CURRENT
RESEARCH
Aceńolaza,
Florencio G. (Argentina). I keep on working
in different biotratigraphic aspects of Ordovician strata of Argentina. Together with some colleagues (A.
Toselli - ARG., A. Sial - BRASIL and H. Miller -
GER) we are working on new data supporting a para-autochthonous origin for the
Precordillera. This last two years have been devoted for the organization
of the 9th ISOS in western Argentina, and the edition of a monographic
book entilted "Aspects of the Ordovician System in Argentina".
Aceńolaza, Guillermo
F. (Argentina). I am
actually working on biostratigraphy of the Cambro-Ordovician sequences of NW
Argentina and Famatina System, focusing on Trace fossils and some newly
discovered soft body faunas. Research is being carried out associated to Franco
Tortello, Susana Esteban (Tucumán) and Juan Carlos Gutiérrez-Marco (Spain). Highly fossiliferous strata have
been recently discovered in ceirtan areas, where few students have begun their
final research projects and Doctoral Thesis. Finally I am also involved in the
Organization of the ISOS 2003.
Achab, Aďcha, Esther Asselin and Azzedine Soufiane (Canada) are
continuing their investigations on the biostratigraphy, the biodiversity and
the paleogeography of Chitinozoa of Laurentia.
In 2002, their participation to the 1st International Paleontological
Congress (Sydney, Australia) and the CIMP Meeting (Lille, France) is to be
mentioned as speakers or co-authors for the talks on the Ordovician global and
regional biodiversity of Chitinozoa of the Project IGCP no 410 (Achab et al.
and Paris et al.), the Late Ordovician and Early Silurian chitinozoans of
Arctic (Soufiane et al.), the chitinozoan contributions for the project on the
Appalachian Foreland and Platform Architectures in eastern Canada (Asselin et
al.) and for the poster on the chitinozoan references database, Chitiref (Verniers
et al.).
Ainsaar, Leho (Estonia). I continue working on sedimentology and stable isotope geology of
Ordovician carbonates in Baltoscandia (with Tőnu Meidla, Andrei Dronov, Tőnu
Martma and Oive Tinn). Together with Mark T. Harris, Peter Sheehan, Linda
Hints, Jaak Nőlvak, Peep Männik and Madis Rubel we continue a comparative study
on Baltoscandian and Great Basin Upper Ordovician-Silurian carbonate platform sequence
stratigraphy.
Albanesi, Guillermo L.
(Argentina). I am working on projects
dealing with Lower Paleozoic conodont faunas from the Argentine Precordillera,
Famatina System, and NW Argentine basins. By means of conodont high resolution
biostratigraphy linking graptolite records (studied by Gladys Ortega) we are trying
to assemble an integrated biostratigraphic chart for the Ordovician and
Silurian Systems of Argentina. Other projects include the participation of
colleagues from different universities of Argentina, Spain, USA, and Canada, who are
devoted to related topics of historical geology of the Lower Paleozoic. One of
the goals we are pursuing current year is the proposal of a global stratotype
for the base of the Middle Ordovician Series in the Argentine Precordillera. On
the other hand, I am involved in the organization of the international
event “9th International
Symposium on the Ordovician System, International Graptolite Conference, and
Field Meeting of the International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy” and
related field trips that will be held in San Juan, Argentina, on August 18-21
2003 (see web site: http://www.cricyt.edu.ar/2003.htm).
On December
2003, a post-graduate course on conodont-graptolite paleobiology and geological
applications is planned to be given at the National University of Córdoba,
Argentina (http://www.efn.unc.edu.ar/escuelas/4to/dcg/).
Alvaro, José Javier (France). I am working in two Ordovician topics, the
Cambro-Ordovician transition and the Ashgillian climatic effects on faunal
assemblages in North Africa and western Europe, in collaboration with the
French-Spanish Enrique Villas's team. Daniel Vizcaďno (Carcassonne) and I are trying to make a deep revision
of the Lower Ordovician litho- and biostratigraphic units in the southern
Montagne Noire, in order to uniformize them with those of neighbouring regions.
Antoshkina, Anna I. (Russia). I´m actively working on the
lithology problems of the Lower Paleozoic sequences in the north part of the Western Urals and Timan-northern Ural region.
Armstrong, Howard A. (UK). I´m actively working on projects
relating to documenting Hirnantian glacial dynamics at high latitudes with a
view to correlating these with low latitude records. At present this is largely a
delta 13C isotopic study. Conodont work continues with projects on growth
and the role of heterochrony in conodont cladogenesis.
Bagnoli, Gabriella (Italy). I´m actively
working togheter with R. Albani and C. Ribecai on Ordovician fossil
associations from the Cantabrian Zone (Spain). The fossil associations include
well preserved acritarchs, chitinozoans and conodonts. The research is in cooperation
with J. C. Gutierrez-Marco and G. Sarmiento.
