Climate, decay, and the death of the coal forests

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• 作者：David Hibbett¹ ; ^{dhibbett@clarku.edu" class="auth_mail" title="E-mail the corresponding author} ; Robert Blanchette² ; Paul Kenrick³ ; Benjamin Mills⁴
• 刊名：Current Biology
• 出版年：2016
• 出版时间：11 July 2016
• 年：2016
• 卷：26
• 期：13
• 页码：R563-R567
• 全文大小：854 K

文摘

After death, most of the biological carbon in organisms (C_org) is returned to the atmosphere as CO₂ through the respiration of decomposers and detritivores or by combustion. However, the balance between these processes is not perfect, and when productivity exceeds decomposition, carbon sequestration results. An unparalleled interval of carbon sequestration in Earth’s history occurred during the Late Carboniferous (Pennsylvanian) and Permian Periods (ca. 323–252 Ma), when arborescent vascular plants related to living club mosses (Lycophytes), ferns (Monilophytes), horsetails (Equisetophytes) and seed plants (Spermatophytes) formed extensive forests in coastal wetlands. On their death, these plants became buried in sediments, where they transformed into peat, lignite, and, finally, coal.