ORDOVICIAN

PROJECTS

The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event

Annual Report of IGCP Project No. 410:

Duration and status: Project accepted for five years (1997-2001) plus one-year extension to 2002

Project leaders:

1. Barry WEBBY

Centre for Ecostratigraphy and Palaeobiology, Department of Earth & Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, North Ryde, NSW 2109, Australia; fax: Int. code + 61 (2) 9850 6904; e-mail: bwebby@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au

2. Florentin PARIS

UPR du CNRS "Géosciences", Université de Rennes I, 35042 Rennes-cedex, France; fax: Int. code + 33 (2) 23 23 61 00; e-mail: florentin.paris@univ-rennes1.fr

3. Mary DROSER

Department of Earth Sciences, University of California - Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, U.S.A.; fax: Int. code + 1 (909) 787 4324; e-mail: mary.droser@ucr.edu

IGCP Project No. 410 Web-sites:

http://www.es.mq.edu.au/MUCEP/igcp410.htm [project web-site]

http://homepages.uc.edu/~millerai/welcome.html [database web-site]

1. Summary of major past achievements of the project

IGCP 410 is the first IGCP project to highlight exclusively Ordovician rocks and fossils, and to maintain a truly global focus in its work programs. Significant progress has been made since 1997, in studies of Ordovician biodiversity and related topics, in the following four main areas: (1) the collection and coordination of biodiversity data down to species level, along with the differentiation of biofacies patterns, within a framework of coordinated work programs by seven regional teams (Europe/N Africa; Baltoscandia; China/Korea; Kazakhstan/Siberia; N America; Australasia; S America); (2) in a complementary global work program, the compilation and analysis of the global distribution patterns of all the independent clade (taxonomic) groups in Ordovician time and space; (3) the development of a wholly integrated stratigraphic framework to provide a more reliable basis for global and regional correlation; and (4), the adoption of a user-friendly, web-based relational database for input of all relevant biotal data, as well as geographic, stratigraphic and environmental information. Numerous publications - well in excess of 100 papers on Ordovician biodiversity topics - have been derived from the IGCP 410 programs of work (details listed in earlier annual reports).

In summary, major progress has now been made by the regional teams, especially those in Europe/N Africa, China/Korea, Australasia and in Baltoscandia, and the individual clade teams are continuing to make excellent progress in the lead up to the major IGCP 410 clade-group meeting to be held in the University of California at Riverside in 2001 (reported below). Efforts have also continued to be made to establish a more highly integrated global stratigraphic framework for the correlation work. Also, an Ordovician-focused, web-based relational, global database, developed by Arnie Miller at the University of Cincinnati (U.S.A.), became available to IGCP 410 participants to input their biotal and other relevant data..

Seven international IGCP 410 meetings were organized to the end of 2000, across a wide range of venues - in St Petersburg (Russia) with an accompanying field trip during 1997, in Lyon (France), Seoul (South Korea) and Nanjing (China), with associated Korean and Chinese field trips, during 1998, in Prague (Czech Republic) with accompanying field trips in 1999, and in Orange (Australia) with an associated field trip, and Rio de Janiero (Brazil) during 2000. All these meetings were well attended by Ordovician scientists, and especially well supported by our scientific hosts in their institutions. Scientists from some thirty seven different countries actively participated in the work programs. IGCP 410 has also maintained continuing, fully collaborative, and supportive links with the IUGS Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy, particularly in relation to the global time scale work, and with other relevant IGCP projects, in particular No 421 (North Gondwana Mid-Palaeozoic biodynamics).

2. Achievements of the project this year

2.1. Revised list of countries involved in the project (*indicates those active this year)

Algeria*, Argentina*, Australia*, Austria, Belarus, Belgium*, Bolivia, Brazil*, Bulgaria*, Canada*, People’s Republic of China*, Czech Republic*, Denmark*, Estonia*, France*, Germany*, Ireland, Italy*, Iran, Kazakhstan, Republic of Korea*, Mongolia*, Morocco*, New Zealand*, Norway*, Poland*, Portugal*, Puerto Rica, Russia*, Saudi Arabia*, South Africa, Spain*, Sweden*, Vietnam, United Kingdom*, United States*, Uzbekistan.

2.2. General scientific achievements (including societal benefits)

This year IGCP 410 held its eight, ninth and tenth international meetings on aspects of Ordovician biodiversity - first, there was a clade team meeting in Riverside (California, U.S.A), and then the two field meetings, in Novosibirsk and the Siberian Altai (Russia), and in Ulaanbaatar and southern-central Mongolia, respectively. All these meetings were well attended and productive, and as in previous years have been largely supported by finances provided by UNESCO and IUGS. They were meetings held in areas not previously visited, which had the effect of widening our regional focus on Ordovician biodiversity to other parts of Asia. Most of our regional team work programs continued to make some progress, but the European/North African team was again the most active and productive. In some areas of Europe, for example, in the Czech Republic, the biodiversity work program has now virtually been completed, with the results of particular importance because they show patterns of diversity in marine environments of higher paleolatitudes through Ordovician time. Again, this year, a very large number of papers have been published on Ordovician biodiversity and related topics by participants of IGCP 410 worldwide (see details listed below).

The clade team meeting held in Riverside last June (and more fully reported below) brought together the leading Ordovician experts worldwide for presentations of their clade group specialities, but also to join in wider discussions about how the major results of this IGCP 410 team work should be published. It was agreed that all the biodiversity results should employ the same standardized global time scale, and use the same diversity measures for plotting patterns of diversity change. We have continued to work towards providing the most highly resolved and well calibrated Ordovician time scale for correlating the biodiversity data, and this year, with the calibration work of Peter Sadler (Riverside, California) and Roger Cooper (Lower Hutt, New Zealand), was advanced further by a computer-generated constrained optimization program that achieved even greater refinement. Sadler and Cooper’s startling results were presented at the Riverside meeting. Agreement was also reached at the Riverside meeting that we should apply the same types of diversity measures to all clade groups in the global survey. Consequently, we now have the basis for fullest possible analyses of all the Ordovician clade groups using the same time scale, and the same diversity measures, which will remove at least two serious sources of error in assessing on a group-by-group basis, diversity trends of each major taxonomic group.

The project has added significantly to global efforts to achieve a more highly resolved time scale, and has provided a dramatically increased awareness of the significance of the greatest sustained diversification of marine life on earth.

