UKT 180207: Western writers are fond
of abbreviating names. Thus, when they
write "Myanmar", we do not
know whether it is the country
(Myanmarpré), the peoples (Myanmar
indigenous peoples), the writing-system
(Myanmar akshara). In article below
I've written Permian-period for
Permian, Paleozoic-era
for Paleozoic, etc.
The Permian-period is a
geologic period and
system which spans 46.7 million years
from the end of the
Carboniferous- Period 298.9 ma.
(Mya), to the beginning of the
Triassic-period 251.902 ma. It is
the last period of the
Paleozoic-era; the following
Triassic-period belongs to the
Mesozoic-era. The concept of
the Permian period was introduced in 1841
by geologist Sir
Roderick Murchison, who named it
after the city of
Perm.
The Permian-period (along with the Paleozoic-era)
ended with the
Permian–Triassic extinction event,
the largest mass extinction in Earth's
history, in which nearly 90% of marine
species and 70% of terrestrial species
died out.
[7] It would take well into the
Triassic for life to recover from this
catastrophe.
[8] Recovery from the Permian–Triassic
extinction event was protracted; on land,
ecosystems took 30 million years to recover.
[9]
Sea levels in the Permian remained
generally low, and near-shore environments
were reduced as almost all major
landmasses collected into a single
continent –
Pangaea.
This could have in part caused the
widespread extinctions of marine species
at the end of the period by severely
reducing shallow coastal areas preferred
by many marine organisms.
During the Permian, all the
Earth's major landmasses were collected
into a single supercontinent known as
Pangaea. Pangaea straddled the
equator and extended toward the poles,
with a corresponding effect on ocean
currents in the single great ocean
("
Panthalassa", the "universal
sea"), and the
Paleo-Tethys Ocean, a large ocean that
was between Asia and Gondwana. The
Cimmeria continent
rifted away from
Gondwana and drifted north to
Laurasia, causing the Paleo-Tethys
Ocean to shrink. A new ocean was growing
on its southern end, the
Tethys Ocean, an ocean that would
dominate much of the
Mesozoic era. Large continental
landmass interiors experience climates
with extreme variations of heat and cold
("continental climate") and
monsoon conditions with highly seasonal
rainfall patterns.
Deserts seem to have been widespread
on Pangaea. Such dry conditions favored
gymnosperms, plants with seeds enclosed
in a protective cover, over plants such as
ferns that disperse
spores in a wetter environment.
The first modern trees
(conifers,
ginkgos and
cycads) appeared in the Permian.
Three general areas are especially noted
for their extensive Permian deposits – the
Ural Mountains (where Perm itself is
located), China, and the southwest of
North America, including the
Texas red beds. The
Permian Basin in the U.S. states of
Texas and
New Mexico is so named because it
has one of the thickest deposits of
Permian rocks in the world.
The
climate in the Permian was quite
varied. At the
start of the Permian, the Earth was
still in an
ice age, which began in the
Carboniferous. Glaciers receded around the
mid-Permian period as the climate
gradually warmed, drying the continent's interiors.
[14] In the
late Permian period, the drying
continued although the temperature cycled
between warm and cool cycles.
[14]
" Life is a characteristic that distinguishes
physical entities that do have
biological processes, such as
signaling and
self-sustaining processes, from
those that do not, either because such
functions have
ceased, or because they never had
such functions and are classified as
inanimate. Various forms of life
exist, such as plants, animals,
fungi,
protists,
archaea, and bacteria. The criteria
can at times be ambiguous and may or
may not define viruses,
viroids, or potential
artificial life as "living".
Biology is the primary science
concerned with the study of life, although
many other sciences are involved.
" The definition of life is
controversial. The current definition
is that
organisms maintain
homeostasis, are composed of
cells, undergo
metabolism, can
grow,
adapt to their environment, respond to
stimuli, and
reproduce. However, many other
biological definitions have been proposed,
and there are some borderline cases of
life, such as viruses. Throughout history,
there have been many attempts to define
what is meant by "life" and many
theories on the properties and emergence
of living things, such as
materialism, the belief that everything
is made out of matter and that life is
merely a complex form of it;
hylomorphism, the belief that all
things are a combination of matter and
form, and the form of a living thing is
its soul;
spontaneous generation, the belief
that life repeatedly emerges from
non-life; and
vitalism, a now largely discredited
hypothesis that living organisms possess
a "life force" or "vital
spark". Modern definitions are more
complex, with input from a diversity of
scientific disciplines.
