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73-580: The Manx Group is an Ordovician lithostratigraphic group (a sequence of rock strata ) in the Isle of Man in the Irish Sea . The name is derived from the name of the island which is largely formed from them; these rocks have also previously been referred to as the Manx Slates or Manx Slates Series . The group comprises dark mudstones with siltstone laminae and some sandstones and which exceed

146-600: A dense rock equivalent volume of as much as 1,140 cubic kilometres (270 cu mi). Remarkably, this appears to have had little impact on life. There was vigorous tectonic activity along northwest margin of Gondwana during the Floian, 478 Ma, recorded in the Central Iberian Zone of Spain. The activity reached as far as Turkey by the end of Ordovician. The opposite margin of Gondwana, in Australia, faced

219-603: A biogeographic affinity with Gondwana, and the Alborz margin of Gondwana was linked biogeographically to South China. Southeast Asia's fauna also maintained strong affinities to Gondwana's. North China was biogeographically connected to Laurentia and the Argentinian margin of Gondwana. A Celtic biogeographic province also existed, separate from the Laurentian and Baltican ones. However, tropical articulate brachiopods had

292-468: A burst of volcanic activity that deposited new silicate rocks, which draw CO 2 out of the air as they erode. Another possibility is that bryophytes and lichens, which colonized land in the middle to late Ordovician, may have increased weathering enough to draw down CO 2 levels. The drop in CO 2 selectively affected the shallow seas where most organisms lived. It has also been suggested that shielding of

365-590: A deep embayment between Siberia and the Central Mongolian terranes . Most of the terranes of central Asia were part of an equatorial archipelago whose geometry is poorly constrained by the available evidence. The period was one of extensive, widespread tectonism and volcanism. However, orogenesis (mountain-building) was not primarily due to continent-continent collisions. Instead, mountains arose along active continental margins during accretion of arc terranes or ribbon microcontinents. Accretion of new crust

438-607: A distinct band around the Earth, and that the breakup of the parent body may have formed a ring system for a period of about 40 million years, with frequent falling debris causing these craters. The Ordovician was a time of calcite sea geochemistry in which low-magnesium calcite was the primary inorganic marine precipitate of calcium carbonate . Carbonate hardgrounds were thus very common, along with calcitic ooids , calcitic cements, and invertebrate faunas with dominantly calcitic skeletons. Biogenic aragonite , like that composing

511-464: A given landmass were severely affected. Tropical lifeforms were hit particularly hard in the first wave of extinction, while cool-water species were hit worst in the second pulse. Those species able to adapt to the changing conditions survived to fill the ecological niches left by the extinctions. For example, there is evidence the oceans became more deeply oxygenated during the glaciation, allowing unusual benthic organisms (Hirnantian fauna) to colonize

584-664: A long, narrow sea, was Baltica . Composed of modern Norway , Sweden , Finland , Denmark , northeastern Germany and Russia west of the Ural Mountains , this area ranged from the equator in the north to more than 30 degrees south latitude. Stretching westward from its southwest tip was an island arc known as Avalonia by modern scientists. This consisted of what is now the southern parts of Britain and Ireland , and eastern coastal regions of Newfoundland , Nova Scotia , New Brunswick , and New England . The Hirnantian now represents an internationally accepted stage with

657-693: A more cosmopolitan distribution , with less diversity on different continents. During the Middle Ordovician, beta diversity began a significant decline as marine taxa began to disperse widely across space. Faunas become less provincial later in the Ordovician, partly due to the narrowing of the Iapetus Ocean, though they were still distinguishable into the late Ordovician. Trilobites in particular were rich and diverse, and experienced rapid diversification in many regions. Trilobites in

730-721: A refinement to the Hirnantian Stage. This expanded the stage to include all of the Foel-y-Ddinas Mudstones, of which the Hirnant Limestone is a part. This expansion brought the Hirnantian Stage to its current scope. The International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS) originally divided the Upper Ordovician into two stages. After considerable research, however, it was determined that no single faunal zone existed that could accommodate

