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 • Basic Overview
A Wooded World
Step into a world of warm, swampy forests. Though ice still covered the South Pole, swampy tropical forests stretched across much of Europe, Asia, and North America, which were gathered at the equator.
The cluster of continents reached almost pole-to-pole. Earth’s continents are constantly—slowly—on the move. During the Carboniferous Period, present day Northern Hemisphere landmasses moved towards the equator and continents began shifting from east to west. A resulting milder climate helped great forests flourish.
 These forests are called coal forests.
Plants that lived in these forests 300 million years ago became coal mined for fuel today. Dead plant material accumulated in the swampy waters of these forests. Over millions of years, pressure from sediment buildup and heat beneath Earth’s surface forced water and other substances out of the plants’ remains, leaving compressed carbon—coal—behind.
Coal gave the Carboniferous Period its name.
In Latin, carbo means “coal” and ferre means “to bear.” So “Carboniferous” is the “coal-bearing” period. Much of the coal we burn for fuel today comes from ancient Carboniferous forests.
Continue to Chicago’s Great Forests. >>
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