Barnes, Chris (Canada). I am completing recent field-based
Lower Paleozoic conodont studies in the Canadian Cordillera, based on four detailed
platform-to-basin transects in the southern, central and northern Rocky Mountains (with Leanne Pyle). Several papers
and a major monograph have appeared recently, are in press or in preparation. Shunxin
Zhang is completing her Research Associate project using my extensive conodont
database to relate conodont biostratigraphy, biofacies and biogeography to the
pattern of eustasy and tectonism that affected northern Laurentia in the early
Paleozoic. Several recent papers or in press deal with conodont taxonomy,
evolution, cladistics, paleoecology and the response of the conodont communities
to eustatic change. The conodont geochemistry of Lower Paleozoic conodonts, as
a proxy for ancient paleoceanography is under further investigation in a new
project with Julie Trotter (Australian National University). Work completed, nearing
completion or in process includes:
Ashgill to Wenlock conodontds from the Canadian
Arctic with David Jowett; Ashgill conodonts of the Whitland section, South
Wales with Annalisa Ferretti; Nd isotope work (with Cindy Wright and Stein Jacobsen, one paper
published, one in preparation). Two
short introductory chapters have been submitted for the IGCP 410 final volume
on Ordovician paleoceanography, paleoclimatology and on the Ordovician
superplume.
Bauer, Jeff (USA) is completing a study on the conodont faunas
from the Joins and Oil Creek formations (Whiterockian) of south-central Oklahoma.
Benedetto, Juan Luis (Argentina). I am
continuing to work on Ordovician brachiopods from western Argentina, biostratigraphy and
paleobiogeography. I completed work on Arenig brachiopods from the Famatinian
volcanosedimentary rocks and on Tremadoc brachiopods from northwestern Argentina. Particularly interest is being
devoted to the early radiation and evolutionary trends of orthids on Godwanan
siliciclastic shelves. Currently, I am involved in the edition of a book
entitled ‘Ordovician fossils of Argentina’which provides
a comprehensive and fully illustrated account of Ordovician Argentine fossils
(sponges, bryozoans, brachiopods, bivalves, rostroconchs, trilobites,
ostracods, graptolites, trace fossils). It has been written by 14
research-active Argentine authors working together in teams from five
universities and other research centres. The book includes a summary of available
stratigraphic and biostratigraphic information from Ordovician basins of Argentina (Precordillera, Famatina, Central
Andean and Puna), as well as information on paleobiogeography, paleoecology,
and biotic events in the context of the geodynamic evolution of Gondwana.
Taxonomic chapters include short descriptions of taxa and more than 100
high-quality photographic plates covering most of described species. A complete
bibliography of around 2000 references provides a valuable source of
information on Ordovician geology, stratigraphy and faunas of Argentina. I hope this volume will be
concluded before the next 9th International Symposium on the
Ordovician System that will take place in August 2003 at San Juan, Argentina.
Beresi, Matilde Sylvia (Argentina). I am currently working on a
collaborative project with S. Heredia (Comahue University) on Lower -Middle Ordovician
stratigraphy, microfacies and conodonts from San Rafael Block, southern of Mendoza province and on platform sequences
from the San Juan and Mendoza
Precordillera .
We have finished two papers (now in press): on the Ordovician stratigraphy
of the San Isidro area, which includes the litostratigraphical
units and biozones, and on Ordovician microfossils from La Pampa province. A
third paper on a Middle Ordovician carbonate sequence from the Central Precordillera
of San Juan (conodonts, microfacies and paleoenvironmental
analysis) is now approaching completion. Robert Frey (Ohio) and I are examining the nautiloid
systematic from the San Juan Precordillera. In cooperation with Argentine
workers we are involved in the organization of the 9 ISOS, 7 IGC and SSS field
meeting, to be held in San Juan city, western Argentina, August 2003.
Blieck, Alain R. M. (France). In 2001-2002, active work on
Ordovician vertebrates has been restarted in collaboration with Susan Turner
(Queensland Museum, Brisbane, Australia) who spent three months in my CNRS-USTL
research team, last year; we made a full review of all Cambrian and Ordovician
supposed and confirmed vertebrates, from all over the World, viz., North
America (USA and Canada), South America (Bolivia and Argentina), Australia,
Russia (northern European Russia, Siberia, Tuva-Mongolia), and possibly China
and South Africa; this review does not include conodonts, which are not
considered as vertebrates in our analysis, but as basal chordates at the best;
it is based upon a full systematic and biostratigraphic revision of all known
taxa and localities; this project has been made through the auspices of IGCP
410 on the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (co-leaded by B. Webby, M.
Droser and F. Paris).
Buatois, Luis Alberto (Argentina). I am
particularly interested on the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy of the
Cambrian-Ordovician deposits of northwest Argentina. Present research is focused on the
Late Cambrian-Tremadocian Santa Rosita Formation. Although the
Cambrian-Ordovician boundary has been the topic of many biostratigraphic
papers, surprinsingly there is a remarkable absence of detailed stratigraphic
sections and only a few studies deal with the associated sedimentary facies and
paleoenvironmental aspects of the Cambrian-Ordovician successions.
