Hey guys!

[deleted-683209]

Hey guys!
For this years regional science fair, I managed to pull off 4 awards with a project investigating the possible causes of the Ordovicin-Silurian extinction event.
Its a very little sutied event, and the theories based around it are not thought of as certain, therefore I investigated it myself through examination of 10 late Ordovician geological formations. Results were droping populations in Calcium Carbonate shelled organisms, pyrite, K bentonite, (and through previous studies made) high levels of carbon dioxide.
I put it all together, Pyrite indicates lack of oxygen in an environment along with the introduction of sulphure to trigger the fusion, along with K bentonite, which is pretty much the fossil remains of volcanic ash. Through this, I could theorize that it was indeed a super volcanic event, which led t global temperature drops, triggering Ice ages (therefore decreasing Calcium Carbonate shelled organisms).
Now, my next question is how can I build on this topic? I am certain that I will continue to look for these types of leads, but is there anywhere else I could take this project?
Thank you!

Regards

[SciB]

It would be interesting to know where the volcano was and maybe how large. At a distance of 443 million years, however, the continents then would not have been in the same position as today.

Did you do analyses on Ordovician formations that did not show evidence of volcanic ash near the time if the event? Maybe if the eruption was large enough--a super volcano--it would have blanketed the entire planet with ash. Would you expect there to be a thicker ash layer near the volcano?

There have been other extinctions and glacial events and you could use your methods to determine if they were caused by volcanic ash in the atmosphere.

That's about all I can come up with right now. What are your ideas?

Sybee