Silurian

The Silurian is a Geologic Period that extends from about 408.5 to 443.5 million Years before the present. As with most other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the start and end are well identified, but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are uncertain by 5-10 million years. The Silurian period follows the Ordovician and is followed by the Devonian period. The base of the Silurian is set at a major extinction event where 60% of marine species were wiped out.

The Silurian system was first described by Sir Roderick Murchison in the 1830s based on rocks in South Wales. It is named for a Welsh Celtic tribe -- the Silures. The series quickly came to overlap the Sedgwick[?]'s Cambrian sequence. Lapworth eventually resolved the conflict by defining a new Ordovician system including the contended beds.

The Silurian is usually broken into Lower and Upper subdivisions, however some workers do use a Lower/Middle/Upper breakdown. The Faunal stages from youngest to oldest are:

• no stage defined? (Upper-Pridoli)
• Cayugan (Upper- Ludlow)
• Ludfordian (Upper- Ludlow)
• Gorstian (Upper- Ludlow)
• Homerian/Lockportian (Middle-Wenlock)
• Sheinwoodian/Tonawandan (Middle-Wenlock)
• Telychian/Ontarian (Lower-Llandovery)
• Aeronian/Alexandrian (Lower-Llandovery)
• Rhuddanian/Alexandrian (Lower-Llandovery)

Life was abundant in the Silurian. Silurian beds are oil and gas producers in some areas. Extensive beds of Silurian hematite -- an iron ore -- in Eastern North America were important to the colonial economy.

The Silurian was a time of high sea levels in Eastern North America and Europe. Primitive multicelled land plants are found from the Silurian. A few arthropods seem to have invaded the land during the Silurian. Fish reached considerable diversity and developed movable jaws. A diverse fauna of Sea Scorpions -- some of them several meters in length -- graces the Silurian of North America. Brachiopods, bryozoa, mollusks, etc were abundant and diverse

During the Silurian, Gondwana remained in high Southern latitudes, but there is evidence that the Silurian icecaps were less extensive than those of the late Ordovician. The other continents drifted together near the equator starting the formation of a second supercontinent known as Laurasia.