Biophysicists have proposed many
definitions based on chemical
systems; there are also some
living systems theories, such as the
Gaia hypothesis, the idea that the
Earth itself is alive. Another theory
is that life is the property of
ecological systems, and yet another
is elaborated in
complex systems biology, a branch
or subfield of
mathematical biology.
Abiogenesis describes the natural
process of life arising from non-living
matter, such as simple
organic compounds. Properties common
to all organisms include the need for
certain core
chemical elements to sustain
biochemical functions.
" Though currently only known on
Earth, life need not be restricted
to it, and many scientists speculate in
the existence of
extraterrestrial life.
Artificial life is a computer
simulation or man-made reconstruction
of any aspect of life, which is often
used to examine systems related to
natural life. Death is the permanent
termination of all
biological functions which sustain
an organism, and as such, is the end of
its life.
Extinction is the process by which
an entire group or
taxon, normally a
species, dies out.
Fossils are the preserved remains or
traces of organisms."
Terrestrial life in the Permian included
diverse plants,
fungi,
arthropods, and various types of
tetrapods. The period saw a massive
desert covering the interior of
Pangaea. The warm zone spread in
the northern hemisphere, where extensive
dry desert appeared.
[15] The rocks formed at that time were
stained red by iron oxides, the result of
intense heating by the sun of a surface
devoid of vegetation cover. A number of
older types of plants and animals died out
or became marginal elements.
The Permian began with the Carboniferous
flora still flourishing. About the middle
of the Permian a major transition in
vegetation began. The swamp-loving
lycopod trees of the Carboniferous,
such as
Lepidodendron and
Sigillaria, were progressively
replaced in the continental interior by
the more advanced
seed ferns and early
conifers. At the close of the
Permian, lycopod and
equisete
swamps reminiscent of Carboniferous
flora survived only on a series of
equatorial islands in the
Paleo-Tethys Ocean that later would become
South China.
[16]
The Permian saw the radiation of many
important conifer groups, including the
ancestors of many present-day families.
Rich forests were present in many areas,
with a diverse mix of plant groups. The
southern continent saw extensive seed
fern forests of the
Glossopteris flora. Oxygen levels
were probably high there. The
ginkgos and
cycads also appeared during this period.
From the
Pennsylvanian subperiod of the
Carboniferous period until well
into the Permian, the most successful
insects were primitive
relatives of cockroaches. Six fast
legs, four well-developed folding wings,
fairly good eyes, long, well-developed
antennae (olfactory), an omnivorous
digestive system, a receptacle for
storing sperm, a
chitin-based
exoskeleton that could support and
protect, as well as a form of gizzard
and efficient mouth parts, gave it
formidable advantages over other
herbivorous animals. About 90% of insects
at the start of the Permian were
cockroach-like insects
(
"Blattopterans").
[17]
Primitive forms of
dragonflies
(
Odonata) were the dominant aerial
predators and probably dominated
terrestrial insect predation as well.
True Odonata appeared in the Permian,
[18]
[19] and all are effectively
semi-aquatic insects (aquatic immature
stages, and terrestrial adults), as are
all modern odonates. Their prototypes are
the oldest winged fossils,
[20] dating back to the
Devonian, and are different in several
respects from the wings of other insects.
[21] Fossils suggest they may have
possessed many modern attributes even
by the late
Carboniferous, and it is possible
that they captured small vertebrates,
for at least
one species had a wing span of
71 cm (28 in).
[22] Several other insect groups
appeared or flourished during the Permian,
including the
Coleoptera (beetles) and
Hemiptera (true bugs).
