ORDOVICIAN PERIOD - 505-438 million years ago

Ordovician period. Available: Ordovician picture, Ordovician poster, Ordovician art print, Ordovician illustration, Ordovician giclee canvas, framed Ordovician picture.
Note: Watermarks and Copyright markings do not appear on the final art.
Original Oil Painting by Josef Moravec 35" x 24" is in the Art Collection of Dinosaur Corporation.


The Ordovician period is the second of the six (seven in North America) periods of the Paleozoic era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago (ICS, 2004). It follows the Cambrian period and is followed by the Silurian period.
The Ordovician period started at a major extinction event called the Cambrian-Ordovician extinction events some time about 488.3 ± 1.7 million years ago (Ma) and lasted for about 44.6 million years. It ended with another major extinction event about 443.7 ± 1.5 Ma (ICS, 2004) that wiped out 60% of marine genera. A. Melott et al. (ref. 2006) suggested a ten-second gamma ray burst could have destroyed the ozone layer and exposed terrestrial and marine surface-dwelling life to deadly radiation, but most scientists agree that extinction events are complex with multiple causes.