In Carboniferous forests dragonflies grew as big as ravens.

在石炭的森林里，蜻蜓长到大得像乌鸦。

Near the end of an era called the carboniferous, earth started to cool.

在石炭时代末期，地球开始降温。

The long-ago seas of the Carboniferous and Devonian swarmed with tiny plankton that wrapped themselves inside tiny protective shells.

泥盆和石炭的古代海洋里生活着大批微小的浮游生。它们躲在小小的保护性壳里。

And even further, there hasn't been any glacial activity here since the carboniferous ended nearly 300 million years ago.

此，自近 3 亿年前石炭结束以来，这里就没有出现过任何冰川活动。

Iberospondylus, for example, was a Carboniferous genus that thrived in coastal environments in what's now Spain.

例如，Iberospondylus 是石炭的一个属，在现在西班牙的沿海环境中繁衍生息。

A big trackway discovered in Carboniferous rock in Scotland has been attributed to Hibbertopterus.

在苏格兰石炭岩石中发现的一条大轨道被归因于 Hibbertopterus。

New research is providing a deeper understanding of Whatcheeria, which lived around 330 million years ago during a time known as the Carboniferous period.

新的研究让人们对瓦切螈有了更深入的了解，它生活在大约3。3亿年前被称为石炭的时期。

It lived in the Inland Seas of North America 300 million years ago at the very end of the carboniferous period.

生活在3亿年前石炭末期的北美洲内海。

In addition to really putting the carbon in the Carboniferous, this storage of CO2 also created a sort of reverse-greenhouse effect.

除了真正将碳放入石炭，这种二氧化碳储存还产生了一种逆向温室效应。

And although the first amniotes evolved in the Carboniferous, it was during the Permian that they started taking over the world's land environments.

尽管第一批羊膜动是在石炭进化而来的，但它们是在二叠才开始占据世界的陆地环境。

Oxygen levels in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods, when terrestrial life first bloomed, were as high as 35 percent (as opposed to nearer 20 percent now).

在陆地生命大幅度增加的泥盆和石炭，空气中的氧的浓度高达35%（现在是将近20%）。

The whole history of the carboniferous period was written upon these gloomy walls, and a geologist might with ease trace all its diverse phases.

石炭的整个历都写在这些阴暗的墙壁上，地质学家可以轻松地追踪其所有不同的阶段。

And eventually, some hairless ape dug it up and burned it, releasing the energy that the scale trees absorbed from the Carboniferous sun over 300 million years ago.

最终， 一些无毛猿将其挖出并焚烧，释放出鳞片树在 3 亿多年前从石炭太阳吸收的能量。

To interpret rocks, there needs to be some means of correlation, a basis on which you can tell that those carboniferous rocks from Devon are younger than these Cambrian rocks from Wales.

若要解释岩石，你非得有某种并置对比的东西。在这个基础上，你可以知道德文的那些石炭岩石要比威尔士的这些寒武岩石年轻。

And back in the Carboniferous, many of the decomposing microbes that could break down the hardy lignin -- and release CO2 as a result -- had yet to evolve.

回到石炭，许多可以分解坚硬木质素并因此释放二氧化碳的分解微生尚未进化。

During the Carboniferous, much of the Earth was covered in lush forests and swamps, and this is where the scale trees flourished, sometimes growing as tall as a 15-story building.

在石炭， 地球的大部分地区都被茂密的森林和沼泽所覆盖，这里正是鳞茎繁茂的地方，有时甚至可以长到 15 层楼那么高。

And although the first temnospondyls lived on dry land as adults, it's in the late Carboniferous and early Permian when we see forms that were even better adapted to life in the water.

虽然第一批穿椎龙成年后生活在陆地上，但在石炭晚期和二叠早期， 我们才看到更适应水中生活的形态。

For roughly 65 million years, basically the second half of the Devonian Period and the first half of the Carboniferous, insects existed and continued to evolve, but for some reason, they weren't preserved very often in the fossil record.

在大约 6500 万年的时间里， 基本上是泥盆后半期和石炭上半期，昆虫存在并继续进化，但由于某种原因， 它们在化石记录中的保存并不频繁。