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Hajar | profile | all galleries >> Palaeogalleries >> A Brief History of Plants >> Carboniferous Coal Swamps tree view | thumbnails | slideshow

Carboniferous Coal Swamps

As a teenager growing up in Leeds (in the north of England), I would go on collecting trips to nearby opencast coal excavations, such as one, now filled in and landscaped, at Temple Newsham. Beautiful plant fossils were easy to find, along with small bivalve mussel shells and far more rarely an odd arthropod or the jaws of a giant fish.

Later I started to assemble a collection of similar fossils from the Francis Creek Shale of Illinois, USA, fascinated by the variety of unusual creatures preserved in ironstone concretions from the Mazon Creek area.

This collecting activity came to a halt during a five year period, from 1994 to 1999, when I (with growing family) lived on the edge of an equatorial tropical forest in the West Central African country of Gabon. Our time there provided direct experience of a comparable climate and suite of environments, with their vibrant fauna and flora, to those present about 320 to 290 Million years ago in Europe and North America. Subsequent tropical rainforests visited included the Peruvian Amazon, Costa Rica and northwest Borneo.

Here I show a small selection of the types of plants present in those ancient Carboniferous tropical rainforests.
33cm filicopsid frond, Pennsylvanian Llewellyn Formation. Coal Valley, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA.
33cm filicopsid frond, Pennsylvanian Llewellyn Formation. Coal Valley, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, USA.
Fertile fern with Asterotheca type synangia, 10 cm, Orzeskie Beds, Westphalian B/C, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Fertile fern with Asterotheca type synangia, 10 cm, "Orzeskie Beds", Westphalian B/C, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Fertile fern with Asterotheca type synangia, 10 cm, Orzeskie Beds, Westphalian B/C, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Fertile fern with Asterotheca type synangia, 10 cm, "Orzeskie Beds", Westphalian B/C, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Fertile fern showing sori, Spain
Fertile fern showing sori, Spain
Montceau les Mines Callipteridium
Montceau les Mines Callipteridium
Large fern in part and counterpart, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Large fern in part and counterpart, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Fertile fern showing sori, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Fertile fern showing sori, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Fertile fern showing sori, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Fertile fern showing sori, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Large pecopterid, Montceau les Mines
Large pecopterid, Montceau les Mines
Pecopteris jongsmanni, Spain
Pecopteris jongsmanni, Spain
Sigillaria robusta?, field of view 5 cm. Westphalian B, Upper Carboniferous, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Sigillaria robusta?, field of view 5 cm. Westphalian B, Upper Carboniferous, Upper Silesia Coal Basin, Poland.
Sigillaria, Ibbenburen, Germany
Sigillaria, Ibbenburen, Germany
Sigillaria cumulata or lorwayana, Gloriana, Netherlands
Sigillaria cumulata or lorwayana, Gloriana, Netherlands
Lepidodendron, Poland
Lepidodendron, Poland
Lepidodendron, Poland
Lepidodendron, Poland
Lycopsid cone, Poland
Lycopsid cone, Poland
Mazon Crossotheca 1.jpg
Mazon Crossotheca 1.jpg
USA Kansas Rhabdocarpus.jpg
USA Kansas Rhabdocarpus.jpg
Pachy.jpg
Pachy.jpg
Trigonocarpus, Somerset
Trigonocarpus, Somerset
Whittleseya pollen organ with small stem, Poland
Whittleseya pollen organ with small stem, Poland
Pollen organ, Poland
Pollen organ, Poland
Neuropteris, Montceau les Mines
Neuropteris, Montceau les Mines
USA StClair fern multiple, Neuropteris , Alethopteris
USA StClair fern multiple, Neuropteris , Alethopteris
Neuropteris dussartii, Germany
Neuropteris dussartii, Germany
Cordaite seeds, Poland
Cordaite seeds, Poland
Cordaitanthus, Germany
Cordaitanthus, Germany
Cordaites lead, Montceau les Mines
Cordaites lead, Montceau les Mines
Ginkgophytopsis leaf, 147 mm long, Poland. Perhaps a progymnosperm (Retallack 1980).
Ginkgophytopsis leaf, 147 mm long, Poland. Perhaps a progymnosperm (Retallack 1980).
Montceau les Mines, France, Callipteridium gigas
Montceau les Mines, France, Callipteridium gigas
Montceau les Mines, France, Sphenophyllum
Montceau les Mines, France, Sphenophyllum
Annularia radiata, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Annularia radiata, Mazon Creek, Illinois, USA
Calamites cones, Poland
Calamites cones, Poland
Calamites cone
Calamites cone
Calamites stem with many cones, Poland
Calamites stem with many cones, Poland
Mazon Creek Gilpichthys greeni, an agnathan fish, 65 mm long
Mazon Creek Gilpichthys greeni, an agnathan fish, 65 mm long
Mazon Creek Mayomyzon pieckoensis a 45 mm complete lamprey.
Mazon Creek Mayomyzon pieckoensis a 45 mm complete lamprey.
Stigmaria permineralization showing cellular preservation, 35 mm detail, Yorkshire
Stigmaria permineralization showing cellular preservation, 35 mm detail, Yorkshire
Stigmaria permineralization showing cellular preservation, 35 mm diameter, Yorkshire
Stigmaria permineralization showing cellular preservation, 35 mm diameter, Yorkshire
Sigillaria elegans
Sigillaria elegans
Sigillaria ovata?
Sigillaria ovata?
Sigillaria tesselata?
Sigillaria tesselata?