earth science

Ladinian

Ladinian is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ladinian rather than just read about it. In short: The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between 241.464 Ma and ~237 Ma (million years ago).

Key takeaways

Ladinian belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ladinian to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ladinian from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between 241.464 Ma and ~237 Ma (million years ago). The Ladinian was preceded by the Anisian and succeeded by the Carnian (part of the Upper or Late Triassic). The Ladinian is coeval with the Falangian regional stage used in China.

Stratigraphic definitions

The Ladinian was established by Austrian geologist Alexander Bittner in 1892. Its name comes from the Ladin people that live in the Italian Alps (in the Dolomites, then part of Austria-Hungary). The base of the Ladinian Stage is defined as the place in the stratigraphic record where the ammonite species Eoprotrachyceras curionii first appears or the first appearance of the conodont Budurovignathus praehungaricus. The global reference profile for the base (the GSSP) is at an outcrop in the river bed of the Caffaro river at Bagolino, in the province of Brescia, northern Italy. The top of the Ladinian (the base of the Carnian) is at the first appearance of ammonite species Daxatina canadensis.

The Ladinian is sometimes subdivided into two subages or substages, the Fassanian (early or lower) and the Longobardian (late or upper). The Ladinian contains four ammonite biozones, which are evenly distributed among the two substages:

zone of Frechites regoledanus zone of Protrachyceras archelaus zone of Protrachyceras gredleri zone of Eoprotrachyceras curionii

Ladinian life

Notable formations Upper Besano Formation (Switzerland and Italy) Erfurt Formation / Lower Keuper (Germany) Jilh Formation (Saudi Arabia) Meride Limestone (Switzerland and Italy) Upper Muschelkalk (central Europe) Perledo-Varenna Formation (Italy) Prosanto Formation (Switzerland) Zhuganpo Formation / Zhuganpo Member of the Falang Formation (late Ladinian - early Carnian) (Guizhou and Yunnan, China)

References

Notes

Literature Brack, P.; Rieber, H.; Nicora, A. & Mundil, R.; 2005: The Global boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) of the Ladinian Stage (Middle Triassic) at Bagolino (Southern Alps, Northern Italy) and its implications for the Triassic time scale, Episodes 28(4), pp. 233–244. Gradstein, F.M.; Ogg, J.G. & Smith, A.G.; 2004: A Geologic Time Scale 2004, Cambridge University Press.

External links Media related to Ladinian at Wikimedia Commons

GeoWhen Database - Ladinian Archived 2010-08-22 at the Wayback Machine Upper Triassic and Lower Triassic timescales, at the website of the subcommission for stratigraphic information of the ICS Norges Network of offshore records of geology and stratigraphy: Stratigraphic charts for the Triassic, [1] and [2]

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ladinian

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ladinian claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ladinian before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ladinian ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ladinian

In research: Ladinian appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ladinian in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ladinian is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Geological ages, Ladinian, Middle Triassic, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ladinian outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Ladinian in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ladinian means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ladinian out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ladinian in simple terms?

The Ladinian is a stage and age in the Middle Triassic series or epoch. It spans the time between 241.464 Ma and ~237 Ma (million years ago).

Why does Ladinian matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ladinian?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ladinian.