Silurian

438 - 408 million years ago

Animate the Continental Drift

New Species:

  • first jawed fishes
  • first vascular plants on land
  • first freshwater fish
Climate
Climate temperatures stabilize
Geology
High seas worldwide
Flora
Vascular
plants
Fauna
Jawed fishes and Uniramians
Hominids
None

The Silurian was a time when the Earth's climate changed and the erratic temperature fluctuations that preceeded this period stabilized. One result of this was the melting of large glaciers, with a subsequent rise in the sea levels as the ice melted.

Coral reefs made their first appearance during this time, and there is a significant evolution of fishes. The jawless fish that existed before expand their populations and the first known freshwater fish and the first fish with jaws appear.

There is also evidence of the first vascular land plants (plants with water-conducting tissue, as opposed to mosses).