803-541: A set of island arcs. The accretion of these arcs to the eastern margin of Gondwana was responsible for the Benambran Orogeny of eastern Australia. Subduction also took place along what is now Argentina (Famatinian Orogeny) at 450 Ma. This involved significant back arc rifting. The interior of Gondwana was tectonically quiet until the Triassic . Towards the end of the period, Gondwana began to drift across

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876-494: A thickness of 3000m. It is divided into a lowermost Glen Dhoo Formation which is overlain by (though the entire known boundary is faulted) the Lonan, Mull Hill, Creg Agneash and Maughold formations in ascending order. A fault separates these from the overlying Barrule, Injebreck, Glen Rushen and Creggan Mooar formations which are in turn separated by a fault from an overlying Ladyport Formation. In stratigraphic order (youngest at top)

949-539: Is defined as the first appearance datum of the graptolite species Normalograptus extraordinarius in that section. Secondary markers are Normalograptus ojsuensi 4 cm below the boundary, and the Hirnantia Fauna 39 cm above the boundary. As mentioned above, there was a major climatic oscillation during the Hirnantian, which is believed to have caused a major mass extinction event . When

1022-425: Is from the early Silurian Birkhill shale formations. Radiometric dating placed zircon samples found in another ash deposit at 438.7 mya, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 million years. With these dates as a base, scientists were able to use biostratigraphic correlation techniques to determine close approximations for the timing of various events during the Hirnantian. There are two Graptolite biozones in

1095-489: Is marked by a sudden abundance of hard substrate trace fossils such as Trypanites , Palaeosabella , Petroxestes and Osprioneides . Bioerosion became an important process, particularly in the thick calcitic skeletons of corals, bryozoans and brachiopods, and on the extensive carbonate hardgrounds that appear in abundance at this time. Green algae were common in the Late Cambrian (perhaps earlier) and in

1168-515: Is the Wangjiawan section ( 30°59′03″N 111°25′11″E  /  30.9841°N 111.4197°E  / 30.9841; 111.4197 ) near the village Wangjiawan , 42 km north of Yichang ( Hubei , China ). It is an outcrop of the Wufeng and overlying Lungmachi Formation , the former containing the base of the Hirnantian. Both formations consist mainly of shale and chert . The base

1241-518: The Cambrian , reef -forming corals appeared in the early Ordovician, including the earliest known octocorals , corresponding to an increase in the stability of carbonate and thus a new abundance of calcifying animals. Brachiopods surged in diversity, adapting to almost every type of marine environment. Even after GOBE, there is evidence suggesting that Ordovician brachiopods maintained elevated rates of speciation. Molluscs , which appeared during

1314-949: The Hirnantian . The Ashgill Epoch, the last epoch of the British Ordovician, is made of four ages: the Hirnantian Age, the Rawtheyan Age, the Cautleyan Age, and the Pusgillian Age. These ages make up the time period from c. 450 Ma to c. 443 Ma. The Rawtheyan, the second last of the Ashgill ages, was from c. 449 Ma to c. 445 Ma. It is in the Katian Age of the ICS's Geologic Time Scale . During

1387-696: The ICS erected a formal international system of subdivisions for the Ordovician Period and System. Pre-existing Baltoscandic, British, Siberian, North American, Australian, Chinese, Mediterranean and North- Gondwanan regional stratigraphic schemes are also used locally. The Ordovician Period in Britain was traditionally broken into Early (Tremadocian and Arenig ), Middle ( Llanvirn (subdivided into Abereiddian and Llandeilian) and Llandeilo ) and Late ( Caradoc and Ashgill) epochs. The corresponding rocks of

1460-766: The Rheic Ocean between Gondwana and Avalonia. Avalonia collided with Baltica towards the end of Ordovician. Other geographic features of the Ordovician world included the Tornquist Sea , which separated Avalonia from Baltica; the Aegir Ocean, which separated Baltica from Siberia; and an oceanic area between Siberia, Baltica, and Gondwana which expanded to become the Paleoasian Ocean in Carboniferous time. The Mongol-Okhotsk Ocean formed

