he broadly flooded shelf of Gondwana had a circumference of at least 28,000 km (17,400 miles), most of which sat in the belt of persistent westerly winds. This had the effect of producing intense surface upwelling of oceanic waters along the margins of the supercontinent and significantly boosting biological productivity. After the organisms living in these waters died, their remains sank into a bottom layer of water characterized by low levels of dissolved oxygen. This dearth of oxygen (anoxia) significantly decelerated the decomposition process, thereby providing the right conditions for the development of black shales. Today, black shale deposits are widespread around the perimeter areas of the former supercontinent, as evidenced by the rich source rocks yielding concentrations of Silurian oil in present-day Algeria and Saudi Arabia.
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