The Carboniferous period, or Carboniferous (C), is the penultimate (fifth) geological period of the Paleozoic era. Began 358.9 ± 0.4 million years ago and ended 298.9 ± 0.15 million years ago. This prehistoric time period greatly influenced humanity, especially during the Industrial Revolution. This period got its name from the formation of huge underground seams of coal from fern plants that grew throughout Asia, northern Europe and parts of North America in those prehistoric times. Although the term Carboniferous is used to describe the period throughout the world, in the United States it was divided into the Mississippian Age and the Pennsylvanian Age. The term Mississippian refers to the early part of this period, and Pennsylvanian is used to describe the later part of this period.

This period was characterized by a climate close to tropical. It was warmer and more humid then than it is today. The seasons, even if they changed, could not be visually separated from each other. Scientists determined this by studying the fossilized remains of plants from that period and realized that they lacked growth rings, which indicates a very gentle change of seasons. The researchers realized that the climate was almost uniform. Warm sea waters often flooded the land, and many plants were submerged and turned into peat after they had completed their life cycle. This peat will eventually turn into coal, which is so intensively used by people in our time.

Lipidodendrals, or massive trees, were native during this time, and many of these species grew to about 1.5 meters in diameter (4.5 feet) and about 30 meters in height (90 feet). Other plants that existed at this time are called horsetail mosses, known as Equisetales, and club mosses, known as Lycopodiales; ferns known as Filicales; scrambling plants known as Sphenophyllales; cicadas known as Cycadophyta; seed ferns known as Callistophytales and conifers known as Volciales.

During the Carboniferous period, the Priapulids first appeared on the scene of life. These sea worms grew to large sizes due to higher concentrations of oxygen in the Earth's atmosphere and the wet, swampy environment. These factors also allowed the multi-legged creatures known as Arthropleura to grow to around 2.6 meters (7.8 feet) in length. New insect species also began to emerge and diversify during this period. Some of these include the griffin flies known as Protodonata and dragon flies such as the insects known as Meganeura. During this time, early cockroaches known as Dictyoptera appeared.

Life in the oceans during the Carboniferous period consisted primarily of a variety of corals (tabulate and rugaceae), Foraminifera, brachiopods, ostracods, echinoderms, and microconcids. However, these were not the only types sea ​​life. There were also sponges, Valvulina, Endothyra, Archaediscus, Aviculopecten, Posidonomya, Nucula, Carbonicola, Edmondia and trilobites.

At the beginning of this period, global temperatures were quite high - around 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit). By the middle of the period, temperatures began to cool to about 12 degrees Celsius (about 54 degrees Fahrenheit). This cooling of the atmosphere, combined with very dry winds, led to the disappearance of vegetation tropical forests Carboniferous period. It was all this dead vegetation that formed a whole layer of coal on our planet.

According to the hydride theory of V. Larin, hydrogen, which is the main element in our Universe, did not evaporate from our planet at all, but, thanks to its high chemical activity, even at the stage of the formation of the Earth formed various compounds with other substances, thus becoming part of its composition subsoil And now the active release of hydrogen during the decay of hydride compounds (that is, compounds with hydrogen) in the region of the planet’s core leads to an increase in the size of the Earth.

It seems quite obvious that such a chemically active element will not pass thousands of kilometers through the thickness of the mantle “just like that” - it will inevitably interact with its constituent substances. And since carbon is another of the most common elements in the Universe and on our planet, the prerequisites are created for the formation of hydrocarbons. Thus, one of the side consequences of V. Larin’s hydride theory is the version of the inorganic origin of oil.

On the other hand, according to established terminology, hydrocarbons in oil are usually called organic substances. And so that the rather strange phrase “inorganic origin of organic substances” does not arise, we will henceforth use the more correct term “abiogenic origin” (that is, non-biological). The version of the abiogenic origin of oil in particular, and hydrocarbons in general, is far from new. Another thing is that she is not popular. Moreover, largely due to the fact that in different versions of this version (analysis of these options is not the task of this article), ultimately there remains a lot of uncertainty regarding the direct mechanism of the formation of complex hydrocarbons from inorganic starting substances and compounds.

The hypothesis of the biological origin of oil reserves is much more widespread. According to this hypothesis, oil was formed overwhelmingly during the so-called Carboniferous period (or Carboniferous - from the English “coal”) from the processed organic remains of ancient forests under conditions of high temperatures and pressures at a depth of several kilometers, where these remains allegedly fell as a result vertical movements of geological layers. Peat from the numerous swamps of the Carboniferous, under the influence of these factors, allegedly turned into different types of coal, and under certain conditions - into oil. In such a simplified version, this hypothesis is presented to us in school as an already “reliably established scientific truth.”

Table 1. The beginning of geological periods (according to radioisotope studies)

The popularity of this hypothesis is so great that few people even thought about the possibility of its fallacy. Meanwhile, everything is not so smooth in it!.. Very serious problems with the simplified version of the biological origin of oil (as presented above) arose in the course of various types of studies of the properties of hydrocarbons in various fields. Without going into the complex intricacies of these studies (such as right and left polarization and the like), we only state that in order to somehow explain the properties of oil, we had to abandon the version of its origin from simple plant peat.

And now you can even find, for example, such statements: “Today, most scientists say that unrefined oil and natural gas originally formed from marine plankton.” A more or less savvy reader may exclaim: “Sorry! But plankton are not even plants at all, but animals!” And he will be absolutely right - this term usually means small (even microscopic) crustaceans that make up the main diet of many sea ​​creatures. Therefore, some of this “majority of scientists” still prefer a more correct, albeit somewhat strange, term – “planktonic algae”...

So, it turns out that once upon a time these very “planktonic algae” somehow ended up at depths of several kilometers along with bottom or coastal sand (otherwise it is completely impossible to imagine how “planktonic algae” could have ended up not outside, but inside geological layers ). And they did this in such quantities that they formed billions of tons of oil reserves!.. Just imagine such quantities and the scale of these processes!.. What?!. Doubts are already appearing?.. Isn’t it?..

Now there's another problem. During deep drilling on different continents, oil was discovered even in the thickness of the so-called Archean igneous rocks. And this is already billions of years ago (according to the accepted geological scale, the question of the correctness of which we will not touch upon here)!.. However, more or less serious multicellular life appeared, as it is believed, only in the Cambrian period - that is, only about 600 million years back. Before this, there were only single-celled organisms!.. The situation is becoming completely absurd. Now only cells should participate in the processes of oil formation!..

Some kind of “cellular sand broth” should quickly descend to depths of several kilometers and, in addition, somehow end up in the middle of solid igneous rocks!.. Doubts about the reliability of the “reliably established scientific truth” are increasing?.. Isn’t it? for a while, look away from the depths of our planet and turn our gaze upward - to the sky.

At the beginning of 2008, sensational news spread across the media: the American Cassini spacecraft discovered lakes and seas of hydrocarbons on Titan, a satellite of Saturn!.. They even started talking about the possibility of organizing the transportation of such valuable raw materials from another planet to Earth, where supposedly their supplies will soon run out. These are strange creatures after all - people!.. Well, if hydrocarbons in huge quantities were somehow able to form even on Titan, where it is difficult to imagine any kind of “planktonic algae”, then why do you need to limit yourself to the framework of only the traditional theory of biological origin oil and gas?.. Why not admit that hydrocarbons on Earth were not formed by biogenic means at all?..

It is worth noting, however, that only methane CH4 and ethane C2H6 were found on Titan, and these are only the simplest, light hydrocarbons. The presence of such compounds, say, in gas giant planets such as Saturn and Jupiter, was considered possible for a long time. It was also considered possible that these substances could be formed abiogenically - during ordinary reactions between hydrogen and carbon. And it would be possible not to mention the Cassini discovery at all in the question of the origin of oil, if not for a few “buts”...

The first "but". A few years earlier, another news spread across the media, which, unfortunately, turned out to be not as resonant as the discovery of methane and ethane on Titan, although it fully deserved it. Astrobiologist Chandra Wickramasinghe and his colleagues from Cardiff University put forward a theory of the origin of life in the interior of comets, based on the results obtained during flights in 2004-2005 spacecraft Deep Impact and Stardust to comets Tempel 1 and Wild 2 respectively.

Tempel 1 contained a mixture of organic and clay particles, while Wild 2 contained a range of complex hydrocarbon molecules - potential building blocks for life. Let's leave aside the theory of astrobiologists. Let us pay attention to the results of studies of cometary matter: they are talking specifically about complex hydrocarbons!..

Second "but". Another piece of news, which also, unfortunately, did not receive a decent response. The Spitzer Space Telescope has discovered some of the basic chemical components of life in a cloud of gas and dust orbiting a young star. These components - acetylene and hydrogen cyanide, gaseous precursors of DNA and proteins - were first recorded in the planetary zone of a star, that is, where planets can form. Fred Lauis of the Leiden Observatory in the Netherlands and his colleagues discovered these organic substances near the star IRS 46, which lies in the constellation Ophiuchus at a distance of about 375 light-years from Earth.

The third “but” is even more sensational.

A team of NASA astrobiologists from the Ames Research Center published the results of a study based on observations from the same orbiting Spitzer infrared telescope. In this study we're talking about about the discovery in space of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which also contain nitrogen.

(nitrogen – red, carbon – blue, hydrogen – yellow).

Organic molecules containing nitrogen are not just one of the foundations of life, they are one of its main foundations. They play an important role in all the chemistry of living organisms, including photosynthesis.

However, even such complex compounds are not just present in outer space - there are a lot of them there! According to Spitzer, aromatic hydrocarbons are literally abundant in our Universe (see Fig. 2).

It is clear that in this case any talk about “planktonic algae” is simply ridiculous. And therefore oil can be formed abiogenically! Including on our planet!.. And V. Larin’s hypothesis about the hydride structure of the earth’s interior provides all the necessary prerequisites for this.

A snapshot of the M81 galaxy, 12 million light years away from us.

Infrared radiation from nitrogen-containing aromatic hydrocarbons shown in red

Moreover, there is one more “but”.

The fact is that, in conditions of a shortage of hydrocarbons at the end of the twentieth century, oil workers began to open those wells that were previously considered empty, and the extraction of residual oil from which was previously considered unprofitable. And then it turned out that in a number of these mothballed wells... there was more oil! And it increased in a very noticeable amount!..

