serre site making precise correlation difficult. The Viséan Stage was introduced by André Dumont in 1832 and is named after the city of Visé , Liège Province , Belgium. In 1967, the base of the Visean was officially defined as the first black limestone in the Leffe facies at the Bastion Section in the Dinant Basin . These changes are now thought to be ecologically driven rather than caused by evolutionary change, and so this has not been used as

10395-462: The charcoal record and pyrite). Results from these different methods for the Carboniferous vary. For example: the increasing occurrence of charcoal produced by wildfires from the Late Devonian into the Carboniferous indicates increasing oxygen levels, with calculations showing oxygen levels above 21% for most of the Carboniferous; halite gas inclusions from sediments dated 337-335 Ma give estimates for

10530-436: The continental shelves. Major river channels, up to several kilometres wide, stretched across these shelves feeding a network of smaller channels, lakes and peat mires. These wetlands were then buried by sediment as sea levels rose during interglacials . Continued crustal subsidence of the foreland basins and continental margins allowed this accumulation and burial of peat deposits to continue over millions of years resulting in

10665-631: The cyclothem sequences that dominated the Pennsylvanian sedimentary basins associated with the growing orogenic belt. Subduction of the Panthalassic oceanic plate along its western margin resulted in the Antler orogeny in the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian. Further north along the margin, slab roll-back , beginning in the Early Mississippian, led to the rifting of the Yukon-Tanana terrane and

10800-474: The early Carboniferous Kanimblan Orogeny . Continental arc magmatism continued into the late Carboniferous and extended round to connect with the developing proto-Andean subduction zone along the western South American margin of Gondwana. Shallow seas covered much of the Siberian craton in the early Carboniferous. These retreated as sea levels fell in the Pennsylvanian and as the continent drifted north into more temperate zones extensive coal deposits formed in

10935-527: The early Carboniferous in North China. However, bauxite deposits immediately above the regional mid Carboniferous unconformity indicate warm tropical conditions and are overlain by cyclothems including extensive coals. South China and Annamia (Southeast Asia) rifted from Gondwana during the Devonian. During the Carboniferous, they were separated from each other and North China by the Paleoasian Ocean with

11070-522: The end of the Carboniferous, extension and rifting across the northern margin of Gondwana led to the breaking away of the Cimmerian Terrane during the early Permian and the opening of the Neo-Tethys Ocean . Along the southeastern and southern margin of Gondwana (eastern Australia and Antarctica), northward subduction of Panthalassa continued. Changes in the relative motion of the plates resulted in

11205-402: The end of the Devonian, even if the specific enzymes used by basidiomycetes had not. The second theory is that the geographical setting and climate of the Carboniferous were unique in Earth's history: the co-occurrence of the position of the continents across the humid equatorial zone, high biological productivity, and the low-lying, water-logged and slowly subsiding sedimentary basins that allowed

11340-402: The end of the period, caused by climate change. Atmospheric oxygen levels, originally thought to be consistently higher than today throughout the Carboniferous, have been shown to be more variable, increasing from low levels at the beginning of the Period to highs of 25-30%. The development of a Carboniferous chronostratigraphic timescale began in the late 18th century. The term "Carboniferous"

11475-566: The end of the period. Glacial deposits are widespread across Gondwana and indicate multiple ice centres and long-distance movement of ice. The northern to northeastern margin of Gondwana (northeast Africa, Arabia, India and northeastern West Australia) was a passive margin along the southern edge of the Paleo-Tethys with cyclothem deposition including, during more temperate intervals, coal swamps in Western Australia. The Mexican terranes along

11610-571: The environment , causing premature death and illness, and it is the largest anthropogenic source of carbon dioxide contributing to climate change . Fourteen billion tonnes of carbon dioxide were emitted by burning coal in 2020, which is 40% of total fossil fuel emissions and over 25% of total global greenhouse gas emissions . As part of worldwide energy transition , many countries have reduced or eliminated their use of coal power . The United Nations Secretary General asked governments to stop building new coal plants by 2020. Global coal use

11745-430: The evolution of the first trees . But bacteria and fungi did not immediately evolve the ability to decompose lignin, so the wood did not fully decay but became buried under sediment, eventually turning into coal. About 300 million years ago, mushrooms and other fungi developed this ability, ending the main coal-formation period of earth's history. Although some authors pointed at some evidence of lignin degradation during

11880-409: The evolutionary lineage from Siphonodella praesulcata to Siphonodella sulcata . This was ratified by the ICS in 1990. However, in 2006 further study revealed the presence of Siphonodella sulcata below the boundary, and the presence of Siphonodella praesulcata and Siphonodella sulcata together above a local unconformity . This means the evolution of one species to the other, the definition of

