Late Ordovician Time Research Articles

Early Paleozoic accretionary history of the Pearya terrane: New insights from igneous and detrital zircon signatures of the Kulutingwak Formation, Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada

The juxtaposition of the composite Pearya terrane and the northern Laurentian margin at Ellesmere Island, Nunavut, Canada, has significant ramifications for the Paleozoic tectonic history of the circum-Arctic region. Published tectonic models rely upon interpretation of the subduction-related Kulutingwak Formation as an indicator of Ordovician and/or Silurian accretion (Trettin, 1998). New igneous and detrital zircon U-Pb and Lu-Hf isotopic data from 16 samples collected in the Yelverton Inlet–Kulutingwak Fiord region of northern Ellesmere Island suggest that the Kulutingwak Formation of Trettin (1998) contains structural blocks derived from both the Pearya terrane and Silurian strata associated with the ancestral Laurentian margin. Data from this study demonstrate a complex provenance history for rocks within the Petersen Bay, Kulutingwak Fiord, and Emma Fiord fault zones, with age probability peaks of ca. 470 Ma, 650 Ma, and 960–980 Ma that suggest affinity with the Pearya terrane, and age probability peaks of ca. 1800 Ma and 2700 Ma that indicate connections to the Laurentian margin. The combination of these signatures in Kulutingwak Formation rocks suggests that the Pearya terrane was proximal to the northern Laurentian margin by Late Ordovician time. Silurian and younger strike-slip displacement on the major fault zones resulted in the incorporation of blocks derived from the Pearya terrane basement and Silurian clastic rocks into the Kulutingwak Formation. Silurian displacement along these strike-slip faults, which are integral components of the Canadian Arctic transform system, is recorded by syndepositional deformation structures in the Danish River Formation and prevented the transition from soft to hard collision of the Pearya terrane. The two-stage model for the Pearya terrane—accretion followed by significant translation—provides a process for developing complex steep terrane boundaries with contentious displacement histories that are common in accretionary orogens.

Taxonomic revision of the genus Stiptognathus (Conodonta) from the Lower Ordovician of Australia and its biostratigraphical and palaeobiogeographical significance

Stiptognathus borealis from the Lower Ordovician Emanuel Formation and correlative subsurface Nambeet Formation of the Canning Basin in Western Australia is examined taxonomically. It is the type and only known species of the genus Stiptognathus, with a stratigraphical range restricted to the lower Floian (Lower Ordovician). The distribution of S. borealis suggests that this species might have inhabited a spectrum of environments, but it was palaeobiogeographically restricted to the tropical zone, possibly because of sea water temperature sensitivity. This study provides a new description of this species and redefines its constituent element types comprising a seximembrate apparatus. This is characterized by a pastinate Pa element and modified angulate Pb element. Stiptognathus borealis is morphologically most closely related to the genus Fahraeusodus. These taxa form a clade that might be phylogenetically basal to Plectodinidae and Cyatoniodontidae, which flourished in Middle and Late Ordovician times. Yong Yi Zhen [yong-yi.zhen@regional.nsw.gov.au ], Geological Survey of New South Wales, W.B. Clarke Geoscience Centre, 947-953 Londonderry Road, Londonderry, NSW 2753, Australia.

Late Ordovician solutan echinoderms from the Western Tafilalt, Morocco

Abstract In the western Tafilalt area, eastern Anti-Atlas (Morocco), solutan echinoderms are a major faunal element of most echinoderm Lagerstätten occurring within the Lower Ktaoua Formation (late Sandbian–early Katian). For the first time, members of the class Soluta are formally described from Morocco and Africa. All solutans from the Lower Ktaoua Formation are identified as Dendrocystites aff. sedgwicki . Three size-related morphotypes, probably corresponding to successive growth stages (‘juvenile’, ‘adult’ and ‘gerontic’), could be distinguished within the abundant and well-preserved material from Morocco. The occurrence of the genus Dendrocystites in the western Tafilalt confirms the strong faunal affinities between Morocco and other regions of the Mediterranean Province (Czech Republic and Spain) in Late Ordovician times. In high palaeolatitude (peri-)Gondwanan areas, Dendrocystites was a gregarious solutan living in shallow, siliciclastic settings at or above the storm-wave base.

