Permian Period

One of the most interesting geologic period of the Earth's history - the Permian period is best known for the largest mass extinction that wiped off 95 percent of life on the planet. It is also referred to as the 'Age of Amphibians', fossils reveal that these cold-blooded vertebrate were found in abundance on the planet during this period. The Permian period was the last period of the Paleozoic Era. It was preceded by Carboniferous period and succeeded by Triassic period - with the Triassic being the first period of the Mesozoic Era that followed.

Facts about the Permian Period

As we mentioned earlier, the Permian was the last period of the Paleozoic Era which lasted from 290 to 248 million years ago. This geologic period was marked by the presence of 'Pangaea' - a super-continent made up of all the existing continents on the planet, except for a part of east Asia which was a separate geological entity. The continent was surrounded by an ocean known as 'Panthalassa', and also had a sea - which was known as 'Tethys', to its east. The movement of this super-continent - which was located along the equator back then, was one of the predominant features of the Permian time period. This period didn't just mark the end of Permo-Carboniferous glaciation, but also created geological structures - such as the Appalachians, which continue to exist even today.

Climate
Even though the Permian period started with an ice age, the climate eventually changed and most of the parts of the Pangaea continent turned into arid regions. Until mid-Permian period, the Earth's climate was predominantly cold as the glaciers of Permo-Carboniferous glaciation were still receding. As these glaciers melted, the climate changed and became arid - especially in the interiors. According to the paleontologists, this was the hottest period of the last 500 million years on the planet. As time elapsed, the climatic conditions became more diverse in different parts and often oscillated between episodes of warm and cold periods.

Plants
The Permian period flora was dominated by the presence of ferns and seed-ferns. While plants like conifers and ginkgos became more prominent, water loving species like Lycopods and Sphenopsids became quite rare on the planet. These changes were attributed to decline in swamp forests on the planet. The presence of Glossopteris fossils in various parts of the world including Africa, South America, Antarctica and Australia is one of the most prominent evidence of the existence of Pangaea - which eventually broke apart to form different continents of the world.

Animals
The Permian period fauna was quite diverse, and consisted of a wide variety of marine as well as terrestrial animals. One of the most prominent feature of this period was the evolution for large reptiles. While the marine lifeforms of this period was mainly marked by the presence of mollusks, echinoderms and brachiopods, the terrestrial lifeforms was characterized by arthropods and tetrapods which were found in abundance. Around 90 percent of the insects which existed during this period resembled cockroaches - owing to their similar anatomy. The predators of these insects were large air-borne insects - the dragonflies. The Permian also marked the evolution of beetles and flies on the planet alongside the first large herbivores and carnivores. While the early Permian was dominated by pelycosaurs and amphibians, the middle Permian was dominated by therapsids - such as the dinocephalia, and the late Permian by advanced therapsids - such as dicynodonts.

Extinctions
The great deal of biodiversity that the Permian period boasted of finally came to an end with the Permian-Triassic extinction - the largest mass extinction on Earth, wherein around 95 percent of the total species on the planet were wiped off. While some experts argue that there was only one extinction event, others argue that there were two extinction events - one after another, both of which together resulted in such a high number of extinct animals. Almost all the species on the planet were affected by this extinction event, but the marine organisms were most affected of the lot. Almost all the marine invertebrates which thrived on planet Earth became extinct as a result of this mass extinction. Even those animals which survived this mass extinction were never able to become dominant in terms of numbers. This extinction and depletion in number of marine and terrestrial animals species of Permian paved way for evolution of various Triassic period animals - most notable among which were the dinosaurs.

In 1841, this geologic period was assigned the name Permian period by the renowned Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison who played a pioneering role in establishing the Permian archaeological period as well as various other geological time periods in the history of the Earth.