Palaeozoic era

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Related to Palaeozoic era: Mesozoic era, Cenozoic era

Palaeozoic era

an era of 350 million years duration, from the beginning of the CAMBRIAN PERIOD to the end of the PERMIAN PERIOD, lasting from 590 to 240 million years ago.

Collins Dictionary of Biology, 3rd ed. © W. G. Hale, V. A. Saunders, J. P. Margham 2005

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It has long been believed that ancient forests did not respond to climate changes in a significant manner, but a new study published in Nature Geoscience focusing on the Palaeozoic Era reveals that such forests and climate were closely interconnected.

An ancient connection between forests and climate

The origins of the Zambezi have been deciphered from geological evidence across the vast wilderness of the Chicoa, Gwembe, Luangwa, Mana and Sebungwe valleys of south-central Africa; here, rock formations and landforms preserve the central repository of the river's history back into the Palaeozoic Era before 280 Ma (million years ago).The Proto-Zambezi river originated in the drainage system that was established as vast Dwyka ice-sheets were receding across the super-continent of Gondwana.

On the antiquity of the Zambezi River, its rifts, and its wilderness

The Permian covers the upper part of the Palaeozoic era (after the Pennsylvanian), thought to have covered a period between 280 and 225m years ago.