Pennsylvanian

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/pennsylvanian

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the dominant biomes?Extensive tropical and subtropical coal swamps and shallow marine environments
2. What is the key flora?Dominance of giant lycophytes, sphenophytes, and ferns; absence of angiosperms
3. What was the Pennsylvanian period like?It was a time about 323 to 298 million years ago when huge swamp forests covered the land, and the air had more oxygen than today.
4. Why did so much coal form during the Pennsylvanian?The swampy forests produced lots of plant material that didn’t fully decompose, and over time pressure turned that plant matter into coal.

Lycophytes: Ancient vascular plants, including tree-sized forms like Lepidodendron, that dominated Carboniferous forests.
Amniotic Egg: An egg with a protective membrane and shell, allowing reproduction on land, a key innovation for reptiles.
Anoxic Conditions: Environments lacking sufficient dissolved oxygen, which inhibits the complete decomposition of organic matter, crucial for peat and coal formation.
Pangaea: A supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras, formed by the collision of many continents.