Biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of Middle and Late Ordovician conodonts from the Langkawi Islands, northwestern peninsular Malaysia

2008 ◽  
Vol 82 (5) ◽  
pp. 957-973 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sachiko Agematsu ◽  
Katsuo Sashida ◽  
Amnan B. Ibrahim

The Middle and Upper Ordovician sequence of the Langkawi Islands, northwestern peninsular Malaysia, contains 20 species of conodonts belonging to 15 genera and four unidentified species, which are described and illustrated. The following four biostratigraphic zones are established for the study area: the Scolopodus striatus assemblage zone, the Periodon sp. A range zone, the Baltoniodus alobatus range zone, and the Hamarodus europaeus range zone, in ascending order. The Middle Ordovician fauna belongs to the low-latitude, warm-water Australian Province. Conodonts of the H. europaeus zone represent the HDS (Hamarodus europaeus-Dapsilodus mutatus-Scabbardella altipes) biofacies, which has been reported from the cool-water North Atlantic Faunal Region. The middle Arenigian limestones in the study area were deposited on a shallow-water shelf, whereas the late Arenigian to middle Darriwilian limestones formed in hemipelagic deeper-water conditions on an outer shelf or slope.

2001 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 370-382 ◽  
Author(s):  
James C. Brower

Three flexible crinoids occur in the Upper Ordovician Maquoketa Formation of Illinois, Iowa, and Minnesota:Protaxocrinus girvanensisRamsbottom, 1961,Clidochirus anebosnew species, andProanisocrinus oswegoensis(Miller and Gurley, 1894).Protaxocrinus girvanensisis also found in the Upper Ordovician of Scotland which indicates that the ocean was narrow enough to allow at least one crinoid species to cross the barrier. The Upper Ordovician of North America and Scotland also share many common crinoid genera. Both phenetic and cladistic methods result in similar phylogenies of flexible crinoids.Protaxocrinuswas derived from a cupulocrinid ancestor during the Middle Ordovician.Clidochirusevolved fromProtaxocrinusor its ancestral stock prior to the Richmondian of the Late Ordovician. The RichmondianProanisocrinusand later anisocrinids are most closely related toClidochirusor its immediate predecessor. Thus, three major lineages of flexible crinoids,Protaxocrinus(taxocrinid group),Clidochirus(icthyocrinid), andProanisocrinus(anisocrinids and homalocrinids), appeared during the Ordovician. Despite their rarity during the Ordovician, all three flexible lineages survived the Latest Ordovician extinction, whereas their more abundant and successful cupulocrinid ancestors were eliminated.


1974 ◽  
Vol 111 (6) ◽  
pp. 549-564 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. M. McCann ◽  
M. J. Kennedy

SummaryConglomerate beds occur in an Upper Ordovician—Lower Silurian clastic sequence on the northeastern side of the Newfoundland Central Paleozoic Mobile Belt. They contain scattered pebbles and cobbles dispersed in a finely laminated sandstone and siltstone matrix. Laminations are generally 5–20 mm thick and the clasts 10–300 mm across. The laminations are locally disrupted by the clasts. These laminations have subsequently been tectonically flattened into augen around the clasts and locally disrupted by boudinage. It is concluded that these conglomerate beds represent icerafted glacio-marine deposits interbedded with turbidites which were probably deposited in a locally restricted marine environment. The deposits are interpreted on the basis of scattered fossil localities as being of Late Ordovician–Early Silurian age. They are compared with deposits of similar age elsewhere in the North Atlantic region.


