EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Ordovician EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Silurian

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Ordovician

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Silurian

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Plants in the Paleozoic Stromatolites Blue-green algae Abundant in Cambrian

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Plants in the Paleozoic Green algae Receptaculids Chlorophytes Silurian to Devonian Unknown affinity “Sunflower coral” Not sunflower or coral

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Plants in the Paleozoic Land Plants Cooksonia Silurian

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinction Processes Extinction strikes on the land in the sea. • On the land, while animals suffer repeatedly, plants tend to be highly resistant to mass extinctions. • Preferential disappearance of tropical forms of life during mass extinctions. • Tendency of certain groups of animals to experience them repeatedly (for example, trilobites and ammonoids). • Alleged equal spacing, or periodicity in geological time (occurring about every 26 million years).

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions Ordovician Mass Extinction Second most devastating in earth history Caused by glaciation and associated lowering of sea level

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions Devonian Mass Extinction Caused by glaciation or meteorite impact

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions Permian Mass Extinction 90 -95% of marine species became extinct in the Permian Caused by formation of Pangea, glaciation, volcanic eruptions

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions Triassic Mass Extinction 25% of all families became extinct at end of Triassic Caused by climate change (increase in rainfall)?

EARLY PALEOZOIC LIFE Mass Extinctions Cretaceous-Tertiary (K-T) Mass Extinction 85% of all species died in the K-T extinction Caused by meteorite impact and/or volcanic eruptions

THE DEVONIAN The Age of Fishes Named for outcrops near Devonshire, England Named by Sedgewick and Murchison in 1839 prior to bitter arguments Includes the Old Red Sandstone of Scotland Wales

THE DEVONIAN The Age of Fishes

THE DEVONIAN

THE DEVONIAN Kaskaskia Sequence Began in Devonian and continued to the end of the Mississippian Craton again flooded

THE DEVONIAN Kaskaskia Sequence Began with deposition of clean quartz sand Initial deposit of transgressing sea Oriskany Sandstone

THE DEVONIAN Kaskaskia Sequence Oriskany Sandstone Some heavy minerals Indicate source area Sandstone followed by Limestones Salts and gypsum Shales

THE DEVONIAN Acadian Orogeny

THE DEVONIAN Devonian Paleogeography

THE DEVONIAN Devonian Paleogeography

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Thick folded sequence of turbidites Intruded with rhyolites and granites Destroyed the marine depositional basin off eastern US coast

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Nonmarine clastics shed to west

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Changes from conglomerate to shale going east to west

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Catskill Clastic Wedge

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Catskill Clastic Wedge

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Catskill Clastic Wedge Nonmarine rocks – red color Braided or meandering streams

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Catskill Clastic Wedge

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Catskill Clastic Wedge First forests Gilboa, NY

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Gilboa, NY Fossils Winifred Goldring NY State Paleontologist First woman to hold title Aneurophyton (foliage) Eospermatopteris (tree)

THE DEVONIAN Impact of Avalonian Terrane Gilboa, NY Reconstruction of Forest

THE DEVONIAN Europe Old Red Sandstone Equivalent to Catskill Clastic Wedge

THE DEVONIAN Acadian shales Chattanooga Shale Few fossils, stagnant anoxic water High organic content, black, phytoplankton bloom

THE DEVONIAN Western US Williston Basin Reefs developed Salt and gypsum Extensive oil reserves

THE DEVONIAN Western US Antler Orogeny Late Devonian to Pennsylvanian Began with subduction on west coast

THE DEVONIAN Western US Antler Orogeny Late Devonian to Pennsylvanian Convergence of volcanic island arc

THE DEVONIAN Western US Antler Orogeny Convergence of volcanic island arc

THE DEVONIAN Devonian Paleogeography