One can, of course, try to attribute this to the fact that, they say, the reserves were not assessed very correctly earlier. Or the oil flowed from some neighboring, unknown to oil workers, underground natural reservoirs. But there are too many miscalculations - the cases are far from isolated!..

So we can only assume that oil has actually increased. And it was added precisely from the bowels of the planet! V. Larin's theory receives indirect confirmation. And in order to give it a completely “green light”, little remains to be done - you just need to decide on the mechanism for the formation of complex hydrocarbons in the bowels of the earth from the initial components.

Soon the fairy tale will be told, but not soon the deed will be done...

I am not so strong in those sections of chemistry that relate to complex hydrocarbons that I can completely independently understand the mechanism of their formation. Yes, and my area of ​​interest is somewhat different. So this question could have continued to be in a “suspended state” for quite a long time, if not for one accident (although who knows, maybe this is not an accident at all).

Sergei Viktorovich Digonsky, one of the authors of the monograph published by the Nauka publishing house in 2006 under the title “Unknown Hydrogen,” contacted me by email and literally insisted on sending me a copy of it. And having opened the book, I could no longer stop and literally devoured its contents, even despite the very specific language of geology. The monograph just contained the missing link!..

Based on their own research and a number of works by other scientists, the authors state:

“Given the recognized role of deep gases, ... the genetic relationship of natural carbonaceous substances with juvenile hydrogen-methane fluid can be described as follows.1. From the gas-phase system C-O-H (methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide) carbonaceous substances can be synthesized - both under artificial conditions and in nature...5. Pyrolysis of methane diluted with carbon dioxide under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of liquid... hydrocarbons, and in nature - to the formation of the entire genetic series of bituminous substances." (A little for translation: pyrolysis is a chemical decomposition reaction at high temperatures; fluid - gas or liquid- a gas mixture with high mobility; juvenile - contained in the bowels, in this case in the Earth’s mantle.)

Here it is - oil from hydrogen contained in the bowels of the planet!.. True, not in a “pure” form - directly from hydrogen - but from methane. However, no one expected pure hydrogen, due to its high chemical activity. And methane is the simplest compound of hydrogen with carbon, which, as we now know for sure after the discovery of Cassini, is in huge quantities on other planets...

But what is most important: we are not talking about some kind of theoretical research, but about conclusions drawn on the basis of empirical research, the monograph is so replete with references to which it is pointless to try to list them here!..

We will not analyze here the powerful geopolitical consequences that arise from the fact that oil is continuously generated by flows of fluids from the bowels of the earth. Let us dwell only on some of those that are related to the history of life on Earth.

Firstly, there is no longer any point in inventing some kind of “planktonic algae” that once strangely sank to kilometer depths. This is a completely different process.

And secondly, this process has been continuing for a very long time right up to the present moment. So there is no point in identifying any separate geological period during which the planet’s oil reserves were supposedly formed.

Someone will notice that, they say, oil fundamentally does not change anything. After all, even the very name of the period with which its origin was previously associated is associated with a completely different mineral - coal. That’s why it is the Carboniferous period, and not some kind of “Oil” or “Gas-Oil” period...

However, in this case one should not rush to conclusions, since the connection here turns out to be very deep. And in the quote above, it is not for nothing that only points numbered 1 and 5 are indicated. It is not for nothing that there is an ellipsis repeatedly. The fact is that in the places I deliberately omitted we are talking not only about liquid, but also about solid carbonaceous substances!!!

But before we restore these places, let’s return to the accepted version of the history of our planet. Or more precisely: to that segment of it that is called the Carboniferous period or Carboniferous.

I won’t belabor the point, but I’ll simply give a description of the Carboniferous period, taken almost at random from one or two of the countless sites that replicate quotes from textbooks. However, I’ll take a little more history “around the edges” - the late Devonian and early Permian - they will be useful to us in the future...

The climate of Devon, as shown by the masses of characteristic red sandstone rich in iron oxide that have been preserved since then, was dry and continental over significant stretches of land, which does not exclude the simultaneous existence of coastal countries with a humid climate. I. Walter designated the region of Devonian deposits of Europe with the words: “Ancient Red Continent.” Indeed, bright red conglomerates and sandstones, up to 5000 meters thick - characteristic feature Devon. Near Leningrad (now: St. Petersburg) they can be observed along the banks of the Oredezh River. In America, the early stage of the Carboniferous period, characterized by marine conditions, was previously called Mississippian due to the thick layer of limestone that formed within the modern Mississippi River valley, and now it is classified as the lower department of the Carboniferous period. In Europe, throughout the Carboniferous period, the territories of England, Belgium and northern France were mostly flooded by the sea, in which thick limestone horizons were formed. Some areas of southern Europe and southern Asia were also flooded, where thick layers of shales and sandstones were deposited. Some of these horizons are of continental origin and contain many fossil remains of terrestrial plants, and also host coal-bearing layers. In the middle and end of this period, in the interior regions of Northern America (just like Western Europe) was dominated by lowlands. Here, shallow seas periodically gave way to swamps that accumulated thick peat deposits that later transformed into large coal basins that stretch from Pennsylvania to eastern Kansas. Parts of western North America were flooded by sea during much of this period. Layers of limestone, shale and sandstone were deposited there. In countless lagoons, river deltas, and swamps in the littoral zone, lush, heat- and moisture-loving flora reigned. In places of its mass development, colossal amounts of peat-like plant matter accumulated, and, over time, under the influence of chemical processes, they were transformed into vast deposits of coal. Well-preserved plant remains are often found in coal seams, indicating that during the Carboniferous period Many new groups of flora have appeared on Earth. Pteridospermids, or seed ferns, which, unlike common ferns, reproduced not by spores, but by seeds, became widespread at this time. They represent an intermediate stage of evolution between ferns and cycads - plants similar to modern palms - with which pteridospermids are closely related. New groups of plants appeared throughout the Carboniferous period, including such progressive forms as cordaites and conifers. The extinct cordaites were typically large trees with leaves up to 1 meter long. Representatives of this group actively participated in the formation of coal deposits. Conifers at that time were just beginning to develop, and therefore were not yet so diverse. One of the most common plants of the Carboniferous were giant tree-like mosses and horsetails. Among the former, the most famous are lepidodendrons - giants 30 meters high, and sigillaria, which were a little over 25 meters. The trunks of these mosses were divided at the top into branches, each of which ended in a crown of narrow and long leaves. Among the giant lycophytes there were also calamites - tall tree-like plants, the leaves of which were divided into thread-like segments; they grew in swamps and other damp places, being, like other club mosses, attached to water. But the most wonderful and bizarre plants of the carbon forests were, without a doubt, ferns. Remains of their leaves and trunks can be found in any major paleontological collection. The tree ferns, reaching from 10 to 15 meters in height, had a particularly striking appearance; their thin stem was crowned with a crown of complexly dissected bright green leaves.

Forest landscape of the Carboniferous (according to Z. Burian)

On the left in the foreground are calamites, behind them are sigillaria,

to the right in the foreground is a seed fern,

in the distance in the center there is a tree fern,

on the right are lepidodendrons and cordaites.

Since Lower Carboniferous formations are poorly represented in Africa, Australia and South America, it can be assumed that these territories were located predominantly in subaerial conditions. In addition, there is evidence of widespread continental glaciation there. At the end of the Carboniferous period, mountain building became widespread in Europe. Chains of mountains stretched from southern Ireland through southern England and northern France into southern Germany. This stage of orogenesis is called Hercynian or Variscian. In North America, local uplifts occurred at the end of the Mississippian period. These tectonic movements were accompanied by marine regression, the development of which was also facilitated by glaciations of the southern continents. In Late Carboniferous times, sheet glaciation spread on the continents of the Southern Hemisphere. In South America, as a result of marine transgression penetrating from the west, most of the territory of modern Bolivia and Peru was flooded. The flora of the Permian period was the same as in the second half of the Carboniferous. However, the plants were smaller and not as numerous. This indicates that the climate of the Permian period became colder and drier. According to Walton, the great glaciation of the mountains of the southern hemisphere can be considered established for the Upper Carboniferous and pre-Permian times. Later, the decline of mountainous countries gives increasing development to arid climates. Accordingly, variegated and red-colored strata develop. We can say that a new “red continent” has emerged.

In general: according to the “generally accepted” picture, during the Carboniferous period we literally had a powerful surge in the development of plant life, which came to naught with its end. This surge in vegetation development allegedly served as the basis for deposits of carbonaceous minerals.

The process of formation of these fossils is most often described as follows:

This system is called Carboniferous because among its layers are the thickest layers of coal known on Earth. The layers of coal were formed due to the charring of plant remains, whole masses buried in sediments. In some cases, the material for the formation of coals was accumulations of algae, in others - accumulations of spores or other small parts of plants, in others - trunks, branches and leaves of large plants. Plant tissues slowly lose part of their constituent compounds, released in a gaseous state, while some, and especially carbon, are pressed by the weight of sediments that have fallen on them and turn into coal. The following table, borrowed from the work of Yu. Pia, shows the chemical side of the process. In this table, peat represents the weakest stage of charring, anthracite – the extreme. In peat, almost all of its mass consists of easily recognizable plant parts using a microscope; in anthracite there are almost none of them. The table shows that the percentage of carbon increases as charring occurs, while the percentage of oxygen and nitrogen decreases.

in minerals (U.Pia)

Peat first turns into brown coal, then into hard coal and finally into anthracite. All this happens at high temperatures, which lead to fractional distillation. Anthracites are coals that are changed by the action of heat. Pieces of anthracite are filled with a mass of small pores formed by gas bubbles released under the action of heat due to the hydrogen and oxygen contained in the coal. The source of the heat could be the proximity to eruptions of basaltic lavas along cracks in the earth's crust. Under the pressure of sediment layers 1 kilometer thick, a 20-meter layer of peat produces a layer of brown coal 4 meters thick. If the depth of burial of plant material reaches 3 kilometers, then the same layer of peat will turn into a layer of coal 2 meters thick. At greater depths, about 6 kilometers, and at higher temperatures, a 20-meter layer of peat becomes a layer of anthracite 1.5 meters thick.