1533-471: The endocerid cephalopods died out completely, except for possible rare Silurian forms. The Ordovician–Silurian extinction events may have been caused by an ice age that occurred at the end of the Ordovician Period, due to the expansion of the first terrestrial plants , as the end of the Late Ordovician was one of the coldest times in the last 600 million years of Earth's history. On the whole,

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1606-516: The Cambrian or even the Ediacaran , became common and varied, especially bivalves , gastropods , and nautiloid cephalopods. Cephalopods diversified from shallow marine tropical environments to dominate almost all marine environments. Graptolites, which evolved in the preceding Cambrian period, thrived in the oceans. This includes the distinctive Nemagraptus gracilis graptolite fauna, which

1679-610: The Cambrian or the Silurian systems, and placed them in a system of their own. The Ordovician received international approval in 1960 (forty years after Lapworth's death), when it was adopted as an official period of the Paleozoic Era by the International Geological Congress . Life continued to flourish during the Ordovician as it had in the earlier Cambrian Period, although the end of the period

1752-472: The Cambrian were succeeded by those that dominated the rest of the Paleozoic, such as articulate brachiopods, cephalopods , and crinoids . Articulate brachiopods, in particular, largely replaced trilobites in shelf communities. Their success epitomizes the greatly increased diversity of carbonate shell-secreting organisms in the Ordovician compared to the Cambrian. Ordovician geography had its effect on

1825-904: The Early Eocene Climatic Optimum. Carbon dioxide levels were very high at the Ordovician period's beginning. By the late Early Ordovician, the Earth cooled, giving way to a more temperate climate in the Middle Ordovician, with the Earth likely entering the Early Palaeozoic Ice Age during the Sandbian, and possibly as early as the Darriwilian or even the Floian. The Dapingian and Sandbian saw major humidification events evidenced by trace metal concentrations in Baltoscandia from this time. Evidence suggests that global temperatures rose briefly in

1898-473: The Early Ordovician, leveling off somewhat during the middle of the period. Locally, some regressions occurred, but the sea level rise continued in the beginning of the Late Ordovician. Sea levels fell steadily due to the cooling temperatures for about 3 million years leading up to the Hirnantian glaciation. During this icy stage, sea level seems to have risen and dropped somewhat. Despite much study,

1971-559: The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event) was no less remarkable; marine faunal genera increased fourfold, resulting in 12% of all known Phanerozoic marine fauna. Several animals also went through a miniaturization process, becoming much smaller than their Cambrian counterparts. Another change in the fauna was the strong increase in filter-feeding organisms. The trilobite, inarticulate brachiopod, archaeocyathid , and eocrinoid faunas of

2044-603: The Hirnantian (also known as the End Ordovician and the Ordovician-Silurian ) mass extinction event represents the second largest such event in geologic history . Approximately 85% of marine (sea-dwelling) species died. Only the End-Permian mass extinction was larger. Unlike many smaller extinction events, however, the long-term consequences of the End Ordovician event were relatively small. Following

2117-402: The Hirnantian Stage began, the Earth's climate was hot and sea-levels were substantially higher than today. The seas were filled with a diverse fauna. However, there is considerable evidence to indicate that many of these species were already in trouble when the Hirnantian began, and that overall biological diversity was already in sharp decline. As the climate cooled and glaciers formed during

2190-496: The Hirnantian and these are of approximately equal length. The base (beginning) of the Hirnantian Stage is defined by the first appearance in the geologic record of the graptolite Normalograptus extraordinarius , and thus, the Normalograptus extraordinarius biozone defines the early (or lower) part of the Hirnantian. The later (or upper) part is defined by the first appearance of the graptolite Normalograptus persulptus , and

