Early Devonian
ColorEarly Devonian
Time start419.62
Time start uncertainty1.36
Time end393.47
Time end uncertainty0.99
Caption outcropSample from the Lower Devonian Rhynie chert
TimelineDevonian
Chrono nameEarly Devonian
Strat nameLower Devonian
Name formalityFormal
Celestial bodyearth
UsageGlobal (ICS)
Timescales usedICS Time Scale
Chrono unitEpoch
Strat unitSeries
Timespan formalityFormal
Lower boundary defFAD of the graptolite Monograptus uniformis
Lower gssp locationKlonk, Czech Republic
Lower gssp coords49.8550°N 13.7920°E
Lower gssp accept date1972[1]
Upper boundary defFAD of the conodont Polygnathus costatus partitus
Upper gssp locationWetteldorf Richtschnitt section, Wetteldorf, Eifel, Germany
Upper gssp coords50.1496°N 6.4716°E
Upper gssp accept date1985[2]

The Early Devonian is the first of three epochs comprising the Devonian period, corresponding to the Lower Devonian series. It lasted from and began with the Lochkovian Stage , which was followed by the Pragian from and then by the Emsian, which lasted until the Middle Devonian began, .[3] During this time, the first ammonoids appeared, descending from bactritoid nautiloids. Ammonoids during this time period were simple and differed little from their nautiloid counterparts. These ammonoids belong to the order Agoniatitida, which in later epochs evolved to new ammonoid orders, for example Goniatitida and Clymeniida. This class of cephalopod molluscs would dominate the marine fauna until the beginning of the Mesozoic Era.

References

  1. ^ Chlupáč, Ivo & Hladil, Jindrich (January 2000). "The global stratotype section and point of the Silurian-Devonian boundary". CFS Courier Forschungsinstitut Senckenberg. Retrieved 7 December 2020.
  2. ^ Ziegler, W. & Klapper, G. (June 1985). "Stages of the Devonian System". Episodes. 8 (2): 104–109. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1985/v8i2/006. Retrieved 18 December 2020.
  3. ^ Cohen, K.M.; Finney, S.C.; Gibbard, P.L.; Fan, J.-X. (2013). "The ICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart". Episodes. 36 (3): 199–204. doi:10.18814/epiiugs/2013/v36i3/002. Retrieved 7 January 2021.