In conclusion, we note that in a number of sources the chain “peat – brown coal – hard coal – anthracite” is supplemented with graphite and even diamond, resulting in a chain of transformations: “peat – brown coal – hard coal – anthracite – graphite – diamond”...

The vast quantities of coal that have powered global industry for a century indicate the vast extent of Carboniferous swamp forests. Their formation required a mass of carbon extracted by forest plants from atmospheric carbon dioxide. The air lost this carbon dioxide and received in return a corresponding amount of oxygen. Arrhenius believed that the entire mass of atmospheric oxygen, determined at 1216 million tons, approximately corresponds to the amount of carbon dioxide, the carbon of which is conserved in the earth's crust in the form of coal. Even Quesne in Brussels in 1856 argued that all the oxygen in the air was formed in this way. Of course, this should be objected to, since animal world appeared on Earth in the Archean era, long before the Carboniferous era, and animals cannot exist without sufficient oxygen in both the air and the water where they live. It would be more accurate to assume that the work of plants to decompose carbon dioxide and release oxygen began from the very moment of their appearance on Earth, i.e. from the beginning of the Archean era, as indicated by accumulations of graphite, which could have been obtained as the end product of charring plant remains under high pressure.

If you don’t look too closely, in the above version the picture looks almost flawless.

But it so often happens with “generally accepted” theories that an idealized version is produced for “mass consumption”, which in no way includes the existing inconsistencies of this theory with empirical data. Just as there are no logical contradictions between one part of an idealized picture and other parts of the same picture...

However, since we have some kind of alternative in the form of the potential possibility of a non-biological origin of the mentioned minerals, what is important is not the “combination” of the description of the “generally accepted” version, but the extent to which this version correctly and adequately describes reality. And therefore, we will be primarily interested not in the idealized option, but, on the contrary, in its shortcomings. Therefore, let’s look at the picture being drawn from the position of skeptics... After all, for objectivity, we need to consider the theory from different sides. Is not it?..

First of all: what does the above table say?..

Yes, practically nothing!..

It shows a selection of just a few chemical elements, from the percentage of which in the given list of fossils there is simply no basis for drawing serious conclusions. Both in relation to the processes that could lead to the transition of fossils from one state to another, and in general about their genetic relationship.

And by the way, none of those who presented this table bothered to explain why these particular elements were chosen, and on what basis they are trying to make a connection with minerals.

So - they sucked it out of thin air - and it’s normal...

Let's omit that part of the chain that touches wood and peat. The connection between them can hardly be doubted. It is not only obvious, but also actually observable in nature. Let's move straight to brown coal...

And already at this link in the chain one can detect serious flaws in the theory.

However, first we should make some digression due to the fact that for brown coals the “generally accepted” theory introduces a serious caveat. It is believed that brown coals were formed not only under slightly different conditions (than coal), but also at a different time altogether: not during the Carboniferous period, but much later. Accordingly, from other types of vegetation...

Swampy forests of the Tertiary period, which covered the Earth approximately 30-50 million years ago, gave rise to the formation of brown coal deposits.

Many tree species were found in lignite forests: conifers from the genera Chamaecyparis and Taxodium with their numerous aerial roots; deciduous, for example, Nyssa, moisture-loving oaks, maples and poplars, heat-loving species, such as magnolia. The predominant species were broad-leaved species.

The lower part of the trunks shows how they adapted to the soft, marshy soil. Coniferous trees had a large number of stilt-shaped roots, deciduous - cone-shaped or bulbous trunks expanded downwards.

The vines twining around the tree trunks gave the lignite forests an almost subtropical appearance, and certain types of palm trees growing here also contributed to this.

The surface of the swamps was covered with leaves and flowers of water lilies, the banks of the swamps were bordered by reeds. There were a lot of fish, amphibians and reptiles in the reservoirs, primitive mammals lived in the forest, and birds reigned in the air.

Lignite forest (according to Z. Burian)

The study of plant remains preserved in coals made it possible to trace the evolution of coal formation - from more ancient coal seams formed by lower plants, to young coals and modern peat deposits, characterized by a wide variety of higher peat-forming plants. The age of the coal seam and associated rocks is determined by species composition plant residues contained in coal.

And here's the first problem.

As it turns out, brown coal is not always found in relatively young geological layers. For example, on one Ukrainian website, the purpose of which is to attract investors to develop deposits, the following is written:

“... we are talking about a deposit of brown coals discovered in the Lelchitsy area back in Soviet times by Ukrainian geologists of the Kirovgeology enterprise. Lelchitsy coals ... deserve to be called not a coal occurrence, of which dozens have been identified in the country, but a deposit that stands on a par with three famous ones - Zhitkovichsky, Tonezhsky and Brinevsky. Among these four, the new deposit is the largest - approximately 250 million tons. In contrast to the low-quality Neogene coals of the three named deposits, the development of which remains problematic to this day, Lelchitsy brown coal in Lower Carboniferous deposits is of higher quality. Its working heat of combustion is 3.8-4.8 thousand kcal/kg, while Zhitkovichi has this figure in the range of 1.5-1.7 thousand. An important characteristic is humidity: 5-8.8 percent versus 56-60 for Zhitkovichi. The thickness of the layer is from 0.5 meters to 12.5. Depth of occurrence - from 90 to 200 or more meters is acceptable for all known types of mining.”

How is it possible: brown coal, but lower carbon?.. Not even upper carbon!..

But what about the composition of plants?.. After all, the vegetation of the Lower Carboniferous is fundamentally different from the vegetation of much later periods - the “generally accepted” time of formation of brown coals... Of course, one could say that someone got something wrong with the vegetation, and it is necessary to focus on the conditions of formation of Lelchitsy brown coal. They say that, due to the peculiarities of these conditions, it simply “falled a little short” of the coals that were formed during the same period of the Lower Carboniferous. Moreover, in terms of such a parameter as humidity, it is very close to “classical” hard coals. Let’s leave the mystery of vegetation for the future - we will return to it later... Let’s look at brown and hard coal from the standpoint of chemical composition.

In brown coals the amount of moisture is 15-60%, in hard coals - 4-15%.

Of no less serious importance is the content of mineral impurities in coal, or its ash content, which varies widely - from 10 to 60%. The ash content of coals from the Donetsk, Kuznetsk and Kansk-Achinsk basins is 10-15%, Karaganda - 15-30%, Ekibastuz - 30-60%.

What is “ash content”?.. And what are these same “mineral impurities”?..

In addition to clay inclusions, the appearance of which is quite natural during the accumulation of the original peat, among the impurities most often mentioned is... sulfur!

During the process of peat formation, various elements enter coal, most of which are concentrated in the ash. When coal burns, sulfur and some volatile elements are released into the atmosphere. The relative content of sulfur and ash-forming substances in coal determines the grade of coal. High-grade coal has less sulfur and less ash than low-grade coal, so it is in greater demand and is more expensive.

Although the sulfur content of coals can vary from 1 to 10%, most coals used in industry have a sulfur content of 1-5%. However, sulfur impurities are undesirable even in small quantities. When coal is burned, most of the sulfur is released into the atmosphere in the form of harmful pollutants called sulfur oxides. In addition, sulfur impurities have a negative impact on the quality of coke and steel produced using such coke. Combining with oxygen and water, sulfur forms sulfuric acid, which corrodes the mechanisms of coal-fired thermal power plants. Sulfuric acid is present in mine waters seeping from exhaust workings, in mine and overburden dumps, polluting the environment and preventing the development of vegetation.

And here the question arises: where did sulfur come from in peat (or coal)?! More precisely: where did it come from in such large quantities?! Up to ten percent!..

I’m ready to bet - even with my far from complete education in the field of organic chemistry - there have never been and could not be such quantities of sulfur in wood!.. Neither in wood, nor in other vegetation that could become the basis of peat in the future transformed into coal!.. There is less sulfur by several orders of magnitude!..

If you type the combination of the words “sulfur” and “wood” into a search engine, then most often only two options are displayed, both of which are associated with the “artificial and applied” use of sulfur: for wood preservation and for pest control. In the first case, the property of sulfur to crystallize is used: it clogs the pores of wood and is not removed from them at normal temperatures. In the second, they are based on the toxic properties of sulfur even in small quantities.

If there was so much sulfur in the original peat, then how could the trees that formed it even grow?..

And how, instead of dying out, on the contrary, all those insects that bred in incredible quantities during the Carboniferous period and at a later time felt more than comfortable?.. However, even now the swampy area creates very comfortable conditions for them...

But there is not just a lot of sulfur in coal, but a lot!.. Since we are talking about sulfuric acid in general!..

And what’s more: coal is often accompanied by deposits of such a useful sulfur compound in the economy as sulfur pyrites. Moreover, the deposits are so large that its extraction is being organized on an industrial scale!..

...in the Donetsk basin, the mining of coal and anthracite of the Carboniferous period is parallel to the development of iron ores mined here. Further, among the minerals one can name limestone of the Carboniferous period [the Temple of the Savior and many other buildings in Moscow are built from limestone exposed in the vicinity of the capital itself], dolomite, gypsum, anhydrite: the first two rocks are good building materials, the second two are used as materials for processing into alabaster and finally rock salt.

Sulfur pyrite is an almost constant companion of coal, and sometimes in such quantities that it is unfit for use (for example, coal from the Moscow basin). Sulfur pyrite is used for the production of sulfuric acid, and from it, through metamorphism, the iron ores that we talked about above emerged.

This is no longer a mystery. This is a direct and immediate discrepancy between the theory of coal formation from peat and real empirical data!!!

The picture of the “generally accepted” version, to put it mildly, ceases to be ideal...

Let us now move directly to coal.

And they will help us here... creationists are such ardent supporters of the biblical view of history that they are not too lazy to grind through a bunch of information in order to somehow fit reality into the texts of the Old Testament. The Carboniferous period - with its duration of a good hundred million years and took place (according to the accepted geological scale) three hundred million years ago - from Old Testament does not fit in any way, and therefore creationists are diligently looking for shortcomings of the “generally accepted” theory of the origin of coal...

“If we consider the number of ore-bearing horizons in one of the basins (for example, in the Saarbrugg basin there are about 500 of them in one layer of approximately 5000 meters), then it becomes obvious that the Carboniferous, within the framework of such a model of origin, should be considered as an entire geological epoch that occupied in time many millions of years... Among the deposits of the Carboniferous period, coal can in no way be considered as the main component of fossil rocks. Individual layers are separated by intermediate rocks, the layer of which sometimes reaches many meters and which represent waste rock - it makes up the majority of the layers of the Carboniferous period" (R. Juncker, Z. Scherer, "History of the origin and development of life").