Late Ordovician fore-arc ophiolitic mélange in the southern margin of the Bainaimiao arc: constraints from zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopes and geochemical analyses

AbstractThe Harihada–Chegendalai ophiolitic mélange, which is located between the Bainaimiao arc and the North China Craton, holds significant clues regarding the tectonic setting of the southern margin of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt. The ophiolitic mélange is mainly composed of gabbroic and serpentinized ultramafic rocks. Here, zircon U–Pb dating, in situ zircon Hf isotopic, whole-rock geochemical and in situ mineral chemical data from the ophiolitic mélange are reported. The zircons in the gabbroic rocks yielded concordia U–Pb ages of 450–448 Ma and exhibited slightly positive ϵHf(t) values (0.87–4.34). The geochemical characteristics of the gabbroic rocks indicate that they were generated from a mantle wedge metasomatized by subduction-derived melts from sediments with continental crust contamination, in a fore-arc tectonic setting. These rocks also experienced the accumulation of plagioclase. The geochemical characteristics of the ultramafic rocks and their Cr-spinels indicate that they may constitute part of residual mantle that has experienced a high degree of partial melting and has interacted with fluids/melts released from the subducted slab in the same fore-arc tectonic setting. The ophiolitic mélange may therefore have formed in this fore-arc tectonic setting, resulting from the northward subduction of the South Bainaimiao Ocean beneath the Bainaimiao arc during Late Ordovician time, prior to the collision between the Bainaimiao arc and the North China Craton during the Silurian to Carboniferous periods.

So close and yet so far: U–Pb geochronological constraints of the Jaibaras Rift Basin and the intracratonic Parnaíba Basin in SW Gondwana

AbstractSeveral sag-type basins apparently developed from rift systems, but there is no consensus about how and if these grabens influenced the sedimentation of the post-rift thermal subsidence phase. The Ediacaran Jaibaras Rift Basin is one of the best-exposed sedimentary records among the NE Brazil late Precambrian – early Cambrian rift system, cropping out at the eastern margin of the intracratonic Parnaíba Basin and extending below it towards the west. Here we present detrital zircon U–Pb ages of rocks from the Jaibaras (Aprazível Formation) and Parnaíba (Ipu Formation) basins, in order to understand the provenance patterns, maximum depositional ages (MDA) and age relationship between these units. The MDA for the Aprazível Formation (c. 499 ± 5 Ma) indicates a Cambrian age for the upper part of the Jaibaras Basin. The bulk U–Pb data indicate that the Ipu Formation started to deposit during late Cambrian and/or Early Ordovician time, despite its MDA (c. 528 ± 11 Ma) being older than that of the Aprazível Formation. Detrital zircon provenance suggests that the primary source areas for the early deposits of the Parnaíba Basin were mountains related to the Brasiliano Orogeny to the south and SE (e.g. Rio Preto and Riacho do Pontal metamorphic belts). Finally, our data emphasize the key change in source areas from the rift to the initial deposition of the intracratonic phase, indicating major depositional style changes between both basins after the Gondwana assembly.

Reconciling Patagonia with Gondwana in early Paleozoic? Paleomagnetism of the Valcheta granites, NE North Patagonian Massif

A paleomagnetic study was carried out in the Ordovician granitoids located in the northeastern North Patagonian Massif (NPM), close to Valcheta town (Río Negro Province, Argentina), to provide new evidence on the relation between Patagonia and Gondwana during the Early Paleozoic. A paleomagnetic paleopole (VA1) was calculated out of 14 VGPs yielding a mean at 12.7°N, 275.5°E with K = 13.3 and A95 = 11.3°. A second result (VA2-remag), computed on other component found in 12 sites is located at 76.4°S, 84°E, K = 11.8 and A95 = 5°. VA2-remag fits very well with the Lower Jurassic segment of the apparent polar wander path of Gondwana. We interpret that it corresponds to a remagnetization carried mostly by high-coercitive components acquired during the hydrothermal activity associated with the Early Jurassic effusion of the Marifil-Chon Aike volcanic province. VA1 paleopole becomes consistent with the Gondwana apparent polar wander path at ~450 Ma, after applying a 30–40° CCW rotation of the NPM to restore a V-shaped basin (Sierra Grande sea) opened before Permian-Triassic times. This rotation restores the paleogeographical position of the Ordovician granites of northeast NPM to the south of the Sierras Pampeanas aligning them with the eastern domain of the Famatinian orogenic and magmatic belt. VA1 paleopole suggests that the position of the NPM was close to the South American margin of Gondwana and separated by the Sierra Grande Sea from the Rio de la Plata-Kalahari cratons from, at least, late Ordovician times, which favors a para-autochthonous origin for the NPM. A former hypothesis suggesting a connection of the NPM and the TransAntarctic Mountains is unlikely for the late Ordovician according to our new data, which only allows an allochthonous NPM close to the Kalahari craton.