12015-512: The factors involved in coalification, temperature is much more important than either pressure or time of burial. Subbituminous coal can form at temperatures as low as 35 to 80 °C (95 to 176 °F) while anthracite requires a temperature of at least 180 to 245 °C (356 to 473 °F). Although coal is known from most geologic periods , 90% of all coal beds were deposited in the Carboniferous and Permian periods. Paradoxically, this

12150-426: The first appearance of amniotes including synapsids (the clade to which modern mammals belong) and sauropsids (which include modern reptiles and birds) during the late Carboniferous. Land arthropods such as arachnids (e.g. trigonotarbids and Pulmonoscorpius ), myriapods (e.g. Arthropleura ) and especially insects (particularly flying insects ) also underwent a major evolutionary radiation during

12285-498: The form of iron pyrite (FeS 2 ). Being a dense mineral, it can be removed from coal by mechanical means, e.g. by froth flotation . Some sulfate occurs in coal, especially weathered samples. It is not volatilized and can be removed by washing. Minor components include: As minerals, Hg, As, and Se are not problematic to the environment, especially since they are only trace components. They become however mobile (volatile or water-soluble) when these minerals are combusted. Most coal

12420-473: The formation of thick and widespread coal formations. During the warm interglacials, smaller coal swamps with plants adapted to the temperate conditions formed on the Siberian craton and the western Australian region of Gondwana. There is ongoing debate as to why this peak in the formation of Earth's coal deposits occurred during the Carboniferous. The first theory, known as the delayed fungal evolution hypothesis,

12555-475: The heat and pressure of deep burial caused the loss of water, methane and carbon dioxide and increased the proportion of carbon. The grade of coal produced depended on the maximum pressure and temperature reached, with lignite (also called "brown coal") produced under relatively mild conditions, and sub-bituminous coal , bituminous coal , or anthracite coal (also called "hard coal" or "black coal") produced in turn with increasing temperature and pressure. Of

12690-431: The increasing tendency of the anthracite to break with a conchoidal fracture , similar to the way thick glass breaks. As geological processes apply pressure to dead biotic material over time, under suitable conditions, its metamorphic grade or rank increases successively into: There are several international standards for coal. The classification of coal is generally based on the content of volatiles . However

12825-424: The late Carboniferous. Vast swaths of forests and swamps covered the land, which eventually became the coal beds characteristic of the Carboniferous stratigraphy evident today. The later half of the period experienced glaciations , low sea level, and mountain building as the continents collided to form Pangaea . A minor marine and terrestrial extinction event, the Carboniferous rainforest collapse , occurred at

12960-567: The late Devonian with a short-lived glaciation in the late Famennian through Devonian–Carboniferous boundary, before the Early Tournaisian Warm Interval. Following this, a reduction in atmospheric CO 2 levels, caused by the increased burial of organic matter and widespread ocean anoxia led to climate cooling and glaciation across the south polar region. During the Visean Warm Interval glaciers nearly vanished retreating to

13095-512: The location for the GSSP. Instead, the GSSP for the base of the Visean is located in Bed 83 of the sequence of dark grey limestones and shales at the Pengchong section, Guangxi , southern China. It is defined by the first appearance of the fusulinid Eoparastaffella simplex in the evolutionary lineage Eoparastaffella ovalis – Eoparastaffella simplex and was ratified in 2009. The Serpukhovian Stage

13230-565: The lower carbonate-rich sequence of the Mississippian System and the upper siliciclastic and coal-rich sequence of the Pennsylvanian . The United States Geological Survey officially recognised these two systems in 1953. In Russia, in the 1840s British and Russian geologists divided the Carboniferous into the Lower, Middle and Upper series based on Russian sequences. In the 1890s these became

13365-431: The majority of a cyclothem sequence occurred during falling sea levels, when rates of erosion were high, meaning they were often periods of non-deposition. Erosion during sea level falls could also result in the full or partial removal of previous cyclothem sequences. Individual cyclothems are generally less than 10 m thick because the speed at which sea level rose gave only limited time for sediments to accumulate. During

13500-709: The mid Carboniferous, the South American sector of Gondwana collided obliquely with Laurussia's southern margin resulting in the Ouachita orogeny. The major strike-slip faulting that occurred between Laurussia and Gondwana extended eastwards into the Appalachian Mountains where early deformation in the Alleghanian orogeny was predominantly strike-slip. As the West African sector of Gondwana collided with Laurussia during

