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[[File:lighterstill.jpg]][[File:The_eye_of_all_ur60.jpg|right|frame]] 59:5.1 The [[appearance]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish fish] during the preceding period marks the [[apex]] of [[marine]]-life [[evolution]]. From this point onward the [[evolution]] of [[land]] life becomes increasingly important. And this period opens with the [[stage]] almost [[ideally]] set for the [[appearance]] of the first [[land]] [[animals]]. 59:5.2 220,000,000 years ago many of the [https://www.wikipedia.com/wiki/Continents continental] [[land]] areas, including most of North America, were above [[water]]. The land was overrun by [[luxurious]] [[vegetation]]; this was indeed the age of [https://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern ferns]. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon-dioxide Carbon dioxide] was still present in the [[atmosphere]] but in lessening [[degree]]. 59:5.3 Shortly thereafter the central portion of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America North America] was inundated, creating two great inland seas. Both the Atlantic and Pacific coastal highlands were situated just beyond the present shore lines. These two seas presently united, commingling their [[different]] [[forms]] of life, and the [[union]] of these [[marine]] fauna marked the beginning of the rapid and world-wide decline in [[marine]] life and the opening of the subsequent [[land]]-life period. 59:5.4 210,000,000 years ago the warm-[[water]] [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_ocean arctic seas] covered most of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_America North America] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europe Europe]. The [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_pole south polar] [[waters]] inundated [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America South America] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Australia Australia], while both [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa Africa] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asia Asia] were highly elevated. 59:5.5 When the seas were at their height, a new [[evolutionary]] [[development]] suddenly occurred. Abruptly, the first of the [[land]] [[animals]] appeared. There were numerous [[species]] of these animals that were able to live on [[land]] or in [[water]]. These air-breathing [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibians amphibians] developed from the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropods arthropods], whose swim bladders had evolved into lungs. 59:5.6 From the briny waters of the [[seas]] there crawled out upon the [[land]] snails, scorpions, and frogs. Today frogs still lay their eggs in water, and their young first exist as little fishes, tadpoles. This period could well be known as the age of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frogs frogs] 59:5.7 Very soon thereafter the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insects insects] first appeared and, together with spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, crickets, and locusts, soon overspread the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continents continents] of the world. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly Dragon flies] measured thirty inches across. One thousand [[species]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockroach#Evolutionary_history_and_relationships cockroaches] developed, and some grew to be four inches long. 59:5.8 Two groups of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echinoderms echinoderms] became especially well [[developed]], and they are in [[reality]] the guide [[fossils]] of this [[epoch]]. The large shell-feeding [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharks sharks] were also highly [[evolved]], and for more than five million years they [[dominated]] the [[oceans]]. The climate was still mild and equable; the [[marine]] life was little changed. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_water fish Fresh-water fish] were [[developing]] and the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trilobites trilobites] were nearing [[extinction]]. Corals were scarce, and much of the limestone was being made by the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crinoids crinoids]. The finer building limestones were laid down during this epoch. 59:5.9 The waters of many of the inland seas were so heavily charged with lime and other [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minerals minerals] as greatly to [[interfere]] with the [[progress]] and [[development]] of many [[marine]] [[species]]. [[Eventually]] the seas cleared up as the result of an extensive stone deposit, in some places containing zinc and lead. 59:5.10 The deposits of this early [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous Carboniferous age] are from 500 to 2,000 feet thick, consisting of sandstone, shale, and limestone. The oldest strata yield the [[fossils]] of both [[land]] and [[marine]] [[animals]] and [[plants]], along with much gravel and basin sediments. Little workable coal is found in these older strata. These depositions throughout Europe are very similar to those laid down over North America. 59:5.11 Toward the close of this [[epoch]] the land of North America began to rise. There was a short interruption, and the sea returned to cover about half of its previous beds. This was a short inundation, and most of the [[land]] was soon well above [[water]]. South America was still connected with Europe by way of Africa. 59:5.12 This [[epoch]] witnessed the beginning of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vosges Vosges], [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Forest Black Forest], and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ural_mountains Ural mountains]. Stumps of other and older mountains are to be found all over Great Britain and Europe. 