Evolution of Subduction Dynamics beneath West Avalonia in Middle to Late Ordovician Times

Abstract Middle to Upper Ordovician volcanic rocks in the Arisaig area of Nova Scotia, Canada, constitute the only known record of volcanism in West Avalonia during that interval. Hence, they have been extensively studied to test paleocontinental reconstructions that consistently show Avalonia as a drifting microcontinent during that period. Identification of volcanic rocks with an intermediate composition (the new Seaspray Cove Formation) between upper Darriwilian bimodal volcanic rocks of the Dunn Point Formation and Sandbian felsic pyroclastic rocks of the McGillivray Brook Formation has led to a reevaluation of magmatic relationships in the Ordovician volcanic suite at Arisaig. Although part of the same volcanic construction, the three formations are separated by significant time-gaps and are shown to belong to three distinct magmatic subsystems. The tectonostratigraphic context and trace element contents of the Dunn Point Formation basalts suggest that they were produced by the high-degree partial melting of an E-MORB type source in a back-arc extensional setting, whereas trace element contents in intermediate rocks of the Seaspray Cove Formation suggest that they were produced by the low-degree partial melting of a subduction-enriched source in an arc setting. The two formations are separated by a long interval of volcanic quiescence and deep weathering, during which time the back-arc region evolved from extension to shortening and was eventually onlapped by arc volcanic rocks. Based on limited field constraints, paleomagnetic and paleontological data, this progradation of arc onto back-arc volcanic rocks occurred from the north, where an increasingly young Iapetan oceanic plate was being subducted at an increasingly shallow angle. Partial subduction of the Iapetan oceanic ridge is thought to have subsequently generated slab window magmatism, thus marking the last pulse of subduction-related volcanism in both East and West Avalonia.

Tectonic history across the Iapetus suture zone in Ireland

Abstract The early Paleozoic rocks of eastern Ireland span the suture zone between the Laurentian and Ganderian continental margins of the Iapetus Ocean. The Grangegeeth Terrane comprises a Laurentian continental fragment and Ordovician volcanic arc that formed the southern margin of the late Ordovician Rathkenny Basin of Moffat Shale facies mudstone. Together, these were overstepped in Wenlock time by Laurentia-derived greywackes and became the southernmost tract of the Longford–Down Terrane accretionary prism as subduction brought them into the Laurentian-margin trench. South of the suture, Middle Ordovician failed rifting of a Ganderian volcanic arc terrane was followed by shortening during continuing subduction under the north-facing arc. In Newfoundland, a Ganderian volcanic arc migrated across the ocean in mid-Ordovician times to accrete to Laurentia. In Ireland, the late-accreted arc on the Laurentian margin was formed on a Laurentian microcontinent, and Ganderia had an active margin throughout Late Ordovician time. Silurian closure of Iapetus was between the leading edge of Ganderia and the Laurentian margin, unlike in the Canadian Appalachians, where separate Ordovician and Silurian sutures are recognized. Iapetus was narrow by Katian time but subduction-related magmatism continued into Wenlock times on both margins.

Mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the Paleozoic source rocks, Akkas gas field, Western Desert of Iraq: Implications for their origin, maturation and Ordovician-Silurian transition

Ordovician-Silurian black shales are the source rocks in the Palaeozoic petroleum system in Iraq. However, their source and depositional conditions from their mineralogy and inorganic geochemistry are quite lacking in previous works. These shales also provide an opportunity to examine the changes in paleoenvironment, paleoclimate and paleoredox conditions across the Ordovician-Silurian transition.The Ordovician black shales comprise of kaolinite, illite, chlorite, quartz, dolomite, calcite, and traces of feldspars and siderite, while the Silurian black shales comprise of illite, quartz, calcite, dolomite and pyrite. Calculated SiO2 (wt %) and Al2O3/TiO2 ratios suggest felsic source rocks for the Ordovician black shales and intermediate source rocks for Silurian hot shales. The shallow marine setting for the Ordovician black shales that changed to a deeper environment during the Silurian time was interpreted from the V, P2O5, and Al2O3 diagrams is consistent with the abundance of trace fossils Monocraterion sp., Cruziana problematica, Diplichnites sp., and Skolithos sp. which refer to proximal shallow marine conditions and abundance of graptolites monograptus in the Silurian black shales, which refer to an open-marine environment. Paleoredox indicators such as TOC and Mn contents as well as Ni/Co, V/Ni, U/Th, and V/Cr ratios prove fluctuation of redox conditions from oxic in the Ordovician shales to anoxic in the Silurian black shales. Late Ordovician glaciation in Iraq can be indicated from the low values of chemical index of weathering (CIA = 52-58) in the samples from the upper part of the upper part of the Khabour Formation that refer to cold and arid climate conditions that prevailed during the late Ordovician time. Abundance of extrabasinal and poor-sorted mud clasts in this interval might support the glaciogenic origin of this part. The black shales in the Khabour Formation is considered as fair source rock (average TOC = 0.9 wt%), while that in the Akkas Formation is an excellent source rock (average TOC = 13.2 wt%) for hydrocarbon generation. Kerogen in the Ordovician and Silurian black shales were derived from marine organic matter as indicated by the binary plot and total C1-C15-n-C6-n-C14-n-C15+ ternary diagram. Organic matter in the Ordovician black shales is highly matured compared to that in the Silurian black shales due to higher illite crystallinity (IC) values in the Ordovician (0.61–0.75° D2θ) relative to that in the Silurian (0.45–0.55° D2θ) black shales.

Early Palaeozoic diversifications and extinctions in the marine biosphere: a continuum of change

AbstractA review of biodiversity curves of marine organisms indicates that, despite fluctuations in amplitude (some large), a large-scale, long-term radiation of life took place during the early Palaeozoic Era; it was aggregated by a succession of more discrete and regionalized radiations across geographies and within phylogenies. This major biodiversification within the marine biosphere started during late Precambrian time and was only finally interrupted in the Devonian Period. It includes both the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. The establishment of modern marine ecosystems took place during a continuous chronology of the successive establishment of organisms and their ecological communities, developed during the ‘Cambrian substrate revolution’, the ‘Ordovician plankton revolution’, the ‘Ordovician substrate revolution’, the ‘Ordovician bioerosion revolution’ and the ‘Devonian nekton revolution’. At smaller scales, different regional but important radiations can be recognized geographically and some of them have been identified and named (e.g. those associated with the ‘Richmondian Invasion’ during Late Ordovician time in Laurentia and the contemporaneous ‘Boda event’ in parts of Europe and North Africa), in particular from areas that were in or moved towards lower latitudes, allowing high levels of speciation on epicontintental seas during these intervals. The datasets remain incomplete for many other geographical areas, but also for particular time intervals (e.g. during the late Cambrian ‘Furongian Gap’). The early Palaeozoic biodiversification therefore appears to be a long-term process, modulated by bursts in significant diversity and intervals of inadequate data, where its progressive character will become increasingly clearer with the availability of more complete datasets, with better global coverage and more advanced analytical techniques.

