Katian

Key events in the Ordovician

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-485 —

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-480 —

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Cambrian

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Silurian

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Tremadocian

Floian

Dapingian

Darriwilian

Sandbian

Katian

Hirnantian

 

 

 

 

 

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First land plant spores

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Ordovician meteor event

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Archaeocyatha extinction

Key events of the Ordovician Period.
ICS approved stages.

Axis scale: millions of years ago.

The Katian is the second stage of the Upper Ordovician. It is preceded by the Sandbian and succeeded by the Hirnantian stage. The Katian began 453.0 ± 0.7 million years ago and lasted for about 7.8 million years until the beginning of the Hirnantian 445.2 ± 1.4 million years ago.

Naming

The name Katian is derived from Katy Lake (Oklahoma, USA).

GSSP

The GSSP of the Katian stage is the Black Knob Ridge Section in southeastern Oklahoma (USA). It is an outcrop of the Womble Shale and the Bigfork Chert, the latter containing the lower boundary of the Katian. The lower boundary is defined as the first appearance datum of the graptolite species Diplacanthograptus caudatus. This horizon is 4.0 m above the base of the Bigfork Chert.