Permian Period

Introduction
The Permian environment
- Paleogeography
  - Distribution of land
  - Sea level
- Paleoclimate
Permian life
- Marine and terrestrial life
- Emergence of important reptiles
- Mass extinction
  - Marine invertebrates
  - Causes
    - Temperature crises
    - Alteration of the carbon cycle
    - Population explosion of methane-producing microbes
    - Other potential causes
Permian geology
- Major subdivisions
- Economic significance of Permian deposits
- Occurrence and distribution of Permian deposits
  - Carbonate provinces
  - Sediments in tectonically active regions
  - Limestone
  - Basin sedimentation
- Correlation of Permian strata
- Major boundaries and subdivisions of the Permian System
  - Early work
  - Later work
  - Permian-Triassic boundary

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.

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.

A geologic time scale chart showing the Permian period of the Paleozoic era, divided into Cisuralian, Guadalupian, and Lopingian epochs with their corresponding ages and millions of years ago.

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

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.

At a Glance

Permian Period summary

Related Questions

How could Siberian Trap volcanism have contributed to the Permian extinction?
How could volcanic ash have disrupted photosynthesis near the end of the Permian Period?
How did Permian climates change from the Early Permian to the Late Permian?
How did changes in sea level affect shallow marine life during the Permian Period?
How did mountain-building events affect Permian climates?
How did plant diversification influence insect evolution during the Permian Period?
How did the assembly of Pangea change Earth’s climate during the Permian Period?
How does plate tectonics explain the present locations of Permian rock deposits?
How is the Permian Period divided into the Cisuralian Guadalupian and Lopingian epochs?
How many insect orders lived during the Permian Period?
How many land species disappeared during the Permian extinction?
How might methane-producing Methanosarcina microbes have contributed to Permian climate change?
When did the Changhsingian Age occur?
When did the Permian Period begin and end?
When did the Wordian Age occur?
When did the Wuchiapingian Age occur?
When did trilobites make their last appearance in the fossil record?
Where are Permian rocks found on Earth?
Where was the Tethys Sea located during the Permian Period?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Asselian Stage?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Capitanian Stage?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Changhsingian Stage?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Roadian Stage?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Sakmarian Stage?
Which conodont marks the beginning of the Wordian Stage?
Which era included the Permian Period?
Which fossil marks the beginning of the Triassic Period?
Which geologic period came before the Permian Period?
Which geologic period followed the Permian Period?
Which modern regions had widespread glaciation during the Early Permian Epoch?
Which ocean surrounded the supercontinent Pangea during the Permian Period?
Why are some Permian glacial deposits located far from Earth’s modern polar regions?
Why did hot and dry climates become widespread late in the Permian Period?
Why do colder Gondwanan waters require different conodont zones from northern waters?
Why is an asteroid impact not strongly supported as the main cause of the Permian extinction?
Why is it difficult to match Permian rock layers from different parts of the world?
Why is the Permian Period named after the Russian region of Perm?
Why is the Permian-Triassic extinction considered the largest mass extinction in Earth’s history?
Why were shallow warm-water marine invertebrates especially affected by Permian extinctions?
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 Park Service - Permian Periodï¿½298.9 to 251.9 MYA
National Center for Biotechnology Information - PubMed Central - Recovery from the most profound mass extinction of all time
NPS History Electronic Library and Archive - THE PERMIAN PERIOD: Fossils from an ancient reef. (286 Â– 230 million years before present) (PDF)
Lyell Collections - Geological Society Publications - The Permian timescale: an introduction
The Research Repository @ WVU - The Permian Period
CalPoly Humboldt - Natural History Museum - Permian Period
University of California Museum of Paleontology - The Permian Period
PBS - The Strange and Wonderful Animals of the Permian Period
Livescience - Permian Period: Climate, Animals & Plants

Permian Period

geochronology

Written by

June R.P. Ross

Professor of Biology, Western Washington University, Bellingham. Editor of Bryozoa.

June R.P. RossAll

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

History

Permian Period, in geologic time, the last period of the Paleozoic Era. The Permian Period began 298.9 million years ago and ended 252.2 million years ago, extending from the close of the Carboniferous Period to the outset of the Triassic Period. At the beginning of the period, glaciation was widespread, and latitudinal climatic belts were strongly developed. Climate warmed throughout the Permian times, and, by the end of the period, hot and dry conditions were...

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