History of Earth - Mississippian Period - (Paleozoic Era)

			MISSISSIPPIAN
			THE MISSISSIPPIAN PERIOD 360 TO 325 Million Years Ago
			The Age of Amphibians Giant Salamanders Proliferate as Vast Forests Spread (Also called the LOWER CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD)
. . . the wild animals play . . . hidden among the reeds in the marsh. - Job 40:21-22
Devonian					Pennsyl- vannian
\|--------\| Paleo-Geography
Epoch opens in slow mass extinction; life soon recovers Euramerica & Gondwana continue to merge; much mountain building; other continent fragments drift closer Vast forests and swamps form as sea levels fluctuate Climate hot & humid but glaciated at the poles Oxygen level 40% above today - abundant wildfires Much of the world's coal formed in the Carboniferous
Life
Amphibious tetrapods (right) multiply wildly; many grow enormous in the high humidity and oxygen Giant insects and myriapods (below) flourish in the high humidity and oxygen Plants develop bark, but bacteria not yet able to break it down. Dense layers of dead wood form coal beds. Sea life dominated by sharks, corals, bryozoa, brachiopods, ammonoids, crinoids and foraminifera
				EarlyTetrapods Explore Mississippian Riverbanks Acanthostega (foreground) and Ichthyostegans (Image: John Sibbick, Nova Online)
		Arthropleurida (left) was a giant centipede in the Mississippian swamps that could grow up to 7 feet long. (Image: Palaeos)
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
SOURCES: University of California Museum of Paleontology - Tour of Geologic Time Wikipedia - Geologic Time Scale Palaeos - Geological Time IInternational Commission on Stratigraphy By Corey Zak - CORZAK INTERACTIVE