100 YEARS OF ORDOVICIAN GEOLOGY

Michael G. Bassett

doi:10.18814/epiiugs/1979/v2i2/003

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Episodes 1979; 2(2): 18-21

Published online June 1, 1979

https://doi.org/10.18814/epiiugs/1979/v2i2/003

100 YEARS OF ORDOVICIAN GEOLOGY

Michael G. Bassett^1,2,3,4,5

¹Department of Geology, National Museum of Wales (U.K)
²IUGS Commission on Stratigraphy
³IUGS Advisory Board for Publication
⁴Palaeontology
⁵Lethaia

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

It is exactly 100 years since the Ordovician System was first proposed by Charles Lapworth. Born from controversy, it is the last of the geological systems to have become universally accepted. In his proposal Lapworth saw the Ordovician in an international context, and the ensuing century of widespread research has justified his views. This article traces some major steps in the international recognition of the System since 1879.