EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS

1. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Development of a shallow epeiric or epicontinental sea Continent situated on the equator, so waters most likely warm Significant carbonate deposits accumulate Deep water sediments (shales) are accumulating on margins

2. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Cambrian stromatolites Petrified Sea Gardens Saratoga Springs, NY

3. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Mauv Ls. Bright Angel Sh. Tapeats Ss. Nonconformity

4. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

5. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOCLIMATE

6. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS CAMBRIAN PALEOCLIMATE

7. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Ordovician named after the Ordovices, an early Celtic tribe named by Charles Lapworth as a compromise in 1879

8. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Ordovician continents still centered along Equator

9. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Ouachita Terrane Broken off Laurentia Forms a microcontinent Will collide with South America

10. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Taconic Orogenic Belt Begins development along margins of Laurentia and Baltica

11. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

12. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Global sea level is high Gondwanaland moving towards South Pole

13. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Gondwanaland moving towards South Pole Leads to glaciation at the end of Ordovician

14. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Sea level high Canadian Shield being covered by sediments Shallow water carbonates in the mid-continent regions with mudcracks and stromatolites in Early Ordovician

15. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Carbonate deposition ended in the Middle Ordovician Region was downwarped Caused by closing of the Iapetus Ocean along a subduction zone

16. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

17. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

18. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY Prior to the Taconic orogeny, the "east" coast of what is now the United States was located near the Hudson River valley, Philadelphia, Washington, DC and extended to western South Carolina. The Taconic Orogeny added land to Proto North America that is now the western portions of New England and the Canadian Maritime provinces. This collision added land and raised mountains southward through northern New Jersey, south-eastern Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina. Occurred approximately 460-480 myBP

19. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

20. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY The Taconic island chain began to collide with Proto North America about 470 to 450 million years ago The energy of ongoing impacts was still raising mountains from Canada to Virginia 430 million years ago. The Iapetus Ocean, which had been the shoreline for Proto North America, is closing as Western and Eastern Avalonia, following behind the Taconic arc, are heading for collision with the recently-extended coast of Proto North America.

21. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY TAC Taconic Island Chain EAV Eastern Avalon Terrane WAV Western Avalon Terrane

22. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY

23. Earliest Taconic Orogeny Latest

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25. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY St. Peter Sandstone

26. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY St. Peter Sandstone

27. EARLY PALEOZOIC EVENTS ORDOVICIAN PALEOGEOGRAPHY St. Peter Sandstone