2.3. List of meetings with approximate attendance and number of countries

2.3.a. Ordovician clade group meeting, University of California (Riverside, USA)

The eighth international meeting of IGCP 410 was held in the University of California, Riverside, from 22-24 June. It was organized by Co-Project Leader M. Droser and her Riverside colleagues with a focus on global and regional patterns of Ordovician biodiversity and, in particular, presentations of work programs by our IGCP 410 clade teams. Over the three days of the meeting, 35 talks and posters were presented, covering a wide range of global and regional biodiversity topics including the following clade groups - acritarchs, brachiopods, bryozoans, chitinozoans, corals, echinderms, graptolites, machaeridians, radiolarians, stromatoporoids trace fossils, trilobites and vertebrates - as well as a contribution on a more fully integrated Ordovician time scale. Some 45 scientists from 13 different countries participated in this well organized, intensive and most productive meeting. A 14-page book of abstracts was published as a special issue of PaleoBios by the Museum of Paleontology, University of California, Berkeley.

Just before the meeting we were advised by the Science Editor of the Columbia University Press that our book plan for the publication of the clade team results had been accepted - a single volume to be entitled "The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event", and to appear in the publishers "Perspectives in Paleobiology & Earth History Series". This volume will be edited by the three IGCP 410 Project Co-Leaders, B.D. Webby, M. Droser and F. Paris. Consequently, wide ranging discussions were held on topics such as: contents, authorship, timetable and deadlines, publishers guidelines, global time scale and diversity measures to be employed. The book will comprise: (1) an introductory section with brief outlines relating to Ordovician time and the Ordovician world (topics such as plate tectonics, paleoclimates, paleooceanography, sea levels, isotope signatures, volcanism, orogeny, a possible superplume, and end-Ordovician glaciation); (2) about 35 chapters documenting the diversity patterns of the clade groups (with more than 50 authors); and (3) a concluding part, with one or more, summary-type global biodiversity syntheses. We expect a published book of about 370 pages, with publication during 2003.

Two high-quality posters were prepared by two of the Project Co-Leaders prior to the Riverside meeting mainly for display purposes, including the Riverside meeting. They each highlighted the progress made by IGCP 410 in evaluating the greatest ever diversification of marine life on earth. The first was prepared by Barry Webby at the request of Professor Ed Derbyshire, Chairman of the IGCP Board, in order to publicize the nature, range and selected recent results of IGCP, and to be available for display at important scientific meetings worldwide over the next few years. The 1200-word text of this poster was sent to Prof. Derbyshire who edited it prior to exhibiting it with others prepared by other selected IGCP projects at the Penrose Earth systems meeting in Edinburgh, Scotland, in the latter part of June. When completed it included, three figures - a generalized diagram to show the pattern of generalized biodiversity change through Early Palaeozoic time, an Ordovician time scale, and a global palaeogeographic map with locations of our previous IGCP 410 meetings also indicated. Altogether it covered an area about 700 mm high by 630 mm wide.

The second poster, prepared by Florentin Paris, was a superbly presented, illustrative display of global maps, photographs of significant Ordovician sections, IGCP 410 venues and participants, Ordovician biotas, a global zonal time-scale, diversity plots through Ordovician time, and a brief text that focused on the goals, organization, results, achievements and collaborative activities. This laminated poster (in two sheets) measured approximately 1680 mm wide by 1190 mm high.

2.3.b. Combined IGCP 410 and 421 field meetings to south-west Siberia and southern and central Mongolia

Siberia: The first of the two meetings to be held in conjunction with IGCP 421 (North Gondwana Mid-Palaeozoic biodynamics) was organized by the Institute of Petroleum Geology of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences [SB RAS], Novosibirsk, and FGUO “Zapsibgeols’emka” of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, Novokuznetsk. The co-sponsors included the Presidium of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Foundation for Basic Researches and the National IGCP Committee of Russia. The field trip from 5 to 19 August focused on: (1) aspects of Ordovician to mid-Palaeozoic sequences and biotas in relation to transgression/regressions events; (2) relationships between the clastic and carbonate facies development, and community associations in the shelf margins of the Siberian block during Ordovician to mid-Palaeozoic time; and (3) to testing recent ideas about how (and when) the mosaic of accreted terranes of Altai-Sayan folded area became a part of the shelf margin of the Siberian craton.

The 40 or so participants included representatives from 9 different countries. An excellent field guide was assembled for this meeting, and topographic maps were also readily available. The field excursion involved travel into a large area to the south and east of Novosibirsk - in the Altai Mts, Salair and the Kuznetsk Basin - a distance of more than 4000 km was covered on the trip using 4-wheel drive vehicles throughout, and camping most nights. The weather remained fine throughout. In some places the field party split into two groups - Ordovician-Silurian, or Late Silurian-Early Carboniferous - dependent on the interests of participants. During the first few days in the North-West Altai there were opportunities to examine the mainly Caradocian and Ashgillian clastic successions with their mixed graptolite and shelly faunas, as well as a deeper water succession of Early Ordovician age with associated radiolarians and conodonts. And later, in the Central Altai, the Ordovician-Silurian group examined the shallow-water Tremadocian succession at Kamlak Creek, containing brachiopods, trilobites and conodonts. Other Ordovician localities were visited in the second half of the field trip, in North-East Salair (near Gur’yevsk). Sections at these isolated localities included: (1) across the Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician transition, some particularly rich trilobite associations identified by Petrunina, (2) a Middle Ordovician succession with key graptolite species, and (3) richly diverse shelly faunas (especially trilobites) in a long-celebrated, Caradocian to early Ashgillian sequence (Weber Formation). The trilobite localities have long been focus of the very painstaking, intensive studies by one of the field leaders, and principal palaeontologist in Novokuznetsk, Dr Z.E Petrunina. It is to be hoped that our visit will provide the necessary stimulus to find a way to get enough funds to help her publish the huge illustrated manuscript she has compiled on the Cambrian-Ordovician trilobite faunas of south-west Siberia.

A particular highlight of field trip was the stopover in Novokuznetsk on 13 August, en route between the Altai Mts and Salair. This stop provided an opportunity to visit the facilities of the well equipped and dynamic Russian Geological Survey (Zapsibgeols’emka) of the Ministry of Natural Resources of Russia, including the palaeontological laboratories and the parts of the organization responsible for producing a range of high quality geological maps (at scales of between 1:10,000 to 1: 200,000). We were warmly welcomed, though the visit was all-too-brief, given the excellence of the scientific work being undertaken at this dynamic institution.