2263-507: The Hirnantian glaciation. As with North America and Europe , Gondwana was largely covered with shallow seas during the Ordovician. Shallow clear waters over continental shelves encouraged the growth of organisms that deposit calcium carbonates in their shells and hard parts. The Panthalassic Ocean covered much of the Northern Hemisphere , and other minor oceans included Proto-Tethys , Paleo-Tethys , Khanty Ocean , which

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2336-598: The Hirnantian included the Hirnant Limestone and related sedimentary formations. These formations were located at the very top of Ordovician deposits, and were dominated by a fauna which included brachiopods, trilobites, and other "shelly" or hard-coated animals. In 1966, D. A. Bassett, Harry Blackmore Whittington , and A. Williams, writing in the Journal of the Geological Society of London, proposed

2409-429: The Hirnantian was characterized by cold temperatures, major glaciation , and a severe drop in sea level. In the latter part of the Hirnantian, temperatures rose, the glaciers melted, and sea level returned to the same or to a slightly higher level than it had been prior to the glaciation. Most scientists believe that this climatic oscillation caused the major extinction event that took place during this time. In fact,

2482-628: The Late Ordovician argues that the mass extinction was a single protracted episode lasting several hundred thousand years, with abrupt changes in water depth and sedimentation rate producing two pulses of last occurrences of species. Hirnantian The Hirnantian is the final internationally recognized stage of the Ordovician Period of the Paleozoic Era . It was of short duration, lasting about 1.4 million years, from 445.2 to 443.8 Ma (million years ago). The early part of

2555-475: The Normalograptus persulptus biozone lasts from then until the end of the Hirnantian. This also marks the end of the Ordovician Period. These biozones allow for additional refinement in dating events occurring within the Hirnantian Stage. During the Hirnantian, much of the world's land mass was gathered into a supercontinent called Gondwana , which occupied extreme southern latitudes and covered

2628-644: The Ordovician System are referred to as coming from the Lower, Middle, or Upper part of the column. The Tremadoc corresponds to the ICS's Tremadocian. The Arenig corresponds to the Floian, all of the Dapingian and the early Darriwilian. The Llanvirn corresponds to the late Darriwilian. The Caradoc covers the Sandbian and the first half of the Katian. The Ashgill represents the second half of the Katian, plus

2701-469: The Ordovician of Wisconsin have been found with an age of about 460 million years ago, a time when the land flora most likely only consisted of plants similar to non-vascular bryophytes . Though stromatolites had declined from their peak in the Proterozoic, they continued to exist in localised settings. The Ordovician came to a close in a series of extinction events that, taken together, comprise

2774-421: The Ordovician were very different from their predecessors in the Cambrian. Many trilobites developed bizarre spines and nodules to defend against predators such as primitive eurypterids and nautiloids while other trilobites such as Aeglina prisca evolved to become swimming forms. Some trilobites even developed shovel-like snouts for ploughing through muddy sea bottoms. Another unusual clade of trilobites known as

2847-774: The Ordovician, the southern continents were assembled into Gondwana , which reached from north of the equator to the South Pole . The Panthalassic Ocean, centered in the northern hemisphere, covered over half the globe. At the start of the period, the continents of Laurentia (in present-day North America ), Siberia , and Baltica (present-day northern Europe) were separated from Gondwana by over 5,000 kilometres (3,100 mi) of ocean. These smaller continents were also sufficiently widely separated from each other to develop distinct communities of benthic organisms. The small continent of Avalonia had just rifted from Gondwana and began to move north towards Baltica and Laurentia, opening

2920-582: The Ordovician, when at least two volcanic island arcs collided with Laurentia to form the Appalachian Mountains . Laurentia was otherwise tectonically stable. An island arc accreted to South China during the period, while subduction along north China (Sulinheer) resulted in the emplacement of ophiolites. The ash fall of the Millburg/Big Bentonite bed, at about 454 Ma, was the largest in the last 590 million years. This had