Geochemistry and zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopes of the Mante Aobao granite porphyry at East Ujimqin Banner, Inner Mongolia: implications for petrogenesis and tectonic setting

AbstractWe present detailed petrography, geochemistry and zircon U–Pb–Hf isotopes of the Mante Aobao granite porphyry in East Ujimqin Banner, Inner Mongolia, with the aim of determining its age and petrogenesis, important for understanding the early Palaeozoic tectonic evolution of the Xing’an–Mongolian Orogenic Belt. The Mante Aobao granite porphyry consists of plagioclase, quartz and minor biotite, but without amphibole. Zircon U–Pb analyses yield ages of 450 ± 1 Ma and 445 ± 2 Ma for the granite porphyry, indicating that it formed during Late Ordovician time. The granite porphyry is metaluminous to slightly peraluminous (aluminous saturation index A/CNK = 0.98–1.11) with high SiO2, K2O and Na2O concentrations and differentiation index (DI = 85–90). Chondrite-normalized rare earth element (REE) patterns display enrichment of light REEs (LREEs) with high ratios of (La/Yb)N and negative Eu anomalies. In the mantle-normalized multi-element variation diagrams, all samples are characterized by depletions of high-field-strength elements (HFSEs; Nb, Ta and Ti) and enrichments of large-ion lithophiles (LILEs; Rb, Th, U and K). These geochemical features indicate that the granite porphyry is a highly fractionated I-type granite and formed in a subduction-related setting. Zircon grains have positive εHf(t) values of +9.2 to +11.2, and TDM2(Hf) ages of 691–821 Ma, suggesting that the granite porphyry was generated by partial melting of Neoproterozoic juvenile crust with involvement of fractional crystallization during magmatic evolution. It is likely that underplating of mantle-derived magmas during Late Ordovician time provided the necessary heat to partially melt this juvenile crust. Combined with the regional geological data, we infer that the Mante Aobao granite porphyry was emplaced in an active continental margin setting that was probably related to the northwards subduction of the Paleo-Asian Plate beneath the South Mongolian Terrane along the Sonid Zuoqi–Xilinhot axis.

Pre-Variscan tectonic events and Late Ordovician magmatism in the Central Pyrenees: U–Pb age and Hf in zircon isotopic signature from subvolcanic sills in the Pallaresa massif

Late Ordovician magmatism is well-represented in all massifs of the Eastern Pyrenees and the Catalan Coastal Ranges but has not been reported in the central parts of the Pyrenean Axial Zone. This work shows the first geochronological evidence for Late Ordovician magmatism in the Pallaresa massif. This massif is a large E–W trending antiformal structure cored by Paleozoic rocks with a Variscan tectonothermal overprint. The lower Paleozoic sequence shows an Upper Ordovician succession lying unconformably on older Cambrian–Ordovician beds. Despite Variscan overprint, the Cambrian–Ordovician rocks record evidence of a pre-Variscan penetrative fabric which is not present in the rest of the overlying Paleozoic succession. In the eastern part of the Pallaresa massif, rhyodacitic to dacitic subvolcanic rock forming sills intercalated within the Cambrian–Ordovician succession close to the base of the Upper Ordovician rocks have been identified and sampled. These volcanic rocks have a Variscan penetrative foliation and lack the additional pre-Variscan deformation. U–Pb zircon dating of one these subvolcanic levels by U–Pb CA-ID-TIMS, has provided an age of 453.6 ± 1.5 Ma (Sandbian) and the zircon has given ɛHf450 values between − 2.4 and − 5.9, suggesting a mixed source. These new data strengthen the Paleozoic correlation of the Central and Eastern Pyrenees indicating that the Late Ordovician magmatism in the Pyrenees was associated with a pre-Variscan event responsible for the Upper Ordovician angular unconformity and the presence of a penetrative pre-Variscan deformation affecting the underlying Cambrian–Ordovician sequence. This new data, coupled with the occurrence of Zn–Pb SEDEX o Mississippi Valley type deposits associated with Upper Ordovician rocks, suggest the evidence of extensional tectonic activity during Late Ordovician times.

High-resolution δ 13 C org chemostratigraphy links the Decorah impact structure and Winneshiek Konservat-Lagerstätte to the Darriwilian (Middle Ordovician) global peak influx of meteorites