Trying to explain the peculiarities of the occurrence of coal by the events of the Flood, creationists confuse the picture even more. Meanwhile, this very observation of theirs is very curious!.. After all, if you look closely at these features, you can notice a whole series of oddities.

Approximately 65% ​​of fossil fuels are in the form of bituminous coal. Bituminous coal is found in all geological systems, but mainly in the Carboniferous and Permian periods. It was originally deposited in the form of thin layers that could extend over hundreds of square kilometers. Imprints of the original vegetation can often be seen in bituminous coal. 200–300 such layers occur in the northwestern coal deposits of Germany. These layers date back to the Carboniferous period, and they pass through 4000 meters of thick sedimentary layers, which are stacked on top of each other. The interlayers are separated from each other by layers of sedimentary rocks (for example, sandstone, limestone, shale). According to the evolutionary/uniformitarian model, these layers are supposed to have formed as a result of repeated transgressions and regressions of the seas at that time onto coastal swamp forests over a period of approximately 30–40 million years.

It is clear that the swamp may dry out after some time. And sand and other sediments characteristic of accumulation on land will accumulate on top of the peat. Then the climate may become wetter again and the swamp will form again. This is quite possible. Even many times.

Although the situation not with tens, but with hundreds (!!!) of such layers is somewhat reminiscent of the joke about a man who, having tripped, fell on a knife, got up and fell again, got up and fell - “and so thirty-three times”...

But even more doubtful is the version about multiple changes in sedimentation regime in cases where the gaps between coal seams are no longer filled with sediments characteristic of land, but with limestone!..

Limestone deposits form only in bodies of water. Moreover, limestone of the same quality as exists in America and Europe in the corresponding strata could only have formed in the sea (but not in lakes - there it turns out to be too friable). And the “conventional” theory has to assume that there have been multiple changes in sea level in these regions. Which, without blinking an eye, she does...

In no other era did these so-called secular fluctuations occur so often and intensely, although very slowly, as in the Carboniferous period. Coastal land areas, where abundant vegetation grew and were buried, sank, even significantly, below sea level. Conditions gradually changed. Sands and then limestones were deposited on the above-ground swampy deposits. In other places, the opposite phenomena occurred.

The situation with hundreds of such successive dives/ascents, even over such a long period, no longer even resembles a joke, but complete absurdity!..

Moreover. Let’s remember the conditions for coal formation from peat according to the “generally accepted” theory!.. For this, peat must descend to a depth of several kilometers and be exposed to conditions of high pressure and temperature.

It is foolish, of course, to assume that a layer of peat accumulated, then sank several kilometers below the surface of the earth, transformed into coal, then somehow again ended up on the surface itself (albeit under water), where an intermediate layer of limestone accumulated, and finally, again, all this ended up on land, where the newly formed swamp began to form the next layer, after which this cycle was repeated many hundreds of times. This scenario looks completely crazy.

Rather, we must assume a slightly different scenario.

Let us assume that vertical movements did not occur every time. Let the layers accumulate first. And only then the peat was at the required depth.

This makes everything look much more reasonable. But…

Another “but” arises again!..

Then why did the limestone accumulated between the layers not also experience metamorphic processes?!. After all, he had to turn into marble at least partially!.. And such a transformation is not even mentioned anywhere...

It turns out that there is some kind of selective effect of temperature and pressure: they affect some layers, but not others... This is not just a discrepancy, but a complete discrepancy with the known laws of nature!..

And in addition to the previous one, there is another small fly in the ointment.

We have quite a few deposits of hard coal, where this mineral lies so close to the surface that its mining is carried out in an open way. And at the same time, in addition, the layers of coal are often located horizontally.

If, during the process of its formation, coal at some stage was at a depth of several kilometers, and then rose higher during geological processes, maintaining its horizontal position, then where did those same kilometers of other rocks go that were above the coal and under the pressure of which it formed?..

They were all washed away by the rains or what?..

But there are even more obvious contradictions.

So, for example, the same creationists noticed such a fairly common strange feature of coal deposits as the non-parallelism of its different layers.

“In extremely rare cases, coal seams lie parallel to each other. Almost all coal deposits at some point split into two or more separate seams (Fig. 6). The combination of an almost split layer with another, located above, from time to time appears in deposits in the form of Z-shaped connections (Fig. 7). It is difficult to imagine how two strata located one above the other should have arisen from the deposition of growing and succeeding forests, if they are connected to each other by crowded groups of folds or even Z-shaped joints. The connecting diagonal layer of the Z-shaped connection is especially clear evidence that both layers that it connects were originally formed simultaneously and were one layer, but now they are two parallel horizontals of fossilized vegetation located on top of each other" (R. Junker, Z .Scherer, “History of the origin and development of life”).

Fault of the formation and crowded groups of folds in the lower and middle

Bochum deposits on the left bank of the lower Rhine (Scheven, 1986)

Z-shaped joints in the middle Bochum layers

in the Oberhausen-Duisburg area. (Scheven, 1986)

Creationists are trying to “explain” these oddities in the occurrence of coal seams by replacing the “stationary” swampy forest with some kind of “floating on water” forests...

Let’s leave alone this “replacement of sewn with soap”, which in fact changes absolutely nothing and only makes the overall picture much less likely. Let us pay attention to the fact itself: such folds and Z-shaped connections fundamentally contradict the “generally accepted” scenario of the origin of coal!.. And within the framework of this scenario, folds and Z-shaped connections are absolutely not explained!.. But we are talking about empirical data found everywhere!..

What?.. Has enough doubt been sown about the “ideal picture”?..

Well then I’ll add a little more...

In Fig. Figure 8 shows petrified wood passing through several layers of coal. This seems to be direct confirmation of the formation of coal from plant residues. But again there is a “but”...

Polystrate wood fossil cutting through several coal layers at once

(from R. Juncker, Z. Scherer, “The History of the Origin and Development of Life”).

It is believed that coal is formed from plant residues during the process of coalification or charring. That is, during the decomposition of complex organic substances, leading, under conditions of oxygen deficiency, to the formation of “pure” carbon.

However, the term "fossil" suggests something different. When they talk about fossilized organic matter, they mean the result of the process of replacing carbon with siliceous compounds. And this is a fundamentally different physical and chemical process than coalification!..

Then for fig. 8 it turns out that in some strange way in the same natural conditions two completely different processes occurred simultaneously with the same source material - fossilization and carbonization. Moreover, only the tree was petrified, and everything else around was carbonized!.. Again, some kind of selective action of external factors, contrary to all known laws.

Here's to you, father, and St. George's Day!..

In a number of cases, it is argued that coal was formed not only from the remains of whole plants, or even mosses, but even from... plant spores (see above)! They say that microscopic spores accumulated in such quantities that, being compressed and processed at kilometer depths, they produced coal deposits of hundreds, or even millions of tons!!!

I don’t know about anyone, but to me such statements seem to go beyond not just logic, but generally common sense. And such nonsense is written in all seriousness in books and circulated on the Internet!..

Oh, times!.. Oh, morals!.. Where is your mind, Man!?.

It’s not even worth going into the analysis of the version of the original plant origin of the last two links in the chain – graphite and diamond. For one simple reason: there is nothing to be found here except purely speculative and far from real chemistry and physics ranting about certain “specific conditions”, “high temperatures and pressures”, which ultimately only results in an age of “original peat” that exceeds all conceivable boundaries of the existence of any complex biological forms on Earth...

I think that at this point we can finish “taking apart” the established “generally accepted” version. And move on to the process of collecting the resulting “fragments” anew into a single whole, but on the basis of a different – ​​abiogenic version.

For those readers who still have the “main trump card” up their sleeves – “imprints and carbonized remains” of vegetation in hard and brown coal – I will just ask you to be patient a little longer. We will kill this trump card that seems “unkillable” a little later...

Let's return to the already mentioned monograph “Unknown Hydrogen” by S. Digonsky and V. Ten. The earlier quote in its entirety actually reads as follows:

“Given the recognized role of deep gases, and also on the basis of the material presented in Chapter 1, the genetic relationship of natural carbonaceous substances with juvenile hydrogen-methane fluid can be described as follows.1. From the gas-phase system C-O-H (methane, hydrogen, carbon dioxide), solid and liquid carbonaceous substances can be synthesized - both under artificial conditions and in nature.2. Natural diamond is formed by the instantaneous heating of natural gaseous carbon compounds.3. Pyrolysis of methane diluted with hydrogen under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of pyrolytic graphite, and in nature to the formation of graphite and, most likely, all varieties of coal.4. Pyrolysis of pure methane under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of soot, and in nature – to the formation of shungite.5. Pyrolysis of methane diluted with carbon dioxide under artificial conditions leads to the synthesis of liquid and solid hydrocarbons, and in nature to the formation of the entire genetic series of bituminous substances.”

The cited Chapter 1 of this monograph is entitled “Polymorphism of Solids” and is largely devoted to the crystallographic structure of graphite and its formation during the step-by-step transformation of methane under the influence of heat into graphite, which is usually represented in the form of only a general equation:

CH4 → Sgraphite + 2H2

But this general form of the equation hides the most important details of the process that actually occurs

“...in accordance with the rule of Gay-Lusac and Ostwald, according to which, in any chemical process, initially it is not the most stable final state of the system that appears, but the least stable state, which is closest in energy value to the initial state of the system, i.e., if between the initial and the final states of the system, there are a number of intermediate relatively stable states; they will successively replace each other in the order of stepwise changes in energy. This “rule of stepwise transitions”, or “law of sequential reactions”, also corresponds to the principles of thermodynamics, since in this case there is a monotonic change in energy from the initial to the final state, which successively takes on all possible intermediate values” (S. Digonsky, V. Ten, “ Unknown hydrogen").

When applied to the process of formation of graphite from methane, this means that methane does not simply lose hydrogen atoms during pyrolysis, passing successively through the stages of “residues” with varying amounts hydrogen - these “residues” also participate in reactions, including interacting with each other. This leads to the fact that the crystallographic structure of graphite is, in fact, not atoms of “pure” carbon connected to each other (located, as we are taught at school, in the nodes of a square grid), but hexahedrons of benzene rings!.. It turns out that that graphite is a complex hydrocarbon in which there is simply little hydrogen left!..

