The Ordovician is one of the longest and geologically most active periods in Phanerozoic history. The unique Ordovician biodiversifications established modern marine ecosystems, whereas the first plants originated on land. The two volumes cover all key topics on Ordovician research and provide a review of Ordovician successions across the globe.

The Ordovician was one of the longest of the geological periods, characterized by major magmatic and tectonic activity, an immense biodiversification, swings in climate and sea levels and the first Phanerozoic mass extinction. ‘A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System’ is presented in two volumes in The Geological Society, Special Publications. This first volume (SP532) charts the history of the Ordovician System and explores significant advances in our understanding of its biostratigraphy, including more precise calibration of its timescale with tephra chronology and regional alignments using astrochronology and cyclostratigraphy. Changes in the world’s oceans, their shifting currents and sea levels, the biogeography of their biotas and the ambient climate are described and discussed against a background of changing palaeogeography. This first volume also includes syntheses of the Ordovician geology for most European countries, including historical key areas, such as Great Britain, Baltoscandia and Bohemia. The second volume (SP533) provides synthetic aspects of the Ordovician geology of most other parts of the world.

The Ordovician was one of the longest of the geological periods, characterized by major magmatic and tectonic activity, an immense biodiversification, swings in climate and sea levels, and the first Phanerozoic mass extinction. ‘A Global Synthesis of the Ordovician System’ is presented in two volumes in The Geological Society, Special Publications. Whereas the first volume (SP532) concentrates on general aspects and a synthesis of the Ordovician geology of Europe, this volume (SP533) includes reviews of Ordovician successions of most other parts of the world. The classic successions of the Ordovician basins of North America are presented, as well as those of China where several of the Ordovician Global Boundary Stratotype Sections and Points are defined. The volume also includes syntheses of the Ordovician geology of Africa, South America, most regions of Asia from the Near to the Far East along with Central Asia, as well as Australia, New Zealand and Antarctica.

This book describes the Central Sahara region, bringing together an unprecedented combination of diverse and often historic research published in different languages in order to describe its varied landscapes and landforms. The Central Sahara region consists of Libya, Algeria, Mali, Niger and Chad, countries that share similar landscape histories and common landscape traits, including massifs, sand seas, paleowater features and large depressions. Furthermore, human settlement of this region goes hand-in-hand with climate and environmental changes and landscape evolution during the Holocene and earlier; hence, Central Saharan landscapes and landforms provide valuable insights into landscape–human relationships over long timescales. The book offers a comprehensive yet accessible reference source, drawing on both past and present interdisciplinary research and gathering the insights of authors from many different countries to explore a region that has largely been overlooked in available literature.

Two of the greatest evolutionary events in the history of life on Earth occurred during Early Paleozoic time. The first was the Cambrian explosion of skeletonized marine animals about 540 million years ago. The second was the "Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event," which is the focus of this book. During the 46-million-year Ordovician Period (489–443 m.y.), a bewildering array of adaptive radiations of "Paleozoic- and Modern-type" biotas appeared in marine habitats, the first animals (arthropods) walked on land, and the first non-vascular bryophyte-like plants (based on their cryptospore record) colonized terrestrial areas with damp environments. This book represents a compilation by a large team of Ordovician specialists from around the world, who have enthusiastically cooperated to produce this first globally orientated, internationally sponsored IGCP (International Geological Correlation Program) project on Ordovician biotas. The major part is an assembly of genus- and species-level diversity data for the many Ordovician fossil groups. The book also presents an evaluation of how each group diversified through Ordovician time, with assessments of patterns of change and rates of origination and extinction. As such, it will become the standard work and data source for biotic studies on the Ordovician Period.