A technical session of oral and poster presentations formed the concluding part of the field meeting in Novosibirsk, at the Institute of Petroleum Geology (IPG) of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, on 20 August. Presentations included reports by Tanja Koren’ (VSEGEI, St Peterburg) on the future of palaeontology into the 21st century, and by Alexander Kanygin (IPG, Novosibirsk) who argued that the ozone screen of the Earth’s atmosphere developed in the Ordovician, and consequently triggered the great Ordovician diversification event. We are especially grateful to Academician A.E. Kontorovich, Director of IPG (Novosibirsk), and to Dr A.N Metsner, Director of Zapsibgeols’emka (Novokutnetsk) for their active supporting this meeting. We also particularly thank our excursion leaders, E.A. Yolkin, A.V. Kanygin, A.A. Bakharev, N.V. Sennikov, N.G. Izokh, O.T. Obut and A.A. Alekseenko (Novosibirsk), and Z.E. Petrunina and O. P. Mesentseva (Novokuznetsk), as well as the cooks, drivers and other supporters in the field. We enjoyed the hospitality of our Russian hosts, and their signifcant contributions in the field. Consequently, this was a most enjoyable and scientifically productive meeting. (I acknowledge help in the preparation this report from J.A. Talent and L. Sherwin)

Mongolia: This joint IGCP 410/421 field meeting commenced with a one-day indoor meeting in Ulaanbaatar on 22 August in the Conference Hall of the Mongolian Technical University, where we were a warm welcomed by the University’s President, Prof. D. Badarch. A session of ten talks and a poster were then presented by the delegates, that covered a wide range of topics relating to Ordovician biodiversity, North Gondwanan mid-Palaeozoic bioevents, biogeographic affinities, taxonomy (Asian charophytes) and Mongolian crustal (magmatic) events. Particularly relevant were the papers dealing with the Ordovician biodiversity of the Barrandean area of the Czech Republic by Olda Fatka and others, the Early Ordovician conodont and graptolite biostratigraphy of Argentina by Guillermo Albanesi, the Late Ordovician corals of Mongolia by Ch, Minjin and J. Undarya, and the Ordovician biotas and biofacies patterns in Eastern Australia by Barry Webby and Ian Percival.

The fourteen-day field trip to southern and central Mongolia from 23 August to 5 September involved 37 participants from 9 different countries (Mongolia, China, Japan, Australia, France, Czech Republic, United States, Canada, Argentina). The most important Ordovician and mid-Palaeozoic successions with associated biotas were examined in a number of sections in the Gobi region of southern Mongolia (Mushgai and Shine Jinst areas), and in the Tsagaan del area, west of Bayankhongor (central Mongolia). Both IGCP 410 and 421 participants were able to study best sections and collect specific fossil biotas with the full scientific cooperation of our Mongolian hosts guided by our scientific leader Prof. Ch. Minjin, and chief organizer Dr B Tumenbayer. A comprehensive, well presented and illustrated 127-page guide book in English was provided for the field meeting, and it was supplemented by details on the local geology by our field guides each day of the tour (Prof. Ch Minjin, G. Sersmaa, Ya. Ariunchimeg, L Gereltsetseg, J. Undarya, Dr B. Tumenbayer, and M. Bolortsetseg). The highly successful program allowed us to complete all aspects of our planned scientific work in the localities at Mushgai, near Shine Jinst and at Tsagaan del, as well as to make short visits to two of the celebrated Cretaceous dinosaur sites in the Gobi desert. The most diverse and well preserved Ordovician biotas (brachiopods, corals, bryozoans, conodonts and a few stromatoporoids) were found in the Tsagaan del hill area of central Mongolia, though stratigraphically the succession is limited, mainly Ashgillian in age. In contrast, the Palaeozoic sequences in the Mushgai and Shine Jinst areas of the Gobi desert were more deformed and metamorphosed, with the Ordovician biotas (mainly corals) only locally diverse, in limestones of either late Caradocian or Ashgillian age. No graptolites, nor chitinozoans (A. Achab personnal communication) were found, though cleaved siltstones and slates are well represented in the Ordovician successions of the Gobi region (e.g., in the Daravgai Formation of the Shine Jinst area).

Our Mongolian colleagues did a tremendous job running this field trip, meeting all the logistic challenges, such as the sometimes difficult, "outback", road conditions of the Gobi desert, and the two days of inclement weather with heavy rain and gale-force winds when it became necessary to arrange overnight accommodation in small villages. On other nights we slept in tents, except in the Mushgai area where we were able to spend two nights in a Mongolian "ger". Transport was by a large Russian 4-wheel drive truck, an assortment of jeeps and 4-wheel drive minibuses. The camp sites were well organized, with good food and living arrangements. A highlight was a night in the Gobi desert when the cooks and drivers organized a Mongolian-style barbecue that featured goat meat supplied by local nomads cooked (pressure-cooker style) with vegetables between red-hot basalt stones in a 10-gallon milk drum - an exceptional meal of tender, deliciously flavoured meat. On our return to Ulaanbaatar we were also able to visit the Eredene Zuu monastery on the site of the ancient capital of Kharkhorin, and to attend a concert of traditional music that included a performance of Mongolian throat singing. In Ulaanbaatar we had opportunities again to meet geologists at the Mongolian Technical University, to visit the Natural History Museum, and were treated again to the very generous Mongolian hospitality.

2.3.c. Other Meetings - Copenhagen and Lille

IGCP 410 was also involved in the sponsorship of two other meetings in Europe during 2001. The first was a meeting of the Working Group on the Ordovician Geology of Baltoscandia (WOGOGOB), from 16-20 May, in Copenhagen (Denmark) with an accompanying field trip near Lund (Sweden). This meeting, organized by D.A.T Harper and S. Stouge, was attended by 45 delegates from 8 European countries, and included a session of talks on the theme: "Biodiversity changes in the Ordovician of Baltoscandia". Two postgraduate students from Estonia and Russia who contributed Ordovician papers to this session were supported by IGCP 410. A 47-page abstract volume edited by D.A.T. Harper and S. Stouge included papers on Ordovician biodiversity topics.

A second meeting, entitled "Early Palaeozoic Palaeogeographies and Biogeographies of Western Europe and North Africa" was held in Lille, France, from 24-26 September, and organized by J.J. Alvaro and T. Servais, attended by 101 scientists from 16 countries. Two field excursions were organised, each with published guide books, the first to examine Lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and sedimentology in Belgium (Brabant Massif & Condroz inlier), and the second, focusing on Early Palaeozoics of the southern Montagne Noire in France. Again relevant biodiversity sessions were included in the indoor program, with IGCP 410 supporting three established Ordovician scientists, from China, Russia and Italy, respectively.