In Fig. 10, which shows a photograph of crystalline graphite with a 300x magnification, this is clearly visible: the crystals have a pronounced hexagonal (i.e., hexagonal) shape, and not at all square.

Crystallographic model of graphite structure

Micrograph of a single crystal of natural graphite. Uv. 300.

(from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

Actually, from the entire mentioned Chapter 1, only one idea is important to us here. The idea that the process of methane decomposition produces complex hydrocarbons in a completely natural way! This happens because it turns out to be energetically beneficial!

And not only gaseous or liquid hydrocarbons, but also solid ones!

And what is also very important: we are not talking about some purely theoretical research, but about the results of empirical research. Research, some areas of which, in fact, have been put on stream for a long time (see Fig. 11)!..

(from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

Well, now the time has come to deal with the “main trump card” of the version of the organic origin of brown and hard coal - the presence of “carbonized plant residues” in them.

Such “coalified plant residues” are found in huge quantities in coal deposits. Paleobotanists “confidently identify the plant species” in these “remains.”

It is on the basis of the abundance of these “remains” that the conclusion was made about almost tropical conditions in vast regions of our planet and the conclusion about the violent flourishing of flora in the Carboniferous period.

Moreover, as stated above, even the “age” of coal deposits is “determined” by the types of vegetation that are “imprinted” and “preserved” in the form of “residues” in this coal...

Indeed, at first glance, such a trump card seems unkillable.

But this is only at first glance. In fact, the “unkilled trump card” is killed quite easily. That's what I'll do now. I will do it “with the wrong hands”, turning to the same monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”...

“In 1973, the magazine “Knowledge is Power” published an article by the great biologist A.A. Lyubishchev “Frosty patterns on glass” [“Knowledge is power”, 1973, No. 7, pp. 23-26]. In this article, he drew attention to the striking external similarity of ice patterns with various plant structures. Believing that there are general laws governing the formation of forms in living nature and inorganic matter, A.A. Lyubishchev noted that one of the botanists mistook a photograph of an ice pattern on glass for a photograph of a thistle.

From a chemical point of view, Frost patterns on glass - this is the result of gas-phase crystallization of water vapor on a cold substrate. Naturally, water is not the only substance capable of forming such patterns when crystallizing from the gas phase, solution or melt. At the same time, no one is trying - even with extreme similarity - to establish a genetic connection between inorganic dendritic formations and plants. However, completely different reasoning can be heard if plant patterns or forms are acquired by carbonaceous substances crystallizing from the gas phase, as shown in Fig. 12, borrowed from the work [V.I. Berezkin, “On the soot model of the origin of Karelian shungites,” Geology and Physics, 2005. v. 46, no. 10, pp. 1093-1101].

When producing pyrolytic graphite by pyrolysis of methane diluted with hydrogen, it was found that, away from the gas flow in stagnant zones, dendritic forms are formed, very similar to “plant remains”, clearly indicating the plant origin of fossil coals” (S. Digonsky, V. Ten, "Unknown Hydrogen").

Electron microscopic images of carbon fibers

in transmission geometry.

a – observed in shungite substance,

b – synthesized during the catalytic decomposition of light hydrocarbons

Next, I will give some photographs of formations that are not imprints in coal at all, but a “by-product” during the pyrolysis of methane in different conditions. These are photographs both from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen” and from the personal archive of S.V. Digonsky. who kindly provided them to me.

I will give you almost no comments, which, in my opinion, would be simply unnecessary...

(from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

(from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

The trump card of the bit...

The “reliably scientifically established” version of the organic origin of coal and other fossil hydrocarbons does not have any serious real support left...

And what in return?..

And in return - a rather elegant version of the abiogenic origin of all carbonaceous minerals (with the exception of peat).

1. Hydride compounds in the depths of our planet disintegrate when heated, releasing hydrogen, which, in full accordance with Archimedes' law, rushes upward - to the surface of the Earth.

2. On its way, hydrogen, due to its high chemical activity, interacts with subsoil matter, forming various compounds. Including such gaseous substances as methane CH4, hydrogen sulfide H2S, ammonia NH3, water vapor H2O and the like.

3. Under conditions of high temperatures and in the presence of other gases included in the subsurface fluids, methane undergoes a stage-by-stage decomposition, which, in full accordance with the laws of physical chemistry, leads to the formation of gaseous hydrocarbons, including complex ones.

4. Rising both along existing cracks and faults in the earth’s crust, and forming new ones under pressure, these hydrocarbons fill all the cavities accessible to them in geological rocks (see Fig. 22). And due to contact with these colder rocks, gaseous hydrocarbons transform into a different phase state and (depending on the composition and environmental conditions) form deposits of liquid and solid minerals - oil, brown and hard coal, anthracite, graphite and even diamonds.

5. In the process of formation of solid deposits, in accordance with the still unexplored laws of self-organization of matter, under appropriate conditions, the formation of ordered forms occurs - including those reminiscent of the forms of the living world.

All! The scheme is extremely simple and concise! Exactly as much as a brilliant idea requires...

Schematic section illustrating common containment conditions

and the shape of graphite veins in pegmatites

(from the monograph “Unknown Hydrogen”)

This simple version removes all the contradictions and inconsistencies mentioned above. And oddities in the location of oil fields; and unexplained replenishment of oil tanks; and crowded groups of folds with Z-shaped joints in coal seams; and the presence of large amounts of sulfur in coals of different types; and contradictions in the dating of deposits, and so on and so forth...

And all this - without the need to resort to such exotics as “planktonic algae”, “spore deposits” and “multiple transgressions and regressions of the sea” over vast territories...

Earlier, in fact, only some of the consequences that the version of the abiogenic origin of carbonaceous minerals entails were mentioned in passing. Now we can analyze in more detail what all of the above leads to.

The simplest conclusion that follows from the above photographs of “carbonized plant forms”, which in fact are only forms of pyrolytic graphite, will be this: paleobotanists now need to think hard!..

It is clear that all their conclusions, “discoveries of new species” and systematization of the so-called “vegetation of the Carboniferous period”, which are made on the basis of “imprints” and “residues” in coal, should simply be thrown into the trash. These species do not and never existed!..

Of course, there are still imprints in other rocks - for example, in limestone or shale deposits. Here you may not need a basket. But you have to think!..

However, not only paleobotanists, but also paleontologists should think about it. The fact is that in the experiments not only “plant” forms were obtained, but also those that belong to the animal world!..

As S.V. Digonsky put it in personal correspondence with me: “Gaseous crystallization generally works wonders - both fingers and ears came across”...

Paleoclimatologists also need to think hard. After all, if there was not such a lush development of vegetation, which was required only to explain the powerful deposits of coal within the framework of the organic version of its origin, then a logical question arises: was there a tropical climate in the so-called “Carboniferous period”?..

And it was not for nothing that at the beginning of the article I gave a description of the conditions not only in the “Carboniferous Period”, as they are now presented within the framework of the “generally accepted” picture, but also covered the segments before and after. There is a very interesting detail: before the Carboniferous Period - at the end of Devonian - the climate was quite cool and dry, and after - at the beginning of Permian - the climate was also cool and dry. Before the “Carboniferous Period” we have a “red continent”, and after we have the same “red continent”...

The following logical question arises: was there a warm “Carboniferous Period” at all?!

Remove it - and the edges will fit together perfectly!..

And by the way, the relatively cool climate that will eventually result for the entire period from the beginning of the Devonian right up to the end of the Permian will be remarkably compatible with a minimum of heat input from the bowels of the Earth before the start of its active expansion.

Naturally, geologists will also have to think about it.

Remove from the analysis all the coal, the formation of which previously required a significant period of time (until all the “initial peat” accumulates) - what remains?!

Will there be other deposits left?.. I agree. But…

Geological periods are usually divided according to some global differences from neighboring periods. What's here?..

There was no tropical climate. There was no global peat formation. There were also no repeated vertical movements - what was the bottom of the sea, accumulating limestone deposits, remained this bottom of the sea! Quite the contrary: the process of condensation of hydrocarbons into the solid phase had to occur in a confined space!.. Otherwise, they would simply dissipate into the air and cover large areas without forming such dense deposits.

By the way, such an abiogenic scheme for the formation of coal indicates that the process of this formation began much later - when the layers of limestone (and other rocks) had already formed. Moreover. There is no separate period of coal formation at all. Hydrocarbons continue to come from the depths to this day!..

True, if there is no end to the process, then there may be its beginning...

But if we connect the flow of hydrocarbons from the depths precisely with the hydride structure of the planet’s core, then the time of formation of the main coal strata should be attributed to a hundred million years later (according to the existing geological scale)! By the time the active expansion of the planet began - that is, to the boundary of the Permian and Triassic. And then the Triassic must be correlated with coal (as a characteristic geological object), and not at all some “Carboniferous period” that ended with the beginning of the Permian period.

And then the question arises: what grounds remain for distinguishing the so-called “Carboniferous Period” into a separate geological period?..

From what can be gleaned from the popular literature on geology, I come to the conclusion that there is simply no basis left for such a distinction!..

And therefore the conclusion is: there simply was no “Carboniferous period” in the history of the Earth!..

I don’t know what to do with a good hundred million years.

Either cross them out altogether, or distribute them somehow between Devon and Perm...

Don't know…

Let the experts puzzle over this in the end!..

Huge deposits of coal are found in the sediments of this period. This is where the name of the period came from. There is another name for it - carbon.

The Carboniferous period is divided into three sections: lower, middle and upper. During this period, the physical and geographical conditions of the Earth underwent significant changes. The outlines of continents and seas changed repeatedly, new mountain ranges, seas, and islands arose. At the beginning of the Carboniferous, a significant subsidence of the land occurs. Vast areas of Atlantis, Asia, and Rondvana were flooded by the sea. The area of ​​the large islands has decreased. The deserts of the northern continent disappeared under water. The climate has become very warm and humid, Photo

In the Lower Carboniferous, an intensive mountain-building process begins: the Ardepny, Gary, Ore Mountains, Sudetes, Atlas Mountains, Australian Cordillera, and West Siberian Mountains are formed. The sea is receding.