2993-428: The Ordovician. The ice age was possibly not long-lasting. Oxygen isotopes in fossil brachiopods show its duration may have been only 0.5 to 1.5 million years. Other researchers (Page et al.) estimate more temperate conditions did not return until the late Silurian. The late Ordovician glaciation event was preceded by a fall in atmospheric carbon dioxide (from 7000 ppm to 4400 ppm). The dip may have been caused by

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3066-557: The Ordovician. Terrestrial plants probably evolved from green algae, first appearing as tiny non- vascular forms resembling liverworts , in the middle to late Ordovician. Fossil spores found in Ordovician sedimentary rock are typical of bryophytes. Among the first land fungi may have been arbuscular mycorrhiza fungi ( Glomerales ), playing a crucial role in facilitating the colonization of land by plants through mycorrhizal symbiosis , which makes mineral nutrients available to plant cells; such fossilized fungal hyphae and spores from

3139-613: The South Pole. This contributed to the Hibernian glaciation and the associated extinction event. The Ordovician meteor event is a proposed shower of meteors that occurred during the Middle Ordovician Epoch, about 467.5 ± 0.28 million years ago, due to the break-up of the L chondrite parent body. It is not associated with any major extinction event. A 2024 study found that craters from this event cluster in

3212-463: The South pole. The rest of North America (called Laurentia by scientists) lay to the north and west of Gondwana, with relatively warmer climates. Rotated almost 45 degrees from their modern orientation, the eastern states of today's U.S. were located along the southeast coast of the continent, while the coastal areas of what are now the southeastern states faced south. To the east of Laurentia, across

3285-564: The Wuliuan, exploded in diversity during the Tremadocian, quickly becoming globally widespread. Several groups of endobiotic symbionts appeared in the Ordovician. In the Early Ordovician, trilobites were joined by many new types of organisms, including tabulate corals, strophomenid , rhynchonellid , and many new orthid brachiopods, bryozoans, planktonic graptolites and conodonts, and many types of molluscs and echinoderms, including

3358-482: The climatic oscillation, the climate returned to its previous state, and the species that survived soon (within two or three million years) evolved into species very similar to the ones that existed before. The Hirnantian was named after Cwm Hirnant south of Bala , in northern Wales . Cwm Hirnant means the "valley of the long stream" in Welsh . The stage was introduced in 1933 by B.B. Bancroft. As proposed by Bancroft,

3431-456: The depths. These organisms were cosmopolitan in distribution and present at most latitudes. At the end of the second event, melting glaciers caused the sea level to rise and stabilise once more. The rebound of life's diversity with the permanent re-flooding of continental shelves at the onset of the Silurian saw increased biodiversity within the surviving Orders. Recovery was characterized by an unusual number of "Lazarus taxa", disappearing during

3504-415: The details remain unresolved. In particular, some researches interpret the fluctuations in sea level as pre-Hibernian glaciation, but sedimentary evidence of glaciation is lacking until the end of the period. There is evidence of glaciers during the Hirnantian on the land we now know as Africa and South America, which were near the South Pole at the time, facilitating the formation of the ice caps of

3577-422: The diversity of fauna; Ordovician invertebrates displayed a very high degree of provincialism. The widely separated continents of Laurentia and Baltica, then positioned close to the tropics and boasting many shallow seas rich in life, developed distinct trilobite faunas from the trilobite fauna of Gondwana, and Gondwana developed distinct fauna in its tropical and temperature zones. The Tien Shan terrane maintained

3650-559: The early Katian (Boda Event), depositing bioherms and radiating fauna across Europe. The early Katian also witnessed yet another humidification event. Further cooling during the Hirnantian, at the end of the Ordovician, led to the Late Ordovician glaciation . The Ordovician saw the highest sea levels of the Paleozoic, and the low relief of the continents led to many shelf deposits being formed under hundreds of metres of water. The sea level rose more or less continuously throughout

3723-603: The early part of the Hirnantian, sea level dropped. Estimates of the depth of this drop range from more than 50 meters (based on studies in Nevada and Utah ) to more than 100 meters (from studies in Norway and the United Kingdom ). More recent research indicates a worldwide reduction in sea level of approximately 80 meters. This drop dried up and exposed the extensive shallow-water continental shelves that existed throughout