2.4. Educational, training or capacity-building activities.

Project leaders of both IGCP 410 and 421 have helped considerably in the editing process of English versions of the Mongolian and Siberian guide books, as well as an English version of the Ordovician and Silurian correlation chart of Mongolia. The Mongolian volume (field guide, abstracts and correlation chart) is currently being further revised and will be re-published in an updated English version for wider circulation during 2002, as it is the only good introduction to the Palaeozoic geology of Mongolia presently available in English.

Of particular importance and relevance, also, was the level of successful interchange between the visiting scientists and the host scientists, that has led, since the field meetings, to invitations for two Mongolian post-graduate students to commence Ph.D studies in North American institutions in the near future.

2.5. Participation of scientists from developing countries

Again we have encouraged the participation of scientists from developing countries in IGCP 410 activities, and made a chief focus of our years’ work visiting regions that need assistance, as well as outstanding younger scientists from countries like Argentina. Of the US $10,500 financial support provided this year, approximately 45% of the total was allocated to support scientists travel and accommodation costs from Mongolia (2), Russia (2), Estonia (1), and China (1), as well as for local transportation costs in support of the Mongolian and Siberian field trips. Two other Chinese Ordovician scientists were allocated grants to attend the Siberian field meeting but were unable to attend because of Russian visa problems. Three of the most-talented, younger scientists (all leading Ordovician specialists) from Argentina were also supported, with near 40% of the total, because the costs of travel from Argentina to attend meetings in California and Mongolia remains very expensive, and local Argentinian support for the younger scientists is almost non-existent.

2.6. List of most important publications (including maps)

Included in “Recent Ordovician Publications” pp. 65-79.

2.7. Activities involving other IGCP projects or the IUGS

As in previous years we continued to maintain close links with the IUGS Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy, especially in relation to establishing our highly integrated global Ordovician time scale. We were also became involved in a closer relationship with IGCP 421 (N Gondwanan Mid Palaeozoic Biodynamics) this year, than previously, when we mounted the combined IGCP 410/421 field meetings, first to Siberia and immediately following, to Mongolia. Scientific colleagues of both IGCP projects had the choice of attending both meetings, or just one or the other, and to participate in field work that focused on both interest groups - some days with the group combined and working together in the field, and on other days with the group splitting into two, based on the special IGCP 410 (Ordovician) or IGCP 421 (Mid-Palaeozoic) interests. This proved a most successful arrangement for both IGCP parties.

3. Activities planned for 2002

3.1. General goals

The requested extension of one year (2002) will give us time to complete the remaining global and regional Ordovician diversity syntheses for publication, and allow the final meeting to be held in association with the first International Palaeontological Congress in Sydney, Australia, in July 2002.

3.2. Specific meetings and field trips

Two international meetings are proposed for 2002. The first will be in support of the "Early Life" symposium being held in association with the Geological Association of Canada's Annual Congress in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada) in late May 2002. The session will "explore the patterns and processes of biotic radiation, mass extinction, and post-extinction recovery, and their relationships to the evolving lithosphere, hydrosphere, and atmosphere during the Early Paleozoic Era". The organizers are Jisuo Jin (University of Western Ontario) [email: jjin@uwo.ca], P. Johnston (Royal Tyrrell Museum) and B. Pratt (University of Saskatchewan).

A second (and final) IGCP 410 meeting will be held in Sydney in conjunction with the First International Palaeontological Congress (IPC) being organized by J.A. Talent, R. Mawson, G. Brock, from 6-10 July 2002. For congress details see web site:

http://www.es.mq.edu.au/mucep/ipc2002/

The IGCP 410 session will highlight "likely impacts of Ordovician Earth Systems processes on the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event." C.R. Barnes (University of Victoria, Canada), I.G. Percival (NSW Geological Survey - Australasian Regional Team Leader of IGCP 410; email: iperciva@laurel.ocs.mq.edu.au) and B.D. Webby will act as convenors of the session. A field trip to examine the Ordovician-Silurian graptolite succession in SE Australia is also scheduled by the IPC organizers.

4. Request for extension, on-extended-term-status, or intension to propose successor project

T. Servais (Lille, France) is now at preliminary stage of planning an application for a successor project that will explore how the changing patterns of Ordovician-Silurian geography may have influenced the major biotal changes, from Ordovician diversification to end-Ordovician extinction, and then diversification again during the Silurian. We understand a proposal is likely to be submitted to the IGCP Board in October 2002.

5. Other relevant information (Appendices 5.1-5.5)

5.1. Riverside clade meeting organized by Mary Droser, June 2001

Just before the meeting we were advised by the Science Editor of the Columbia University Press that our book plan for the publication of the clade team results had been accepted - a single volume to be entitled "The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event", and to appear in the publishers "Perspectives in Paleobiology & Earth History Series". This volume will be edited by the three IGCP 410 Project Co-Leaders, B. Webby, M. Droser and F. Paris. Consequently, wide ranging discussions were held on topics such as: contents, authorship, timetable and deadlines, publishers guidelines, global time scale and diversity measures to be employed. The book will comprise: (1) an introductory section with brief outlines relating to Ordovician time and the Ordovician world (topics such as plate tectonics, paleoclimates, paleooceanography, sea levels, isotope signatures, volcanism, orogeny, a possible superplume, and end-Ordovician glaciation); (2) about 35 chapters documenting the diversity patterns of the clade groups (with more than 50 authors); and (3) a concluding part, with one or more, summary-type global biodiversity syntheses. We expect a published book of about 370 pages, with publication during 2003 (brief report contributed by B.D. Webby).

5.2. Combined IGCP 410/421 Mongolian meeting report prepared by B.D. Webby, October 2001

This joint IGCP 410/421 field meeting commenced with a one-day indoor meeting in Ulaanbaatar on 22 August in the Conference Hall of the Mongolian Technical University, where we were a warm welcomed by the University’s President, Prof. D. Badarch. A session of ten talks and a poster were then presented by the delegates, that covered a wide range of topics relating to Ordovician biodiversity, North Gondwanan mid-Palaeozoic bioevents, biogeographic affinities, taxonomy (Asian charophytes) and Mongolian crustal (magmatic) events.

Discussions at the University included a decision to revise and republish the field trip guide book because it provides such an excellent introduction to the Palaeozoic geology of Mongolia in English. This will be done with an up-dated version available for wider circulation during 2002. Another positive outcome of the meeting, resulting from the positive mutually cooperative links established during the field meeting, is the news that at least two Mongolian post-graduate students are likely to get opportunities to study for Ph.Ds in North American institutions in the next few years.

