Tournaisian Stage

Dawn of the Coal Age

The Tournaisian Age (359–347 Ma) is the first age in the Carboniferous Period, occurring after the Famennian age, and before the Visean age

Above: Sanfordiacaulis densifolia reconstruction (Gastaldo et al. 2024)

Below: Reconstruction of continent positions during Tournaisian

Biological

Sanfordiacaulis densifolia, a single-stemmed, non-woody "tree" estimated to be 20 feet tall (Gastaldo et al. 2024)
- It possessed more than 250 leaves around its trunk, with partially-preserved leaves extending 1.75 meters, and probably another meter in real life
- Affinities for this plant are unknown

Geophysical

Tropical Everwet and Summerwet
- Dominated by arborescent lycopods, sphenophyllophytes, equisetophytes, and pteridosperms (Cleal and Thomas 1991)
- Clear increase in fossil charcoal in marine black shales during this time (Rimmer et al. 2015)
  - Burned plant material from ground fires being transported into watersheds
  - This is probably due to increased oxygen levels from the increased amount of plant life on land
Subtropical Desert
- no fossil evidence
Warm Temperate
- non-arborescent lycopsids and equisetophytes
Cool-cold temperate, arctic and glacial
- no fossil evidence