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3796-425: The extinction and reappearing well into the Silurian, which suggests that the taxa survived in small numbers in refugia . An alternate extinction hypothesis suggested that a ten-second gamma-ray burst could have destroyed the ozone layer and exposed terrestrial and marine surface-dwelling life to deadly ultraviolet radiation and initiated global cooling. Recent work considering the sequence stratigraphy of

3869-543: The fauna that emerged in the Ordovician were the template for the remainder of the Palaeozoic. The fauna was dominated by tiered communities of suspension feeders, mainly with short food chains. The ecological system reached a new grade of complexity far beyond that of the Cambrian fauna, which has persisted until the present day. Though less famous than the Cambrian explosion , the Ordovician radiation (also known as

3942-575: The fauna that had survived the first extinction event. While there are no major radiometric dates for the Hirnantian itself, there are two such dates which bracket the Hirnantian. Both dates are from the Dob's Linn area in the United Kingdom. The older one comes from the local Hartfell shale formations. Zircon found in an ash deposit at the site was dated to 445.7 mya , with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 million years. The younger date

4015-578: The first rugose corals appeared. The planktonic graptolites remained diverse, with the Diplograptina making their appearance. One of the earliest known armoured agnathan (" ostracoderm ") vertebrates, Arandaspis , dates from the Middle Ordovician. During the Middle Ordovician there was a large increase in the intensity and diversity of bioeroding organisms. This is known as the Ordovician Bioerosion Revolution. It

4088-564: The formations are: Ordovician The Ordovician, named after the Welsh tribe of the Ordovices , was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879 to resolve a dispute between followers of Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison , who were placing the same rock beds in North Wales in the Cambrian and Silurian systems, respectively. Lapworth recognized that the fossil fauna in the disputed strata were different from those of either

4161-548: The ophiuroids ("brittle stars") and the first sea stars . Nevertheless, the arthropods remained abundant; all the Late Cambrian orders continued, and were joined by the new group Phacopida . The first evidence of land plants also appeared (see evolutionary history of life ). In the Middle Ordovician, the trilobite-dominated Early Ordovician communities were replaced by generally more mixed ecosystems, in which brachiopods, bryozoans, molluscs, cornulitids , tentaculitids and echinoderms all flourished, tabulate corals diversified and

4234-400: The sea level dropped, and the vast shallow intra-continental Ordovician seas withdrew, which eliminated many ecological niches. When they returned, they carried diminished founder populations that lacked many whole families of organisms. They then withdrew again with the next pulse of glaciation, eliminating biological diversity with each change. Species limited to a single epicontinental sea on

4307-426: The sea, and about 49% of genera of fauna disappeared forever; brachiopods and bryozoans were greatly reduced, along with many trilobite , conodont and graptolite families. The most commonly accepted theory is that these events were triggered by the onset of cold conditions in the late Katian, followed by an ice age , in the Hirnantian faunal stage, that ended the long, stable greenhouse conditions typical of

4380-512: The second largest of the five major extinction events in Earth's history in terms of percentage of genera that became extinct. The only larger one was the Permian–Triassic extinction event . The extinctions occurred approximately 447–444 million years ago and mark the boundary between the Ordovician and the following Silurian Period. At that time all complex multicellular organisms lived in

4453-425: The shells of most molluscs , dissolved rapidly on the sea floor after death. Unlike Cambrian times, when calcite production was dominated by microbial and non-biological processes, animals (and macroalgae) became a dominant source of calcareous material in Ordovician deposits. The Early Ordovician climate was very hot, with intense greenhouse conditions and sea surface temperatures comparable to those during

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4526-402: The south pole. This included South America , Africa , most of Australia , the bulk of India , and Antarctica . What is now west Africa was then located at the pole, while South America was close by, joined to Africa along the latter's west coast. Along Africa's east coast were Antarctica and India, while Australia lay just to the north of them, straddling the equator. To the north of Australia