1999 ◽  
Vol 136 (2) ◽  
pp. 119-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
OLIVER LEHNERT ◽  
STIG M. BERGSTRÖM ◽  
J. L. BENEDETTO ◽  
N. EMILIO VACCARI

A collection of conodonts, including Dapsilodus obliquicostatus (Branson & Mehl), Distomodus cf. kentuckyensis Branson & Branson, Ozarkodina oldhamensis (Rexroad), and Panderodus sp., has been obtained from brachiopod coquinas in the lower part of the La Chilca Formation in the Precordillera of west-central Argentina. This conodont fauna, the first to be recorded from the Llandovery in South America, can be referred to the D. kentuckyensis Biozone, and is interpreted to represent an interval in the middle Rhuddanian to lower Aeronian stages. This age assignment is supported by graptolite data from the lower third of the La Chilca Formation beneath the conodont-bearing interval. The brachiopods associated with the conodonts belong to the Afro-South American Realm, but include a high percentage of North Atlantic and cosmopolitan genera. The conodont taxa present are widespread in the tropical zone (Laurentia, Baltica, etc.). This suggests that the pronounced conodont faunal provicialism in the Upper Ordovician had disappeared in the Lower Silurian, where high- and low-latitude conodont faunas appear to be closely similar.


2010 ◽  
Vol 147 (5) ◽  
pp. 674-689 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. CASAS

AbstractTwo deformational events which developed prior to the Variscan structures can be characterized in the Palaeozoic rocks of the Pyrenees: a Middle (?) Ordovician folding event and a Late Ordovician fracture episode. The Middle (?) Ordovician folding event gives rise to NW–SE- to N–S-oriented, metric- to hectometric-sized folds, without cleavage formation or related metamorphism. These folds can account for the deformation and uplift of the pre-Upper Ordovician (Cambro-Ordovician) sequence and for the formation of the Upper Ordovician unconformity. Ordovician folds control the orientation of the Variscan main-folding-phase minor structures, fold axes and intersection lineation in the Cambro-Ordovician sediments. The Late Ordovician fracture episode gave rise to normal faults affecting the lower part of the Upper Ordovician series, the basal unconformity and the underlying Cambro-Ordovician metasediments. Displacement of some of these faults diminishes progressively upwards of the series and tapers off in the upper part of the Upper Ordovician rocks, indicating that the faults became inactive during Late Ordovician times before deposition of the Ashgillian metasediments. Normal faults can be linked to the Upper Ordovician volcanic activity, which has been extensively described in the Pyrenees. The aforementioned deformation episodes took place after the Early Ordovician magmatic event, which gave rise to a large volume of plutonic rocks in the Pyrenees as in other segments of the European Variscides. This Middle Ordovician contractional event separated two extensional events in the Pyrenees from Early Ordovician to Silurian times. This event prevents us from assuming the existence of a continuous extensional regime through Ordovician and Silurian times, and suggests a more complex evolution of this segment of the northern Gondwana margin during the Ordovician.


2007 ◽  
Vol 81 (6) ◽  
pp. 1486-1493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald L. Parsley ◽  
Colin D. Sumrall

An echinoderm fauna from the Lower Devonian (Lochkovian) Cravatt Member of the Bois d'Arc Formation near Clarita, Oklahoma, has yielded specimens of recumbent, essentially bilaterally symmetrical taxa which are similar to Ordovician genera but absent or sparsely represented in Silurian strata. Claritacarpus smithi n. gen. and sp., is a dendrocystitid homoiostele with morphology similar to the Late Ordovician Dendrocystoides Jaekel, 1918; the anomalocystitid stylophoran Victoriacystis aff. holmesorum Ruta and Jell, 1999 shows strong affinities to Victoriacystis holmesorum Ruta and Jell, 1999, Humevale Formation, of Victoria, Australia; and the pleurocystitid rhombiferan, Turgidacystis graffhami n. gen. and sp., has close affinities to the Middle Ordovician Coopericystis Parsley, 1970 of West Virginia and Henicocystis Jell, 1983 of Victoria, Australia. Claritacarpus and Turgidacystis are North American range extensions for homoiosteles and pleurocystitids, respectively, being previously unknown from rocks younger than Upper Ordovician. Globally, Silurian homoiosteles and pleurocystitids are unknown although both occur in the Lower Devonian of Germany and Australia; additionally, Early Devonian pleurocystitids are known from Great Britain and Bohemia. These genera illustrate a pseudoextinction pattern suggesting a significant unsampled Silurian “homalozoan” and pleurocystitid history.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-22
Author(s):  
Zhihua Yang ◽  
Xiuchun Jing ◽  
Hongrui Zhou ◽  
Xunlian Wang ◽  
Hui Ren ◽  
...  