Several other Australians attended the Mongolian meeting, including L. Sherwin (NSW Geological Survey, Orange), P. Cockle & G. Felton (Macquarie University), and R. & J. Cantrill (University of Tasmania).

5.3. Report of the Lille meeting on Early Palaeozoic geography prepared by Florentin Paris

"Early Palaeozoic Palaeogeographies and Biogeographies of western Europe and North Africa" (University of Lille I, Villeneuve d'Ascq, September 24-26, 2001)

This scientific meeting was co-organised by José Javier ALVARO and Thomas SERVAIS from the Lille University (UPRESA 8014 of the French CNRS). It was held in the Conference Centre of Villeneuve d'Ascq, near the campus of Lille University. A total of 101 attending scientists from 16 different countries were registered. The symposium was sponsored by several regional organisations, but also by the French Palaeozoic Working group and by the Geological Society of France, the Geological Society of the North, and the Geological Society of Belgium. IGCP n° 410 was also among the sponsors and provided a financial support to 3 foreign scientists (1 Chinese, 1 Russian and 1 Italian) for attending the meeting and making a presentation of their scientific results on IGCP n° 410 s' topics.

An abstract volume grouped the 36 abstracts of the oral communications and the 36 posters abstracts as well as a list of the participants. The oral communications, most of high standard, have been presented during the 3 days indoor sessions. Each day session ended with a workshop, chaired by 2 experts (J.J. ALVARO and J.H. SHERGOLD for the Cambrian, F. PARIS and R.A. FORTEY for the Ordovician, L.R.M. COCKS and A LE HÉRISSÉ for the Silurian). These workshops were organised in order to clarify the terminology and to discuss the various models used for the palaeobiogeographic reconstructions of Europe and North Africa for Early Palaeozoic times. Thanks to T.. TORSVIK, the strong and the weak aspects of palaeomagnetic data were also discussed during these worksops.

On September 25th, during the indoor session with 61 attending scientists, F. PARIS on behalf of the 3 co-leaders of IGCP n°410, exposed the mains activities of the Europe Africa Regional Team of IGCP n° 410, and the progress registered more specifically on the biodiversification of the Ordovician clades. A peculiar attention was paid to the presentation of the project of a collective volume "Ordovician Biodynamics: Global Patterns of Rising Biodiversity" (B. WEBBY; M. DROSER & F. PARIS eds.) to be published by Columbia University Press A two-fold poster summarising the main activities of IGCP project n° 410 for 5 years was also presented during the poster session.

Two geological excursions were organised in connection with the Lille conference. The pre-conference excursion in Belgium (22-23 September, 2001) was guided by A. HERBOSCH, J. VERNIERS, T. DEBACKER, B., S. DE SCHEPPER et M. BELMANS. A very well documented guidebook (59 pages, 9 plates) on "The lower Palaeozoic stratigraphy and sedimentology of the Brabant Massif in the Dyle and Ormeau valleys and the Condroz inlier at Fosses: an excursion guidebook" was distributed to the participants.

The post-conference excursion (27 -30 September, 2001), leaded by D. VIZCAÏNO and .J. ALVARO, focused on the Early Palaeozoic of the Montagne Noire, in southern France. An issue of the Société géologique du Nord (t. 8, 2ème série, fasc. 4, p. 185-242) including 8 papers giving the up-dated information on the Cambrian and the Ordovician of this key area in France entitled "The Cambrian and Lower Ordovician of the southern Montagne Noire (Languedoc, France), a synthesis for the beginning of the New century" was distributed to all the participants to the Lille meeting.

5.4. Report of the Europe-Africa Regional Team (co-ordinator, F. Paris)

5.4. a) Report from British Isles (co-ordinator: Alan Owens)

The Regional Team Work in the British Isles remains focused on the database project at Glasgow University. The database is now effectively complete in terms of the trilobites, conodonts, pelmatozoans and bivalves and also includes less comprehensive data on other echinoderms and molluscs together with a wide range of other phyla. Presentation on the trilobites (with Dr Tim McCormick) and conodonts (by Dr Howard Armstrong) arising from the database work were given at conferences in Oxford and London respectively and will be published in 2002 in the resultant conference volumes. Further work is in progress on the conodonts and an overall analysis of Ordovician biodiversity change in the Anglo-Welsh sector of Avalonia is being undertaken. In addition, a PhD student at Glasgow, Sarah Stewart, has started a project on the poorly known and problematical elements of the Ordovician faunas in the Girvan district, SW Scotland. Her data is being incorporated in the database and should provide a fuller picture of the changing total biodiversity in the Midland Valley terrane.

I was also co-convenor, with Dr Alistair Crame of the Lyell Meeting on 'Palaeobio-geography and Biodiversity Change' in February 2001 at the Geological Society of London. Half of the programme was devoted to the Ordovician biodiversification and its palaeobiogeographical context and comprised presentations on brachiopods, bivalves, trilobites, conodonts and other vertebrates as well as the links between volcanic activity and biodiversity change All of these will be published in a Special Publication of the Geological Society of London which Alistair Crame and I are currently editing and will be published in late spring/early summer 2002.

Within the context of the work of the clade teams, workers in the British Isles are contributing to the chapters on at least seven of the groups in the forthcoming 'Ordovician Dynamics' volume. For my own part, I am coordinating the compilation of the trilobite chapter which will include contributions from Jonathan Adrain, Greg Edgecombe, Richard Fortey, John Laurie, Tim McCormick, Beatriz Waisfeld, Barry Webby and Steve Westrop.

5.4. b) Report from France (co-ordinator Florentin Paris)

Part of the activity of the French group was concentrated on sedimentological aspects of the Ordovician succession in the Armorican Massif (M.P. Dabard, A. Loi; F. Guillocheau and M. Malascrabes). One of the main goals was to document a regional sea-level curve for the Ordovician succession in northern Gondwana regions and to draw "time lines" based on outstanding sedimentological features e.g. MFS, calibrated with regard to the chitinozoan biozones.

The record of fauna for the palaeontological database from areas located at high latitude during the main part of the Ordovician was maintained. A 4-week field trip was organised by the SONATRACH (National Algerian Oil Company) in the Tassili area (SE Algerian Sahara) with special interest to the Early Ordovician clastic succession close to the African craton and to the Ordovician/Silurian boundary beds. Trace fossils, inarticulated brachiopods, graptolites and chitinozoans have been recorded (K. Boumendjel, P. Legrand, F. Paris). For the western part of North Africa, Jacques Destombes has gathered in an unpublished booklet all the identified fauna he collected during a full life of field work on the Ordovician of Morocco.

