Early Ordovician

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Early/Lower Ordovician
486.85 ± 1.5 – 471.3 ± 1.4 Ma
Baltoniodus triangularis
Upper boundary GSSPHuanghuachang section, Huanghuachang, Yichang, China
30°51′38″N 110°22′26″E / 30.8605°N 110.3740°E / 30.8605; 110.3740
Upper GSSP ratified2007[6]
Atmospheric and climatic data
Mean atmospheric O2 contentc. 11.5 vol %
(55 % of modern)

The Early Ordovician is the first

Middle Ordovician. It includes Tremadocian and Floian ages.[7]

History

Upper. In the same year, it was decided to divide each of the three series into two global stages. Tetragraptus approximatus zone was chosen as the base of the upper stage of the Lower Ordovician by 95% of the votes.[8]
Before the adoption of the international standard, the series from the chart of Britain, the type locality of the Ordovician system, were accepted by default as Ordovician subdivisions. In accordance with this scale, the Ordovician was divided into six series, of which the lower one, the
International Stratigraphic Chart (ISC) as the stage of the same name. The upper Arenig series corresponds to the upper part of the Lower and lower part of the Middle Ordovician global series. On the British chart, the boundaries of Ordovician subdivisions are determined by local stratigraphic and paleontological features that are poorly defined in the rest of the world. As a result, local series and stages, very different from the British standard, were identified on different paleoplates or modern continents.[9] In 2008,[10] the traditional British Ordovician subdivisions were replaced by seven new stages with defined GSSPs. Tremadocian and Floian stages were included in the Lower Ordovician series.[11][10] In 2011, the Russian regional stratigraphic chart was changed from the British to the international standard division of the Ordovician system.[12]

Definition

The Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Lower Ordovician, which is also a GSSP of the Tremadocian stage and the whole Ordovician system, is established in the Green Point section in the west of the Newfoundland, Canada (49°40′58″N 57°57′55″W / 49.6829°N 57.9653°W / 49.6829; -57.9653) and corresponds to the first appearance datum (FAD) of the conodont Iapetognathus fluctivagus at the 101.8 m above the base of the outcrop. Doubts have been expressed about the identification of the index taxon, but it occurs below the Rhabdinopora and related graptolites.[13] The GSSP of the Floian, the second and last stage of the Lower Ordovician, is established in the Diabasbrottet Quarry, Sweden, (58°21′32″N 12°30′09″E / 58.3589°N 12.5024°E / 58.3589; 12.5024) and defined by FAD of the graptolite Tetragraptus approximatus.[14][13]

Two Auxiliary boundary Stratotype Sections and Points (ASSPs) were also established for the Lower Ordovician/Tremadocian: the first one in the Lawson Cove section in

USA, and the second one in the Xiaoyangqiao section, North China.[15][16] Both ASSPs were approved by the Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy in 2016 and 2019, respectively, but, in 2021, the International Union of Geological Sciences (IUGS) proposed to deny the use of specific points and replace them by Standard Auxiliary Boundary Stratotypes (SABS) for more "flexible" correlations with GSSPs.[16]

Biostratigraphy

The global stages of the Lower Ordovician, as well as of other series, are also subdivided into stage slices (time slices), which are corresponding to the base of conodont or graptolite zones. In addition to the global stages, the Tetragraptus approximatus Zone is also defined in the regional subdivisions of the UK and Australia, and the Didymograptus protobifidus Zone in those of North America, Australia and Baltoscandia.[11]

Conodont (c) and graptolite (g) zones of the Lower Ordovician:[11]
Series Stage (ICS) Stage slice
Lower Ordovician
Floian Didymograptus protobifidus Zone (g)
Oepikodus evae Zone (c)
Tetragraptus approximatus Zone (g)
Tremadocian Paroistodus proteus Zone (c)
Paltodus deltifer Zone (c)
Iapetognathus fluctivagus Zone (c)

North America

The following conodont zones are distinguished in Early Ordovician deposits of Boothia Peninsula, Canada (from upper to lower):[17]

  • Oepikodus communis and Reutterodus andinus (Ship Point Formation, Floian);
  • Rossodus manitouensis and Acodus deltatus/Oneotodus costatus (upper part of Turner Cliffs Formation, Tremadocian);
  • Cordylodus angulatus (lower part of Turner Cliffs, Tremadocian).

