Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19536
Title: The Fezouata Biota: An exceptional window on the Cambro-Ordovician faunal transition
Contributor(s): Lefebvre, Bertrand (author); Lerosey-Aubril, Rudy  (author)orcid ; Servais, Thomas (author); Van Roy, Peter (author)
Publication Date: 2016
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.1016/j.palaeo.2016.06.041Open Access Link
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/19536
Abstract: Fossil-Lagerstättenwere initially defined as 'bodies of rock unusually rich in palaeontological information' (Seilacher et al., 1985). In the case of the Konservat-Fossil-Lagerstätten (simplified as Lagerstätten thereafter; singular, Lagerstätte), this palaeontological significance resides in the quality of preservation, such deposits yielding remains of entirely soft-bodied organisms. As first pointed out by Allison and Briggs (1993), the Cambrian is unusually rich in Lagerstätten compared to other periods of the Palaeozoic Era. This is particularly fortunate, for these remarkable strata provide unparalleled insights into one of the most critical events of the history of life: the Cambrian Explosion. Virtually every palaeontologist, most geologists, and a significant part of the scientific community, but also many people simply having an interest in natural sciences have heard of the Burgess Shale in the Canadian Rocky Mountains or Chengjiang in South China. Over the last three decades, however, numerous other localities yielding Early Palaeozoic soft-bodied assemblages have been discovered around the world. All are from lower to middle Cambrian rocks, except for a few notable exceptions (e.g.; Briggs et al., 1991, 2015; Aldridge et al., 2001; Lerosey-Aubril et al., 2014), and none really compete with Chengjiang or the Burgess Shale in terms of diversity and abundance (Gaines, 2014). However, with a fauna comprising more than 160 genera - half of them representing soft-bodied organisms (Van Roy et al., 2015a) - the Lower Ordovician Fezouata Shale (undifferentiated Lower and Upper Fezouata formations) of Morocco might well join in a near future these two illustrious localities in the pantheon of Early Palaeozoic Lagerstätten.
Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology, v.460, p. 1-6
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Place of Publication: Netherlands
ISSN: 1872-616X
0031-0182
Fields of Research (FoR) 2008: 040311 Stratigraphy (incl. Biostratigraphy and Sequence Stratigraphy)
060808 Invertebrate Biology
040308 Palaeontology (incl. Palynology)
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 310913 Invertebrate biology
370506 Palaeontology (incl. palynology)
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2008: 970104 Expanding Knowledge in the Earth Sciences
970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 280107 Expanding knowledge in the earth sciences
280102 Expanding knowledge in the biological sciences
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article

Files in This Item:
2 files
File Description SizeFormat 
Show full item record

SCOPUSTM   
Citations

22
checked on Mar 23, 2024

Page view(s)

1,178
checked on Jan 21, 2024
Google Media

Google ScholarTM

Check

Altmetric


Items in Research UNE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.