Additionally, I am helping Gabriela Mángano in her studies of lower Paleozoic
ichnofaunas.
Carrera, Marcelo (Argentina). I´m continuous working on taxonomy of sponges, bryozoans and
paleoecology of Ordovician communities including reef-related organisms.
In the last two years my activities focused on the sponge
diversification patterns, as a result the sponge chapter
co-authored by Keith Rigby is in printing process as part of the book
edited by Barry D. Webby, Mary L. Droser, Florentin Paris and Ian G. Percival “The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event" Columbia University Press.
Cech, Norma (Argentina). I´m
actively working on a detailed paleoecological study of
the Ordovician communities from the San Juan limestones in the
Argentine Precordillera, as a major part of my Ph.D. project. Analysis of community dinamics, including evolution
of particular clades, and comparisons with long term patterns of
ecological change are the main objetives of this project.
Chen, Xu (China). My current research projects are 1.
Latest Ordovician to earliest Silurian graptolite extinction
and recovery; 2. A study of the Ordovician stratotype
sections in China.
Choi, Duck K. (Korea). My
research on the trilobites of the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary intervals
in Korea is
still continuing and has made a significant progress in collecting more
specimens from the same locality introduced in Ordovician News No 19. In the
same locality we also found a good exposure yielding a Middle
Ordovician invertebrate fossil assemblage. The section is currently under
investigation for getting more detailed information
on sedimentology and paleontology. In addition to two published papers
reported in this issue, two papers were accepted for publication in
2003 and a big manuscript on the Tremadocian stylophoran echinoderms from Korea
(along with Seung-Bae Lee and Bertrand Lefebvre) was submitted to
Palaeontology.
Cingolani, Carlos (Argentina). I am
actively working on the Ordovician siliciclastic rocks from the San Rafael
Block, Mendoza province, Argentina. Sandstone petrography,
geochemistry (major, trace and rare earth elements) and Nd isotopic
composition were analysed for the Lower Caradoc Pavón Formation. These
data constrain the provenance and tectonic setting deposition, and allow
comparison with equivalent Ordovician units along the proto-Andean Gondwana
margin. A paper with these conclusions was submitted on the IGCP 436
special volume to be publish by J.South Am. Earth Sc. Rev. Two PhD thesis,
under my direction (one with U.Zimmermann as co-director), are in
progress about the provenance and tectonic setting of the
Precordillera Lower Paleozoic units, using geochemistry, isotope
geology and geochronology from detrital minerals. I am starting another line of
research in Ordovician siliciclastics with the fission tracks termochronology
on apatite and zircons, in collaboration with the
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul
group. I am currently working, as a part of the research
group, in the Ordovician Precordilleran K-bentonite project, in collaboration
with W. Huff, S. Bergström, D. Kolata and R. Astini. I am collaborating with S.
Heredia on the preparation of the "Ordovician of Mendoza Field
Trip Guide" for the 9th ISOS 2003 to
be held in San Juan, Argentina. Several abstracts on the
provenance aspects of the Ordovician siliciclastics from San
Rafael Block were presented at the: Meeting of the International
Association of Sedimentologists (Johannesburg, South Africa), IGCP 436 Tectonic
Evolution of the Pacific Gondwana Margin, and Asociación Argentina de
Sedimentología.
Cocks, Robin (UK). 2002 was a busy year, with further visits to Trondheim to work with Trond Torsvik on Palaeozoic
terrane positioning using fossils, palaeomagnetism, sedimentology and kinematic
continuity. Papers were completed with Trond on Ordovician terranes for the
Webby IGCP 401 volume and with David Harper and others on brachiopod
extinctions for the same volume, and with Roger Cooper on an end-Ashgill
Hirnantia Fauna from New Zealand, the first recorded from that
country. A substantial review on Ordovician terrane positioning and biogeographical
analysis with Richard Fortey was accepted by Earth Science Reviews. Work continued
with Leonid Popov on the late Caradoc Degeres Beds brachiopod fauna from the
Chu-Ili Terrane of Kazakhstan, and a paper was submitted with Petras Musteikis
on a review of the Silurian strophomenoid brachiopods from Baltica, with particular
reference to their occurrence in the boreholes of Lithuania.
Coira, Beatriz (Argentina). I am working
on Ordovician magmatism. Our studies are focus on detail petrological analyses
of plutonic and volcano-sedimentary sequences, looking for to place constraints
on magmatic sources, tectonic setting of the magmas, their style of emplacement
and eruptive mechanism.
They attempt to understand the
magmatotectonic evolution of Puna during Ordovician times and it´s implications
in the reconstruction of the southwestern Gondwana margin.
Another purpose of our research
is to define mining prospection and exploration guidelines to apply in stratabound
deposits hosted in Ordovician paleovolcanic environments.
