User:Abyssal/Portal:Permian

The Permian Portal Introduction Selected article on the Permian world and its legacies Death Valley viewed from space. The exposed geology of the Death Valley area presents a diverse and complex set of at least 23 formations of sedimentary units, two major gaps in the geologic record called unconformities, and at least one distinct set of related formations geologists call a group. The oldest rocks in the area are extensively metamorphosed by intense heat and pressure and are at least 1700 million years old. These rocks were intruded by a mass of granite 1400 Ma (million years ago) and later uplifted and exposed to nearly 500 million years of erosion. Marine deposition occurred 1200 to 800 Ma, creating thick sequences of conglomerate, mudstone, and carbonate rock topped by stromatolites, and possibly glacial deposits from the hypothesized Snowball Earth event. Rifting thinned huge roughly linear parts of the supercontinent Rodinia enough to allow sea water to invade and divide its landmass into component continents separated by narrow straits. A passive margin developed on the edges of these new seas in the Death Valley region. Carbonate banks formed on this part of the two margins only to be subsided as the continental crust thinned until it broke, giving birth to a new ocean basin. An accretion wedge of clastic sediment then started to accumulate at the base of the submerged precipice, entombing the region's first known fossils of complex life. These sandy mudflats gave way about 550 Ma to a carbonate platform which lasted for the next 300 million years of Paleozoic time. (see more...) Did you know? Skeletal mount of Scutosaurus. ... that the group Pareiasauromorpha includes parareptiles that lived from 271 to 252 million years ago?" ... that fossils of the temnospondyl amphibian Kourerpeton were notoriously discovered in the window of a barber's shop in Arizona? ... that although it was first classified as a reptile, the extinct genus Batropetes (restoration pictured) is now known to be a microsaur amphibian? ... that the largest known ovules produced by any non-flowering seed-plant came from the Medullosales (fossilized leaves pictured), an order of extinct seed ferns? ...that the extinct crocodile-like Prionosuchus is the largest amphibian known to have existed? Need help? Do you have a question about Abyssal/Portal:Permian that you can't find the answer to? Consider asking it at the Wikipedia reference desk. Selected image Life restoration of Casea broilii, a pelycosaur from the Late Permian of Europe and North America. Photo credit: Nobu Tamura Selected article on the Permian in human science, culture and economics Edward Drinker Cope (left) and Othniel Charles Marsh (right). Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards: A Tale of Edward Drinker Cope, Othniel Charles Marsh, and the Gilded Age of Paleontology (2005) is a graphic novel written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by the company Big Time Attic. The book tells a slightly fictionalized account of the Bone Wars, a period of intense excavation, speculation, and rivalry which led to a greater understanding of dinosaurs in the western United States. This novel is the first semi-fictional work written by Ottaviani; previously, he had taken no creative license with the characters he depicted, portraying them strictly according to historical sources. Bone Sharps follows the two scientists Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Marsh as they engage in an intense rivalry for prestige. Ottaviani has Cope and Marsh interact and meet many important figures of the Gilded Age, from P. T. Barnum to U.S. Grant, as the two scientists pursue their hotheaded and sometimes illegal acquisitions of fossils. Unlike in his previous books, "the scientists are the bad guys this time". Upon release, the novel received praise from critics for its exceptional historical content, although some reviewers wished more fiction had been woven into the story. (see more...) Geochronology Epochs - Cisuralian - Guadalupian - Lopingian Ages - Asselian - Sakmarian - Artinskian - Kungurian - Roadian - Wordian - Capitanian -Wuchiapingian - Changhsingian Events - Hunter-Bowen orogeny - Permian–Triassic extinction event Geography - Pangaea - Panthalassa Animals - Ammonoids - Blattopterans - Dicynodonts - Dinocephalians - Fusulinids - Gorgonopsians - Lepospondyls - Pareiasaurs - Pelycosaurs - Temnospondyls - Trilobites Plants - Conifers - Cycads - Ginkgos - Seed ferns Stratigraphic units - Red Beds of Texas and Oklahoma Researchers - Edward Drinker Cope Culture - Animal Armageddon - The Day The Earth Nearly Died - List of creatures in the Walking with... series - Walking with Monsters Subcategories Permian Permian Africa Permian Antarctica Permian Asia Permian Europe Permian North America Permian Oceania Permian South America Permian geochronology Permian events Permian geology Permian life Permian paleogeography Permian stubs Quality Content Featured Permian articles - Amphibian Good Permian articles - Dimetrodon - Temnospondyli Things you can do Here are some tasks awaiting attention: Stubs : Permian stubs Current Permian FACs - none currently Related content Time Earth sciences Paleontology Extinct and Endangered Species Paleozoic Cambrian Ordovician Silurian Devonian Carboniferous Permian Mesozoic Associated Wikimedia The following Wikimedia Foundation sister projects provide more on this subject: Commons Free media repository Wikibooks Free textbooks and manuals Wikidata Free knowledge base Wikinews Free-content news Wikiquote Collection of quotations Wikisource Free-content library Wikiversity Free learning tools Wiktionary Dictionary and thesaurus ¤ Category:Geologic time portals