Devonian

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

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Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/devonian

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the geologic system?Devonian, Phanerozoic Eon, Paleozoic Era
2. What is the paleogeographic configuration?Dominated by Gondwana (south), Laurussia (east), and Siberia (north)
3. What was the Devonian period and when did it happen?The Devonian was a time about 419 to 359 million years ago, called the Age of Fishes.
4. Why are fish called the "Age of Fishes"?Many new kinds of fish appeared, especially armored ones called placoderms, and they became the top predators.

Gnathostomes: Vertebrates possessing jaws, a major evolutionary innovation that appeared during the Devonian.
Tetrapodomorphs: A clade of lobe-finned fishes whose fin structure represents the evolutionary precursor to tetrapod limbs.
Orogeny: A process of mountain formation, especially by folding and faulting of the Earth's crust.
Pteridospermatophytes: Extinct seed-bearing plants, often referred to as 'seed ferns,' which appeared in the late Devonian.