Talk:Ordovician-Silurian extinction events

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khhg

You aren't combining the End Ordovician and End Silurian extinctions are you?

Dragons flight 23:03, Sep 19, 2004 (UTC)

To address Dragons flight's question, the end Ordovician extinction event began with a major glaciation which resulted in a major sea level drop (as much as 80 meters according to some sources). This resulted in a major extinction as continental shelves dried up and habitats changed or disappeared. Later, the glaciers melted, sea levels rose as high or even higher than they were before the glaciation, and the survivors of the first event were hit by another extinction event as environments and habitats changed yet again. All of this occured during the 1.9 million years of the Hirnantian stage.

My sources for this are The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, Edited by Barry Webby and Mary Droser, 2004, Columbia University Press; and A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Edited by Felix Gradstein, James Ogg, and Alan Smith, 2004, Cambridge University Press.

Hope this helps.

--Lenn 03:00, Jun 24, 2005 (UTC)