The Ordovician in Utah
488 - 444 Ma
What was Happening in the World During the Ordovician
period?
The Ordovician was approximately 485.4 to 443.8 million years ago. It was noted for the appearance of many species of underwater life. The name Ordovician came from the Ordovices who were a Celtic tribe. The period was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879. This was done to settle an argument between two of his followers: Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchinson.
The Ordovician period had highest sea levels in all of the Paleozoic era. During the Ordovician period, there was a massive meteor shower about 470 million years ago, it does not have anything to do with any major extinction event (this was a proposed meteor shower of L chondrite meteors). However, towards the end of the Ordovician, there was a mass extinction event that seriously affected planktonic forms.
Utah in the Ordovician period
During the Ordovician period, all life that existed in Utah lived in the western part of Utah, this can be seen because Ordovician rocks only appear in the western half of Utah. The oldest of these rocks consist of shelly sandstones signifying a broad, old tidal flat. During the middle of the Ordovician period, shifting shorelines left behind thick layers of sandstones. By the time the late Ordovician period arrived, warm, low seas returned to Utah and left behind limy sediments on the ground of the sea. Utah currently has many fossils left behind by the Ordovician period, these include: trilobites (these had a segmented body and jointed appendages, they feed on plankton), brachiopods (these had hard shells on the front and end, while the tail which was in the middle had been exposed), cephalopods (these fossils had a head and a set of arms or tentacles), conodonts (these had eel-shaped life forms in them), graptolites (underwater creatures that shaped stick/net like forms made of one or more branches), echinoderms (life forms such as starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as sea lilies, and stone lilies), sponges (underwater life forms stuck to the floor), and algae (life forms such as slime, chlorella, giant kelp).
Sources
Paleoportal.org
Wikipedia.com
Peripantus.gen.nz
Ucmp.berkely.edu
Museumvictoria.com
The Ordovician was approximately 485.4 to 443.8 million years ago. It was noted for the appearance of many species of underwater life. The name Ordovician came from the Ordovices who were a Celtic tribe. The period was defined by Charles Lapworth in 1879. This was done to settle an argument between two of his followers: Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchinson.
The Ordovician period had highest sea levels in all of the Paleozoic era. During the Ordovician period, there was a massive meteor shower about 470 million years ago, it does not have anything to do with any major extinction event (this was a proposed meteor shower of L chondrite meteors). However, towards the end of the Ordovician, there was a mass extinction event that seriously affected planktonic forms.
Utah in the Ordovician period
During the Ordovician period, all life that existed in Utah lived in the western part of Utah, this can be seen because Ordovician rocks only appear in the western half of Utah. The oldest of these rocks consist of shelly sandstones signifying a broad, old tidal flat. During the middle of the Ordovician period, shifting shorelines left behind thick layers of sandstones. By the time the late Ordovician period arrived, warm, low seas returned to Utah and left behind limy sediments on the ground of the sea. Utah currently has many fossils left behind by the Ordovician period, these include: trilobites (these had a segmented body and jointed appendages, they feed on plankton), brachiopods (these had hard shells on the front and end, while the tail which was in the middle had been exposed), cephalopods (these fossils had a head and a set of arms or tentacles), conodonts (these had eel-shaped life forms in them), graptolites (underwater creatures that shaped stick/net like forms made of one or more branches), echinoderms (life forms such as starfish, sea urchins, sand dollars, and sea cucumbers, as well as sea lilies, and stone lilies), sponges (underwater life forms stuck to the floor), and algae (life forms such as slime, chlorella, giant kelp).
Sources
Paleoportal.org
Wikipedia.com
Peripantus.gen.nz
Ucmp.berkely.edu
Museumvictoria.com
