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Ordovician

 

 

Books about Ordovician

Palaeobiogeography and Biodiversity Change: The Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic Radiations
The study of biodiversity through geological time provides important information for the understanding of diversity patterns at the present day. Hitherto, much effort has been paid to studying the mass extinctions of the Phanerozoic but the research emphasis has now changed to focus on what occurred between these spectacular catastrophic events. After the Cambrian 'explosion' of marine organisms with readily preservable skeletons, there have been two intervals when life radiated dramatically - the Ordovician Period, and the mid-Mesozoic-Cenozoic eras. These intervals saw a fundamental reoganization of biodiversity on a hierarchy of biogeographical scales. The size of these diversity increases and their probable causes are topics of intense debate, and there is an intriguing link between the dispersal of continents, changing climates and the proliferation of life. Palaeobiogeography and Biodiversity Change: the Ordovician and Mesozoic-Cenozoic Radiations illustrates many aspects of the two great episodes of biotic radiation and shows how long periods of time and plate tectonic movements have a fundamental influence on the generation and maintenance of major extant biodiversity patterns.
The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event
Two of the greatest evolutionary events in the history of life on Earth occurred during Early Paleozoic time. The first was the Cambrian explosion of skeletonized marine animals about 540 million years ago. The second was the "Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event," which is the focus of this book. During the 46-million-year Ordovician Period (489--443 m.y.), a bewildering array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic- and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first non-vascular bryophyte-like plants (based on their cryptospore record) colonized terrestrial areas with damp environments. This book represents a compilation by a large team of Ordovician specialists from around the world, who have enthusiastically cooperated to produce this first globally orientated, internationally sponsored IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) project on Ordovician biotas. The major part is an assembly of genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups. The book also presents an evaluation of how each group diversified through Ordovician time, with assessments of patterns of change and rates of origination and extinction. As such, it will become the standard work and data source for biotic studies on the Ordovician Period.
A Revised Correlation of Ordovician Rocks in the British Isles
This is a revised and expanded edition from the 1972 publication due to subsequent research in the post plate tectonic era, providing an up to the minute account of the British Ordovician formation and their correlation nationally and internationally. The British sections are the type for the Ordovician System and classical in stratigraphical, tectonic and volcanic studies. The Charts bring together thirty years of research over the period in which plate tectonics has revolutionised our understanding of the Lower Palaeozoic of the British Isles. Also includes comprehensive literature of papers published since 1970 and the most comprehensive treatment of Ireland ever attempted. Readership: UK and international stratigraphers, palaeontologists and field geologists researching rock of Ordovician age. Particularly those interested in the Welsh mountains and the Lake District of the UK.
The Ordovician Earth System