Paleozoic Era 6: Permian Period
Key Events
- Landmasses converge into a supercontinent, called Pangea.
- Two groups of land animals develop, the synapsids (ancestors of mammals) and the sauropsids (ancestors of the dinosaurs and modern reptiles and birds).
- The largest mass extinction in Earth’s history occurs at the end of the Permian Period, probably caused by massive volcanic eruptions in Siberia.
- More than 95% of all species become extinct.
![Illustration of life during the Permian Period.](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Sea-to-Stars-Line-elements-A3-Finals_Page_09-724x1024.jpg)
Facts, Debates & Trivia
- The Permian Period is named after the Perm region in Russia’s Ural Mountains.
- The granite ‘backbone’ of Cornwall is formed during this period.
![](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cornwall-Sea-to-Stars-V5-Proofs_Page_10-341x1024.jpg)
Conditions
- The formation of Pangea leads to drier conditions where reptiles dominate.
![](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/10-Permian-280_million_ya-1024x952.jpg)
Timeline
298.9 – 251.9 million years ago
(47 million years)
![](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/10-Stopwatch-Permian-1024x843.png)
![](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/solow_motion.png)
Where have you reached on the trail?
![](https://cornwallseatostars.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/10-Permian_Trail.png)