Carboniferous PeriodThe Carboniferous Period was a period of time in the geological timescale that came after the Devonian Period and ended at the beginning of the Permian Period. It lasted from 359 to 298 million years ago. The Carboniferous takes its name from the large amount of coal deposits found during this period. In North America, the period is often divided into two, the Mississippian and the Pennsylvanian. During this time period, the environment was rich in swamps. The lands rose just above sea level, which flooded the forest and turned it into swamps. These vast swamps also contained a lot of coal. We can keep most of our coal reserves today in the Carboniferous period. Without the Carboniferous period, we would not have our coal reserves today, which led to significant progress in our human history. The global climate during this period was extremely humid and tropical. Again this helped the fens thrive during the Carboniferous period. This humid, warm climate led to an outbreak of terrestrial plant life. Large trees grew everywhere and gave off a lot of oxygen. When plants and trees died during this period, they sank in water that contained no bacteria. This prevented them from decomposing and formed peat beds. After many years of peat bed after peat bed, it produced coal, which is why a lot of coal came from that period. The oxygen level during this period was very high. During this time the oxygen level was much higher than it is now on today's Earth. The oxygen level was so high that the insects were as large as today's raccoons. Thanks to this, scientists understood why so many animal species were much larger then than they are now. During the Carbons...... middle of the paper ......iod. The formation of glaciers led to an enormous drop in sea level which dried up the marshes. Swamps formed due to high water levels flooding the forest, so low sea levels really affected the huge swamp areas of the Carboniferous period. The climate changed from hot and humid to cool. The plants failed to adapt to this change, so most of those that flowered during that period died, but this led to the formation of new plants. Even most of the amphibians that thrived during this period failed to adapt to environmental climate changes, so most died. Even insects couldn't survive the change. Reptiles, however, have managed to overcome climate change. They were able to adapt unlike all the other species they lived with during the Carboniferous period. These environmental changes eventually led to a new time period, the Permian Period.