Cooper, Roger (New Zealand). A method for compensating for bias
introduced in the conversion of stratigraphic range chart data to diversity
curves has been included in the IGCP 410 volume on the great Ordovician
Biodiversity Event (Webby, Droser, Paris, editors). This problem is
circumvented in the computer optimising method (CONOP) used by Peter Sadler and
myself for the Ordovician and Silurian timescales. In addition to the scaled
composite, from which the timescale is derived, the method produces a standing
diversity curve through the Ordovician to earliest Devonian, particularly
interesting as it spans the entire stratigraphic range of the graptolite clade.
It also produces very precise stratigraphic ranges of species,
that will be a sound base for studies of macroevolutionary rates. The
database now comprises over 1400 species and 200 stratigraphic sections worldwide.
The description of late Eastonian to early Bolindian graptolites from Wangapeka Valley, New Zealand, has been completed (with Fons
VandenBerg), and description of a Hirnantian trilobite-brachiopod fauna from
the same area (with Robin Cocks) has also been completed.
Cope, John C.W. (UK). Earlier in the year I completed a study with
Fang Zong-Jie (Nanjing) of a late Arenig bivalve fauna from West Yunnan that includes description of
several new genera and species. I also
completed the Bivalve and Rostroconch chapter for the IGCP 410 volume edited by
Webby, Droser & Paris. Both of these
are in course of publication. I am now
aiming to describe various minor fossil groups that occur in the Arenig faunas
of South
Wales; the
first of these comprises the octocorallian and hydroid fossils. However, much of my research time in the immediate
future will be concentrated on my Jurassic interests, with preparation and
editorship of a 2nd edition of the British Jurassic Correlation Charts and a
chapter on the Jurassic for the 2nd edition of The Geology of England and Wales.
Elias, Bob (Canada). I'm studying various aspects of
corals and environmental change during the Ordovician radiation, mass
extinction, and Early Silurian recovery. Research with Graham Young focuses on
the diversity, paleoecology, community structure, and morphologic trends of coral
faunas. A collaborative project is underway with Graham, Godfrey Nowlan, Dave
Rudkin and others on a spectacular Late Ordovician-Early Silurian archipelago
with rocky shorelines, exposed in the Churchill area of northern Manitoba. Dong-Jin Lee (Korea) and I are examining the
paleobiology of tabulate corals from the Middle Ordovician of Tennessee and
Late Ordovician of southern Manitoba. Research with Xu Shaochun (recent
Postdoctoral Fellow) on the latest Ordovician solitary rugosans of South China is nearing completion. Adam Melzak
(Ph.D. student) is working on the Late Ordovician to earliest Silurian rugose
corals of Anticosti Island, Quebec. Simon Wong (recent M.Sc. student)
finished a thesis on the paleoecology and paleoenvironments of the famous Late Ordovician
"Tyndall Stone" in southern Manitoba. M.Sc. and Ph.D. projects are available
on Ordovician corals, paleoecology and stratigraphy
(please see http://www.umanitoba.ca/geoscience/faculty/elias/elias.html)!
Erdtmann, Bernd-D. (Germany). During
the year 2002 my activities on Ordovician research were somewhat subdued due to
my involvement as a German project co-leader and principal investigator on a
Sino-German cooperation project on the Neo-Proterozoic-Earliest Cambrian
development of Life on the Yangtze-Platform in China. Nevertheless, I had the pleasure
and honour to host in Berlin ZHANG Yuandong from the Nanjing Institute of
Geology and Palaeontology with whom four manuscripts were completed and
submitted on Early Ordovician (mainly Tremadoc) graptolites and stratigraphy in
China and another one is in preparation on the fine-stratigraphically logged graptolite
sequence of the Tremadocian Alum Shales, Bjerkaasholmen Limestone and
Hagastrand Shales of Slemmestad near Oslo, Norway (with Zhang Yuandong).
Furthermore, a review of Staurograptus
and Aletograptus from the basal
Ordovician sequence of Green Point, western Newfoundland and a manuscript on Rhabdinopora
from southern Bolivia are submitted for publication jointly
with Feng Hongzhen from Nanjing University. A joint manuscript has been completed
and is now in press by Sven Egenhoff (Techn. Univ. Freiberg,
Germany) on the Ordovician sequence in southern Bolivia. For 2003-2004 there are plans for
cooperation projects on the correlation of Ashgill to early Llandovery
graptolite successions between Germany and China (South China Plate and Indochina-Sibumasu
Terranes) with Chen Xu and Fan Junxuan (NIGPAS).
Ettensohn, Frank R. (USA). I am currently working on the
stratigraphy, paleontology, seismic event horizons, and depositional
environments in the Middle/Late Ordovician Lexington Limestone in central Kentucky, U.S.A. In particular, I am especially
interested in how Taconian, far-field, tectonic effects influenced carbonate
deposition Lexington Limestone in a distal, cratonic setting.
Finney, Stan (USA) is working on the following: 1) data analyses and manuscript preparation
for project on geochronology and provenance of Cambrian to Devonian age
siliciclastic strata in Argentine Precordillera with S. Peralta, G. Acenolaza,
G. Albanesi, J. Gleason, and G. Gehrels; 2) preparation of manuscript
documenting graptolite fauna, biostratigraphy, and sequence stratigraphy of Late
Ordovician sections in central Nevada; 3) mapping of structure and stratigraphy
of Roberts Mountains allochthon in Roberts Mountains, Nevada; and 4)
preparation of paleoecology chapter of new graptolite Treatise.
