GSC 111 Lecture Notes - Lecture 14: Taconic Orogeny, Mid-Ocean Ridge, Avalonia

• School: University of Miami
• Department: Geological Sciences
• Course: GSC 111
• Professor: James Klaus

Document Summary

Driven primarily by mid ocean ridge activity. Collision between laurentia and small island arcs. Identified by trilobites not found anywhere else on laurentia. 1st of 3 paleozoic orogenic events in eastern north america. Taconic orogeny stopped at the end of ordovician. Mountain range on the east coast and large clastic wedge spreading into the interior of the continent. Shallow epeiric seas covered almost all of north america. Passive continental shelf persists on western margin of laurentia. Foreland basin with deep water shales and flysch overlying carbonates. Radiation in ordovician leads to evolutionary fauna in the paleozoic. Increased in abundance an depth in middle cambrian and ordovician. I(cid:374)(cid:272)reased (cid:271)urro(cid:449)i(cid:374)g di(cid:448)ersifi(cid:272)atio(cid:374) of (cid:449)or(cid:373)s, (cid:271)i(cid:448)al(cid:448)e (cid:373)ollus(cid:272)s, shallo(cid:449) trilo(cid:271)ites. Stromatolites- diverse at beginning, not important afterwards. 50% of all marine phyla died out restoration of marine diversity to pre extinction took 50 my. 3rd largest mass extinction in earth history. Shifts in distribution shoreward and to the tropics.