Pridoli Epoch
The Pridoli Epoch is the Late Silurian, occurring after the Ludlow Epoch, and before Lochkovian (Early Devonian)
What happened during this time?
Geophysical
Climate becomes warmer
Plate tectonic activity shifts continents
Gondwana drifted farther across the South Pole
Siberia, Laurentia, and Baltica clustered around the equator.
Laurentia and Baltica collided at the end of the Silurian, forming a new supercontinent, Euramerica, and raising new mountain ranges.
Formation of extensive evaporite (salt) deposits near the equator.
Large glacier melt & sea levels rise
Nearly continuous sea from New York to Nevada, and other shallow seas still covered parts of other continents
~420 Ma, earliest unequivocal evidence of stomata in Cooksonia pertoni (Edwards et al. 1998)
Biological
Oldest land plant macrofossils found
Bryophytes diversify on landscape
Branched sporophytes on the landscape, possibly originating in the Early Silurian
Vascular plants also on the landscape in the Late Silurian
Rhyniopsida: Aberlemnia, Caia, Cooksonia, Cooksonella (=Eocooksonia), Eorhynia, Filiformorama, PertonellaTortilicaulis, Salopella, Steganotheca
Zosterophyllopsida: Jugumella, Zosterophyllum
Lycopsida: Lycopodolica
Others: Hostinella, Psilophytites, Wutubulaka
Diversification of land fungi
Coral reefs first appear
Relatives of spiders, scorpions, and centipedes first appear
Evolution of fishes; diversification of jaw-less fish