The Permian period saw the development
of a fully terrestrial fauna and the
appearance of the first
large
herbivores and
carnivores. It was the high tide of the
anapsids in the form of the massive
Pareiasaurs and host of smaller,
generally lizard-like groups. A group
of small reptiles, the
diapsids, started to abound. These
were the ancestors to most modern
reptiles and the ruling dinosaurs as
well as pterosaurs and crocodiles.
The
synapsid, early ancestors to mammals,
also thrived at this time. Synapsids
included some large members such as
Dimetrodon. The special adaptations
of reptiles enabled them to flourish in
the drier climate of the Permian and they
grew to dominate the vertebrates.
[23]
The Permian–Triassic extinction event, labeled "End
P" here, is the most significant extinction event in
this plot for marine
genera which produce large numbers of
fossils.
The Permian ended with the most extensive
extinction event recorded in
paleontology: the
Permian–Triassic extinction event. 90% to 95% of marine
species became
extinct, as well as 70% of all land organisms. It is also
the only known mass extinction of insects.[8][27]
Recovery from the Permian-Triassic extinction event was
protracted; on land, ecosystems took 30 million years to
recover.[9]
Trilobites, which had thrived since
Cambrian times, finally became extinct before the end of the
Permian.
Nautiluses, a species of cephalopods, surprisingly survived
this occurrence.
There is evidence that magma, in the form of
flood basalt, poured onto the surface in what is now called
the
Siberian Traps, for thousands of years, contributing to the
environmental stress that led to mass extinction. The reduced
coastal habitat and highly increased aridity probably also
contributed. Based on the amount of lava estimated to have been
produced during this period, the worst-case scenario is the
release of enough carbon dioxide from the eruptions to raise
world temperatures five degrees Celsius.[14]
Another hypothesis involves ocean venting of
hydrogen sulfide gas. Portions of the
deep ocean will periodically lose all of its dissolved
oxygen allowing bacteria that live without oxygen to flourish
and produce hydrogen sulfide gas. If enough hydrogen sulfide
accumulates in an
anoxic zone, the gas can rise into the atmosphere. Oxidizing
gases in the atmosphere would destroy the toxic gas, but the
hydrogen sulfide would soon consume all of the atmospheric gas
available. Hydrogen sulfide levels might have increased
dramatically over a few hundred years. Models of such an event
indicate that the gas would destroy
ozone in the upper atmosphere allowing
ultraviolet radiation to kill off species that had survived
the toxic gas.[28]
there are species that can metabolize hydrogen sulfide.
Another hypothesis builds on the flood basalt eruption
theory. An increase in temperature of five degrees Celsius would
not be enough to explain the death of 95% of life. But such
warming could slowly raise ocean temperatures until
frozen methane reservoirs below the ocean floor near
coastlines melted, expelling enough methane (among the most
potent
greenhouse gases) into the atmosphere to raise world
temperatures an additional five degrees Celsius. The frozen
methane hypothesis helps explain the increase in carbon-12
levels found midway in the Permian–Triassic boundary layer. It
also helps explain why the first phase of the layer's
extinctions was land-based, the second was marine-based (and
starting right after the increase in C-12 levels), and the third
land-based again.[29]
An even more speculative hypothesis is that intense radiation
from a nearby
supernova was responsible for the extinctions.[30]
It has been hypothesised that huge
meteorite
impact crater (Wilkes
Land crater) with a diameter of around 500 kilometers in
Antarctica represents an impact event that may be related to the
extinction.[31]
The crater is located at a depth of 1.6 kilometers beneath the
ice of Wilkes Land in eastern Antarctica. The scientists
speculate that this impact may have caused the Permian–Triassic
extinction event, although its age is bracketed only between 100
million and 500 million years ago. They also speculate that it
may have contributed in some way to the separation of Australia
from the Antarctic landmass, which were both part of a
supercontinent called
Gondwana. Levels of iridium and quartz fracturing in the
Permian-Triassic layer do not approach those of the
Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary layer. Given that a far
greater proportion of species and individual organisms became
extinct during the former, doubt is cast on the significance of
a meteorite impact in creating the latter. Further doubt has
been cast on this theory based on fossils in Greenland that show
the extinction to have been gradual, lasting about eighty
thousand years, with three distinct phases.[32]
Many scientists argue that the Permian–Triassic extinction
event was caused by a combination of some or all of the
hypotheses above and other factors; the formation of
Pangaea decreased the number of coastal habitats and may
have contributed to the extinction of many
clades.[citation
needed]
Jump up ^Murchison, Roderick Impey
(1841)
"First sketch of some of the principal results of a
second geological survey of Russia,"
Philosophical Magazine and Journal of Science,
series 3, 19 : 417-422. From p. 419: "The
carboniferous system is surmounted, to the east of the
Volga, by a vast series of marls, schists, limestones,
sandstones and conglomerates, to which I propose to give
the name of "Permian System," … ."
