The Devonian is the fourth period of the Paleozoic Era, spanning about 419.62 to 358.86 million years ago. Jawed fish reached such diversity that the period is popularly called the Age of Fishes, while on land the first forests and free-sporing vascular plants spread widely; it closed with the Late Devonian extinction, one of the Big Five mass extinctions. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Facts
Start (Million Years Ago)Standard boundary age from the ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart; not independently re-dated by this atlas. End (Million Years Ago)Standard boundary age from the ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart; not independently re-dated by this atlas. Key EventThe Late Devonian extinction event, one of the traditional Big Five mass extinctions in Earth history, closed the period. 1 Defining Event Defining Event Devonian
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Source Abava Valley (Wikipedia)
Source Caledonian orogeny (Wikipedia)
Source Escuminac Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Gogo Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Great Glen Fault (Wikipedia)
Source Hunsrück Slate (Wikipedia)
Source Jengish Chokusu (Wikipedia)
Source Late Devonian Extinction (Wikipedia)
Source Old Red Sandstone (Wikipedia)
Source Orkney (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: Percé Rock, Wikipedia
Source Wikipedia: Purnululu National Park, Wikipedia
Source Rhynie chert (Wikipedia)
Source Vinson Massif (Wikipedia)
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1. Devonian (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction (fish diversity)
Fish, especially jawed fish, reached substantial diversity during this time, leading the Devonian to be called the Age of Fishes.
Article text
Together, these are considered one of the "Big Five" mass extinctions in Earth's history.
Lead section
The first significant evolutionary radiation of life on land occurred during the Devonian, as free-sporing land plants (pteridophytes) began to spread across dry land, forming extensive coal forests which covered the continents.
- Classification
- Timespan (start)
- Timespan (end)
Lead paragraph
The Late Devonian extinction, which started about 375 Ma, severely affected marine life, killing off most of the reef systems, most of the jawless fishes, the placoderms, and nearly all trilobites save for a few species of the order Proetida.
Lead paragraph, defining event
The first significant evolutionary radiation of life on land occurred during the Devonian, as free-sporing land plants (pteridophytes) began to spread across dry land, forming extensive coal forests which covered the continents.
View the Source Late Devonian Extinction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Late Devonian ExtinctionView the Source Old Red Sandstone (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Old Red Sandstone, Lead paragraph
Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age.
Associated With: Old Red Sandstone, Lead, age Devonian
Old Red Sandstone, abbreviated ORS, is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age.
View the SourceRhynie chert (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Rhynie Chert, Lead paragraph
First, the age of the site (Pragian, Early Devonian, formed about 410 million years ago) places it at an early stage in the colonisation of land.
Associated With: Rhynie Chert, Lead, age Devonian
The Rhynie chert is a Lower Devonian sedimentary deposit exhibiting extraordinary fossil detail or completeness (a Lagerstätte).
View the SourceEscuminac Formation (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Escuminac Formation, Lead paragraph
It preserves fossils dating back to the Frasnian, in the Devonian period.
Associated With: Escuminac Formation, Lead, age Devonian
It preserves fossils dating back to the Frasnian, in the Devonian period.
View the SourceAbava Valley (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Abava Valley, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Abava Valley, Article text, age Devonian
Beneath a veneer of Quaternary deposits-chiefly glacial till and glaciofluvial sand and gravel-lie Upper Devonian bedrocks composed of interbedded sandstones, clays, dolomites and marls.
Caledonian orogeny (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Caledonian Orogeny, Lead, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Caledonian Orogeny, Lead, age Devonian
The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly 490-390 million years ago (Ma).
Gogo Formation (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Gogo Formation, Lead, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Gogo Formation, Lead, age Devonian
The Gogo Formation in the Kimberley region of Western Australia is a Lagerstätte that exhibits exceptional preservation of a Devonian reef community.
Great Glen Fault (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Great Glen Fault, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Great Glen Fault, Article text, age Devonian
It formed towards the end of the Caledonian orogeny associated with the collision between the Laurentia and Baltic tectonic plates at the end of the Silurian continuing into the Early Devonian (likely age range 430-390 Ma (million years)).
Hunsrück Slate (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Hunsrück Slate, Lead, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Hunsrück Slate, Lead, age Devonian
The Hunsrück Slate (German: Hunsrück-Schiefer) is a Lower Devonian lithostratigraphic unit, a type of rock strata, in the German regions of the Hunsrück and Taunus.
Jengish Chokusu (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Jengish Chokusu, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Jengish Chokusu, Article text, age Devonian
These rocks are part of a kilometers-thick stack of thrust sheets, known as nappes, consisting of fault-bound sheets of metamorphosed Devonian to Carboniferous sedimentary strata.
Orkney (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Orkney, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Orkney, Article text, age Devonian
The superficial rock of Orkney is almost entirely Old Red Sandstone, mostly of Middle Devonian age.
Wikipedia: Percé Rock, Wikipedia
Associated With: Perce Rock, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Perce Rock, Article text, age Devonian
Percé Rock's huge limestone formation is geologically dated to the Devonian period of more than 400 million years ago (375 million years is also mentioned).
Wikipedia: Purnululu National Park, Wikipedia
Associated With: Purnululu Bungle Bungle Range, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Purnululu Bungle Bungle Range, Article text, age Devonian
The Bungle Bungles were a plateau of Devonian sandstone, carved into a mass of beehive-shaped towers with regularly alternating, dark gray bands of cyanobacterial crust (single cell photosynthetic organisms).
Vinson Massif (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Vinson Massif, Article text, age DevonianQuote, Associated With: Vinson Massif, Article text, age Devonian
The Mount Wyatt Earp Formation contains Devonian fossils.
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