Paleozoic Time Period. Two Internet Sources, Author.

¶ … Paleozoic time period. Two internet sources, author.

The Paleozoic -- Geological History

Six major continents were present by the beginning of the Paleozoic Era, as the supercontinent had started to break apart during the latest Proterozoic period. Each of these continents can be separated into two principal constituents: a craton and one or several mobile belts. In contrast to the geological history of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic periods, there is lesser information concerning the Paleozoic era because the development of Pangaea led to the destruction of magnetic anomaly patterns that would normally be preserved in ocean crust. Experts thus focused on other concepts in trying to find out more regarding the period's geological history, such as how plants and animals were distributed and other structural relationships.

In addition to the six major continents present during the beginning of the Paleozoic, there were also a series of other microcontinents. Even with this, the significance of the microcontinents pales in comparison to the importance of the six principal continents existing during the Paleozoic. The six significant Paleozoic continents are Baltica, China, Gondwana, Kazakhstania, Laurentia, and Siberia (Wicander & Monroe 193).

Baltica consisted out of the Russia west of the Ural mountains and most of northern Europe. China is largely considered to have been composed out of China, Indochina, and the Malay peninsula. Gondwana consisted out of Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Florida, India, Madagascar, and other segments from the Middle East and the south of Europe. Kazakhstania was mainly composed out of Kazakhstan, but it also had parts of Paleozoic Siberia. Laurentia contained most of the contemporary North America, Greenland, parts of Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Siberia consisted out of Russia east of the Urals, Asia north of Kazakhstan, and southern Mongolia (Wicander & Monroe 193).

Water circulated with little to no restraints through ocean basins during the era and the six major continents were located at low subtropical latitudes. The polar regions contained very little ice. It was not until the time when the Paleozoic ice occur that ice came to cover several regions of the planet. "The late Paleozoic Gondwanan ice age (LPGIA), which spans the late Carboniferous through early Permian, marks Earth's last complete transition into, and out of,'icehouse' conditions, and corresponds to peaks in the diversity and extent of paleotropical 'wet' forests" (Fielding, Frank, & Isbell).

The Grand Canyon is one of the most significant structures providing more information concerning the Paleozoic and its geological history. Fossils found there make it possible for experts to learn more concerning how rocks were deposited there during the Permian period, during the late Paleozoic Era. Precambrian rocks were eroding throughout the Paleozoic era and transformed into sediments. These sediments left sedimentary deposits in basins and contributed to enabling future scientists to gain a more complex understanding concerning events that happened during the Paleozoic.

Sediments continued to wash from the Acadian Mountains into Appalachian basins during the Paleozoic. These sediments are largely believed to be responsible for creating the coal swamps of the Carboniferous period, which occurred during the late Paleozoic era. "The beginning of the Carboniferous generally had a more uniform, tropical, and humid climate than exists today. Seasons if any were indistinct. These observations are based on comparisons between fossil and modern-day plant morphology" (The Carboniferous Period).

The climate was relatively uniform throughout the Paleozoic period and this is largely owed to the fact that the ocean covered most of the globe. Even continents were affected by the large spread of water covering the planet, taking into account that "shallow, warm, marine waters often flooded the continents" (The Carboniferous Period).