Rhuddanian Stage | Silurian Period, Marine Sediments & Fossils | Britannica (original) (raw)
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Written by
John P. Rafferty
Fact-checked by
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Rhuddanian Stage, first of three stages of the Llandovery Series, encompassing all rocks deposited during the Rhuddanian Age (443.4 million to 440.8 million years ago) of the Silurian Period. It forms the base of the Silurian System. The name of the interval is derived from the Cefn-Rhuddan Farm near Llandovery, Powys, Wales.
In 1984 the International Commission on Stratigraphy established the Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) defining the base of the Rhuddanian Stage within the shale of the Birkhill Shale Formation in Dob’s Linn near Moffat, Scotland. The GSSP marks the first appearance of the graptolites Akidograptus ascensus and Parakidograptus praematurus. The Rhuddanian Stage overlies the Hirnantian Stage of the Ordovician System and precedes the Aeronian Stage.