Overview - Timescale, Physical Landscapes

At the beginning of the period, glaciers were widely spread and latitudinal climate zones developed strongly. The climate warmed throughout the Permian, and by the end of the Permian, hot and arid conditions became widespread, creating a crisis for marine and terrestrial life in the Permian.



These dramatic changes in climate are thought to have been triggered when small continents came together to form the supercontinent Pangea. Much of Earth's land mass was incorporated into Pangea and surrounded by a huge global marine expanse known as Panthalassa.

• 358.9 - 298.9 ma
  
• Division of Paleozoic era
  
  Phanerozoic eon
  
  • Permian Period
    
    
    • Cisuralian
      
      • Asselian
        
      • Sakmarian
        
      • Artinskian
        
      • Kungurian
        
      
      
      
    
    
    • Guadalupian
      
      • Roadian
        
      • Wordian
        
      • Capitanian
        
      
      
      
    
    
    
    • Lopingian
      
      • Wuchiapingian
        
      • Changhsingian
        
      
      
      
    
    
    
    
  
  
  

During the Early Permian, northwestern Gondwana collided and merged with southern Laurussia, the Alleghenian orogeny occurred in what would later become North America, and the Hercynian orogeny continued in northwestern Europe. It then merged with Angara in the Ural orogenic belt, and by the middle of the Early Permian the unification of Pangea was complete.