Asia

Graptolite (g) and conodont (c) zonal subdivisions of southern Siberia (from upper to lower):[10][18]

  • Ps. angustifolius elongatus/E. broggeri (g), D. protobifidus (g), Ph. densus (g), upper part of Oepikodus evae (c), plus chitinozoan Conochitina raymondi Zone (Floian);
  • Lower part of Ph. densus (g), Ac. balticus (g), lower part of Oepikodus evae (c) (Floian);
  • T. approximatus (g), upper part of Paroistodus proteus (c) (Floian);
  • Lower part of Paroistodus proteus (c) (Tremadocian);
  • K. kiaeri/Ad. tenellus (g), B. ramosus/Tr. osloensis/Al. hyperboreus (g) (Tremadocian);
  • Iapetognathus fluctivagus (c) (Tremadocian).

Australia

On the Australian scale, the global Lower Ordovician roughly corresponds to the Lancefieldian, Bendigonian, Chewtonian and lower Castlemainian stages.[19]

Approximate correlation of graptolite (g) and conodont (c) zones of New South Wales:[19]
Series Australian stage Zone
Lower Ordovician
Castlemainian (lower part) Isograptus victoriae lunatus (g), upper part of Oepikodus evae (c)
Chewtonian Isograptus primulus (g), Oepikodus evae (c)
Didymograptus protobifidus (g), Oepikodus evae (c)
Bendigonian Upper part of Pendeograptus fruticosus (g), lowermost Oepikodus evae (c)
Lower parts of Pendeograptus fruticosus (g), uppermost Prioniodus elegans (c)
Pendeograptus fruticosus (g), Prioniodus elegans (c)
Lancefieldian Uppermost Tetragraptus approximatus (g), lowermost Prioniodus elegans (c)
Lower part of Tetragraptus approximatus (g), uppermost Paroistodus proteus (c)
Araneograptus murrayi (g), Paroistodus proteus (c)
Upper part of Aorograptus victoriae (g), lower part of Paroistodus proteus (c)
Lower part of Aorograptus victoriae (g), upper part of Paltodus deltifer (c)
Psigraptus jacksoni (g), lower part of Paltodus deltifer (c)
Anisograptus (g), upper part of Cordylodus angulatus (c)
Rhabdinopora fl abelliformis parabola (g), Cordylodus angulatus (c)
Lower part of Cordylodus angulatus (c)

Paleogeography

The

USA, Canada, Greenland, Scotland and partly Ireland.[20] Laurentia was located in the tropical latitudes of the southern hemisphere; today's central Nevada and western Utah were covered by sea waters at the end of the Early Ordovician.[21]

Climate

In 2007, Bassett et al. analyzed the oxygen isotope values of Early Ordovician strata of the Lange Ranch section in central Texas and concluded that tropical sea temperatures at that time could have reached 37°C or 42°C.[22] Similar results were recovered by Trotter et al. in 2008, after oxygen isotope analysis of conodonts from the four paleoplates located in the Early Ordovician at low latitudes.[23] Authors of the 2021 article give values in accordance with the study by Song et al. (2019): from 43.9°C 485 million years ago to 37.1°C 470 million years ago.[20][24] High temperatures that persisted throughout the Early Ordovician affected the biodiversification later, in the Middle Ordovician.[25] CO2 level in Early Ordovician atmosphere was high while oxygen levels varied from approximately 10% to 13%.[20]

Studies of

Middle Ordovician, the surface of the low-latitude seas had cooled to temperatures comparable to today's equatorial ones.[23]

Major events

The

planktonic communities, probably began in the late Cambrian and ended in the late Early Ordovician. The Early Ordovician marks the beginning of the second phase, which affected the inhabitants of benthos.[26] One of the possible signs of the GOBE is the fossil reefs found in the Early Ordovician Dumugol Formation, South Korea. This reefs, built by the microorganisms and sponges of the genus Archaeoscyphia, are different from the Cambrian and early Tremadocian and this discovery confirm that reef communities occupied deeper-sea habitats as early as in the middle Tremadocian.[27] The radiation of marine life during the GOBE in the Early Ordovician was resulted by the transition from sulphidic to oxic conditions in the oceans of that time.[28]

Substantial older ("pre-GOBE") radiations are observed in the Early Ordovician sediments of South China. However, it is questionable, were they global or not.[20]