4599-425: The sun's rays from the proposed Ordovician ring system, which also caused the Ordovician meteor event , may have also led to the glaciation. As the southern supercontinent Gondwana drifted over the South Pole, ice caps formed on it, which have been detected in Upper Ordovician rock strata of North Africa and then-adjacent northeastern South America, which were south-polar locations at the time. As glaciers grew,

4672-399: The trinucleids developed a broad pitted margin around their head shields. Some trilobites such as Asaphus kowalewski evolved long eyestalks to assist in detecting predators whereas other trilobite eyes in contrast disappeared completely. Molecular clock analyses suggest that early arachnids started living on land by the end of the Ordovician. Although solitary corals date back to at least

4745-401: The upper stage of this division. Therefore, in 2003, the ICS voted to add an additional stage to its official international time scale. This was named the Hirnantian after Bancroft's stage. In 2006 the ICS ratified the Wangjiawan section as the official Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the Hirnantian Stage. The reference lower rock boundary ( GSSP ) of the Hirnantian

4818-425: The warm environment species that had thrived during the previous hot period (hot-house to scientists). Just as the species were adapting, however, the climate changed again. During the latter part of the Hirnantian, temperatures rose, the glaciers melted, and sea level rose to the same or perhaps an even higher level than before the glaciation. The exposed shelves were flooded, resulting in additional extinctions among

4891-446: The world at that time, causing the extinction of large numbers of species who depended on this shallow water environment. Those species that survived were greatly reduced in numbers. The overall result was a major reduction in the biodiversity of the world's oceans. During this ice-house period (as scientists sometimes call periods of global cold climate and glaciation), surviving species began to adapt. Cold environment species replaced

4964-418: The world's first true vertebrates , continued to evolve, and those with jaws may have first appeared late in the period. About 100 times as many meteorites struck the Earth per year during the Ordovician compared with today in a period known as the Ordovician meteor event . It has been theorized that this increase in impacts may originate from a ring system that formed around Earth at the time. In 2008,

5037-451: Was New Guinea . It may have been the northernmost point of land in the world, located just above 30 degrees north latitude. To the north of it lay a vast, uninterrupted sea, known today as the Panthalassic ocean . Not yet joined with what would become North America were Florida, southern Georgia, and the coastal areas of Mississippi , Alabama , and South Carolina wedged into a gap between Africa and South America, and located very near

5110-482: Was closed off by the Late Ordovician, Iapetus Ocean , and the new Rheic Ocean . For most of the Late Ordovician life continued to flourish, but at and near the end of the period there were mass-extinction events that seriously affected conodonts and planktonic forms like graptolites . The trilobites Agnostida and Ptychopariida completely died out, and the Asaphida were much reduced. Brachiopods , bryozoans and echinoderms were also heavily affected, and

5183-439: Was distributed widely during peak sea levels in the Sandbian. Some new cystoids and crinoids appeared. It was long thought that the first true vertebrates (fish — Ostracoderms ) appeared in the Ordovician, but recent discoveries in China reveal that they probably originated in the Early Cambrian . The first gnathostome (jawed fish) may have appeared in the Late Ordovician epoch. Chitinozoans, which first appeared late in

5256-495: Was limited to the Iapetus margin of Laurentia; elsewhere, the pattern was of rifting in back-arc basins followed by remerger. This reflected episodic switching from extension to compression. The initiation of new subduction reflected a global reorganization of tectonic plates centered on the amalgamation of Gondwana. The Taconic orogeny , a major mountain-building episode, was well under way in Cambrian times. This continued into

5329-544: Was marked by the Ordovician–Silurian extinction events . Invertebrates, namely molluscs and arthropods , dominated the oceans, with members of the latter group probably starting their establishment on land during this time, becoming fully established by the Devonian . The first land plants are known from this period. The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event considerably increased the diversity of life. Fish ,

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