13635-453: The morphology and some properties of the original plant. In many coals, individual macerals can be identified visually. Some macerals include: In coalification huminite is replaced by vitreous (shiny) vitrinite . Maturation of bituminous coal is characterized by bitumenization , in which part of the coal is converted to bitumen , a hydrocarbon-rich gel. Maturation to anthracite is characterized by debitumenization (from demethanation) and

13770-405: The most important distinction is between thermal coal (also known as steam coal), which is burnt to generate electricity via steam; and metallurgical coal (also known as coking coal), which is burnt at high temperature to make steel . Hilt's law is a geological observation that (within a small area) the deeper the coal is found, the higher its rank (or grade). It applies if the thermal gradient

13905-407: The nature of Carboniferous forests, which included lycophyte trees whose determinate growth meant that carbon was not tied up in heartwood of living trees for long periods. One theory suggested that about 360 million years ago, some plants evolved the ability to produce lignin , a complex polymer that made their cellulose stems much harder and more woody. The ability to produce lignin led to

14040-502: The northwestern Gondwana margin, were affected by the subduction of the Rheic Ocean. However, they lay to west of the Ouachita orogeny and were not impacted by continental collision but became part of the active margin of the Pacific. The Moroccan margin was affected by periods of widespread dextral strike-slip deformation, magmatism and metamorphism associated with the Variscan orogeny. Towards

14175-455: The number of double bonds between carbon). As carbonization proceeds, aliphatic compounds convert to aromatic compounds . Similarly, aromatic rings fuse into polyaromatic compounds (linked rings of carbon atoms). The structure increasingly resembles graphene , the structural element of graphite. Chemical changes are accompanied by physical changes, such as decrease in average pore size. The macerals are coalified plant parts that retain

14310-579: The opening of the Slide Mountain Ocean . Along the northern margin of Laurussia, orogenic collapse of the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian Innuitian orogeny led to the development of the Sverdrup Basin . Much of Gondwana lay in the southern polar region during the Carboniferous. As the plate moved, the South Pole drifted from southern Africa in the early Carboniferous to eastern Antarctica by

14445-425: The peat mires. As fully marine conditions were established, limestones succeeded these marginal marine deposits. The limestones were in turn overlain by deep water black shales as maximum sea levels were reached. Ideally, this sequence would be reversed as sea levels began to fall again; however, sea level falls tend to be protracted, whilst sea level rises are rapid, ice sheets grow slowly but melt quickly. Therefore,

14580-456: The pre-combustion treatment, turbine technology (e.g. supercritical steam generator ) and the age of the plant. A few integrated gasification combined cycle (IGCC) power plants have been built, which burn coal more efficiently. Instead of pulverizing the coal and burning it directly as fuel in the steam-generating boiler, the coal is gasified to create syngas , which is burned in a gas turbine to produce electricity (just like natural gas

14715-874: The proto-Andes in Bolivia and western Argentina and the Pan-African mountain ranges in southeastern Brazil and southwest Africa. The main phase of the LPIA (c. 335-290 Ma) began in the late Visean, as the climate cooled and atmospheric CO 2 levels dropped. Its onset was accompanied by a global fall in sea level and widespread multimillion-year unconformities. This main phase consisted of a series of discrete several million-year-long glacial periods during which ice expanded out from up to 30 ice centres that stretched across mid- to high latitudes of Gondwana in eastern Australia, northwestern Argentina, southern Brazil, and central and Southern Africa. Isotope records indicate this drop in CO 2 levels

14850-427: The reacting groups are attached. Dehydration and decarboxylation take place early in coalification, while demethanation begins only after the coal has already reached bituminous rank. The effect of decarboxylation is to reduce the percentage of oxygen, while demethanation reduces the percentage of hydrogen. Dehydration does both, and (together with demethanation) reduces the saturation of the carbon backbone (increasing

14985-619: The sea. Cyclothem lithologies vary from mudrock and carbonate-dominated to coarse siliciclastic sediment-dominated sequences depending on the paleo-topography, climate and supply of sediments to the shelf. The main period of cyclothem deposition occurred during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age from the Late Mississippian to early Permian, when the waxing and waning of ice sheets led to rapid changes in eustatic sea level . The growth of ice sheets led global sea levels to fall as water

15120-718: The succeeding Stephanian . The Westphalian is preceded by the Namurian Stage/Age (which corresponds to the Millstone Grit Series of Great Britain) and succeeded by the Stephanian Stage/Age (which corresponds to the uppermost part of the Coal Measures of Great Britain). In the official geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS ), the Westphalian is placed within

