Paleozoic Era

Paleozoic era (pā'lēəzō`ĭk), a major division (era) of geologic time (see Geologic Timescale, table) occurring between 570 to 240 million years ago. It is subdivided into six periods, the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian (see each listed individually). During the hiatus between the late Precambrian and Paleozoic eras most of the evidence of the earth's early history was destroyed by erosion. From the beginning of the Paleozoic, shallow seas began to encroach on the continents. In North America, the era began with submerged geosynclines, or downward thrusts of the earth's crust, along the eastern, southeastern, and western sides of the continent, while the interior was dry land. As the era proceeded, the marginal seas periodically washed over the stable interior, leaving sedimentary deposits to mark their incursions. During the early part of the era, the area of exposed Precambrian, or shield, rocks in central Canada were eroding, supplying sediment to the geosynclines from the interior. Beginning in the Ordovician period, mountain building intermittently proceeded in the eastern part of the Appalachian geosyncline throughout the rest of the era, bringing in new sediments. Sediments washing from the Acadian Mts. filled the western part of the Appalachian geosyncline to form the famous coal swamps of the Carboniferous period. Uplift of the Appalachians caused the region to be never again inundated by vast marginal seas. Paleoclimatic studies and evidence of glaciers indicate that central Africa was most likely in the polar regions during the early Paleozoic. During the early Paleozoic, the huge continent Gondwanaland had either formed or was forming. By mid-Paleozoic, the collision of N America and Europe produced the Acadian-Caledonian uplifts, and a subduction plate uplifted eastern Australia. By late Paleozoic, continental collisions formed the supercontinent Pangaea and resulted in some of the great mountain chains, including the Appalachians, Urals, and Tasmans. The most noteworthy feature of Paleozoic life is the sudden appearance of nearly all of the invertebrate animal phyla in great abundance at the beginning of the Cambrian. A few primitive fishlike invertebrates, and then vertebrates, appeared in the Cambrian and Ordovician, scorpions in the Silurian period, land invertebrates and amphibians in the Devonian, land reptiles in the Carboniferous, and marine reptiles in the Permian. All reptiles increased in number and in variety by the late Permian. The plant life of the Paleozoic era reached its climax in the Carboniferous and was much contracted in the Permian.

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Paleozoic Era

 or Palaeozoic Era

Major interval of geologic time, c. 542–251 million years ago. From the Greek for “ancient life,” it is the first era of the Phanerozoic Eon and is followed by the Mesozoic Era. It is divided into six periods: (from oldest to youngest) the Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, Carboniferous, and Permian. During the early Paleozoic, much of North America was covered by a warm, shallow sea with many coral reefs. Fossils from this time include marine invertebrates and primitive fish; the plants were predominantly algae, with some mosses and ferns. During the late Paleozoic, huge, swampy forest regions covered much of the northern continents. Plant and animal life flourished. Amphibians left the oceans to live on land, reptiles evolved as fully terrestrial life-forms, and insect life began. Ferns grew to tree size, and precursors of the conifers appeared.