Selected papers from the August 1988 symposium on the Ordovician System. Authors from the U.K., Canada, Australia, and the U.S. contributed papers on a project to redefine regional chronostratigraphic subdivisions. Papers also cover Ordovician paleontology and biostratigraphy, emphasizing conodonts, graptolites and trilobites. The interrelationships of stratigraphy, eustasy, tectonics, and volcanisms are explored, with particular attention to the Appalachian Orogen. The final section of the volume documents some of the new data and interpretations of Ordovician paleo-oceanography, paleoclimatology, and paleogeography.

&Quot;This Report is revised and expanded from the 1972 publication, providing an up-to-the-minute account of the British Ordovician formations and their correlation nationally and internationally. It also includes the most comprehensive treatment of Ireland ever attempted. The reference list is a comprehensive bibliography of papers on the subject published since 1970.". "This Special Report will be a valuable reference for research and applied geoscientists working with rocks of Ordovician age. It will be of particular interest to those working in, or visiting, the Welsh mountains and the English Lake District."--BOOK JACKET.

The Ordovician was one of the longest of the geological periods, characterized by major magmatic and tectonic activity, an immense biodiversification, swings in climate and sea levels and the first Phanerozoic mass extinction. ‘A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System’ is presented in two volumes in The Geological Society, Special Publications. This first volume (SP532) charts the history of the Ordovician System and explores significant advances in our understanding of its biostratigraphy, including more precise calibration of its timescale with tephra chronology and regional alignments using astrochronology and cyclostratigraphy. Changes in the world’s oceans, their shifting currents and sea levels, the biogeography of their biotas and the ambient climate are described and discussed against a background of changing palaeogeography. This first volume also includes syntheses of the Ordovician geology for most European countries, including historical key areas, such as Great Britain, Baltoscandia and Bohemia. The second volume (SP533) provides synthetic aspects of the Ordovician geology of most other parts of the world.

"The Ordovician period is a significant chapter in Earth's history that included the great Mid-Ordovician biodiversification event, the Hirnantian glaciation, and long-term greenhouse conditions. Ordovician rocks are widespread on most continents and the recent finalization of a modern chronostratigraphic classification of the Ordovician system now facilitates high-resolution correlations that allow for integrated multidisciplinary research. The diverse papers comprising this volume address orogenesis, paleogeography, climate modeling, sedimentation, biodiversity, and isotopic excursions; together they promote an integrated view of the Ordovician earth system."--Publisher's description.