15255-399: The sulfur and most of the nitrogen is incorporated into the organic fraction in the form of organosulfur compounds and organonitrogen compounds . This sulfur and nitrogen are strongly bound within the hydrocarbon matrix. These elements are released as SO 2 and NO x upon combustion. They cannot be removed, economically at least, otherwise. Some coals contain inorganic sulfur, mainly in

15390-493: The suture between Kazakhstania and Tarim. A continental magmatic arc above a south-dipping subduction zone lay along the northern North China margin, consuming the Paleoasian Ocean. Northward subduction of the Paleo-Tethys beneath the southern margins of North China and Tarim continued during the Carboniferous, with the South Qinling block accreted to North China during the mid to late Carboniferous. No sediments are preserved from

15525-409: The thick accumulation of peat were sufficient to account for the peak in coal formation. During the Carboniferous, there was an increased rate in tectonic plate movements as the supercontinent Pangea assembled. The continents themselves formed a near circle around the opening Paleo-Tethys Ocean, with the massive Panthalassic Ocean beyond. Gondwana covered the south polar region. To its northwest

15660-545: The tropics c. 24 °C (75 °F) and in polar regions c. -23 °C (-10 °F), whilst during the Early Tournaisian Warm Interval (358-353 Ma) the GAT was c. 22 °C (72 °F), the tropics c. 30 °C (86 °F) and polar regions c. 1.5 °C (35 °F). Overall, for the Ice Age the GAT was c. 17 °C (62 °F), with tropical temperatures c. 26 °C and polar temperatures c. -9.0 °C (16 °F). There are

15795-570: The uplift and erosion of the more mafic basement rocks of the Central Pangea Mountains at this time, CO 2 levels dropped as low as 175 ppm and remained under 400 ppm for 10 Ma. Temperatures across the Carboniferous reflect the phases of the LPIA. At the extremes, during the Permo-Carboniferous Glacial Maximum (299-293 Ma) the global average temperature (GAT) was c. 13 °C (55 °F), the average temperature in

15930-415: The world's coal-generated electricity. Efforts around the world to reduce the use of coal have led some regions to switch to natural gas and renewable energy . In 2018 coal-fired power station capacity factor averaged 51%, that is they operated for about half their available operating hours. Coke is a solid carbonaceous residue that is used in manufacturing steel and other iron-containing products. Coke

16065-574: Was 8.3 billion tonnes in 2022, and is set to remain at record levels in 2023. To meet the Paris Agreement target of keeping global warming below 2 °C (3.6 °F) coal use needs to halve from 2020 to 2030, and "phasing down" coal was agreed upon in the Glasgow Climate Pact . The largest consumer and importer of coal in 2020 was China , which accounts for almost half the world's annual coal production, followed by India with about

16200-436: Was Laurussia. These two continents slowly collided to form the core of Pangea. To the north of Laurussia lay Siberia and Amuria . To the east of Siberia, Kazakhstania , North China and South China formed the northern margin of the Paleo-Tethys, with Annamia laying to the south. The Central Pangean Mountains were formed during the Variscan - Alleghanian - Ouachita orogeny. Today their remains stretch over 10,000 km from

16335-574: Was based on the trading of this commodity. Coal continues to arrive on beaches around the world from both natural erosion of exposed coal seams and windswept spills from cargo ships. Many homes in such areas gather this coal as a significant, and sometimes primary, source of home heating fuel. Coal consists mainly of a black mixture of diverse organic compounds and polymers. Of course, several kinds of coals exist, with variable dark colors and variable compositions. Young coals (brown coal, lignite) are not black. The two main black coals are bituminous, which

16470-504: Was carried to London by sea. In 1257–1259, coal from Newcastle upon Tyne was shipped to London for the smiths and lime -burners building Westminster Abbey . Seacoal Lane and Newcastle Lane, where coal was unloaded at wharves along the River Fleet , still exist. These easily accessible sources had largely become exhausted (or could not meet the growing demand) by the 13th century, when underground extraction by shaft mining or adits

16605-602: Was developed in the Soviet Union , or in an MHD topping cycle . However these are not widely used due to lack of profit. In 2017 38% of the world's electricity came from coal, the same percentage as 30 years previously. In 2018 global installed capacity was 2 TW (of which 1TW is in China) which was 30% of total electricity generation capacity. The most dependent major country is South Africa, with over 80% of its electricity generated by coal; but China alone generates more than half of

