Permian Period
298.9 – 251.9 million years ago · Paleozoic Era
In the Permian, Pangea was fully assembled: a single supercontinent surrounded by the global ocean Panthalassa. It ended in the most severe mass extinction life has ever faced.
At a glance
- Began
- 298.9 Ma
- Ended
- 251.9 Ma
- Duration
- 47 million years
- Era
- Paleozoic
- Climate state
- Transitional (warm with glacial episodes)
- Land above sea level (PaleoDEM)
- ~26.8%
- Dinosaurs on our map
- 0
The world in the Permian
Open the interactive map at 270 Ma → Elevation view
What Earth was like
Pangea stretched from the far north to the South Pole, shaped like a giant "C" around the Tethys Ocean. Its interior was far from any sea, creating vast deserts. The Central Pangean Mountains ran through its heart.
Climate
The ice sheets of Gondwana melted during the early Permian. The climate became increasingly hot and dry, with extreme seasons in the continental interior. By the end, a runaway greenhouse was underway.
Life
Synapsids, the lineage that leads to mammals, dominated the land: sail-backed Dimetrodon early on, then therapsids such as the saber-toothed gorgonopsians. Conifers and seed ferns such as Glossopteris spread across the drying continents.
Dinosaurs of the Permian
There were no dinosaurs yet. The first dinosaurs appear in the Late Triassic, around 233 million years ago.
How it ended
At 251.9 million years ago the Siberian Traps erupted, flooding an area larger than Western Europe with lava. The resulting warming, ocean acidification and oxygen loss caused the Great Dying: about 90% or more of marine species and around 70% of land vertebrate species vanished.
Key facts
- The end-Permian extinction is the largest known mass extinction.
- Glossopteris fossils across southern continents helped prove continental drift.
- Dimetrodon was not a dinosaur; it is closer to mammals.
Data: land and sea
Across the Permian, an average of 26.8% of Earth’s surface stood above reconstructed sea level (range 25.9–27.6%). Today the same model gives 31.8%.
Where this data comes from
- Continent positions: GPlates Web Service, Merdith et al. (2021) full-plate model, used for 250–540 Ma.
- Elevation and shorelines: PALEOMAP PaleoDEMs, Scotese & Wright (2018), doi:10.5281/zenodo.5460860, CC BY 4.0.
- Period boundaries: ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart (2023/09).
These are scientific reconstructions, not observations. Uncertainty grows the further back in time you go. About & data sources
Related reading
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- Plate tectonicsHow plates move, collide and build mountains and oceans.
- LearnArticles on countries, dinosaurs and supercontinents.
- FAQQuick answers about Pangea and the map.
- About & data sourcesWhere the reconstructions and fossil data come from.