Abstract Upper Ordovician strata exposed from the Baiyanhuashan section is the most representative Late Ordovician unit in the northwestern margin of the North China Craton (NCC). In total, 1,215 conodont specimens were obtained from 24 samples through the Wulanhudong and Baiyanhuashan formations at the Baiyanhuashan section. Thirty-six species belonging to 17 genera, including Tasmanognathus coronatus new species, are present. Based on this material, three conodont biozones—the Belodina confluens Biozone, the Yaoxianognathus neimengguensis Biozone, and the Yaoxianognathus yaoxianensis Biozone—have been documented, suggesting that the Baiyanhuashan conodont fauna has a stratigraphic range spanning the early to middle Katian. The Baiyanhuashan conodont fauna includes species both endemic to North China and widespread in tropical zones, allowing a reassessment of the previous correlations of the Katian conodont zonal successions proposed for North China with those established for shallow-water carbonate platforms at low latitudes. UUID: http://zoobank.org/7cedbd4a-4f7a-4be6-912f-a27fd041b586


2007 ◽  
Vol 44 (10) ◽  
pp. 1479-1501 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Pojeta Jr. ◽  
Christopher A Stott

The new Ordovician palaeotaxodont family Nucularcidae and the new genus Nucularca are described. Included in Nucularca are four previously described species that have taxodont dentition: N. cingulata (Ulrich) (the type species), N. pectunculoides (Hall), N. lorrainensis (Foerste), and N. gorensis (Foerste). All four species are of Late Ordovician (Cincinnatian Katian) age and occur in eastern Canada and the northeastern USA. Ctenodonta borealis Foerste is regarded as a subjective synonym of Nucularca lorrainensis. No new species names are proposed. The Nucularcidae includes the genera Nucularca and Sthenodonta Pojeta and Gilbert-Tomlinson (1977). Sthenodonta occurs in central Australia in rocks of Middle Ordovician (Darriwilian) age. The 12 family group names previously proposed for Ordovician palaeotaxodonts having taxodont dentition are reviewed and evaluated in the Appendix.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cory J. D. Matthews ◽  
Fred J. Longstaffe ◽  
Jack W. Lawson ◽  
Steven H. Ferguson

AbstractKiller whales (Orcinus orca) are distributed widely in all oceans, although they are most common in coastal waters of temperate and high-latitude regions. The species’ distribution has not been fully described in the northwest Atlantic (NWA), where killer whales move into seasonally ice-free waters of the eastern Canadian Arctic (ECA) and occur year-round off the coast of Newfoundland and Labrador farther south. We measured stable oxygen and carbon isotope ratios in dentine phosphate (δ18OP) and structural carbonate (δ18OSC, δ13CSC) of whole teeth and annual growth layers from killer whales that stranded in the ECA (n = 11) and NWA (n = 7). Source δ18O of marine water (δ18Omarine) at location of origin was estimated from dentine δ18OPvalues, and then compared with predicted isoscape values to assign individual distributions. Dentine δ18OPvalues were also assessed against those of other known-origin North Atlantic odontocetes for spatial reference. Most ECA and NWA killer whales had mean δ18OPand estimated δ18Omarinevalues consistent with18O-depleted, high-latitude waters north of the Gulf Stream, above which a marked decrease in baseline δ18O values occurs. Several individuals, however, had relatively high values that reflected origins in18O-enriched, low-latitude waters below this boundary. Within-tooth δ18OSCranges on the order of 1–2‰ indicated interannual variation in distribution. Different distributions inferred from oxygen isotopes suggest there is not a single killer whale population distributed across the northwest Atlantic, and corroborate dietary and morphological differences of purported ecotypes in the region.


