Ordovician

High school (ages 12+)
History & Culture

Name:

Date:

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/ordovician

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?Second period of the Paleozoic Era and twelfth of the Phanerozoic Eon
2. What is the extraterrestrial activity?High frequency of meteorite impacts, estimated at 100 times the modern rate
3. What was the Ordovician period and when did it happen?The Ordovician was a time in Earth's history when many new sea creatures appeared, lasting about 41.6 million years from roughly 486.85 to 443.1 million years ago.
4. Why were there so many new sea creatures during the Ordovician?A big event called the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event made many new types of marine animals, like molluscs and arthropods, appear and fill new places in the ocean.

Stratigraphic Disputes: Disagreements among geologists about the order and classification of rock layers and the time periods they represent.
Biosphere: The sum of all ecosystems on Earth, encompassing all living organisms and their environments.
Vascular Plants: Plants that possess specialized tissues (xylem and phloem) for transporting water and nutrients, enabling them to grow larger and taller.