The precise age of the Winneshiek Shale, a recently discovered Konservat-Lagerstätte located in a very unusual depositional setting inside the Decorah impact structure, has remained uncertain in the absence of biostratigraphically highly diagnostic fossils. This chemostratigraphical study, based on δ13Corg data from 36 drill core samples through the shale, shows that the age ranges from the upper part of a small unnamed δ13C excursion in the Dw1 Stage Slice of the Darriwilian Global Stage to the lower part of the MDICE excursion in Stage Slice Dw2 of the same stage. This Dw1–Dw2 interval has an isotopic age of ~464–467 Ma. The gradational contact between the Winneshiek Shale and the underlying, rapidly deposited, impact breccia indicates minimal time difference between the impact event and the Winneshiek Shale. New age data show that the Decorah impact event was coeval with the early Darriwilian abnormally high influx of micrometeorites and meteorites recorded in sections in Baltoscandia, Russia and China and that the Decorah crater can be included among the unusually large number of meteorite craters formed during Middle and early Late Ordovician time. As is commonly the case in black shale deposits, the partly uniquely preserved Winneshiek Shale crater fauna is impoverished taxonomically and adds numerically relatively little to the conspicuous and much discussed Darriwilian global biodiversification increase.

Nd, Pb, Hf isotope characteristics and provenance of glacial granitic pebbles from Late Ordovician diamictites in the Taurides, S Turkey

Outcrops of the Late Ordovician glacio-marine deposits in Tauride Anatolide Platform contain rare rounded/sub-rounded glacially transported granitic pebbles. Recently determined crystallization ages of the granitic fragments by LA-ICP-MS U-Pb zircon dating fall in two groups, 575 to 600Ma and 700 to 965Ma. Crystallization ages are in the range of juvenile magmatic rocks in the Arabian Nubian Shield except one sample implying pre-0.87Ga magmatic activity. All dated granitic pebbles geochemically show arc-related compositions and juvenile isotopic systematics (whole rock ƐNd(T), Pb-Pb and zircon ƐHf(T) isotopic data). Marginal arc type sources fit well with the geochemical and isotopic data of the granitic pebbles of 700 and 800Ma that have juvenile Hf-TDM and older Nd-TCR modal ages. However, A-type affinity of three samples, ranging from 575 to 600Ma show that they might have been derived from mixing of juvenile mantle and older crustal sources having older Hf-TDM and Nd-TCR modal ages. A 965Ma granitic fragment has the oldest Hf-TDM and Nd-TCR model age(s) implying involvement of pre-Neoproterozoic crustal source(s) in its genesis. These results collectively suggest that the glacio-marine successions in the Tauride Anatolide Platform were eroded from Neoproterozoic granitic/meta-granitic/meta-granodioritic rocks in the northern Nubian Shield (Egypt) and were then transported to the Tauride-Anatolide Platform by the glacial sheets during Late Ordovician time.

Gradients in the carbon isotopic composition of Ordovician shallow water carbonates: A potential pitfall in estimates of ancient CO2 and O2

The carbon isotopic composition of the global dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) reservoir is best estimated from open ocean pelagic carbonate sediments (δ13Ccarb). However, this is not practical for most of geologic time because seafloor subduction has removed the pre-Jurassic record and these time periods may have lacked planktonic calcifying organisms, and therefore shallow water carbonate platform or periplatform sediments are utilized. Shallow water deposits are susceptible to a wide range of post-depositional alteration processes and syn-depositional controls on δ13Ccarb that include carbonate mineralogy, water mass restriction, and a host of related variables (e.g., pH, temperature, organic decomposition, evaporation and CO2 solubility) that can produce local gradients in DIC. The degree to which shallow water δ13C curves diverge from open marine deposits may be critical to understanding how well global carbon cycle isotope mass balance models can predict organic carbon burial rates, but documentation of such divergence is often hindered by factors that limit chronostratigraphic correlation in restricted water masses (e.g., endemic faunas). Here we integrate strontium isotope (87Sr/86Sr) stratigraphy and biostratigraphy to compare δ13C curves in a case study along a depth transect in Middle–Late Ordovician carbonate platform settings. The restricted tidal flat and more open marine deposits are offset by a maximum of ∼2‰ during sea level drop and ∼0‰ during highstand flooding of the platform. Global carbon cycle models such as GEOCARBSULF use published δ13Ccarb curves to drive organic carbon burial rates under the assumption that δ13Ccarb reflects a global seawater signal. We show here the potential pitfalls of using a published δ13Ccarb curve that violates this global assumption. For the 460 million year Middle–Late Ordovician time bin in GEOCARBSULF, improper usage of our locally depleted δ13C curve to drive global organic carbon burial would result in erroneous atmospheric O2 (∼10.8% O2, equal to about a 30% reduction from what it should be at ∼15.2% O2 using global δ13C) and CO2 (∼400 ppm too high, equal to about a 13% increase from what it should be at 2570 ppm CO2). With detailed sedimentologic analysis, it may be possible to identify and exclude δ13C samples that record the influences of local carbon cycling from global carbon cycle models such as GEOCARBSULF.