Floyd, Jim (UK). Myself and several colleagues in the
Southern Uplands Project at the British
Geological Survey are currently mapping in the Ordovician Northern Belt in the
Moffat area (Sheet 16W) of Scotland and will extend north-eastwards towards
the east coast over the next few years. BGS publications are in press
describing the geology of the Leadhills area (Sheet 15E), Scotland. Work is also ongoing on heavy minerals
from Ordovician sandstones of the Northern Belt, Southern Uplands, Scotland.
Frey, Robert C. (USA). I recently completed a compilation of data on
nautiloid abundance and diversity in the Ordovician as a member of the
nautiloid clade group (S.M. Beresi, D.H. Evans, A.H. King, and Ian Percival),
part of the IGCP 410 Project on the Ordovician Biodiversity Event. These data comprise a chapter in an in-press
volume on “The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event” to be published by
Columbia University Press. Although the
demands of my “real job” as an environmental geologist continue to seriously
limit the time I can devote to paleontological research, I am in the process of
revising a manuscript on Ordovician nautiloids from British Columbia for the
Canadian Geological Survey (with assistance from Brian Norford), am providing
assistance to Matilde Beresi (Argentina) regarding a descriptive paper on
Lower-Middle Ordovician nautiloids from San Juan Formation in the Argentine
Precordillera, and hope to start work on
another manuscript describing a very diverse early Upper Ordovician (Caradoc
equivalent) nautiloid fauna from the Platteville Formation in the east-central
U.S. with John Catalani.
Ganis, Robert (USA). I have extended my graptolite
biostratigraphy/ stratigraphic succession research for the Taconic Martinsburg/
Hamburg Terrane, Pennsylvania, USA for a second year for my
postgraduate work at the University of Leicester. I have completed the Llanvirn
graptolite systematics (with some new taxa) for the mid Iapetus allochthons,
and am now back in the US working on the autochthonous
Caradoc foreland. Although structurally complicated, I have been able to
construct a relatively positioned stratigraphic stack in the mid to upper
gracilis zone and from the bicornis zone
up into the clingani zone. This is providing a nice test of the graptolite faunal
ranges reported by others around North America and the rest of the world. I hope
to publish all this work as soon as feasible
Ghobadi pour, Mansooreh (Iran). I am working on Ordovician
trilobites of Iran in two areas: Eastern Alborz, northeast of Iran and Tabas area, east of Central Iran. The main purpose of this research
is taxonomy, biofacies, biostratigraphy and paleobiogeography of Ordovician trilobites
in Iran, because there are controversies between
previous reports and there is not any precise data in these subjects.
Goncuoglu, Yakut (Turkey). I am continuing to study the conodonts of the
Ordovician successions of the Taurides with Graciella Sarmiento (Madrit) and
Huseyin Kozlu (Ankara). We have concentrated our studies on the discontinuous Darriwilian
limestones (Tekmen Mb) and the shallow-marine Arenig
limestones (Sobova Fm.) in different tectonic units of the Tauride belt. We
have recently sampled the nodular limestone bands that follow the Cal Tepe
Limestone, a diachronous formation that yielded recently earliest Ordovician
conodonts in the Eastern Taurides."
Harper, David A. T. (Denmark). Research continues on Ordovician
stratigraphy and faunas in Scotland (with Euan Clarkson and Alan Owen),
Ireland (with Matthew Parkes), Greenland (with Svend Stouge, Jřrgen Christiansen,
Doug Boyce and Ian Knight) and Russia (with Arne Thorshřj Nielsen).
Fieldwork in western Russia focussed on Putilova Quarry (with
Arne Thorshřj Nielsen, cand. scient. students Christian Macřrum and Kristian
Jakobsen together with Andrei Dronov) is further advancing our understanding of
faunal changes, sea level fluctuations and environmental parameters during the
Ordovician radiation on the Baltic palaeoplate. Work continues with Rong
Jia-yu, Chen Xu and Zhan Ren-bin on refining events during the late Ordovician
and early Silurian in South China, a critical area for the understanding of the Hirnantian Substage.
Joint manuscripts are in press on Darriwilian brachiopod faunas and early
Silurian brachiopod assemblages from South China.
Řyvind Hammer has continued his work on the
Baltoscandian database with assistance from many palaeontologists in the
region; the database can be investigated at http://asaphus.uio.no/. Further
enhancements of PAST have increased the popularity of this free software package
for palaeontologists (PAST - PAleontological STatistics Software. Version 1.04. http://folk.uio.no/ohammer/past).
