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The Carboniferous is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period 358.9 Ma, to the beginning of the Permian Period, 298.9 Ma. In North America, the Carboniferous is often treated as two separate geological periods, the earlier Mississippian and the later Pennsylvanian.
Dendrerpeton is a genus of an extinct group of temnospondyl amphibians. Its fossils have been found primarily in the Joggins Formation of Eastern Canada and in Ireland. It lived during the Carboniferous and is said to be around 309–316 million years of age, corresponding to more specifically the Westphalian (stage) age. Of terrestrial temnospondyl amphibians evolution, it represents the first stage. Although multiple species have been proposed, the species unanimously recognized is D. acadianum. This species name comes from “Acadia” which is a historical name for the Nova Scotia region as a French colony. It refers to the location of the coal field at which the fossil was found.
Anthracosaurus is an extinct genus of embolomere, a possible distant relative of reptiles that lived during the Late Carboniferous in what is now Scotland and England. It was a large, aquatic eel-like predator. It has a robust skull about 40 centimetres (1.3 ft) in length with large teeth in the jaws and on the roof of the mouth. Anthracosaurus probably inhabited swamps, rivers and lakes. Its name is Greek for "coal lizard".
Euproops Meek, 1867, is an extinct genus of xiphosuran, related to the modern horseshoe crab. It lived during the Carboniferous Period.
The Allegheny Group, often termed the Allegheny Formation, is a Pennsylvanian-age geological unit in the Appalachian Plateau. It is a major coal-bearing unit in the eastern United States, extending through western and central Pennsylvania, western Maryland and West Virginia, and southeastern Ohio. Fossils of fishes such as Bandringa are known from the Kittaning Formation, which is part of the Allegheny Group.
The Namurian is a stage in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe, with an age between roughly 331 and 319 Ma. It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous system or period, as well as the regional Silesian series. The Namurian is named for the Belgian city and province of Namur where strata of this age occur. The Millstone Grit Group in the lithostratigraphy of northern England and parts of Wales is also of Namurian age.
The Pennant Measures is the traditional name for a sequence of sedimentary rocks of the South Wales Coalfield. They were also referred to as the Upper Coal Measures and assigned to the Westphalian 'C' and Westphalian 'D' stages of the Carboniferous Period. The Pennant Measures were divided into the Lower Pennant Measures and the Upper Pennant Measures, differing from the underlying Middle and Lower Coal Measures in being principally of sandstone units – known collectively as the Pennant Sandstone – with mudstone being the subsidiary rock type. Numerous coal seams occur within the Pennant Measures though they are less common than in the underlying Coal Measures.
The Westphalian is a regional stage or age in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe, with an age between roughly 315 and 307 Ma. It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous System or Period and the regional Silesian Series. The Westphalian is named for the region of Westphalia 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 the succeeding Stephanian.
The Stephanian is a stage in the regional stratigraphy of northwest Europe with an age between roughly 307.5 and 299 Ma. It is a subdivision of the Carboniferous system or period and the regional Silesian series. The uppermost units of the Coal Measures of England and Wales are probably of Stephanian age, though the larger part of this formation is referred to the earlier Westphalian. The stage derives its name from the city of Saint-Étienne for its coal mining basin in eastern central France where strata of this age occur.
The Canonbie Coalfield is a small and largely concealed coalfield at Canonbie in the south of Scotland. A comprehensive survey by Peach and Horne was published in 1903. Canonbie colliery was worked until 1920, and another mine at Archerbeck continued until 1942.
East Kirkton Quarry, or simply East Kirkton, is a former limestone quarry in West Lothian, Scotland, now a renowned fossil site. The quarry is known for terrestrial and freshwater fossils about 335 million years old, from the late Viséan stage of the Mississippian subperiod. The quarry is a 200 meter-long depression located in the town of Bathgate. Geographically, it sits at the Bathgate Hills near the center of the Midland Valley, a fossil-rich region of southeast Scotland. The site is dominated by volcanic tuff, limestone, and silica deposits of large freshwater lakes associated with hot springs and local basaltic (high-iron) volcanism. Three geological intervals are exposed: the East Kirkton Limestone (oldest), Little Cliff Shale (middle), and Geikie Tuff (youngest).
