Iapetus Ocean
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The Iapetus Ocean was an ocean that existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale. The Iapetus Ocean was situated in the southern hemisphere, between the paleocontinents of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia. The ocean disappeared with the Acadian, Caledonian and Taconic orogenies, when these three continents joined to form one big landmass called Euramerica. The "southern" Iapetus Ocean has been proposed to have closed with the Famatinian and Taconic orogenies, meaning a collision between Western Gondwana and Laurentia.
Reconstruction of how the Iapetus Ocean and surrounding continents might have been arranged during the late Ediacaran period
Geological fault at Niarbyl. The narrow white diagonal line near centre of picture is where the two sides of the Iapetus Ocean met during its closure. Sutures such as these are the modern evidence for this ancient ocean.
Paleozoic
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The Paleozoic Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of the Mesozoic Era. The Paleozoic is subdivided into six geologic periods :
Trilobites
Cephalaspis (a jawless fish)
Eogyrinus (an amphibian) of the Carboniferous
Life in the early Paleozoic