Localities of the Carboniferous:  Dendrerpeton and Joggins, Nova
Scotia  In the early part of the Carboniferous, during the
Mississippian Period, crustal plates were pulling apart in the
northern Appalachian Mountains of eastern North America. This
resulted in the formation of several basins separated by
highlands. These basins filled with non-marine sediments that
include sandstones, siltstones, and coals, through the Late
Carboniferous, or Pennsylvanian, and into the Early Permian. The
rapid rate of deposition of these sediments can be observed in
the 4000m section of Pennsylvanian strata around Joggins, Nova
Scotia.  Fossil stump Joggins scale trees : Above, you can see
the trunk of one of the large scale trees preserved at the
Joggins site. Note the pick hammer for scale. To the right is a
diagram of typical sediment layers associated with trees at this
site.  Within the Joggins basin, are the skeletal remains of one
of the earliest known terrestrial vertebrate faunas. The remains
of these early tetrapods