Jump up ^Xu, R. & Wang, X.-Q.
(1982): Di zhi shi qi Zhongguo ge zhu yao Diqu zhi wu
jing guan (Reconstructions of Landscapes in Principal
Regions of China). Ke xue chu ban she, Beijing. 55
pages, 25 plates.
Jump up ^Zimmerman EC (1948) Insects
of Hawaii, Vol. II. Univ. Hawaii Press
Jump up ^Grzimek HC Bernhard (1975)
Grzimek's Animal Life Encyclopedia Vol 22
Insects. Van Nostrand Reinhold Co. NY.
Jump up ^Riek EF Kukalova-Peck J
(1984) "A new interpretation of dragonfly wing venation
based on early Upper Carboniferous fossils from
Argentina (Insecta: Odonatoida and basic character
states in Pterygote wings.)" Can. J. Zool. 62;
1150-1160.
Jump up ^Wakeling JM Ellington CP
(1997) Dragonfly flight III lift and power requirements"
Journal of Experimental Biology 200; 583-600, on
p589
Jump up ^Matsuda R (1970) Morphology
and evolution of the insect thorax. Mem. Ent. Soc. Can.
76; 1-431.
Jump up ^Riek EF Kukalova-Peck J
(1984) A new interpretation of dragonfly wing venation
based on early Upper Carboniferous fossils from
Argentina (Insecta: Odonatoida and basic character
states in Pterygote wings.) Can. J. Zool. 62; 1150-1160
^
Jump up to:
abHuttenlocker, A. K., and E.
Rega. 2012. The Paleobiology and Bone Microstructure of
Pelycosaurian-grade Synapsids. Pp. 90–119 in A. Chinsamy
(ed.) Forerunners of Mammals: Radiation, Histology,
Biology. Indiana University Press.
Jump up ^
Huttenlocker A. K.
(2009). "An investigation into the cladistic
relationships and monophyly of therocephalian therapsids
(Amniota: Synapsida)". Zoological Journal of the
Linnean Society. 157: 865–891.
doi:10.1111/j.1096-3642.2009.00538.x.
Jump up ^
Huttenlocker A. K.; Sidor
C. A.; Smith R. M. H. (2011). "A new specimen of
Promoschorhynchus (Therapsida: Therocephalia:
Akidnognathidae) from the lowermost Triassic of South
Africa and its implications for therocephalian survival
across the Permo-Triassic boundary". Journal of
Vertebrate Paleontology. 31: 405–421.
doi:10.1080/02724634.2011.546720.
Jump up ^
Kump, L.R., A. Pavlov,
and M.A. Arthur (2005). "Massive release of hydrogen
sulfide to the surface ocean and atmosphere during
intervals of oceanic anoxia". Geology. 33
(May): 397–400.
Bibcode:2005Geo....33..397K.
doi:10.1130/G21295.1.CS1
maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)
Jump up ^
Benton, Michael J.;
Twitchett, Richard J. (7 July 2003). "How to kill
(almost) all life: the end-Permian extinction event".
Trends in Ecology and Evolution. 18 (7):
358–365.
doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00093-4.
-----the following is from TIL 2013Feb based on Wikipedia 130102
UKT 180207: Portion by portion will be compared to new text above, and erased.
