puppylove+permian+project

=** T H E  P  E R M I A N  **=

The Permian period was one of the most extraordinary periods in Earth’s history. During the Permian, Pangea, a super continent, finishes forming. During this period, there were many new groups of animals, for example warm-blooded reptiles and new insects. The Permian did not end well. The biggest mass extinction EVER marks the end of the Permian. This mass extinction caused 95% of life in oceans to die, and 75% of all animal life. What set the stage for these amazing things was the Carboniferous period. During this time, Pangea is forming, and it is warm in the North and cold in the South. All these things were vital to the events that occurred during the Permian. Everything that happened during the Permian also affected what would happen in the next period, the Triassic, where Pangea breaks apart, and it is the introduction of the first mammals. All of these events did not just occur on their own, they had help from the abiotic factors on Earth, which is the main trigger of everything that happens in the world.

Some things that most affected the world were the weather and the location of the continents, which helped determine the biotic life. An example of this was the mass extinction, and the major cause of this was the formation of a giant landmass called Pangea. Almost immediately after all the land was squished together, parts of the southern sub-continent started drifting to the north, which formed new micro-continents. While it was shifting around, the rest of Earth was covered in pretty much one big ocean called Panthalassa, and one smaller ocean called Tethys. Most of this super-continent was located in the Southern hemisphere and near the equator. Also, it was halfway between the Eastern hemisphere and the Western hemisphere. If Massachusetts were around back then, we would have been near the Central Pangean Mountains, which was near the equator of the North side, and near the middle. The shifting of the continents also affected the climate. As it moved northerly, into the temperate zone, the global temperatures increased dramatically. Because of this, there were fewer glaciers, and deserts expanded. There was little rain and many ocean basins evaporated, resulting in a hot and humid climate. Although weather and plate tectonics were big contributors to what happened during the Permian, rocks and landforms also impacted life on Earth.

The Permian period left behind many, many fossils, in many different places on the planet. One example of these fossils is a Lebachia piniformis, which is a gymnosperm (a type of plant), and was founding New Mexico. Another is an Edaphosauridae, a vertebrate (an animal with a skeletal system), which was found in Texas. One last example is a Neospirifer cameratus, an invertebrate (an animal without a skeletal system), which was found in California. These were important in the study of the Permian because they help say what types of animals were around, for example if there were vertebrates or reptiles. The best know Permian rocks, and therefore fossils, arefound in Texas, southern China, and the Karoo region of South Africa. Speaking of rocks, what was the land like back 290 million years ago? Well, first of all, there were vast deserts in western Pangea, due to the hot, dry climate. Also, there were many volcanic eruptions and mountain ranges were starting to form. These things, along with the climate and location of the continents, all affected mainly one thing, biotic life.

During the Permian, life was evolving, and new species were popping up left and right. Some examples of these new animalswere new insect groups, warm-blooded reptiles, and freshwater bony fish.These were important because they led to mammals and other warm-blooded creatures. Reptiles dominated animal life. There were terrestrial reptiles (early snakes and lizards), anapsids, which all had different skulls, and evolved into mammals,aquatic reptiles, warm-blooded reptiles, and mammal-like reptiles. An erxampl e of a synapsids, were the “rulers” of the Permian. There were not only reptiles though, there were also fish and amphibians,and these are only the vertebrates ! There were also invertebrates, for example arthropods, like centipedes, spiders, giant millipedes, scorpions, and cockroaches. Also there were flying insects, like giant dragonflies. The unicellular animals were pretty much the same as they had been for awhile. For example, there were algae and bacteria, to name a few. The life in the Permian was evolving, and branching off into new groups, that would later become the modern day life.mammal-like reptile that ruled was Gorgons. They were bigger than a man, carnivores, and had a long, scaly tale. There were also synapsids, diapsids, and

On the Permian planet, there were beginning to be more multicellular (made up of more that one cell) plants and animals, whereas at the very beginning, the only life was unicellular (made up of one cell). In previous periods, there had been an abundance of ferns and fern-like plants, but during the Permian, they decreased to make room for gymnosperms, which are plants with their offspring enclosed in seeds. This type of plant increased DRAMATICALLY during this time. One example of these plants was Glossopteris trees dominated the wooded areas of the world. One last thing about the plant life is that modern conifers first appeared.

** BIBLIOGRAPHY ** ** REFLECTION **

TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PERMIAN PERIOD, YOU CAN VISIT EITHER OF THESE SITES:
 * @http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/permian/permian.html
 * @http://www.paleoportal.org/index.php?globalnav=time_space&sectionnav=period&period_id=11

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