From the Furongian to the end of the Early Ordovician, 495-470 Ma, the Ollo de Sapo magmatic event occurred on the northwestern territory of Gondwana, which is now the Iberian Peninsula.[29]

Paleontology

In Early Ordovician (Floian) strata of the

symbiotic intergrowth of modular species.[32]

Aegirocassis, a large filter feeder of the Early Ordovician

Nektaspida have become less diverse after Cambrian. They most likely inhabited restricted or colder brackish seas in the Ordovician.[35] Tariccoia tazagurtensis is a member of this arthropod clade from the Lower Ordovician of Morocco.[35] In the same Fezouata Formation, Aegirocassis was discovered. This filter feeder arthropod reached over 2 m in length[36] and was the largest animal of its time.[37] Marrellomorphs, appeared in Cambrian, continued to exist in Early Ordovician.[38]

Cloacaspis

Soft-bodied and shelly organisms, including Cambrian relics as well as the new taxa of the Ordovician origin, constitute a fossil Liexi fauna, preserved in the Lower Ordovician Madaoyu Formation of Hunan, South China. Fossil specimens include bryozoans, sponges, echinoderms, polychaetes, graptolites, trilobites and conodonts.[39] Palaeoscolecidan worms, including Liexiscolex[40] and a possible Ottoia specimen, are of great interest.[39] Early Ordovician priapulids, similar to their Cambrian predecessors, are also known from northern China.[41]

In the deep-water sediments of the Early Ordovician (Floian) Al Rose Formation in the Inyo Mountains, California, the trilobite fauna have been discovered. Despite the low species diversity, this fauna is unique due to differences in the composition of families from more eastern complexes of the comparable age. Fossils identified as belonging to the Globampyx, Protopresbynileus, Carolinites, Cloacaspis, Geragnostus and Hintzeia genera. In the Early Ordovician, this territory was located near the paleocontinent of Laurentia.[42]

Mineral resources

Oil and gas exploration is underway in the Early Ordovician Tongzi and Meitan formations in Sichuan Basin[43][44] and the Early Ordovician strata of the Tarim Basin, China.[45] In the Lower Ordovician of the Tarim Basin near Tazhong, oil accumulations are found at depths of up to 9000 m.[46]

References

  1. PMID 10905606
    .
  2. .
  3. . It has been suggested that the Middle Ordovician meteorite bombardment played a crucial role in the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, but this study shows that the two phenomena were unrelated
  4. ^ "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy. December 2024. Retrieved January 2, 2025.
  5. (PDF) from the original on 2024-03-25. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  6. (PDF) from the original on 2024-01-06. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  7. ^ "Latest version of international chronostratigraphic chart". International Commission on Stratigraphy. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  8. .
  9. ^ Stanley Finney (2005). "Global Series and Stages for the Ordovician System: A Progress Report". Geologica Acta. 3 (4): 309-316.
  10. ^ .
  11. ^ .
  12. ^ Sennikov N. V.; Tolmacheva T. Yu.; Obut О. Т. (2013). "New standard of Ordovocian stages in the International Stratigraphic Chart and problems concerning its application for the territory of Russia". Всероссийское совещание-2013 [All-Russian conference 2013] (in Russian). Trofimuk Institute of Petroleum-Gas Geology and Geophysics SB RAS, VSEGEI: 97.
  13. ^ from the original on 2024-05-18.
  14. (PDF) from the original on 2024-04-16. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  15. .
  16. ^ (PDF) from the original on 2024-02-02. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  17. .
  18. ^ N. V. Sennikov (2022). "Zonal graptolite units of Ordovician, Russia" (in Russian). IPGG SB RAS (Novosibirsk). p. 49.
  19. ^
    ISSN 0155-3410
    .
  20. ^ .
  21. ^ .
  22. .
  23. ^ .
  24. .
  25. .
  26. ^ .
  27. .
  28. .
  29. .
  30. .
  31. .
  32. .
  33. doi:10.3389/fevo.2023.1290063.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link
    )
  34. .
  35. ^ .
  36. .
  37. ^ Perkins, S. (2015-03-11). "Newly discovered sea creature was once the largest animal on Earth". AAAS. Archived from the original on 2023-08-13. Retrieved 2024-06-04.
  38. ISSN 2296-701X
    .
  39. ^ .
  40. .
  41. .
  42. .
  43. .
  44. .
  45. .
  46. .

Further reading