In the Middle Carboniferous, the land subsides again, but much less than in the Lower Carboniferous. Thick strata of continental sediments accumulate in intermountain basins. The Eastern Urals and Pennine Mountains are being formed.

In the Upper Carboniferous, the sea retreats again. Inland seas are significantly shrinking. Large glaciers appear on the territory of Gondwana, and somewhat smaller ones in Africa and Australia.

At the end of the Carboniferous in Europe and North America, the climate undergoes changes, becoming partly temperate and partly hot and dry. At this time, the formation of the Central Urals took place.

Marine sedimentary deposits of the Carboniferous period are mainly represented by clays, sandstones, limestones, shales and volcanic rocks. Continental - mainly coal, clays, sands and other rocks.

Intensified volcanic activity in the Carboniferous led to the saturation of the atmosphere with carbon dioxide. Volcanic ash, which is a wonderful fertilizer, made carbon soils fertile.

A warm and humid climate dominated the continents for a long time. All this created extremely favorable conditions for the development of terrestrial flora, including higher plants of the Carboniferous period - bushes, trees and herbaceous plants, the life of which was closely connected with water. They grew mainly among huge swamps and lakes, near brackish-water lagoons, on the sea coast, on damp muddy soil. In their lifestyle they were similar to modern mangroves, which grow on the low-lying shores of tropical seas, in the mouths of big rivers, in swampy lagoons, rising above the water on tall stilt roots.

During the Carboniferous period, lycophytes, arthropods and ferns developed significantly, giving rise to a large number of tree-like forms.

Tree-like lycopods reached 2 m in diameter and 40 m in height. They didn't have growth rings yet. An empty trunk with a powerful branched crown was securely held in loose soil by a large rhizome, branching into four main branches. These branches, in turn, were dichotomously divided into root shoots. Their leaves, up to a meter in length, decorated the ends of the branches in thick plume-shaped bunches. At the ends of the leaves there were buds in which spores developed. The trunks of the lycopods were covered with scar scales. Leaves were attached to them. During this period, giant lepidodendrons with rhombic scars on the trunks and sigillaria with hexagonal scars were common. Unlike most lycophytes, sigillaria had an almost unbranched trunk on which sporangia grew. Among the lycophytes there were also herbaceous plants that completely died out during the Permian period.

Articular-stem plants are divided into two groups: wedge-leaved plants and calamites. Wedge-leaved plants were aquatic plants. They had a long, jointed, slightly ribbed stem, to the nodes of which leaves were attached in rings. The kidney-shaped structures contained spores. The wedge-leaved plants stayed on the water with the help of long branched stems, similar to the modern water buttercup. Cuneiformes appeared in the Middle Devonian and became extinct in the Permian period.

Calamites were tree-like plants up to 30 m tall. They formed swamp forests. Some species of calamites have penetrated far to the mainland. Their ancient forms had dichotomous leaves. Subsequently, forms with simple leaves and annual rings predominated. These plants had highly branched rhizomes. Often additional roots and branches covered with leaves grew from the trunk.

At the end of the Carboniferous, the first representatives of horsetails appeared - small herbaceous plants. Among the Carboniferous flora, a prominent role was played by ferns, in particular herbaceous ones, but their structure resembled psilophytes, and true ferns, large tree-like plants, fixed with rhizomes in soft soil. They had a rough trunk with numerous branches on which wide fern-like leaves grew.

Carboniferous forest gymnosperms belong to the subclasses of seed ferns and stachyospermids. Their fruits developed on leaves, which is a sign of primitive organization. At the same time, the linear or lanceolate leaves of gymnosperms had a rather complex vein structure. The most advanced Carboniferous plants are cordaites. Their cylindrical, leafless trunks were up to 40 m high and branched. The branches had wide, linear or lanceolate leaves with reticulate venation at the ends. Male sporangia (microsporangia) looked like kidneys. Nut-shaped ones developed from female sporangia: fruit. The results of microscopic examination of the fruits show that these plants, similar to cycads, were transitional forms to coniferous plants.

The first mushrooms, bryophytes (terrestrial and freshwater), which sometimes formed colonies, and lichens appear in the coal forests.

Algae continue to exist in marine and freshwater basins: green, red and charophyte...

When considering the Carboniferous flora as a whole, one is struck by the variety of leaf shapes of tree-like plants. Scars on plant trunks held long, lanceolate leaves throughout their lives. The ends of the branches were decorated with huge leafy crowns. Sometimes leaves grew along the entire length of the branches.

PhotoOther characteristic feature Carboniferous flora—development of the underground root system. Strongly branched roots grew in the muddy soil and new shoots grew from them. Sometimes large areas were cut up by underground roots. In places where silty sediments quickly accumulated, the roots held the trunks with numerous shoots. Key Feature Carboniferous flora is that the plants did not differ in rhythmic growth in thickness.

The distribution of the same Carboniferous plants from North America to Spitsbergen indicates that a relatively uniform warm climate prevailed from the tropics to the poles, which was replaced by a rather cool climate in the Upper Carboniferous. In cool climates, gymnosperm ferns and cordaites grew. The growth of Carboniferous plants was almost independent of the seasons. It resembled the growth of freshwater algae. The seasons probably differed little from each other.

When studying the Carboniferous flora, one can trace the evolution of plants. Schematically, it looks like this: brown algae - ferns - psilophnts - pteridospermids (seed ferns) conifers.

When dying, the plants of the Carboniferous period fell into the water, they were covered with silt, and, after lying for millions of years, they gradually turned into coal. Coal was formed from all parts of the plant: wood, bark, branches, leaves, fruits. The remains of animals were also turned into coal. This is evidenced by the fact that remains of freshwater and terrestrial animals are relatively rare in Carboniferous deposits.

The marine fauna of the Carboniferous was characterized by a diversity of species. Foraminifera were extremely common, in particular fusulinids with fusiform shells the size of grains.

Schwagerins appear in the Middle Carboniferous. Their spherical shell was the size of a small pea. Limestone deposits were formed from Late Carboniferous foraminifera shells in some places.

Among the corals there were still a few genera of tabulates, but chaetetids began to predominate. Single corals often had thick calcareous walls. Colonial corals formed reefs.

At this time, echinoderms, in particular crinoids and sea urchins, develop intensively. Numerous colonies of bryozoans sometimes formed thick limestone deposits.

Brachiopods, in particular producti, have developed extremely, being far superior in adaptability and geographic distribution to all brachiopods found on Earth. The size of their shells reached 30 cm in diameter. One shell valve was convex, and the other is in the form flat lid. The straight, elongated locking edge often had hollow tenons. In some forms of productus the spines were four times the diameter of the shell. With the help of spines, the productus stayed on the leaves of aquatic plants, which carried them along the current. Sometimes with their spines they attached themselves to sea lilies or algae and lived near them in a hanging position. In Richtophenia, one shell valve is transformed into a horn up to 8 cm long.

During the Carboniferous period, nautiloids almost completely died out, with the exception of nautiluses. This genus, divided into 5 groups (represented by 84 species), has survived to this day. Orthoceras continue to exist, the shells of which had a pronounced external structure. The horn-shaped shells of Cyrtoceras were almost no different from the shells of their Devonian ancestors. Ammonites were represented by two orders - goniatites and agoniatites, as in the Devonian period, when bivalves were single-muscular forms. Among them are many freshwater forms that inhabited carbon lakes and swamps.

The first terrestrial gastropods appear - animals that breathed with lungs.

Trilobites achieved significant prosperity during the Ordovician and Silurian periods. During the Carboniferous period, only a few of their genera and species survived.

By the end of the Carboniferous period, trilobites became almost completely extinct. This was facilitated by the fact that cephalopods and fish fed on trilobites and consumed the same food as trilobites. The body structure of trilobites was imperfect: the shell did not protect the belly, the limbs were small and weak. Trilobites did not have attack organs. For some time they were able to protect themselves from predators by curling up like modern hedgehogs. But at the end of the Carboniferous, fish appeared with powerful jaws that chewed their shells. Therefore, from the numerous type of inermi, only one genus has been preserved.

Crustaceans, scorpions, and insects appear in lakes of the Carboniferous period. Carboniferous insects had characteristics of many genera of modern insects, so it is impossible to attribute them to any one genus now known to us. Undoubtedly, the ancestors of insects of the Carboniferous period were Ordovician trilobites. Devonian and Silurian insects had much in common with some of their ancestors. They have already played a significant role in the animal world.

However, insects reached their true heyday in the Carboniferous period. The smallest known insect species were 3 cm in length; the wingspan of the largest (for example, stenodictia) reached 70 cm, in ancient dragonfly meganeura - one meter. The body of Meganeura had 21 segments. Of these, 6 were the head, 3 were the chest with four wings, 11 were the abdomen, the terminal segment looked like an awl-shaped extension of the trilobite’s tail shield. Numerous pairs of limbs were dismembered. With their help, the animal walked and swam. Young meganeuras lived in water, turning into adult insects as a result of molting. Meganeura had strong jaws and compound eyes.

In the Upper Carboniferous period, ancient insects became extinct, their descendants were more adapted to new living conditions. Orthoptera in the course of evolution gave rise to termites and dragonflies, and Eurypterus ants. Most ancient forms of insects switched to a terrestrial lifestyle only in adulthood. They reproduced exclusively in water. Thus, the change from a humid climate to a drier one was catastrophic for many ancient insects.

Many sharks appear in the Carboniferous period. These were not yet the real sharks that inhabit modern oceans, but compared to other groups of fish, they were the most advanced predators. In some cases, their teeth and fin types overwhelm the Carboniferous sediments. This indicates that Carboniferous sharks lived in any water. The teeth are jagged, wide, cutting, tuberous, as sharks ate a wide variety of animals. Gradually they exterminated the primitive Devonian fish. The knife-like teeth of sharks easily crushed the shell of trilobites, and the wide tuberous dental plates easily crushed the thick shells of mollusks. Saw-toothed, pointed rows of teeth allowed the sharks to feed on colonial animals. The shapes and sizes of sharks were as varied as the way they fed. Some of them surrounded Coral reefs and with lightning speed they pursued their prey, while others leisurely hunted mollusks, trilobites, or buried themselves in the mud and lay in wait for their prey. Sharks with a saw-like growth on their heads searched for victims in the thickets seaweed. Large sharks often attacked smaller ones, so some of the latter developed fin spines and cutaneous teeth for protection during evolution.