Ordovician reef and mound evolution: the Baltoscandian picture

AbstractThe widespread growth of reefs formed by a framework of biogenic constructors and frame-lacking carbonate mounds began on Baltica during Ordovician time. Previously, Ordovician reef and mound development on Baltica was considered to be sporadic and local. A review of all known bioherm localities across the Baltic Basin reveals a more consistent pattern. Ordovician bioherms grew in a wide E–W-aligned belt across the Baltic Basin and occur in several places in Norway. Substantial reef development began simultaneously across the region during the late Sandbian – early Katian interval and climaxed during the late Katian Pirgu age. The current spatiotemporal distribution of bioherms is a result of interdependent factors that involve original drivers of reef development such as relative sea level, climate during the time of deposition and effects of post-depositional erosion. Oceanographic conditions were likely more favourable during times of cooler global climates, low sea level and glacial episodes. At the same time, the likelihood that bioherms are preserved from long-term erosion is higher when deposited during low sea level in deeper parts of the basin. A main factor controlling the timing of the reef and mound evolution was Baltica's shift toward palaeotropical latitudes during Late Ordovician time. The time equivalence between initial reef growth and the Guttenberg isotope carbon excursion (GICE) suggests that global climatic conditions were important.

Plant evolution and terrestrialization during Palaeozoic times—The phylogenetic context

Terrestrialization probably began more than one billion years ago and irreversibly altered biogeochemical processes at planetary scale. In this paper, we focus on the terrestrialization process of the Streptophyta, the division that includes charophytes and land plants (embryophytes) and whose members are today ecologically dominant in all terrestrial environments. The timing and the phylogenetic context of the early evolution of land plants are reviewed. The available information on the relationships within embryophytes and related organisms is compiled in two informal consensus trees based either on morphological/anatomical or on molecular data. We also consider the algal/embryophyte transition through the analysis of the evidence provided by microfossils (cryptospores and spores). The ongoing debate about the definition of the term cryptospores, but more importantly about the biological affinities of these microfossils that are possibly derived from early land plants, is discussed. All important clades of embryophytes, with a focus on their Palaeozoic representatives, are described; the significance of several embryophyte key characters is evaluated. The terrestrialization of land plants evolved in different steps. The new term “proembryophytic phase” is introduced to define the very long period of time during which the green algae ancestor of land plants acquired all the evolutionary characters that ultimately allowed their terrestrialization since the late Precambrian. An “eoembryophytic phase”, spanning the Middle-Upper Ordovician, is defined based on the occurrence of the earliest evidence of liverwort-like plants. The inception of the trilete spores in Late Ordovician times is then taken to define the start of the eo/eutracheophytic phase, which lasts until the first occurrence of vascular plant macrofossils in the Silurian.

Carbonate platform-margin architecture and its influence on Cambrian-Ordovician reef-shoal development, Tarim Basin, NW China

Six types of carbonate platform marginal slope have been identified in the Cambrian-Ordovician of Tarim Basin. These include a progradational carbonate ramp platform, a progradational carbonate rimmed platform, an aggradational rimmed carbonate platform, a retrogradational rimmed carbonate platform, an aggradational margin on an isolated carbonate platform and a retrogradational margin on a submerged carbonate platform. Various platform margin architectures and reef-shoal characteristics occur in different areas of the Tarim basin. A progradational carbonate ramp platform margin began in the Early Cambrian in the Tarim basin. A progradational rimmed platform margin developed in the Middle Cambrian time in the northern Tarim basin, whereas contemporaneously a progradational ramp platform margin developed in the southwestern and central Tarim basin. A retrogradational rimmed carbonate platform developed in the northern Tarim basin, whereas an aggradational rimmed carbonate platform occupied the central Tarim basin in the Early Ordovician time. An aggradational margin on an isolated platform and a retrogradational margin on a submerged platform developed mainly during the Late Ordovician in the central Tarim basin. Platform margin-slopes migrated continually throughout the Cambro-Ordovician. The broad platform area (western Tarim Platform) that occupied most of the northwestern and central Tarim Basin in the Early Cambrian time was split by an east-west oriented shelf seaway that began to develop along the eastern and western margins of the platform in the Early Ordovician time and completely transected the platform by Late Ordovician time. The resultant central Tarim Basin platform area was much reduced, elongate east-west around the Central Tarim paleo-uplift, and terminated eastward towards region of the Late Ordovician basinal deposition across the eastern Tarim Basin. Affected by platform margin structure, Climate and paleodepth, algal reefs and shoals developed mainly in the Cambrian, and intraclastic shoals developed mainly in the Early Ordovician, followed by reef-building of framestone or bafflestone in the Late Ordovician.