Several colleagues (Ahmed Bourahrouh, who is finishing his doctoral thesis on the impact of the late Ordovician glaciation on the palynomorphs from northern Gondwana regions) attended to the International Congress "The Gondwanan platform during Ordovician times: Climatic eustatic and geodynamic evolution", organised by Professor Naïma Hamoumi from January 30- February 6, 2001 (Rabat, Morocco). Others participated at the meeting of the IGCP 410 organised by Mary DROSER on June 22-24, 2001 in Riverside, California, USA, (see specific report above).

French specialists (Alain Blieck, for the vertebrates, Taniel Danelian for the radiolarians, Hubert Lardeux for the tentaculites, Florentin Paris for the chitinozoans, Patrick Racheboeuf for the phyllocarids, Thomas Servais and Alain Le Hérissé for the acritarchs) are involved in the writing of several chapters for the volume to be published by the Columbia University Press (see Clade book)

5.4. c) Iberian Peninsula (co-ordinator: Juan Carlos Gutiérrez Marco)

The activity of the Spanish group (individual initiatives, national or international programs) was concentrated in 2001 on the study of Cambro-Ordovician fossils from various European (Spain, Portugal, France, Bulgaria, Turkey), African (Morocco) and South American (Argentina, Peru) countries.

In Spain, the main activity focused on the detailed biostratigraphic investigations of the Ordovician succession in a road tunnel in the Cantabrian Mountains. 250 fossiliferous horizons from shales of late Darriwilian age and from the Barrios Formation yielded numerous new fossils. The Barrios Formation revealed to be much more fossiliferous than believed previously (graptolites, brachiopods, arthropods). It includes a volcanic layer with zircons allowing radiometric dating.

An updated synthesis on the Ordovician System of Spain (including new palaeontological and biostratigraphic results) will be published in a volume of the Geological Society of London. Additional palaeontological investigations are concerned with the echinoderms of the Middle and Upper Ordovician of the Central Iberian region and new palaeogeographic reconstruction for late Ordovician time i.e. including the glaciation event in northern Gondwana regions. A new project "Bioestratigrafía y correlación del Paleozoico Inferior de la Rama Castellana de la Cordillera Ibérica" of the Spanish Minister of Sciences and Technologies has been accepted. It will be led by J.C. Gutiérrez-Marco (Madrid). Three doctoral thesis dealing with "Biostratigraphy of the Ordovician of NE Portugal" (A. A. SA), "Conularids (Scyphozoa) of the Ordovician of Spain" (M.C. SENDINO LARA) and "Ordovician conodonts from the Iberian Cordillera and the Sierra Morena " (B. del MORAL HERNANDEZ) were initiated in 2001 in Iberian regions. Among the various new results obtained by members of the Spanish group are: - the first report of conodonts (Oepikodus evae and boundary Baltoniodus navis/B. triangularis biozones) in Peru, - the study of the lower Tremadocian graptolites, with new species from the Famatina terrane (Argentina), - the discovery of reworked Ordovician conodonts in the Silurian of the Precordillera (Argentina) and in the Coastal Meseta (Morocco), - the study of microbrachiopods from the Late Cambrian of southern France, and the revision of the Ordovician macrofaunas including trilobites from Bulgaria.

Meetings attended by members of the Spanish group of IGCP 410:

- The third national meeting of the Spanish working group for the IGCP Project 410 was celebrated in Albarracín (Province of Teruel, Aragón) on October 19 , 2001, as a special symposium included in the schedule of the XVII annual meeting of the Spanish Palaeontological Society. The business meeting was followed by four oral presentations.

- Official Business Meeting and Field Excursion of the Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy/ IUGS. Rabat (Morocco), 30 January-7 February 2001.

- Early Palaeozoic palaeogeographies and biogeographies of Western Europe and North Africa (joint meeting IGCP projects 410 & 421). Lille (France), 24-26 September 2001.

- IV Reunión Argentina de Icnología y II Reunión de Icnología del Mercosur. Tucumán (Argentina), 24-28 September 2001.

- XVII Jornadas de la Sociedad Española de Paleontología. Albarracín (Teruel), 18-20 October 2001.

- VII Jornadas Aragonesas de Paleontología (La Era Paleozoica. El desarrollo de la vida marina). Ricla (Zaragoza), 8-11 November 2001.

5.4. d) Italian group co-ordinator: A. LOI (University of Cagliari)

Members: F. LEONE, G.L. PILLOLA, P. PITTAU (University of Cagliari), E. SERPAGLI, A. FERRETTI (University of Modena), M. TONGIORGI, G. BAGNOLI, R. ALBANI, M. VECOLI (University of Pisa)

The genesis of siliceous nodules is demonstrated to be intimately related to Milankovitch cycles. Such nodules are recorded on the Upper Ordovician distal platform of the Armorican massif. They document high to very high frequency cycles of these deposits. A joint study of the sedimentology and fauna of different phosphatic beds is carried on in order to establish the typology of phosphate accumulations. The phosphatogenesis seems restricted to the upper offshore and the diversity of the facies is controlled by the bathymetry. The genesis of phosphatic beds is related to condensation processes. Such beds can be therefore regarded as time-significant surfaces allowing 2D and 3D reconstruction of the Armorican basin for Lower Ordovician times.

New investigations have been carried out on the Armorican Sandstone Formation in order to document facies models, lateral facies variation and 3D basin reconstruction.

Facies analysis, eustatic control and geochemistry of the Mn glacial deposits have been made in the Upper Ordovician sequences of Sardinia.

Contribution of the Modena group.

A Late Ordovician conodont association from the central part of Carnic Alps has been studied recently. The fauna recorded in the Uggwa Limestone and in the Wolaya Limestone belongs to the Amorphognathus ordovicicus Zone. In the Cellon section, a rich conodont association, clearly with an Ordovician aspect, occurs immediately above a Hirnantia brachiopod fauna. A. cf. A. ordovicicus and A. lindstroemi are present. "Dichodella-Birksfeldia" elements, corresponding probably to the North American "Gamachignathus", i.e. a genus typical of the Gamachian, are well represented. They coexist with cold water forms such as Sagittodontina and Istorinus.. This poorly diverse association allows the definition of the first Hirnantian conodont fauna from the Atlantic Province.

