Carboniferous Period

Introduction
The Carboniferous environment
- Paleogeography
- Paleoclimate
Carboniferous life
- Invertebrates
- Plants
- Fishes
- Amphibians and early reptiles
Carboniferous rocks
- Major subdivisions of the Carboniferous System
- Distinctive features
- Significant geologic events
- Economic significance of Carboniferous deposits
- Occurrence and distribution of Carboniferous deposits
  - Mississippian limestones
  - Pennsylvanian cyclothems, tillites, and turbidites
- Correlation of Carboniferous strata
  - Mississippian subsystem
  - Pennsylvanian subsystem

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images

A detailed geologic time scale chart displaying Earth's history from the Hadean Eon over 4.5 billion years ago to the present, organized by eons, eras, periods, epochs, and ages with color-coded columns and corresponding dates in millions of years.

Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins during the Late Carboniferous. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are cold and warm ocean currents. The present-day coastlines and tectonic boundaries of the configured continents are shown in the inset.

Paleogeographic map depicting the arrangement of continents during the Late Carboniferous and Early Permian periods, with a large shaded area showing the extent of the Permo-Carboniferous ice sheet around the ancient South Pole. Arrows indicate the direction of ice sheet movement, and dashed lines outline the ice sheet boundary. The map illustrates continental drift and plate tectonics concepts.

Fossilized remains of Cryptoblastus, an extinct genus of blastoids collected from the Burlington Limestone, Iowa.

Dielasma, a genus of extinct brachiopods (lamp shells) occurring as fossils in Carboniferous and Permian rocks.

A chart detailing the Carboniferous period within the Paleozoic era, showing its division into Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subperiods, with corresponding epochs, ages, and their ranges in millions of years ago.

Illustration of the extinct Edaphosaurus, a pelycosaur, showing a reptile-like animal with a large, sail-like fin on its back, squat limbs, and a long tail. A scale bar indicates size.

A timeline chart shows major events in plant evolution alongside the geologic time scale, with illustrations of algae, mosses, ferns, ginkgoes, conifers, cycads, and flowering plants marking their first appearances from the Ordovician to the Cenozoic era. Key milestones such as the emergence of early vascular plants and seed plants are labeled with approximate millions of years ago.

At a Glance

Carboniferous Period summary

Related Questions

How are fusulinids used to correlate Pennsylvanian rocks?
How can radiometric dating of volcanic ash help determine the age of Carboniferous fossils?
How did Carboniferous continental positions influence climate zones?
How did Gondwanan ice sheets cause cycles of sea-level rise and fall during the Carboniferous?
How did Laurussia and Gondwana move relative to one another during the Carboniferous Period?
How did Pennsylvanian sea-level changes create coal cyclothems?
How did expanding mountains affect coal deposition in western Europe near the end of the Pennsylvanian?
How do fossils help geologists correlate separated Carboniferous rock outcrops?
How does the European Carboniferous division differ from the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian division?
What major sea-level event occurred at the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary?
When did the Bashkirian Stage occur?
When did the Carboniferous Period begin and end?
When did the Gzhelian Stage occur?
When did the Kasimovian Stage occur?
When did the Mississippian Subperiod occur?
When did the Moscovian Stage occur?
When did the Pennsylvanian Subperiod occur?
When did the Serpukhovian Stage occur?
When did the Tournaisian Stage occur?
When did the Viséan Stage occur?
When did the boundary between the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian subperiods occur?
Which European subsystems are used to divide the Carboniferous Period?
Which deposits are typical of Pennsylvanian cyclothems in the Northern Hemisphere?
Which fossils help geologists date and correlate Carboniferous rocks?
Which geologic period came before the Carboniferous Period?
Which geologic period followed the Carboniferous Period?
Which geologists coined the term Carboniferous in 1822?
Which rocks are most typical of the Mississippian Subperiod in the Northern Hemisphere?
Which stage lies directly below the Asselian Stage of the Permian Period?
Which stage lies immediately below the Gzhelian Stage?
Which stages make up the Mississippian Subperiod?
Which stages make up the Pennsylvanian Subperiod?
Which two subperiods divide the Carboniferous Period?
Who first used the name Mississippian for Carboniferous rocks?
Why are ammonoids useful for dating Carboniferous rock layers?
Why did coal swamps develop near the Equator during the Pennsylvanian Subperiod?
Why is the Mississippian-Pennsylvanian boundary in North America different from the Lower-Upper Carboniferous boundary in Europe?
Why is the first appearance of the conodont Idiognathodus simulator important for the Gzhelian Stage?
Why was the Carboniferous Period named after coal-bearing rocks?
What is the Cambrian Period?
What was the Cambrian explosion?
What were the climate conditions during the Cambrian Period?
What continents were part of Gondwana during the Cambrian Period?

Science Earth Science, Geologic Time & Fossils Fossils & Geologic Time

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External Websites

National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - The influence of Carboniferous palaeoatmospheres on plant function: an experimental and modelling assessment
University of California Museum of Paleontology - The Carboniferous Period
The National Academies - The Carboniferous-Early Permian: High Oxygen, Fires, and Giants
PBS - Evolution - Carboniferous Period (354-290 mya)

Carboniferous Period

geochronology

Written by

Walter L. Manger

Professor of Geology, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Coeditor of The Atokan Series, Pennsylvanian, and Its Boundaries: A Symposium.

Walter L. Manger

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 1, 2026 •History

Carboniferous Period, fifth interval of the Paleozoic Era, succeeding the Devonian Period and preceding the Permian Period. In terms of absolute time, the Carboniferous Period began approximately 358.9 million years ago and ended 298.9 million years ago. Its duration of approximately 60 million years makes it the longest period of the Paleozoic Era and the second longest period of the Phanerozoic Eon. The rocks that were formed or deposited during the period constitute the Carboniferous...

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