Author(s):  
Cole T. Edwards ◽  
Clive M. Jones ◽  
Page C. Quinton ◽  
David A. Fike

The oxygen isotopic compositions (δ18O) of minimally altered phosphate minerals and fossils, such as conodont elements, are used as a proxy for past ocean temperature. Phosphate is thermally stable under low to moderate burial conditions and is ideal for reconstructing seawater temperatures because the P-O bonds are highly resistant to isotopic exchange during diagenesis. Traditional bulk methods used to measure conodont δ18O include multiple conodont elements, which can reflect different environments and potentially yield an aggregate δ18O value derived from a mixture of different water masses. In situ spot analyses of individual elements using micro-analytical techniques, such as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS), can address these issues. Here we present 108 new δ18O values using SIMS from conodont apatite collected from four Lower to Upper Ordovician stratigraphic successions from North America (Nevada, Oklahoma, and the Cincinnati Arch region of Kentucky and Indiana, USA). The available elements measured had a range of thermal alteration regimes that are categorized based on their conodont alteration index (CAI) as either low (CAI = 1−2) or high (CAI = 3−4). Though individual spot analyses of the same element yield δ18O values that vary by several per mil (‰), most form a normal distribution around a mean value. Isotopic variability of individual spots can be minimized by avoiding surficial heterogeneities like cracks, pits, or near the edge of the element and the precision can be improved with multiple (≥4) spot analyses of the same element. Mean δ18O values from multiple conodonts from the same bed range between 0.0 and 4.3‰ (median 1.0‰), regardless of low or high CAI values. Oxygen isotopic values measured using SIMS in this study reproduce values similar to published trends, namely, δ18O values increase during the Early−Middle Ordovician and plateau by the mid Darriwilian (late Middle Ordovician). Twenty-two of the measured conodonts were from ten sampled beds that had been previously measured using bulk analysis. SIMS-based δ18O values from these samples are more positive by an average of 1.7‰ compared to bulk values, consistent with observations by others who attribute the shift to carbonate- and hydroxyl-related SIMS matrix effects. This offset has implications for paleo-temperature model estimates, which indicate that a 4 °C temperature change corresponds to a 1‰ shift in δ18O (‰). Although this uncertainty precludes precise paleo-temperature reconstructions by SIMS, it is valuable for identifying spatial and stratigraphic trends in temperature that might not have been previously possible with bulk approaches.


Minerals ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (11) ◽  
pp. 495 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yizhou Huang ◽  
Zhenxue Jiang ◽  
Kun Zhang ◽  
Yan Song ◽  
Shu Jiang ◽  
...  

The effect of organic matter on hydrocarbon potential, storage space, and gas content of shale is well-known. Additionally, present-day content of sedimentary organic matter in shale is controlled by depositional and preservation processes. Therefore, a study of the enrichment mechanisms of sedimentary organic matter provides a scientific basis for the determination of favorable areas of shale gas. In this study the Upper Ordovician Xinkailing Fm. and the first member of the Lower Silurian Lishuwo Fm. were examined. Stratigraphic sequences were identified through conventional logs and elemental capture spectrum data. Oxygen isotope analysis was applied to recover paleotemperature of seawater in the study area. The excess silicon content was calculated and the origin of the silica was determined by the Fe-Al-Mn ternary plot. The enrichment mechanism of organic matter was analyzed by two aspects: redox conditions and paleoproductivity. As a result, the stratigraphic interval was divided into two 3rd-order sequences. Through oxygen isotope, the paleotemperature of seawater was 62.7–79.2 °C, providing evidence of the development of hydrothermal activity. Analysis of excess siliceous minerals identified two siliceous mineral origins: terrigenous and hydrothermal. It also revealed an upwards decreasing tendency in hydrothermal activity intensity. Strong hydrothermal activity during the Late Ordovician, recognized as TST1, formed a weak-oxidizing to poor-oxygen environment with high paleoproductivity, which promoted organic matter enrichment. During the Late Ordovician to the Early Silurian, identified as RST1, TST2, and RST2, weakening hydrothermal activity caused the decline of paleoproductivity and increased oxidation of bottom waters, leading to a relative decrease of organic matter content in the shale. Therefore, favorable areas of shale gas accumulation in the Upper Ordovician and Lower Silurian are determined stratigraphically as the TST1, with a high total organic carbonate content. Geographically, the hydrothermally-active area near the plate connection of the Yangtze and the Cathaysian is most favorable.


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