59:5.13 200,000,000 years ago the really [[active]] [[stages]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous Carboniferous] period began. For twenty million years prior to this time the earlier [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal coal] deposits were being laid down, but now the more extensive coal-formation activities were in [[process]]. The length of the actual coal-deposition epoch was a little over twenty-five million years. 59:5.14 The [[land]] was periodically going up and down due to the shifting sea level occasioned by [[activities]] on the [[ocean]] bottoms. This [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%27s_crust crustal uneasiness]—the settling and rising of the [[land]]—in [[connection]] with the prolific [[vegetation]] of the coastal swamps, contributed to the production of extensive coal deposits, which have caused this period to be known as the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous Carboniferous]. And the [[climate]] was still mild the world over. 59:5.15 The coal layers alternate with shale, stone, and conglomerate. These [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal#World_coal_reserves coal beds over central and eastern United States] vary in thickness from forty to fifty feet. But many of these deposits were washed away during subsequent land elevations. In some parts of North America and Europe the coal-bearing strata are 18,000 feet in thickness. 59:5.16 The [[presence]] of [[roots]] of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees trees] as they grew in the clay underlying the present coal beds [[demonstrates]] that coal was formed exactly where it is now found. Coal is the [[water]]-preserved and [[pressure]]-modified remains of the rank [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal#Types vegetation growing in the bogs] and on the swamp shores of this faraway age. Coal layers often hold both gas and oil. Peat beds, the remains of past [[vegetable]] growth, would be [[converted]] into a type of coal if subjected to proper [[pressure]] and [[heat]]. Anthracite has been subjected to more [[pressure]] and heat than other coal. 59:5.17 In [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal#World_coal_reserves North America the layers of coal] in the various beds, which indicate the number of times the land fell and rose, vary from ten in Illinois, twenty in Pennsylvania, thirty-five in Alabama, to seventy-five in Canada. Both fresh- and salt-water [[fossils]] are found in the coal beds. 59:5.18 Throughout this [[epoch]] the mountains of North and South America were active, both the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andes Andes] and the southern ancestral [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_mountains Rocky Mountains] rising. The great Atlantic and Pacific high coastal regions began to sink, eventually becoming so eroded and submerged that the coast lines of both [[oceans]] withdrew to approximately their present positions. The deposits of this inundation average about one thousand feet in thickness. 59:5.19 190,000,000 years ago witnessed a westward extension of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Cordillera_(North_America)#Geologic_origin North American Carboniferous sea over the present Rocky Mountain] region, with an outlet to the Pacific Ocean through northern California. Coal continued to be laid down throughout the Americas and Europe, layer upon layer, as the coastlands rose and fell during these ages of seashore oscillations. 59:5.20 180,000,000 years ago brought the close of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboniferous Carboniferous] period, during which [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal#Production_trends coal had been formed all over the world]—in Europe, India, China, North Africa, and the Americas. At the close of the coal-formation period North America east of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_valley Mississippi valley] rose, and most of this section has ever since remained above the [[sea]]. This land-elevation period marks the beginning of the modern mountains of North America, both in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appalachian_mountains Appalachian] regions and in the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Cordillera_(North_America)#Geologic_origin west]. Volcanoes were active in Alaska and California and in the mountain-forming regions of Europe and Asia. Eastern America and western Europe were connected by the continent of Greenland. 59:5.21 Land elevation began to modify the [[marine]] [[climate]] of the preceding ages and to substitute therefor the beginnings of the less mild and more variable continental climate. 59:5.22 The [[plants]] of these times were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spore spore] bearing, and the wind was able to spread them far and wide. The trunks of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trees#Classification Carboniferous trees] were commonly seven feet in diameter and often one hundred and twenty-five feet high. The modern ferns are truly relics of these bygone ages. 59:5.23 In general, these were the [[epochs]] of development for [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_water fresh-water] [[organisms]]; little [[change]] occurred in the previous [[marine]] life. But the important characteristic of this period was the sudden [[appearance]] of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog frogs] and their many cousins. The life features of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal coal] age were [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fern ferns] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frog frogs]. <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_59 Go to Paper 59]</center> <center>[https://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center> [[Category:Paper 59 - The Marine-Life Era on Urantia]] [[Category: Urantia]] [[Category: Evolution]] [[Category: Earth Science/TeaM]]

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