Silurian Period

Silurian Period, in geologic time, the third period of the Paleozoic Era. It began 443.8 million years ago and ended 419.2 million years ago, extending from the close of the Ordovician Period to the beginning of the Devonian Period.

During the Silurian, continental elevations were generally much lower than in the present day, and global sea level was much higher. Sea level rose dramatically as the extensive glaciers from the Late Ordovician ice age melted. This rising prompted changes in climatic conditions that allowed many faunal groups to recover from the extinctions of Late Ordovician times. Large expanses of several continents became flooded with shallow seas, and mound-type coral reefs were very common. Fishes were widespread. Vascular plants began to colonize coastal lowlands during the Silurian Period, whereas continental interiors remained essentially barren of life.

geologic time

Silurian Period

The name of this period is derived from work done by Scottish geologist Roderick I. Murchison, who in 1835 named a sequence of rocks in Wales and its borderland with England in honour of a native people called the Silures. The Silures, under the leadership of Caratacus, resisted Roman conquest for 30 years until 78 ce, when they were finally overcome.