The world at the time was dominated by
a single super-continent known as
Pangaea,
surrounded by a global ocean called
Panthalassa. The extensive rainforests
of the Carboniferous period had disappeared,
leaving behind vast regions of arid desert
within the continental interior. Reptiles,
who could better cope with these dryer
conditions, rose to dominance in lieu
of their amphibian ancestors.
An example of an amphibian disappearing
in our time is the
{ré-poat-þing} of the Shan State, and
the small green tree frog which were
very abundant when we were young. Those
who would like to go more into this,
see NEW COUNTRY RECORDS AND RANGE EXTENSIONS
FOR MYANMAR AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES,
by G. O. U. Wogan, J.V. Vindum, J.A. Wilkinson,
M.S. Koo, J.B. Slowinski, Htun Win, Thin Thin,
Sai Wunna Kyi, San Lwin Oo, Kyi Soe Lwin
and Awan Khwi Shein, in Hamadryad Vol. 33,
No. 1, pp. 83 – 96, 2008.
http://researcharchive.calacademy.org/research/Herpetology/myanmar/PDFS/Wogan%20et%20al%202008.pdf
130102
UKT: According to legend which I have cut off
most of the area under Myanmarpré is carbonate
and clastic sedimentary rocks. -- UKT130102
Sea levels in the Permian remained generally
low. The period witnessed the
diversification of the early
amniotes into the ancestral groups of the
mammals,
turtles,
lepidosaurs and
archosaurs. The Permian Period (along
with the Paleozoic Era) ended with the
largest mass extinction in Earth's history,
in which nearly 90% of marine species
and 70% of terrestrial species died out.
It would take well into the Triassic for
life to recover from this catastrophe.
The super continent Pangaea straddled the
equator and extended toward the poles,
with a corresponding effect on ocean
currents in the single great ocean.
Large continental landmasses create climates
with extreme variations of heat and cold
("continental climate") and
monsoon conditions with highly seasonal
rainfall patterns. Deserts seem to have
been widespread on Pangaea. Such dry
conditions favored gymnosperms (seed
plants such as conifers and Ginkgo),
plants with seeds enclosed in a protective
cover, over plants such as ferns that disperse
spores. The first modern trees (conifers,
ginkgos and cycads) appeared in the Permian.
The Irrawaddy valley of present day Myanmarpré
was then under water and come to have
sedimentary carbonate and clastic rocks.
The position of the Mount Victoria Land
block (Mitchell, 1989) is unclear. Mitchell
(1989) considers it tectonically in an
equivalent position to India and separates
it from hypothetical extension of the Lhasa block
in Burma, now [{#4.p087}} hidden beneath
the central Burmese lowlands, along an ophiolitic
suture of middle Cretaceous age.
Since sedimentary rocks are important sources
of natural resources like coal, fossil fuels,
drinking water or
ores, we should always remember that our motherland
- Myanmarpré is one of the richest in natural
resources.
During the Permian, all the
Inset pix: Selwyn Rock (35°29′47″S
138°30′45″E), South Australia, an exhumed
Edaphosaurus pogonias and Platyhystrix – Early Permian, North America and Europe
Dimetrodon grandis and Eryops – Early Permian, North America
Ocher fauna, Estemmenosuchus uralensis and Eotitanosuchus – Middle Permian, Ural Region
Titanophoneus and Ulemosaurus – Ural Region
Inostrancevia alexandri and Scutosaurus – Late Permian, North European Russia (Northern Dvina)
.
PMID 18198148.
An example of an amphibian disappearing
in our time is the
{ré-poat-þing} of the Shan State, and
the small green tree frog which were
very abundant when we were young. Those
who would like to go more into this,
see NEW COUNTRY RECORDS AND RANGE EXTENSIONS
FOR MYANMAR AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES,
by G. O. U. Wogan, J.V. Vindum, J.A. Wilkinson,
M.S. Koo, J.B. Slowinski, Htun Win, Thin Thin,
Sai Wunna Kyi, San Lwin Oo, Kyi Soe Lwin
and Awan Khwi Shein, in Hamadryad Vol. 33,
No. 1, pp. 83 – 96, 2008.