An extensive chapter on Ordovician brachiopod
diversification, in connection with IGCP project 410, is in press with Columbia
University Press. Both the taxonomic and
ecological components of the radiation have been tackled by a range of authors
(David A.T. Harper, L. Robin M. Cocks, Leonid E. Popov, Peter M. Sheehan,
Michael G. Bassett, Paul Copper, Lars E. Holmer, Jin Jisuo and Rong Jia-yu);
the book is scheduled for publication in 2003.
A substantial volume arising from the WOGOGOB
meeting in Copenhagen (May 2001) is in press with the Bulletin of
the Geological Society of Denmark (Harper and Stouge, guest editors). The
volume contains 12 papers covering a wide range of aspects of the Ordovician
geology of Baltoscandia and will be published in April 2003.
Harris, Mark (USA). I am working with Peter Sheehan, Leho Anisaar,
Linda Hints, Peep Männik, Jaak Nőlvak, and Madis Rubel on a project to place
the Estonian Late Ordovician-Early Silurian faunal communities within a
sequence stratigraphic framework. Our goal is to compare the Estonian
sections to our prior work in the Great Basin of the western United States. We have described numerous
cores, and the sequence framework for the Ordovician part of the study is
nearing completion.
Hints, Linda (Estonia). I am continuing the study of Ordovician
stratigraphy and brachiopods. In co-authorship with D.A.T. Harper, a paper on
the Alwynella-Grorudia group brachiopods from the East Baltic is in
preparation. In 2002 revision of the taxonomy of brachiopods of the genus
Cyrtonotella was started. In collaboration with P. Brenchley, J. Marshall and
colleagues from our institute, Late Ordovician events in Baltica were analysed
using carbon isotope data. The results
are presented in two papers submitted for publication. Together with A.
Oraspold and J. Nolvak, the early Ashgillian (Pirgu Stage) deposits and stratigraphy
of the East Baltic were studied and a paper is in preparation. My colleagues
and I had joint field works with P. Sheehan and M. Harris to study of the
Ordovician and Silurian sequences in drill cores of Estonia. The Estonian data are compared with
the sequences of the Great Basin.
Högström, Anette
(Sweden). I have
just moved back to Uppsala for a new position after spending
one year at the Dept. of Earth Sciences in Bristol. My Ordovician interests
continuously include problematic taxa such as machaeridians, but has expanded
to include problematic molluscs, especially possible chitons and the multiplacophorans.
Kaljo, Dimitri (Estonia). I'm
continuing studies on the Baltic Late Ordovician carbon isotope stratigraphy
and rugose coral biodiversity as reported last year. In cooperation with Heljo
Heinsalu and Viive Viira et al. we are completing a paper analysing lithology,
conodonts and graptolites from the Lower Tremadocian Orasoja section (NE Estonia).
Key, Jr., Marcus M. (USA). I am currently working with Patrick Wyse
Jackson (Trinity College Dublin) and Bill Patterson (Univ. of Saskatchewan) on light stable isotopes from the
carbonates of the Middle Ordovician Duncannon Group in southeastern Ireland. We finally have results
thanks to Bill Patterson's micromilling apparatus which allowed us to
separately sample with 10 um precision the bryozoan skeletal carbonate,
brachiopod skeletal carbonate, and a variety of cements, veins, and
matrix. The preliminary results presented at GSA in Denver indicate these limestones have been
exposed to warm diagenetic waters, and their original oxygen isotopic ratios
have been reset. We hope to try similar sampling on Estonian bryozoans from
Baltica which should be less altered.
Koren’, Tatiana (Russia). The main focus of my Ordovician
activity is the detailed stratigraphy and graptolites in Russian part of
Baltoscandia. I am compiling the biostratigraphic and taxonomic
information on graptolites over the region aiming at revision of the hirundo level. Currently I investigate the
Ordovician-Silurian boundary graptolites (the persculptus to acuminatus
Zones) from boreholes.in Scania. My ongoing collaborative studies in
VSEGEI with Tatiana Tolmacheva and Sergei Teren’tiev
include the investigation of correlative potential of the biostratigraphic
markers of the main Ordovician boundaries at the Russian sections: lunatus –leavis level (Taimyr, Novaya
Zemlja,Gorni Altai and Kazakhstan) and complanatus level (Northeastern Russia and Kazakhstan).
Kozlu, Huseyin
(Turkey). I am
actively working on the stratigraphy of the Ordovician rocks in the Taurides.
With the support of Y. Goncuoglu (Ankara) and G. Sarmiento (Madrit) on
conodont biostratigraphy, I and M.C. Goncuoglu (Ankara), we are trying to reconstruct the
Ordovician paleogeography in southern Turkey. With J.F. Ghienne, O. Monod and
W.T. Dean we have finalized our field studies on our recent finding of
latest Ordovician glacial deposits in the Taurides and submitted our results
for publication.
Kraft, Jaroslav (Czech Republic). I have continued studies of
Ordovician graptolites and stratigraphy, especially in the Bohemian Ordovician.
Currently I assemble databases of the Bohemian Ordovician localities (a project
of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic) and graptolite species (the first
part dendroids) of Bohemia together with Petr Kraft. I
continue to participate in the project supported by Grant Agency of the Czech Republic on comprehensive study of the
Klabava Formation (?Tremadocian-Arenigian).