The Coal Measures Group is a lithostratigraphical term coined to refer to the coal-bearing succession of rock strata which occur in the United Kingdom within the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. The succession was previously referred to as the 'Productive Coal Measures'. Other than in Northern Ireland the term is now obsolete in formal use and is replaced by the Pennine Coal Measures Group, Scottish Coal Measures Group and the South Wales Coal Measures Group for the three distinct depositional provinces of the British mainland.
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse (CRC) was a minor extinction event that occurred around 305 million years ago in the Carboniferous period. It altered the vast coal forests that covered the equatorial region of Euramerica. This event may have fragmented the forests into isolated refugia or ecological "islands", which in turn encouraged dwarfism and, shortly after, extinction of many plant and animal species. Following the event, coal-forming tropical forests continued in large areas of the Earth, but their extent and composition were changed.
The Great Estuarine Group is a sequence of Middle Jurassic sedimentary rocks deposited in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. The sedimentary sequence was originally named the 'Great Estuarine Series' by geologist John Wesley Judd in 1878. Sedimentary outcrops occur on Skye, Raasay, Eigg and Muck. It comprises a series of shales, clays, silts, mudstones, and sandstones deposited in two drainage basins: the Inner Hebrides basin and the Sea of the Hebrides basin. The sediments are equivalent in age to the Inferior and Great Oolite Groups found in southern England.
The Clackmannan Group is the name given to a suite of rocks of late Dinantian and Namurian age laid down during the Carboniferous period in the Midland Valley of Scotland.
The South Wales Coal Measures Group is a lithostratigraphical term referring to the coal-bearing succession of rock strata which occur in South Wales within the Westphalian Stage of the Carboniferous Period. The Group name is also applied to rocks of similar age across southern England from the Bristol Coalfield east to the concealed Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Kent Coalfields. In formal use, the term replaces the earlier Coal Measures Group The Group comprises the:
The Ballagan Formation is a geologic formation in Scotland and England. It preserves fossils dating back to the early part of the Carboniferous period. Its name comes from the "Ballagan Beds" of Ballagan Glen, near Strathblane, which has a good example of this geological formation.
The Bearreraig Sandstone Formation is a geological formation in Scotland. It preserves fossils dating back to the lower to middle parts of the Jurassic period (Toarcian–Bajocian). The remains of the proximal portion of a right ulna and radius of an indeterminate thyreophoran dinosaur are known from the formation. The ichthyosaur Dearcmhara is also known from the formation.
Papposaurus is an extinct genus of proterogyrinid embolomere which lived in the Mississippian of Scotland. It is known from a single species, Papposaurus traquiairi, which is based on an isolated femur discovered in ironstone near Loanhead. Though originally compared closely to reptiles, subsequent study has revealed closer similarity to basal embolomeres such as Proterogyrinus and Archeria. With such limited remains, Papposaurus may not be a valid genus. The femur was redescribed in 1986 by T. R. Smithson, who considered Papposaurus traquairi a nomen vanum possibly synonymous with Proterogyrinus scheelei.
Eobaphetes is an extinct genus of embolomere which likely lived in the Pennsylvanian of Kansas. The genus is based on several skull and jaw fragments of a single individual. They were originally described under the species Erpetosuchus kansasensis, but this was later changed to Eobaphetes kansasensis when it was determined that Erpetosuchus was preoccupied by a Triassic reptile.
References
- 1 2 Waters, C.N.; Browne, M.A.E.; Jones, N.S.; Somerville, I.D. (2011-07-13), Waters, C.N.; Somerville, I.D.; Jones, N.S.; Cleal, C.J. (eds.), "Midland Valley of Scotland", A Revised Correlation of Carboniferous Rocks in the British Isles (First ed.), The Geological Society of London, pp. 96–102, doi:10.1144/sr26.14, ISBN 978-1-86239-694-4
- ↑ Panchen, A.L.; Walker, A.D. (1960). "British coal measure labyrinthodont localities". Annals and Magazine of Natural History. 3 (30): 321–332. doi:10.1080/00222936008655774. ISSN 0374-5481.
- ↑ Smithson, T. R. (1985). "Scottish Carboniferous amphibian localities". Scottish Journal of Geology. 21 (2): 123–142. doi:10.1144/sjg21020123. ISSN 0036-9276.
- ↑ Ross, A. J. (2010). "A review of the Carboniferous fossil insects from Scotland". Scottish Journal of Geology. 46 (2): 157–168. doi:10.1144/0036-9276/01-413. ISSN 0036-9276.