The world dries out
Ice retreats, the interior bakes, and the wet world of the Carboniferous disappears for good.
- When
- Known to
- ± 10 million years
- Era
- Permian, Paleozoic
As the Late Paleozoic Ice Age winds down and Pangaea consolidates, global climate shifts decisively towards warmth and aridity. Coal deposition largely ceases in the tropics, deserts expand, and evaporite basins form across the supercontinent. Animals and plants adapted to permanent wetness are squeezed into shrinking refuges, while drought-tolerant lineages spread.