16740-408: Was developed. The alternative name was "pitcoal", because it came from mines. Cooking and home heating with coal (in addition to firewood or instead of it) has been done in various times and places throughout human history, especially in times and places where ground-surface coal was available and firewood was scarce, but a widespread reliance on coal for home hearths probably never existed until such

16875-644: Was divided into the Tournaisian and Viséan stages. The Silesian was divided into the Namurian , Westphalian and Stephanian stages. The Tournaisian is the same length as the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) stage, but the Viséan is longer, extending into the lower Serpukhovian . North American geologists recognised a similar stratigraphy but divided it into two systems rather than one. These are

17010-490: Was during the Late Paleozoic icehouse , a time of global glaciation . However, the drop in global sea level accompanying the glaciation exposed continental shelves that had previously been submerged, and to these were added wide river deltas produced by increased erosion due to the drop in base level . These widespread areas of wetlands provided ideal conditions for coal formation. The rapid formation of coal ended with

17145-545: Was first used as an adjective by Irish geologist Richard Kirwan in 1799 and later used in a heading entitled "Coal-measures or Carboniferous Strata" by John Farey Sr. in 1811. Four units were originally ascribed to the Carboniferous, in ascending order, the Old Red Sandstone , Carboniferous Limestone , Millstone Grit and the Coal Measures . These four units were placed into a formalised Carboniferous unit by William Conybeare and William Phillips in 1822 and then into

17280-644: Was lock away in glaciers. Falling sea levels exposed large tracts of the continental shelves across which river systems eroded channels and valleys and vegetation broke down the surface to form soils . The non-marine sediments deposited on this erosional surface form the base of the cyclothem. As sea levels began to rise, the rivers flowed through increasingly water-logged landscapes of swamps and lakes. Peat mires developed in these wet and oxygen-poor conditions, leading to coal formation. With continuing sea level rise, coastlines migrated landward and deltas , lagoons and esturaries developed; their sediments deposited over

17415-606: Was once known as "steam coal" as it was widely used as a fuel for steam locomotives . In this specialized use, it is sometimes known as "sea coal" in the United States. Small "steam coal", also called dry small steam nuts (DSSN), was used as a fuel for domestic water heating . Coal played an important role in industry in the 19th and 20th century. The predecessor of the European Union , the European Coal and Steel Community ,

17550-561: Was proposed by Alexander Winchell in 1870 named after the extensive exposure of lower Carboniferous limestone in the upper Mississippi River valley. During the Mississippian, there was a marine connection between the Paleo-Tethys and Panthalassa through the Rheic Ocean resulting in the near worldwide distribution of marine faunas and so allowing widespread correlations using marine biostratigraphy . However, there are few Mississippian volcanic rocks , and so obtaining radiometric dates

17685-564: Was proposed by Russian stratigrapher Sofia Semikhatova in 1934. It was named after Bashkiria , the then Russian name of the republic of Bashkortostan in the southern Ural Mountains of Russia. The GSSP for the base of the Pennsylvanian Subsystem and Bashkirian Stage is located at Arrow Canyon in Nevada , US and was ratified in 1996. It is defined by the first appearance of the conodont Declinognathodus noduliferus . Arrow Canyon lay in

17820-504: Was proposed in 1890 by Russian stratigrapher Sergei Nikitin . It is named after the city of Serpukhov , near Moscow. currently lacks a defined GSSP. The Visean-Serpukhovian boundary coincides with a major period of glaciation. The resulting sea level fall and climatic changes led to the loss of connections between marine basins and endemism of marine fauna across the Russian margin. This means changes in biota are environmental rather than evolutionary making wider correlation difficult. Work

17955-453: Was triggered by tectonic factors with increased weathering of the growing Central Pangean Mountains and the influence of the mountains on precipitation and surface water flow. Closure of the oceanic gateway between the Rheic and Tethys oceans in the early Bashkirian also contributed to climate cooling by changing ocean circulation and heat flow patterns. Warmer periods with reduced ice volume within

18090-430: Was used for electricity generation. Coal burnt in coal power stations to generate electricity is called thermal coal . It is usually pulverized and then burned in a furnace with a boiler . The furnace heat converts boiler water to steam , which is then used to spin turbines which turn generators and create electricity. The thermodynamic efficiency of this process varies between about 25% and 50% depending on

18225-490: Was well established. Stegocephalia (four-limbed vertebrates including true tetrapods ), whose forerunners ( tetrapodomorphs ) had evolved from lobe-finned fish during the preceding Devonian period, became pentadactylous during the Carboniferous. The period is sometimes called the Age of Amphibians because of the diversification of early amphibians such as the temnospondyls , which became dominant land vertebrates, as well as

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