The sharks were breeding intensively. This eventually led to an overpopulation of the sea with these animals. Many forms of ammopites were exterminated, single corals, which provided easily accessible nutritious food for sharks, disappeared, the number of trilobites decreased significantly, and all mollusks that had a thin shell perished. Only the.thick.shells of the spirifers were not susceptible to predators.

The products have also been preserved. They defended themselves from predators with long spines.

In the freshwater basins of the Carboniferous period there lived many enamel-scaled fish. Some of them jumped along the muddy shore, like modern jumping fish. Fleeing from enemies, insects left the aquatic environment and settled on land, first near swamps and lakes, and then on the mountains, valleys and deserts of the Carboniferous continents.

Bees and butterflies are absent among the insects of the Carboniferous period. This is understandable, since at that time there were no flowering plants, whose pollen and nectar these insects feed on.

Lung-breathing animals first appeared on the continents of the Devonian period. They were amphibians.

The life of amphibians is closely connected with water, since they reproduce only in water. The warm, humid climate of the Carboniferous was extremely favorable for the flourishing of amphibians. Their skeletons were not yet fully ossified; their jaws had delicate teeth. The skin was covered with scales. For their low, roof-shaped skull, the entire group of amphibians received the name stegocephalians (shell-headed). The body sizes of amphibians ranged from 10 cm to 5 m. Most of them had four legs with short toes. Some had claws that allowed them to climb trees. Legless forms also appear. Depending on their lifestyle, amphibians acquired triton-like, serpentine, and salamander-like forms. There were five openings in the skull of amphibians: two nasal, two ophthalmic and parietal. Subsequently, this parietal eye was transformed into the pineal gland of the mammalian brain. The back of stegocephals was bare, and the belly was covered with delicate scales. They inhabited shallow lakes and swampy areas near the coast.

The most typical representative of the first reptiles is Edaphosaurus. He resembled a huge lizard. On its back it had a high crest of long bone spikes connected by a leathery membrane. Edaphosaurus was a herbivorous lizard and lived near coal swamps.

A large number of coal basins, deposits of oil, iron, manganese, copper, and limestone are associated with coal deposits.

This period lasted 65 million years.

Carboniferous period (Carboniferous), fifth period of the Paleozoic era. Lasted about 74 million years. It began 360 million years ago and ended 286 million years ago. The continents in this period were mainly collected into two massifs - Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. Gondwana moved towards Laurasia, and in the areas of contact of these plates, uplift of mountain ranges occurred.

The Carboniferous period is the period of the Earth when forests of real trees grew green on it. Herbaceous and bush-like plants already existed on Earth. However, forty-meter giants with trunks up to two meters thick have only appeared now. They had powerful rhizomes, allowing the trees to hold firmly in soft, moisture-saturated soil. The ends of their branches were decorated with bunches of meter-long feathery leaves, at the tips of which fruit buds grew, and then spores developed.

The emergence of forests became possible due to the fact that in the Carboniferous a new attack of the sea on land began. Vast expanses of continents in the Northern Hemisphere turned into swampy lowlands, and the climate still remained hot. In such conditions, vegetation developed unusually quickly. The Carboniferous forest looked rather gloomy. Under the crowns of huge trees, stuffiness and eternal twilight reigned. The soil was marshy bogs, saturating the air with heavy vapors. In the thickets of calamites and sigillaria, clumsy creatures floundered, reminiscent of salamanders in appearance, but many times larger than them - ancient amphibians.

The marine fauna of the Carboniferous was characterized by a diversity of species. Foraminifera were extremely common, in particular fusulinids with fusiform shells the size of grains.
Schwagerins appear in the Middle Carboniferous. Their spherical shell was the size of a small pea. Limestone deposits were formed from Late Carboniferous foraminifera shells in some places.
Among the corals there were still a few genera of tabulates, but chaetetids began to predominate. Single corals often had thick calcareous walls. Colonial corals formed reefs.
At this time, echinoderms developed intensively, in particular crinoids and sea urchins, which occupied 4% of all Carboniferous genera. Numerous colonies of bryozoans sometimes formed thick limestone deposits.

Brachiopods developed extremely rapidly; their diversity reached 11% of all Carboniferous genera. In particular, the producti, in terms of adaptability and geographic distribution, were far superior to all brachiopods found on Earth. The size of their shells reached 30 cm in diameter. One shell valve was convex, and the other was in the form of a flat lid. The straight, elongated locking edge often had hollow tenons. In some forms of productus the spines were four times the diameter of the shell. With the help of spines, the productus stayed on the leaves of aquatic plants, which carried them along the current. Sometimes with their spines they attached themselves to sea lilies or algae and lived near them in a hanging position. In Richtophenia, one shell valve is transformed into a horn up to 8 cm long.

Sea lily. Photo: spacy000

In the lakes of the Carboniferous period, arthropods (crustaceans, scorpions, insects) appear, including 17% of all Carboniferous genera. Insects that appeared in the Carboniferous occupied 6% of all animal genera.
Carboniferous insects were the first creatures to take to the air, and they did this 150 million years before birds. Dragonflies were the pioneers. They soon became the “kings of the air” of the coal swamps. Butterflies, moths, beetles and grasshoppers then followed suit.
Carboniferous insects had characteristics of many genera of modern insects, so it is impossible to attribute them to any one genus now known to us. Undoubtedly, the ancestors of insects of the Carboniferous period were Ordovician trilobites. Devonian and Silurian insects had much in common with some of their ancestors. They have already played a significant role in the animal world.

During the Carboniferous period, lycophytes, arthropods and ferns developed significantly, giving rise to a large number of tree-like forms. Tree-like lycopods reached 2 m in diameter and 40 m in height. They didn't have growth rings yet. An empty trunk with a powerful branched crown was securely held in loose soil by a large rhizome, branching into four main branches. These branches, in turn, were dichotomously divided into root shoots. Their leaves, up to a meter in length, decorated the ends of the branches in thick plume-shaped bunches. At the ends of the leaves there were buds in which spores developed. The trunks of the lycopods were covered with scales - scars. Leaves were attached to them.

During this period, giant lycophytes were common - lepidodendrons with rhombic scars on the trunks and sigillaria with hexagonal scars. Unlike most lycophytes, Sigillaria had an almost unbranched trunk on which sporangia grew. Among the lycophytes there were also herbaceous plants that completely died out during the Permian period.

Articular-stem plants are divided into two groups: wedge-leaved plants and calamites. Wedge-leaved plants were aquatic plants. They had a long, jointed, slightly ribbed stem, to the nodes of which leaves were attached in rings. The kidney-shaped formations contained spores. The wedge-leaved plants stayed on the water with the help of long branched stems, similar to the modern water buttercup. Cuneiformes appeared in the Middle Devonian and became extinct in the Permian period.

Calamites were tree-like plants up to 30 m tall. They formed swamp forests. Some species of calamites have penetrated far to the mainland. Their ancient forms had dichotomous leaves. Subsequently, forms with simple leaves and annual rings predominated. These plants had highly branched rhizomes. Often additional roots and branches covered with leaves grew from the trunk.
At the end of the Carboniferous, the first representatives of Horsetails appear - small herbaceous plants. Among the Carboniferous flora, a prominent role was played by ferns, in particular herbaceous ones, but their structure resembled psilophytes, and true ferns - large tree-like plants, fixed with rhizomes in soft soil. They had a rough trunk with numerous branches on which wide fern-like leaves grew.

Carboniferous forest gymnosperms belong to the subclasses of seed ferns and stachyospermids. Their fruits developed on leaves, which is a sign of primitive organization. At the same time, linear or lanceolate leaves of gymnosperms had rather complex venation. The most advanced Carboniferous plants are cordaites. Their cylindrical, leafless trunks were up to 40 m high and branched. The branches had wide linear or lanceolate leaves with reticulate venation at the ends. Male sporangia (microsporangia) looked like kidneys. Nut-shaped fruits developed from female sporangia. The results of microscopic examination of the fruits show that these plants, similar to cycads, were transitional forms to coniferous plants.
The first mushrooms, bryophytes (terrestrial and freshwater), which sometimes formed colonies, and lichens appear in the coal forests. Algae continue to exist in marine and freshwater basins: green, red and charophyte.

When considering the Carboniferous flora as a whole, one is struck by the variety of leaf shapes of tree-like plants. Scars on plant trunks held long, lanceolate leaves throughout their lives. The ends of the branches were decorated with huge leafy crowns. Sometimes leaves grew along the entire length of the branches.
Another characteristic feature of the Carboniferous flora is the development of an underground root system. Strongly branched roots grew in the muddy soil and new shoots grew from them. Sometimes large areas were cut up by underground roots. In places where silty sediments quickly accumulated, the roots held the trunks with numerous shoots. The most important feature of the Carboniferous flora is that the plants did not differ in rhythmic growth in thickness.

The distribution of the same Carboniferous plants from North America to Spitsbergen indicates that a relatively uniform warm climate prevailed from the tropics to the poles, which was replaced by a rather cool climate in the Upper Carboniferous. Gymnosperm ferns and cordaites grew in cool climates. The growth of coal plants was almost independent of the seasons. It resembled the growth of freshwater algae. The seasons probably differed little from each other.
When studying the “Carboniferous flora,” one can trace the evolution of plants. Schematically, it looks like this: brown algae – psilophntous ferns – pteridospermids (seed ferns) – conifers.
When dying, the plants of the Carboniferous period fell into the water, they were covered with silt, and, after lying for millions of years, they gradually turned into coal. Coal was formed from all parts of the plant: wood, bark, branches, leaves, fruits. The remains of animals were also turned into coal.


From 360 to 286 million years ago.
At the beginning of the Carboniferous period (Carboniferous), most of the earth's land was collected into two huge supercontinents: Laurasia in the north and Gondwana in the south. During the Late Carboniferous, both supercontinents steadily moved closer to each other. This movement pushed upward new mountain ranges that formed along the edges of the plates of the earth's crust, and the edges of the continents were literally flooded by streams of lava erupting from the bowels of the Earth. The climate cooled noticeably, and while Gondwanaland "swimmed" across the South Pole, the planet experienced at least two glaciations.

