The Permo-Carboniferous refers to the time period including the latter parts of the

Carboniferous The Carboniferous ( ) is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic that spans 60 million years from the end of the Devonian Period million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Permian Period, million years ago. The name ''Carboniferou ...

and early part of the

Permian The Permian ( ) is a geologic period and stratigraphic system which spans 47 million years from the end of the Carboniferous Period million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Triassic Period 251.9 Mya. It is the last period of the Paleo ...

period. Permo-Carboniferous rocks are in places not differentiated because of the presence of transitional

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...

s, and also where no conspicuous

stratigraphic Stratigraphy is a branch of geology concerned with the study of rock layers (strata) and layering (stratification). It is primarily used in the study of sedimentary and layered volcanic rocks. Stratigraphy has three related subfields: lithostra ...

break is present. Permo-Carboniferous time, about 300 million years ago, was a period of significant

glaciation A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate bet ...

. The widespread distribution of Permo-Carboniferous glacial sediments in South America, Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, Antarctica and Australia was one of the major pieces of evidence for the theory of

continental drift Continental drift is the hypothesis that the Earth's continents have moved over geologic time relative to each other, thus appearing to have "drifted" across the ocean bed. The idea of continental drift has been subsumed into the science of pl ...

, and led ultimately to the concept of a super-continent,

Pangaea Pangaea or Pangea () was a supercontinent that existed during the late Paleozoic and early Mesozoic eras. It assembled from the earlier continental units of Gondwana, Euramerica and Siberia during the Carboniferous approximately 335 million y ...

. Glacial activity spanned virtually the whole of Carboniferous and

Early Permian 01 or '01 may refer to: * The year 2001, or any year ending with 01 * The month of January * 1 (number) Music * 01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001 * ''01'' (Son of Dave album), 2000 * ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011 * ''O1'' (Hiroyuki Sawan ...

time.A.G. Smith, 1997 Toward the end of the Carboniferous, around 290 million years ago,

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final sta ...

, the southern part of Pangaea, was located near the south pole. Glacial centres expanded across the continents, producing glacial

tillite image:Geschiebemergel.JPG, Closeup of glacial till. Note that the larger grains (pebbles and gravel) in the till are completely surrounded by the matrix of finer material (silt and sand), and this characteristic, known as ''matrix support'', is d ...

s and striations in pre-existing rocks. A complex centre of glaciation migrated across South America, Antarctica and South Africa between about 350 and 240 Ma. Chronological difficulties complicate the task of charting the evolution of the ice sheet over this interval.Isbell JL et al (2003) The Permo-Carboniferous ice sheet was so extensive that it would occupy a circle spanning 50 degrees of latitude centered on the pole.

References

*Isbell JL, Lenaker PA, Askin RA, Miller MF, Babcock LE (2003) ''Reevaluation of the timing and extent of late Palæozoic glaciation in Gondwana: role of the Trans-Antarctic Mountains.'' 219 Geology 31:977–980. Carboniferous geochronology Permian geochronology Paleozoic geochronology Pennsylvanian geochronology {{geochronology-stub