The Ordovician is the second period of the Paleozoic Era, following the Cambrian and preceding the Silurian, spanning roughly 486.85 to 443.1 million years ago. Marine life diversified enormously during the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, but the period closed with the Ordovician-Silurian extinction, the second-largest mass extinction in Earth history. 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 Ordovician-Silurian extinction events at the period's close eliminated about 49 percent of marine genera, with brachiopods, bryozoans, trilobites, conodonts and graptolites especially hard hit. 1 Defining Event Ordovician
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Source Alum Shale Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Beecher's Trilobite Bed (Wikipedia)
Source Bishops and Clerks (Wikipedia)
Source Cades Cove (Wikipedia)
Source Caledonian orogeny (Wikipedia)
Source Coral reef (Wikipedia)
Source Dalradian (Wikipedia)
Source Dob's Linn (Wikipedia)
Source Fezouata Formation (Wikipedia)
Source Kittatinny Valley (Wikipedia)
Source Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (Wikipedia)
Source Wikipedia: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Wikipedia
Source Scandinavian Mountains (Wikipedia)
Source Soom Shale (Wikipedia)
Source Winneshiek Shale (Wikipedia)
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1. Ordovician (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationIntroduction
Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it had in the earlier Cambrian Period, although the end of the period was marked by the Ordovician-Silurian extinction events.
Article text
At that time, all complex multicellular organisms were marine, and roughly 49% of all genera disappeared; brachiopods and bryozoans were heavily devastated, alongside severe losses among trilobite, conodont, and graptolite clades.
Climate
The Early Ordovician climate was very hot, with intense greenhouse conditions and sea surface temperatures comparable to those during the Early Eocene Climatic Optimum.
- Classification
- Timespan (start)
- Timespan (end)
Lead paragraph
Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it had in the earlier Cambrian Period, although the end of the period was marked by the Ordovician-Silurian extinction events.
View the Source Late Ordovician Mass Extinction (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Late Ordovician Mass ExtinctionView the Source Fezouata Formation (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Fezouata Formation, Lead paragraph
The Fezouata Formation or Fezouata Shale is a geological formation in Morocco which dates to the Early Ordovician.
Associated With: Fezouata Formation, Lead, age Ordovician
The Fezouata Formation or Fezouata Shale is a geological formation in Morocco which dates to the Early Ordovician.
View the SourceBeecher's Trilobite Bed (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Lead paragraph
Beecher's Trilobite Bed is a Konservat-Lagerstätte of Late Ordovician (Caradoc) age located within the Frankfort Shale in Cleveland's Glen, Oneida County, New York, USA. Only 3-4 centimeters thick, Beecher's Trilobite Bed has yielded numerous exceptionally preserved trilobites with the ventral anatomy and soft tissue intact, the soft tissue preserved by pyrite replacement.
Associated With: Beecher's Trilobite Bed, Lead, age Ordovician
Beecher's Trilobite Bed is a Konservat-Lagerstätte of Late Ordovician (Caradoc) age located within the Frankfort Shale in Cleveland's Glen, Oneida County, New York, USA.
View the SourceWinneshiek Shale (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Winneshiek Shale, Lead paragraph
The Winneshiek Shale (originally the Winneshiek Lagerstätte) is a Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian-age) geological formation in Iowa.
Associated With: Winneshiek Shale, Lead, age Ordovician
The Winneshiek Shale (originally the Winneshiek Lagerstätte) is a Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian-age) geological formation in Iowa.
View the SourceAlum Shale Formation (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Alum Shale, Lead paragraph
The Alum Shale Formation is a rock formation of black shale of Miaolingian (Middle Cambrian) to Tremadocian (Lower Ordovician) in age found predominantly in Scandinavia, but also some parts of Estonia and Finland.
Associated With: Alum Shale, Lead, age Ordovician
The Alum Shale Formation is a rock formation of black shale of Miaolingian (Middle Cambrian) to Tremadocian (Lower Ordovician) in age found predominantly in Scandinavia, but also some parts of Estonia and Finland.
View the SourceBishops and Clerks (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Bishops and Clerks, Article text, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Bishops and Clerks, Article text, age Ordovician
Llechau-uchaf is formed from the late Cambrian 'Lingula Flags' whilst Carreg-trai is formed from Ordovician acid tuffs of the Llanrian Volcanic Formation.
Cades Cove (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Cades Cove, Article text, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Cades Cove, Article text, age Ordovician
The majority of the rocks that make up Cades Cove are unaltered sedimentary rock formed between 340 million and 570 million years ago during the Ordovician period.
Caledonian orogeny (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Caledonian Orogeny, Lead, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Caledonian Orogeny, Lead, age Ordovician
The Caledonian orogeny encompasses events that occurred from the Ordovician to Early Devonian, roughly 490-390 million years ago (Ma).
Coral reef (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Coral Reef, Lead, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Coral Reef, Lead, age Ordovician
Coral reefs first appeared 485 million years ago, at the dawn of the Early Ordovician, displacing the microbial and sponge reefs of the Cambrian.
Dob's Linn (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Dob's Linn, Lead, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Dob's Linn, Lead, age Ordovician
Dob's Linn is important in geology as the location of the Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) which marks the boundary between the Ordovician and Silurian periods, and marks the base of the Llandovery epoch, on the geologic time scale.
Kittatinny Valley (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Kittatinny Valley, Article text, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Kittatinny Valley, Article text, age Ordovician
The Kittatinny Valley was created during the late Ordovician period and the Cambrian period.
Wikipedia: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Wikipedia
Associated With: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Article text, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: McMurdo Dry Valleys, Article text, age Ordovician
The Palaeozoic Granite Harbour intrusives include granitoid plutons and dykes, which intruded into the metasedimentary Skelton Group in the Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician during the Ross orogeny.
Scandinavian Mountains (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Scandinavian Mountains, Article text, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Scandinavian Mountains, Article text, age Ordovician
The lower unit is made up Ediacaran (Vendian), Cambrian, Ordovician and Silurian-aged sedimentary rocks.
Soom Shale (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Soom Shale, Lead, age OrdovicianQuote, Associated With: Soom Shale, Lead, age Ordovician
The Soom Shale is a member of the Late Ordovician (Hirnantian) Cederberg Formation (Table Mountain Group) in South Africa, renowned for its remarkable preservation of soft-tissue in fossil material.
Dalradian (Wikipedia)
Associated With: Dalradian Supergroup, Infobox: periodQuote, Associated With: Dalradian Supergroup, Infobox: period
Cryogenian-Ordovician
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