Late Ordovician cooling event: Evidence from the Siberian Craton

The Upper Ordovician of the Tungus Basin on the Siberian Platform is represented by cool-water carbonates. Onset of cool-water conditions starts at the Darriwilian, and it is associated with widespread phosphatization, especially in the Volginian, Kirensko-Kudrinian and Chertovskian regional stages (mid-Darriwilian–lower Sandbian). The shift from tropical-type to temperate-type carbonates was preceded by destruction of the warm-water “carbonate factory” and a large input of siliciclastic material (Baykit Sandstone) during the Vikhorevian and Mukteian regional stages (lower to mid-Darriwilian). Wide distribution of temperate-type carbonates across the Siberian Platform, located in the low latitudes in the Ordovician time, can be explained by upwelling of cold oceanic waters and their penetration into epicontinental seas. The same situation was recorded for the Upper Ordovician of the North American Platform. Newly discovered K-bentonite beds in the uppermost Sandbian–Katian of the Tungus Basin are also associated with cool-water carbonates. The K-bentonite beds point to extensive volcanism on or near the western (in present-day orientation) margin of the Siberian Craton in the Late Ordovician time. Timing of the volcanism is surprisingly close to the period of volcanic activity of the Taconic Arc near the margin of Laurentia. Both upwelling and volcanism seem to be activated by the same plate-tectonic reorganization, and both these processes seem to play an important role in a global, later Ordovician cooling terminated by the Hirnantian glaciation.

A comparative analysis of two Early Palaeozoic marine impact structures in Estonia, Baltic Sea: Neugrund and Kärdla

Kardla and Neugrund are two Early Palaeozoic offshore impact structures located some 50 km apart along the Estonian coast of the Baltic Sea. They share many similarities but differing features are also found. The Kardla impact structure is located at the NE coast of Hiiumaa Island (58°58’N, 22°46’E). The inner crater has a 4 km rim-to-rim diameter and a c. 130 m high central uplift, surrounded by a ring fault, c. 12 km in diameter. The well-preserved buried inner crater is outlined in the landscape by a circular ridge of uplifted bedrock. The perimeter of the outer crater is outlined on the seafloor by a semicircular ridge of narrow shoals. The variable height of the rim wall (50–240 m above the crystalline basement level) and the asymmetric location of the inner crater is obviously a result of an oblique impact in a layered target and partial collapse of the rim wall. Shortly after the impact in a shallow epicontinental sea during Late Ordovician time (c. 455 My), calcareous biodetritic muds were deposited and the crater was buried. The Neugrund impact structure is located in the seabed at the entrance of the Gulf of Finland (59°20’N, 23°31’E). The inner crater has a 7 km rim-to-rim diameter and the outer limit of the structure passes through the Osmussaar Island to the southwest of the impact centre. The crater was buried in a shallow epicontinental sea with siliciclastic deposition shortly after the impact at Early Cambrian time, c. 535 My. It was partially re-exposed by erosion during Pliocene. The target had a three-layered composition: Precambrian metamorphic rocks covered by Ediacaran and Early Cambrian siliciclastic rocks (c. 150 m) and water (c. 100 m). The structure has been studied with seismoacoustic and sidescan sonar profiling, and by diving and sampling of submarine outcrops. Several hundred samples of impact breccias have been collected and investigated from erratic boulders distributed by glacial action in the west Estonian mainland, islands and sea floor.