The study of the Ordovician cephalopods of Sardinia is difficult, due to the poor preservation or the material. A first result is the identification of Cameroceras cf. vertebrale (Eichwald, 1860), not only in Sardinia but also in all the Mediterranean area

Concerning the Ordovician algae, Cyclocrinites (Dasycladales) and Ischadites (Receptaculitales) are reported for the first time from the siliciclastic sequence of the Portixeddu Formation (upper Caradoc - lower Ashgill) of Sardinia. They are represented by Cyclocrinites aff. vanhoeffeni in the lower part of the formation, and by Cyclocrinites sp., Ischadites sp.a and Ischadites sp.b in its upper part. The taxonomic affinities of the two genera are deduced from their growing pattern. From the ecological point of view, these algae seem to be have a bathymetric range restricted between 20 and 60 m. Important palaeogeographic results are obtained too: Cyclocrinites and Ischadites are usually reported from warm circumequatorial water. Therefore, warm currents reached the northern Gondwana margin during the upper Caradoc-lower Ashgill and Sardinia was probably located in a more marginal position than previously thought.

5.5. Individual reports

5.5. 1: Argentina

Guillermo ALBANESI continues working on diverse aspects of conodont faunas from Ordovician basins of western and northwestern Argentina, and other major projects with Argentine and foreign colleagues. Together with Gladys Ortega, we are working on conodont-graptolite biostratigraphic ties to develope a comprehensive biozonal scheme for the Ordovician System of Argentina; with particular interest on the correlation of inter-series and inter-stage global boundaries. Currently, I'm working with Stig Bergstrom in The Ohio State University, as a Fulbright scholar, on a project entitled: Conodont Paleobiogeographical Co-evolution of the Argentine Precordillera and the Marathon Area of Texas in the Ordovician Period. In cooperation with Argentine Ordovician workers, we are involved in the organization of next ISOS, to be held in San Juan, Argentina, August 2003 (http://www.cricyt.edu.ar/ 2003.htm).

Matilde BERESI: I am actively working on the biostratigraphy, sedimentology and paleoenvironment of the Ordovician sequences of Mendoza Precordillera, west Argentina with my colleague Susana Heredia (conodonts), Universidad del Comahue. The work is focused on the siliciclastic sequences with Cambrian and Ordovician carbonate olistolites and also on the Ordovician sequence of Ponón Trehué, south of Mendoza province. Susana is working on the conodont faunas and I have worked on the sponge spicules of autochthonous and allochthonous Ordovician sediments. I am involved in ongoing collaborations with colleagues from the Universidad Nacional de San Juan.San Juan University on the Upper Arenig to Lower Llanvirn carbonate platform sequences of the eastern and central Precordillera of San Juan Province. The project in progress includes biostratigraphy, sedimentology, conodont and nautiloid ( M. Beresi) fauna, from the Ordovician sequences of the Villicum and La Trampa Ranges. I am working on Ordovician nautiloid associations from the Precordillera with Dr. Bob Frey.I have completed the nautiloid data base from South America for the IGCP project 410 (GOBE).

Edsel BRUSSA: I continue working with Ordovician graptolites from the Precordillera and Northwestern Argentina. In the Precordillera the work is focused, principally, in the Yaapenian and Darriwilian faunas, although we are also analyzing. Ashgillian associations from the western tectofacies. In Northwestern Argentina the work is concentrated in the western border of the Eastern Cordillera and in the Puna region. Actually I am studying new graptolites assemblages from volcanic-sedimentary rocks in the Huancar area. A reexamination of the Rusconi and Loss collections from the museums of Mendoza and Jujuy, respectively, is going on. I am recently involved in the study of Ordovician phyllocarids from Argentina.

5.5.2. Australia

Ian PERCIVAL has devoted considerable time during the past year to producing several papers which appeared recently in Alcheringa 25(1-2), honouring the research achievements of Barry Webby. He was also involved in assisting the editing of this journal. Other research related to IGCP 410 has concentrated on documentation of Early Ordovician conodonts from central and far western New South Wales, in collaboration with Yong-yi Zhen (Australian Museum) and Barry Webby (Macquarie University). Ian's work at the Geological Survey of NSW continues to primarily focus on latest Darriwilian conodont faunas preserved in deepwater cherts of the Lachlan Fold Belt.

5.5.3. Canada

Chris BARNES and Leanne PYLE have been completing two major Ordovician platform to basin transects through the northern Canadian Cordillera, using conodonts. Taxonomic and paleoecologic studies have been completed and further work on the pattern of biodiversity is in progress and should be completed in 2002. Similar work continues in the Ordovician sequence in Western Newfoundland and the Anticosti Basin.

Godfrey NOWLAN: My current work includes recent completion of work in defining the Cambro-Ordovician boundary globally; study of the conodonts from the Cambro-Ordovician Deadwood Formation in the sub surface of Saskatchewan and North Dakota; conodont biostratigraphy and biofacies related to neodymium and carbon isotopic signatures as they might track sea level on the North American continent (with C. Holmden and F. Haidl); conodont evolution in the Cambrian to Silurian strata of northeastern Ellesmere Island (with O.Lehnert and others).

Graham SHIELD: I am working on a compilation of Sr, C and O isotope data through Earth history, including the Ordovician Period.

5.5.4. Estonia

Linda HINTS wrote: I am a leader of the project "The Baltic faunal province and developmentof its biota in the Ordovician" (2001-2003, financed by the Estonian Science Foundation). The main goals of my own study on the articulated brachiopods are 1) to characterize the brachiopod successions in the light of facies differentiation in the East Baltic, 2) to study the brachiopod faunas from the easternmost parts of the Baltic Basin (Moscow Basin) using materials from the collections housed at the institute, 3) to clarify the dynamics of the Baltic Ordovician brachiopod faunas. The general overviews on the brachiopod faunas in the East Baltic (Harper & Hints, 2001, Hints & Harper in press), the special problems on brachiopods in restricted stratigraphical intervals (Hints, et al., 2000; Zuykov & Hints, in press) and joint studies on the distribution of brachiopods and isotopic composition during the periods of essential changes of environments in the basin (Kaljo et al.,2001; Marshall et al., in press) contribute to the understanding of the Ordovician biodiversification event.

5.5.5. New Zeland

Roger COOPER wrote: I am working jointly with Peter Sadler on refining the calibration of the Ordovician and Silurian time scales, using Constrained optimisation to incorporate all the data from over 200 stratigraphic sections, containing 1200graptolite species, plus the 22 most reliable radio-isotopic zircon dates. The new time scale is used to measure precise rates of graptolite macro-evolution, including speciation and extinction rates, and faunal turnover. Three regions are compared and contrasted - Australasia, Baltica and Avalonia - representingthe low, intermediate and high paleolatitudes respectively. The results will be included in the Columbia University Press book, as a contribution from the graptolite clade working group (Cooper, Maletz, Zalasiewicz, and Taylor).