Kraft,
Petr (Czech Republic). I have continued in study of Ordovician
graptolites, stratigraphy and other fossils, especially from Bohemian
Ordovician. I also continue as participant on assembling some databases of the
Bohemian Ordovician localities (a project of the Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic) and graptolite species (the first
part on dendroids) of Bohemia together with my father Jaroslav. I
am coordinator of the project supported
by Grant Agency of the Czech Republic on comprehensive study of the Klabava
Formation (?Tremadocian-Arenigian). I also study palaeo-scolecidans and
chaetognaths together with Oli Lehnert.
Legrand, Philippe (France).
1) I am working on: Lower Ordovician graptolites of Algerian Sahara: Late
Ordovician glaciation Caradocian fauna of Algerian Sahara with Algerian colleagues.
Lehnert, Oliver
(Germany). My
work on Cambro-Ordovician conodonts and associated microfossils from the
dolomite successions of the southwestern Great Basin still continues. However, currently
I am also focussing on conodonts from the Ordovician and Silurian as well as on
some soft body worm fossils from the Barrandian area together with Petr Kraft.
The work in the Silurian of the Prague Basin is combined with isotopic studies
(with Jiri Kriz & Jiri Fryda, Czech Geol. Surv.; Werner Buggisch, Erlangen). Olda Fatka and I will also try to
solve -in addition to the Ordovician work- some questions in the Cambrian of
Bohemia. With Michel Vanguestine and Pierre Breuer (Univ. Ličge) I have been looking on the first Early
Ordovician conodonts from greywackes in the Salm Group of Belgium. In cooperation with Jiri Fryda and
Alex Nützel (Univ. Erlangen), molluscan faunas from my Early Palaeozoic
residues (Cambrian through Silurian) will be documented. With Werner Buggisch
and Martin Keller (Erlangen) a paper is in press dealing with
C-isotopes in the Cambro-Ordovician succession of the Argentine Precordillera,
another one with Petr Kraft on Ordovician chaetognaths and palaeoscolecidans.
Publications with Godfrey Nowlan and Sandy McCracken on autochthonous conodont
faunas from Cambrian-Devonian sections on Ellesmere Island (Canadian Arctic) as well as with
Carmen Lee and Godfrey on allochthonous faunas from carbonate pebbles in
Tertiary conglomerates, and with Chris Harrison and Godfrey on the CAI data
from this area will hopefully be published this year. Together with Werner
Buggisch and Michael Joachimski (Erlangen) I will start a project on oxygen
isotopes from conodont phosphate combined with C-isotope studies from certain
levels in the Early Palaeozoic and from different palaeolatitudes. The goal is
to calculate changes in sea water temperatures especially across some
extinction intervals, but also to see the gradient in sea water temperatures
from equatorial regions to high latitudes. Many friends and collegues already
have sent their positive reponse and expressed that they are willing to
cooperate.
Li Jun
(China). I am working this year on Chinese acritarchs
and benthic algae with Colleagues.
Li Yue (China) has begun a two-year sabbatical period at the University
of Tokyo, Japan (supported by Japan Society for the
Promotion of Science), working with Professor Ryo Matsumoto, on a project on the
stratigraphy, sedimentology and geochemistry of the Late Ordovician mass
extinction events in South
China. The aim of this
work is analysis of the sedimentary sequence corresponding to the bioevents.
Generally, the Late Ordovician bioevents are considered as the sea-level
changes. If the Late Ordovician regression hypothesis is true, the erosion
amounts from low-stand uplifting areas should be considered larger than during
non-glacial epoch. Controversially, the Late Ordovician sequences of Wufeng Fm.
and Kuanyinchiao Bed are commonly very thin in the South China Block, e.g. the
thickest sequence is generally no more than tens meters. But the time range of
these two units represents four biozones (from D. complexus biozone to N.
persculptus biozone) and illustrated a starved (or condensed) tract. It
means that the erosion function from uplifting region is not very big.
Generally, the amount of deposition during the regression epoch must be
increased due to the increasing of erosion area. The transgressive Lungmachi
Fm. (Uppermost Ordovician to Llandovery, Silurian) began with an initially very
condensed component (from A. ascensus
biozone to P. acuminatus biozone,
meters thick), followed by gradually increasing thicknesses with time (from C. vesiculosus biozone onward, generally
more than hundreds metre). Terrigenous sedimentary amounts from erosion area
did increase during the Llandovery transgression epoch, even through the
erosion areas were shrunk comparing with the Latest Ordovician regression
epoch. The depth of the Yangtze basin was still shallow and rapid subsidence and
compensative deposition constrained the Silurian sequences. Where these large
amounts of sediments come from and what is the mechanism that controlled the
basin subsidence is still far from understood. Moreover, the study of
lithofacies of the Hirnantian carbonate is ongoing. Thus, a comparative
research of biofacies and lithofacies from different palaeoenvironmental
settings will permit a more precise reconstruction of the evolution procession
of the ocean environment during the Ordovician/Silurian interval.
