What events marked the Silurian period?

Remember, our journey began in the Ediacaran, the third and final period of the Neoproterozoic and therefore the Precambrian.

Since then, we've travelled a long way through time, spanning many millions of years. We began the Paleozoic with the Cambrian, then moved on to the Ordovician, which succeeded it.

Now it's time to learn more about the Silurian. This third stage in the history of the Paleozoic promises to be just as rich in discoveries.

Unlike its predecessors, the Silurian period is relatively short around 25 million years. In fact, it's the shortest of all the Paleozoic eras. Other eras, such as the Cambrian, lasted nearly 56 million years, and the Ordovician, the period preceding the Silurian, lasted nearly 42 million years. The Devonian, which followed, lasted almost 57 million years.

If geologists have differentiated the Silurian period from the Ordovician and Devonian, it's because it's sufficiently singular to be so. And that's exactly what we're going to discover on this trip.

The Silurian is a pivotal period in our history, marked by numerous changes in flora and fauna.

During our trip to Cambrian lands, we witnessed what scientists call the explosion of life on earth. During the Ordovician period, the radiation of organisms was just as rich, allowing numerous species to develop and diversify.

In biology, radiation is the adaptation of an animal or plant lineage to a new living environment, resulting in changes that facilitate their activities. This is sometimes referred to as adaptive radiation or evolutionary radiation.

While the Cambrian and Ordovician periods were pivotal in terms of radiation, they were far from the only ones.

The Silurian, on the other hand, was a crucial period for life on our planet. It was the period that forever marked the face of the Earth, with the arrival of the first terrestrial organisms.

What was the Earth like at this point in our history? How are our continents and oceans defined? What living beings populated the oceans? How did life evolve? Why did it begin its conquest of the earth's soil precisely at this time?



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The Great Epic of the Silurian and its Giant Scorpions:
The name of this geological era comes from the Celtic Silurian tribe who lived in South Wales, the region where traces of this period were discovered.

As mentioned in the introduction, the Silurian is a small period that spans some 25 million years. It began around 443 million years ago and ended around 418 million years ago. This period, the third stage of the Paleozoic, is itself subdivided into four series marked by different events that geologists have defined as follows:

The first, known as the Llandovery or Llandoverian, began 443 million years ago and ended around 433, followed by the Wenlock or Wenlockian until 427, then the Ludlow or Ludlowian until 423, and finally the Pridoli or Pridolian, which closes the period between 423 and 419 or 416 million years ago, depending on estimates.

During the Silurian, articulated brachiopods diversified considerably. Unlike inarticulates, the shells of articulated brachiopods remain fused even after the animal's death. Articulation is made possible by the presence of teeth on one valve, the peduncular valve, and dimples of complementary shapes on the other valve.




Today's program:
00:00 Introduction
04:50 WHAT DID THE EARTH LOOK LIKE IN THE SILURIAN PERIOD?
17:02 WHAT DID THE FAUNA LOOK LIKE IN THE SILURIAN?
19:55 The basis of the Silurian marine ecosystem
21:30 Graptolites
26:47 Nautiloids
33:07 Brachiopods 
38:46 Crinoids
41:16 Giant Scorpions!
48:00 The incredible diversification of fish
50:03 Ostracoderms
51:39 Anapsids
53:12 Telodonts
53:45 Heterostracans
56:34 Galeaspids
57:09 Gnathostomes
58:30 Placoderm fishes
01:04:15 Conodonts
01:06:42 What did our planet look like on land?
01:10:20 What did the first plants on Earth look like?
01:13:00 Terrestrial flora and fauna in the Silurian period


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