What is the Pennsylvanian?
Q: What is the Pennsylvanian?
A: The Pennsylvanian is the Upper Carboniferous epoch in the strata of North America.
Q: What epoch comes after the Mississippian and before the Permian?
A: The Pennsylvanian comes after (above) the Mississippian, and before the Permian.
Q: When did the Pennsylvanian start and end?
A: The Pennsylvanian started about 323 million years ago (mya), and ended about 299 mya.
Q: What are the coal measures?
A: The coal measures are the remains of peat formed by dense tropical wetland forests.
Q: When were the coal measures formed?
A: The coal measures were formed in the Pennsylvanian, from about 315–300 million years years ago.
Q: Where were the wetlands located during the Pennsylvanian epoch?
A: The wetlands were located on the equator and stretched from North America in the west, through what is now Europe to China in the east, because these continents were all together at the time (Laurussia).
Q: What were the characteristic vertebrates and plants of the coal measures?
A: The characteristic vertebrates of the coal measures were amphibia, and the plants were mostly giant clubmosses such as Lepidodendron.