The Cambrian-Ordovician boundary was formally defined in the Green Point section, at the first appearance of the conodont, Iapetognathus fluctivagus, by SOS in 2000.

5.5.6. Poland

Ryszard WRONA wrote: Next years research related to IGCP 410 will involve studies of the biostratigraphic and palaeobiogeographic utility of the early Palaeozoic Chitinozoa from the Holy Mountains (southern Poland) for the understanding of the amalgamation history of the TESZ in S Poland.

5.5.7. Russia

Andrei DRONOV wrote: We continue our study of depositional environments, facies and sea-level changes in the Ordovician of Baltoscandia. Current projects are as follows: 1) Study of high-frequency and low-magnitude eustatic sea-level fluctuations during the "Volkhovian" interval (together with Arne Nielsen and David Harper from Copenhagen, Denmark). We have already spent two field seasons in Putilovo quarry and on Lynna River section (St.Petersburg Region) investigating in detail BII-beta and BII-gamma intervals. Next year we will continue with BII-alpha in Putilovo; 2) Detailed study of the Ordovician section in Mishina Gora impact structure (together with paleontologists from Moscow Sergei Rozhnov and Veronica Kushlina). This section is expected to be a missing link between typical Scandinavian and typical East Baltic facies. It will help to establish a high-resolution stratigraphic correlation between Central Baltoscandian and North Estonian Confacies belts of V.Jaanusson; 3) Together with Lars Holmer and Ulf Sturesson from Uppsala University we continue our study of the Kunda depositional sequence and Ordovician sea-level changes in general; 4) Peter Fedorov continue his study of the "Hecker-type mud mounds" - cool water microbial "reefs" of the Billingen and Volkhov regional stages of Baltoscandia; 5) in our plans are also comparative study of the Baltoscandian and Timan-Pechora ordovician basins (together with Valentina Zhemchugova and Sregei Melnikov) as well as a study of the Volkhovian trace fossils in St.Petersburg Region together with Radek Mikulash from Prague and Gabriela Mangano from Argentina.

Michael ZUYKOV: This year I have participated in two short-term visitor programs. In April - Museum and Gallery of Wales, Geological department. My scientific advisors were Michael G. Bassett and Leonid E. Popov. The goal of this trip was to prepare one article with revision of Ordovician Brachiopod from Early Caradoc of East Baltic. This article including description of 27 taxa will be sent to edition during 2002. In July I participated in program of Smithsonian Institution,Washington DC. My scientific advisor was Robert Neuman. The aim of this trip was the study of Laurentian brachiopod genus Platystrophia. Preliminary results, which were obtained during this visit, will be discussed at the Annual Meeting of PalAss in Copenhagen, Dec.2001.

Svetlana V. DUBININA (Geological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pyzhevsky per. 7, 109017, Moscow; e-mail: dubinina@geo.tv-sign.ru) wrote that her research continues on Ordovician as well as Silurian-Late Devonian conodonts of chert/basalt and chert/tuffaceous assemblages of the Southern Urals. Biofacial, paleogeographical and paleobiogeographical aspects of her investigations also continue as well.

5.5.8. South Korea

Duck Keun CHOI: Investigation on the Cambro-Ordovician section in the southeastern part of the Taebaeksan Basin is still in progress. Emphasis has been given to the trilobite fauna of the Cambrian-Ordovician boundary interval and we have collected a fair amount of trilobite specimens across the putative Cambrian-Ordovician boundary interval. Aside from the trilobites, some well-preserved stylophorans are found in the interval examined. In addition, we (with S.K. Chough and D.J. Lee) have located several horizons of sponge bioherms from the Makkol Formation (Arenig-equivalent). This is the first record of Ordovician organic buildups in southern Korea.

5.5.9. United Kingdom

Leonid POPOV: As for my current activities, now I am working on various aspects (taxonomy,biofacies and biogeographic significance) of the Mid and Late brachiopod faunas from Kazakhstan mostly in co-operation with Igor Nikitin and Olga Nikitina from Almaty. I also continue to work on the Ordovician biostratigraphy and brachiopods of Iran together with Michael G. Bassett and Mohammed Dastanpoor. In the east Baltic I am currently working on revision of some selected taxa Early to Mid Ordovician rhynchonelliformean brachiopods in co-operation with some Russian, Estonian and Scandinavian colleagues. Another my interest is biostratigraphy, depositional environments and faunas of radiolarian cherts in Kazakhstan. This year I collected a reasonable number of radiolarian samples from two succeeding sections in West Balkhash region which cover the interval from the Late Cambrian Eoconodontus notchpeakensis Biozone to the Upper Llanvirn Pygodus serra Biozone. There is a good conodont control for these sections, which allowed to establish more precise radiolarian biostratigraphy. Now these samples under the study by Taniel Danelian. We also submitted a paper on a small radiolarian fauna from the lower Arenig deep water carbonates of south Kazakhstan. Radiolarian cherts also contain organophosphatic brachiopods, which represent possibly the earliest evidence of abyssal benthos in Palaeozoic. With Malgorzata Moczydlowska-Vidal we are working on the Cambrian - Ordovician transitional section recovered from the deep core in Kolguev Island, White Sea, North Russia.

John COPE continues investigations of Ordovician bivalves and early bivalve phylogeny and has much material awaiting description, including material from Australia collected with Barry Webby. It now appears that bivalve faunas are good indicators of palaeolatitude in the Ordovician. Fang Zong-jie (Nanjing) recently spent three months in Cardiff working with him on a Late Arenig bivalve fauna from West Yunnan and a manuscript describing the diverse fauna is essentially completed for publication.

Pat BRENCHLEY reported that a further submitted paper is an indication of the likely direction of his further work, using stable isotope stratigraphy as a Chemostratigraphic /chronostratigraphic scale against which level of environmental and biotic events can be placed. The submitted paper is: Brenchley, P.J., Carden, G.A., Hints, L., Kaljo, D., Marshall, J.D., Martma,T. and Nolvak, J. High resolution stratigraphy of Late Ordovician sequences in the Baltic region: constraints on the timing of bio-events and environmental changes associated with mass extinction and glaciation, and submitted to the Geological Society of America Bulletin.

5.5.10. United States

David ROHR: I am continuing to work with Lower Ordovician gastropods worldwide, but particularly from Newfoundland and Colorado. The goals are to refine the taxonomy and stratigraphic ranges of these taxa, many of which are poorly known or are from older publications using obsolete nomenclature. This time interval includes the first major radiation of the Gastropoda.