The Ages of the Earth Chapter Four - Silurian by WillemSvdMerwe, literature
Literature
The Ages of the Earth Chapter Four - Silurian
THE AGES OF THE EARTH CHAPTER FOUR SILURIAN The Ordovician ended about 444 million years ago in a mass extinction, likely a result of the cooling of the climate, which might have been caused by the first land-growing plants, small as they were, increasing the amount of oxygen and reducing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the planetary ecosystem soon stabilized and reversed this. The next period, the Silurian, started with a seriously warming climate. But over the period there were a large number of drastic warming-up and cooling-down phases. Life rediversified rapidly after the extinction event. This is the period during which life finally fully conquered the land. Before this, the continents were barren sheets of rock, with at most a thin green film of algae and moss-like plants around the seashores or along inland lakes and ponds. But in the Silurian, vascular plants evolved – they had strengthened vessels that carried sap containing nutrients through their stems.
The Ages of the Earth Chapter Four - Silurian by WillemSvdMerwe, literature
Literature
The Ages of the Earth Chapter Four - Silurian
THE AGES OF THE EARTH CHAPTER FOUR SILURIAN The Ordovician ended about 444 million years ago in a mass extinction, likely a result of the cooling of the climate, which might have been caused by the first land-growing plants, small as they were, increasing the amount of oxygen and reducing the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But the planetary ecosystem soon stabilized and reversed this. The next period, the Silurian, started with a seriously warming climate. But over the period there were a large number of drastic warming-up and cooling-down phases. Life rediversified rapidly after the extinction event. This is the period during which life finally fully conquered the land. Before this, the continents were barren sheets of rock, with at most a thin green film of algae and moss-like plants around the seashores or along inland lakes and ponds. But in the Silurian, vascular plants evolved – they had strengthened vessels that carried sap containing nutrients through their stems.
I was born in 1972, Pretoria, South Africa. I started painting and drawing at the age of 5. I stopped doing that for a while to study some other fields, but recently I've been getting back into it. I love wildlife and nature but I also paint or draw people. I also paint and draw fantasy creatures or scenes, as well as extinct animals.
Hello all! I'm excited to announce that I'm working on a little book, "The Ages of the Earth". This will be a concise overview of the history of Life on Earth, from the Precambrian to the present day. To make it a bit easy on myself, for now the illustrations will be monochrome, except for colour illustrations I've already done. But this is just to give people an idea of the phases through which life evolved, the extinction crises and the rediversification that happened after each crisis. I'm planning to post the book chapter by chapter here, with the illustrations ... will just take a bit of time to decide how to organize it. Eventually I intend to make the whole thing available as an e-book for a low price. I hope you all are as excited as I am! It's been a lot of fun for me thus far.
I'd like to share this music video with y'all! Kaylyn Botha is the daughter of Adri, the owner of the local art gallery that sells and promotes my work. Kaylyn stiill has a few years of school ahead of her, but has enough talent to get a proper career in music going. This song is very light and poppy; it's her first Afrikaans song, she mostly sings in English.
Here it is, my book! This photo was taken 'in the wild' on a bird-watching trip and there were hippos nearby! This book has 42 of my articles published on the h2g2.com site, and of course lots of paintings and also many monochrome drawings. Lots of information, interesting little facts that few people would know, and it is easy to read. If you'd like to get this book, you can order it here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/willem-van-der-merwe/colours-of-wildlife/paperback/product-24029708.html and here: http://www.lulu.com/shop/willem-van-der-merwe/colours-of-wildlife/hardcover/product-23953329.html