Biotic events

SÁNCHEZ, T. WAISFELD, G. CARRERA M.G. CECH, N. AND STERREN

Ordovician fossils of Argentina

Secretaria de Ciencia y Tecnología Universidad Nacional de Córdoba

Lugar: Córdoba; Año: 2003; p. 111 - 130

This chapter summarizes and put together data, ideas and interpretations published in the past ten years by the authors and other collegues of the Paleobiology Group of the Córdoba University. Most of paleoecological studies of Early Ordovician assemblages focused on the Precordillera basin and, in lesser extent, the Northwestern basin. More recently, the Early Ordovician faunal assemblages from the Famatina basin have been incorporated to a long-term research project dealing with the Ordovician paleocommunities and biofacies. The well-documented database now available for the Ordovician benthic assemblages of Argentina allowed us to analyse the major factors controlling faunal composition and community structure, leading to propose models of community-types related to particular paleogeographic and geodynamic settings. The Gondwanan faunas, on the other hand, provided valuable information about the nature and timing of the diversification patterns in the cold water marine realm. Analysis of local and regional phenomena also contributed to the understanding of factors involved in the decoupling between  Gondwanan and global-scale (Sepkoski’s Evolutionary Faunas) biodiversification trends.