The Paleontology of North America

The Ordovician in Nevada, US

 map

undifferentiated rock units

See exposures in this state from the:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian

Ordovician Fossils
Fossil photos from Ordovician in Nevada

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Paleontology and geology

Warm shallow seas covered the continental shelf in the southern and eastern parts of the state during the Ordovician and limy sediment was deposited. Tectonically, the region remained quiet. The water deepened to the northwest into an ocean basin. On the slope and in the basin, dark shale rich in the remains of plankton accumulated. In the shallow water, reef communities of sponges, crinoids, brachiopods, bryozoans, and nautiloids flourished. In deeper water, graptolites and other plankton floated near the surface.

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