In the Early Carboniferous, the climate over most of the earth's land surface was almost tropical. Huge areas were occupied by shallow coastal seas, and the sea constantly flooded the low-lying coastal plains, forming vast swamps there. In this warm and humid climate Primary forests of giant tree ferns and early seed plants became widespread. They released a lot of oxygen, and by the end of the Carboniferous, the oxygen content in the Earth's atmosphere almost reached modern levels.
Some trees growing in these forests reached 45 m in height. The plant mass increased so quickly that the invertebrate animals living in the soil simply did not have time to eat and decompose the dead plant material in time, and as a result it became more and more numerous. In the humid climate of the Carboniferous period, this material formed thick deposits of peat. In swamps, peat quickly sank under water and became buried under a layer of sediment. Over time, these sedimentary layers turned into coal-bearing strata
cabbage soup deposits of sedimentary rocks, layered with coal, formed from the fossilized remains of plants in peat.

Reconstruction of a coal swamp. It is home to many large trees, including sigillaria (1) and giant club mosses (2), as well as dense stands of calamites (3) and horsetails (4), ideal habitat for early amphibians such as Ichthyostega (5) and Crinodon (6). . Arthropods are swarming all around: cockroaches (7) and spiders (8) scurry in the undergrowth, and the air above them is plowed by giant meganeura dragonflies (9) with a wingspan of almost a meter. Due to the rapid growth of such forests, a lot of dead leaves and wood accumulated, which sank to the bottom of the swamps before they could decompose, and over time turned into peat and then coal.
Insects are everywhere

At that time, plants were not the only living organisms that colonized land. Arthropods also emerged from the water and gave rise to a new group of arthro-nodes, which turned out to be extremely viable, insects. From the moment insects first appeared on the stage of life, their triumphal march began, but
planet. Today there are at least a million species of insects known to science on Earth, and, according to some estimates, about 30 million more species remain to be discovered by scientists. Truly our time could be called the era of insects.
Insects are very small and can live and hide in places inaccessible to animals and birds. The bodies of insects are designed in such a way that they easily master any means of movement - swimming, crawling, running, jumping, flying. Their hard exoskeleton is the cuticle (consisting of a special substance - chitin) -
passes into the oral part, capable of chewing hard leaves, sucking plant juices, and also piercing the skin of animals or biting prey.

HOW COAL IS FORMED.
1. The coal forests grew so quickly and lushly that all the dead leaves, branches and tree trunks that accumulated on the ground simply did not have time to rot. In such “coal swamps,” layers of dead plant remains formed deposits of water-soaked peat, which was then compressed and turned into coal.
2. The sea advances on land, forming deposits on it from the remains of marine organisms and layers of silt, which subsequently turn into clay shales.
3. The sea recedes, and rivers deposit sand on top of the shale, from which sandstones are formed.
4. The area becomes more swampy, and silt is deposited on top, suitable for the formation of clayey sandstone.
5. The forest grows back, forming a new coal seam. This alternation of layers of coal, shale and sandstone is called a coal-bearing strata

Great Carboniferous Forests

Among the lush vegetation of the Carboniferous forests, huge tree ferns, up to 45 m high, with leaves longer than a meter, prevailed. In addition to them, giant horsetails, club mosses and recently emerged seed-bearing plants grew there. The trees had an extremely shallow root system, often branching above the surface
soil, and they grew very close to each other. The area was probably littered with fallen tree trunks and piles of dead branches and leaves. In these impenetrable jungles, plants grew so quickly that the so-called ammonifiers (bacteria and fungi) simply did not have time to cause decay of organic remains in the forest soil.
In such a forest it was very warm and humid, and the air was constantly saturated with water vapor. The many creeks and swamps provided ideal spawning grounds for countless insects and early amphibians. The air was filled with the buzzing and chirping of insects - cockroaches, grasshoppers and giant dragonflies with wingspans of almost a meter, and the undergrowth was teeming with silverfish, termites and beetles. The first spiders had already appeared, and numerous centipedes and scorpions were scurrying across the forest floor.

Fragment of a fossilized Aletopteris fern from a coal-bearing strata. Ferns thrived in the damp, humid Carboniferous forests, but they were ill-adapted to the drier climate that developed during the Permian period. When germinating, fern spores form a thin, fragile plate of cells - prothallium, in which male and female reproductive organs are developed over time. Prothallium is extremely sensitive to moisture and dries quickly. Moreover, male reproductive cells, sperm secreted by prothallium, can reach the female egg only through a film of water. All this interferes with the spread of ferns, forcing them to stick to moist habitats, where they are still found today.
Plants of coal swamps

The flora of these huge forests would seem very strange to us.
Ancient clubmoss plants, relatives of modern clubmosses, looked like real trees - 45 m high. Heights of up to 20 m reached the top of giant horsetails, strange plants with rings of narrow leaves growing directly from thick jointed stems. There were also ferns the size of good trees.
These ancient ferns, like their living descendants, could only exist in humid areas. Ferns reproduce by producing hundreds of tiny spores in a hard shell, which are then carried by air currents. But before these spores can develop into new ferns, something special must happen. First, tiny fragile gametophytes (plants of the so-called sexual generation) grow from the spores. They, in turn, produce small calyces containing male and female reproductive cells (sperm and eggs). To swim to the egg and fertilize it, sperm need a film of water. And only then can a new fern, the so-called sporophyte (asexual generation of the plant’s life cycle), develop from the fertilized egg.

Meganeura were the largest dragonflies ever to live on Earth. Moisture-saturated coal forests and swamps provided shelter for many smaller flying insects, which served as easy prey for them. The huge compound eyes of dragonflies give them an almost all-round view, allowing them to detect the slightest movement of a potential victim. Perfectly adapted to aerial hunting, dragonflies have undergone very little changes over the past hundreds of millions of years.
Seed plants

Fragile gametophytes can only survive in very wet places. However, towards the end of the Devonian period, seed ferns appeared, a group of plants that managed to overcome this disadvantage. Seed ferns were in many ways similar to modern cycads or cyathea and reproduced in the same way. Their female spores remained on the plants that gave birth to them, and there they formed small flask-shaped structures (archegonia) containing eggs. Instead of floating sperm, seed ferns produced pollen that was carried by air currents. These pollen grains germinate into female spores and release male reproductive cells into them, which then fertilize the egg. Now plants could finally colonize the arid regions of the continents.
The fertilized egg developed inside a cup-shaped structure called an ovule, which then developed into a seed. The seed contained reserves of nutrients, and the embryo could quickly germinate.
Some plants had huge cones up to 70 cm long, which contained female spores and formed seeds. Now plants could no longer depend on water, which previously required male reproductive cells (gametes) to reach eggs, and the extremely vulnerable gametophytic stage was excluded from their life cycle.

Warm Late Carboniferous swamps abounded in insects and amphibians. Butterflies (1), giant flying cockroaches (2), dragonflies (3) and mayflies (4) fluttered among the trees. Giant two-legged centipedes feasted in the rotting vegetation (5). Labiopods hunted on the forest floor (6). Eogyrinus (7) is a large amphibian, up to 4.5 m long, which may have hunted like an alligator. And the 15-centimeter microbrachia (8) fed on the smallest animal plankton. The tadpole-like Branchiosaurus (9) had gills. Urocordilus (10), Sauropleura (1 1) and Schincosaurus (12) looked more like newts, but the legless dolichosoma (13) looked a lot like a snake.
Time for amphibians

The bulging eyes and nostrils of the first amphibians were located at the very top of the wide and flat head. This “design” turned out to be very useful when swimming on the water surface. Some of the amphibians may have been lying in wait for prey, half submerged in water - in the manner of modern crocodiles. They may have looked like giant salamanders. These were formidable predators with hard and sharp teeth with which they grabbed their prey. A large number of their teeth are preserved as fossils.
Evolution soon gave rise to many different forms of amphibians. Some of them reached 8 m in length. The larger ones still hunted in the water, and their smaller counterparts (microsaurs) were attracted by the abundance of insects on land.
There were amphibians with tiny legs or no legs at all, something like snakes but without scales. They may have spent their entire lives buried in the mud. Microsaurs looked more like small lizards with short teeth, with which they split the covers of insects.

A Nile crocodile embryo inside an egg. Such eggs, resistant to drying out, protect the embryo from shocks and contain enough food in the yolk. These properties of the egg allowed reptiles to become completely independent of water.
First reptiles

Towards the end of the Carboniferous period, a new group of four-legged animals appeared in the vast forests. Basically, they were small and in many ways similar to modern lizards, which is not surprising: after all, these were the first reptiles on Earth. Their skin, more waterproof than that of amphibians, gave them the opportunity to spend their entire lives out of water. There was plenty of food for them: worms, centipedes and insects were at their complete disposal. L later comparatively a short time Larger reptiles also appeared and began to eat their smaller relatives.

Everyone has their own pond

The need for reptiles to return to water to reproduce has disappeared. Instead of laying soft eggs that hatched into floating tadpoles, these animals began laying eggs in a hard, leathery shell. The babies that hatched from them were exact miniature copies of their parents. Inside each egg there was a small bag filled with water, where the embryo itself was located, another bag with the yolk, which it fed on, and, finally, a third bag where feces accumulated. This shock-absorbing layer of liquid also protected the embryo from shock and damage. The yolk contained a lot of nutrients, and by the time the baby hatched, it no longer needed a pond (instead of a pouch) to mature: it was already old enough to get its own food in the forest.
rum If you moved them up and down, you could warm up even faster - let's say, like you and I warm up when running in place. These "flaps" became larger and larger, and the insect began to use them to glide from tree to tree, perhaps to escape predators such as spiders.

FIRST FLIGHT
Carboniferous insects were the first creatures to take to the air, and they did this 150 million years before birds. Dragonflies were the pioneers. They soon became the “kings of the air” of the coal swamps. The wingspan of some dragonflies reached almost a meter. Butterflies, moths, beetles and grasshoppers then followed suit. But how did it all start?
In the damp corners of your kitchen or bathroom, you may have noticed small insects called scale insects (right). There is a species of silverfish with a pair of tiny flap-like plates protruding from their bodies. Perhaps some similar insect became the ancestor of all flying insects. Maybe it spread these plates in the sun to quickly warm up in the early morning.