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How did the Ordovician System help settle the boundary dispute between the Cambrian and Silurian systems?

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Silurian paleogeography — Silurian Period Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins during the middle part of the Silurian Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.

The Ordovician System helped resolve a long-standing scientific feud between geologists Adam Sedgwick and Roderick Murchison regarding the boundaries of the Cambrian and Silurian systems.12

In the 19th century, Sedgwick and Murchison independently defined their respective systems in Wales, but their work eventually overlapped, leading to a bitter dispute over which system claimed the intervening rock strata. This controversy persisted for decades, even after the deaths of both geologists.12

In 1879, English geologist Charles Lapworth proposed the Ordovician System as a compromise to define this disputed interval. By identifying these rocks as a separate, distinct system, Lapworth provided a stratigraphic solution that effectively separated the Cambrian and Silurian systems. Although his proposal faced resistance in Britain for many years, it eventually gained widespread international acceptance and was officially adopted in Britain in 1960.132