487 – 444 MA

Period · Paleozoic

Ordovician

487–444 Ma

The Ordovician is a period within the Paleozoic, spanning roughly 487 to 444 million years ago. Trilobites, graptolites, brachiopods and the first large nautiloids dominate; Cincinnatian and Fezouata material are Ordovician.

Rankperiod· Paleobiology Database
Base487 Ma· Paleobiology Database
Top444 Ma· Paleobiology Database
Duration43.1 Myr· Paleobiology Database
ChartICS International Chronostratigraphic Chart v2023/09 (ages from Macrostrat/PBDB interval tables)

Elsewhere

Cite this article

Stratum Study. "Ordovician" (Time interval). Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19. https://stratum.black/study/time/ordovician. Accessed 2026-09-20.

@misc{stratum-ordovician,
  title        = {Ordovician},
  author       = {{Stratum Study}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://stratum.black/study/time/ordovician}},
  year         = {2026},
  note         = {Time interval article, Stratum Study pack 2026.09, as of 2026-09-19; sources: stratum, pbdb. Accessed 2026-09-20.}
}

Citations carry the pack version and the article's as-of date so they resolve to the same text later. The facts themselves belong to the sources listed below; cite those for the science.

Sources for this article: Stratum editorial (Stratum editorial);Paleobiology Database (CC-BY-4.0). As of 2026-09-19; Study pack 2026.09. Data reproduced under the licences shown; text in Stratum's own words unless a section names its source.

Found an error? Write to drew@tyr.ac with the article id interval:ordovician.