Carboniferous rainforest collapse
E87795
Carboniferous event
biodiversity crisis
mass extinction event
paleoclimatic event
paleoecological event
The Carboniferous rainforest collapse was a mass extinction and fragmentation event of vast tropical coal-forest ecosystems around 305 million years ago, profoundly reshaping terrestrial biodiversity and climate in the late Paleozoic.
Statements (49)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
Carboniferous event
→
biodiversity crisis → mass extinction event → paleoclimatic event → paleoecological event → |
| affected |
carbon cycle
→
global climate → terrestrial biodiversity → tropical coal-forest ecosystems → |
| caused |
changes in sedimentary environments
→
contraction of tropical wetland habitats → decline in coal formation in many basins → expansion of seasonally dry habitats → fragmentation of continuous rainforests → increased endemism in terrestrial faunas → regional extinctions of rainforest taxa → turnover in amphibian communities → turnover in plant communities → |
| endTime |
approximately 300 million years ago
→
|
| evidencedBy |
changes in coal seam distribution
→
faunal provinciality patterns → paleosol and sedimentological indicators of drying → plant fossil assemblage turnover → |
| followed |
peak Carboniferous coal-forest expansion
→
|
| hasCause |
Late Paleozoic Ice Age dynamics
→
climatic cooling → glacioeustatic sea-level fluctuations → increased climatic seasonality → tectonic uplift and basin reorganization → |
| hasEffect |
changes in insect diversity and composition
→
changes in vertebrate terrestrial ecosystems → decline of giant arborescent lycopsids → increased provinciality of faunas and floras → rise of gymnosperms in upland and seasonally dry areas → shift from lycopsid-dominated forests to seed-plant dominance → |
| occurredIn |
Late Carboniferous
→
Pennsylvanian subperiod → late Paleozoic → |
| partOf |
Late Paleozoic Ice Age environmental changes
→
|
| preceded |
Permian terrestrial faunal assemblages
→
|
| startTime |
approximately 305 million years ago
→
|
| studiedIn |
paleobotany
→
paleoclimatology → paleoecology → stratigraphy → |
| temporalRelation |
after peak Late Carboniferous coal accumulation
→
before major Permian aridification → |
| tookPlaceIn |
equatorial Euramerica
→
tropical regions of Laurussia → |
Referenced by (1)
| Subject (surface form when different) | Predicate |
|---|---|
|
Paleozoic Era
→
|
majorEvent |