Lenz, Alfred
(Canada) and Dennis Jackson (U.K.) have completed their ongoing
studies of Tremadoc graptolites from northern Yukon, Canada. The paper is to be published in
Geological Magazine.
Löfgren, Anita (Sweden). I am continuing research on Lower
and Middle Ordovican conodont faunas and biostratigraphy, mainly from Sweden. Currently I have two taxonomical
papers in press (one with T. Tolmacheva and one with Zhang Jianhua), and two
stratigraphical papers on the lower Middle Ordovician are, respectively, in
review and in preparation.
McCracken, Sandy A.D. (Canada). I continue to work on Middle to Upper
Ordovician, Silurian, and Devonian conodonts from various locations in Canada. A GSC website with images from the
GSC photos archives was created. [http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/
gsc/calgary/paleogallery/]
Mángano,
María Gabriela (Argentina). A significant part
of my research projects concentrates on the ichnology of Cambrian-Ordovician
clastic successions of northwest Argentina. Trace fossils are extremely abundant
in these deposits. Although the trace fossils have been mentioned in numerous
papers, there are few studies documenting paleoenvironmental, paleoecological
and paleobiological aspects of these ichnofaunas, topics that I am trying to
explore. At present, I am making progress on the study of Late
Cambrian-Tremadocian sedimentary facies, sequence stratigraphy and ichnofaunas.
A paper with Mary Droser on ichnological aspects of the Ordovician radiation is
included as part of the book on the Ordovician Biodiversification Event
(IGCP-410).
Männik, Peep (Estonia). I am
actively working on the evolution, ecology and taxonomy of Ordovician and Silurian
conodonts from Baltic, Arctic regions and Siberia, and on conodont-based high-resolution
stratigraphy. Several joint studies (composition, distribution and evolution of Silurian conodont faunas with L.
Jeppsson from Lund University;
"Collaborative research: comparing Upper Ordovician-Lower Silurian
carbonate platform in Estonia and Great
Basin: a test of the synchrony of sequences and faunal changes" – with Mark T. Harris from
theWisconsin-Milwaukee University and Peter
M. Sheehan from the Milwaukee Public Museum; evolution and
high-resolution stratigraphy of the Early Palaeozoic sedimentary basins in northern
Baltica and Siberia palaeocontinents –
with colleagues from Lund, Vilnius, StPetersburg, Syktyvkar, Ukhta and Novosibirsk; taxonomy,
distribution and evolution of
Walliserodus - with James E. Barrick from Texas Tech University;
intergrated conodont and graptolite stratigraphy - with David Loydell from
Portsmouth University, etc.) are going on.
Meisel, Sören (Germany). I
currently catch up my collection of ‘weak’ metamorphosed Upper Ordovician rocks
from the Himalaya, sampled in the Thak Khola region,
central-west Nepal, during the ZOOlogical Geological
EXpedition ZOOGEX-02 undertaken in 2002. Work encompasses sedimentological and
microfacies analyses, respectively, and shall become completed by
palaeontological investigation in the near future. Beyond it, investigation of
the Upper Ordovician of central-south Germany, e.g. the deciphering of the
distribution of pebbles in the glacio-marine Lederschiefer Formation, is going
on. At the end of 2003, I plan to visit some outcrops in the Late Ordovician
successions of western Europe and northern Africa in order to log them at higher
stratigraphic resolutions. That’s all.
Melnikov, Sergey V. (Russia). I'm actively working on the Ordovician and
Silurian stratigraphy and Conodonts of the Timan-Pechora region (NE of the
European part of Russia).
Mikulás, Radek
(Czech Republic). I am
currently working on trace fossils and ichnofabrics across the Volkhov
depositional sequence (Ordovician, Arenig of St. Petersburg Region, Russia; joint project with Andrei Dronov)
and on ichnofabric patterns of the Ordovician of the Barrandian area (several
minor papers in press).
Nolvak, Jaak (Estonia). I
continue working on Ordovician chitinozoans and biostratigraphy from
Baltoscandian sections with my Estonian colleagues, focusing in 2003 more to
chitinozoan taxonomy. Our cooperation with Y. Grahn (Rio de Janeiro), Z. Modlinski and B. Szymanski
(Warszawa), M.
Harris and P. Sheehan (Milwaukee) and D. Goldman (Dayton) will continue.
Nowlan,
Godfrey S. (Canada). I am facing a change of
career for 2003 because I have been asked to head up a geoscience outreach
program in northern Canada. Therefore my
contribution to the Ordovician world is going to be severely curtailed. I am
going to try and sustain the following activities: 1, Conodont biostratigraphy
and biofacies related to neodymium and carbon isotope signatures and Samarium/ Neodymium
ratios (with Chris Holmden and Kerrie Fanton, University of Saskatchewan and
Fran Haidl, Saskatchewan Geological Survey) with the objective of tracking sea
level on the North American craton during the Middle to Late Ordovician. The
wor