Biology / Unit 10 Bio 2183 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Carboniferous Coal Forests
Captions available
The idea
During the Carboniferous period, forests of giant lycophytes and horsetails accumulated as undecomposed plant matter, later compressed over geologic time into coal.
In practice
Today's coal seams trace their carbon to that ancient seedless-vascular-plant biomass, buried before decomposition could break it down.
Where people slip
This period's plant dominance predates seed plants — the giant lycophytes forming these forests were seedless vascular plants, not gymnosperms.
Your place on the trail
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Builds on
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