SOS ANNUAL REPORT FOR 2003

 

1. Name of constituent body:

Subcommission on Ordovician Stratigraphy (SOS)

 

2. Overall objectives, and Fit within IUGS science policy:

                The Subcommission promotes international cooperation in Ordovician Stratigraphy. Specific objectives are:

                a. To delimit and subdivide the Ordovician System (and Period) as a part of the overall ICS mission to elaborate the standard global stratigraphic scale.  This work aims to establish the boundaries (GSSPs), the correlation of the subdivisions (Stages and Series), and the nomenclature of the subdivisions.

                                      b. To promote regular international meetings on aspects of Ordovician geology, especially those devoted to clarifying stratigraphic procedures, nomenclature and methods for use in establishing a unified global time scale, and to prepare correlation charts with explanatory notes (this latter task now completed).

                c. To encourage, promote, and support research on all aspects of Ordovician geology worldwide and to provide outlets, Ordovician News, international meetings, and a web page, for promoting discussions and reporting results of this research.

                d. To encourage, promote, and support interdisciplinary research on the Ordovician global Earth system, addressing topics that require high-resolution, global correlation.

 

The ultimate goal of the Subcommission is to provide a high-resolution geological time scale that will be a critical foundation for interdisciplinary research on the global Earth system during the Ordovician Period.  The work is broad based and must include specialists in paleontology, all subdisciplines of stratigraphy (bio-, litho-, chemo-, and magneto-), sedimentology, geochemistry, and tectonics.  With active participants from more than 25 countries, the Subcommission involves much of the global geological community.

 

 

3. Summary table of Ordovician subdivisions

 

*

 

4. Organization:

                a.  Subcommission Executive

Chairperson, S.C. Finney (U.S.A.)

Vice-chairperson, Chen Xu (P.R. China)

Secretary, G.L. Albanesi (Argentina)

18 other Voting Members

92 Corresponding Members

                b.  GOES Program

Secretary, W.B.N. Berry (U.S.A.)

Research committee, C.R. Barnes, S.M. Bergström, S.C. Finney, and R.A. Astini

 

4a. Nominated Officers for 2004-2008:

                Chair: Chen Xu, Nanjing Institute of Geology & Palaeontology, Nanjing, CHINA

                Vice-Chair: Juan Carlos Gutierrez-Marco, Instituto de Geololgiá Económica (CSIC) and Uiversidad Complutense Madrid, SPAIN

                Secretary: Guillermo Albanesi, CONICET - Museo de Paleontología, Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, ARGENTINA

 

Selection Process:  Before and during the 9th ISOS in August 2003, the Subcommission chair informally discussed possible nominees for the executive offices of the Subcommission and found there was a general consensus for those listed above.  At a formal business meeting of the Subcommission at 9th ISOS, the nominees were presented and discussed at length, after the nominees were asked to leave the room.  Those voting members present then voted in a secret ballot, the results of which were a near unanimous approval.  Subsequently, in September 2003, a formal mail ballot was sent to ALL voting members of the Subcommission. The result of the ballot is that all three nominees were approved by overwhelming majority votes.

 

 

5. Extent of national / regional / global support from sources other than IUGS

                SOS receives no formal support from international organizations outside IUGS/ICS.  The activities of some Subcommission members (voting and corresponding) have been supported in part by the recently completed IGCP 410. If approved for funding, the successor IGCP "Impact of changing palaeogeography and palaeoclimate on major biotic changes through the Ordovician” will continue this support.  Independent support for projects comes mainly from individual Ordovician workers, through their employer organizations and through individual to multidisciplinary, cooperative, team activities supported by grants from national/regional government-funded bodies.

 

6. Interfaces with other international projects

                IGCP Project 410:  The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event.  Project nearly completion with final meeting held in conjunction with the first International Palaeontological Congress, Sydney, Australia in July 2002 and with completion of book entitled "The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event" that is in press with Columbia University Press.

                IGCP Project Proposal: Impact of channging palaeogeography and palaeoclimate on major biotic changes through the Ordovician.  Proposers are corresponding and nominated voting members of Ordovician Subcommission.  This is a successor to IGCP 410 and will support substantial research on Ordovician strata and fossils, including travel to meetings at which Subcommission business will be carried out.  It will include activities stimulated by the GOES project of the Subcommission. 

 

7. Chief accomplishments and products in 2003

                a. Diabasbrottet and Fagelsang GSSPs were dedicated in Sweden in May 2003.  Diabasbrottet GSSP defines base of Second Stage of Ordovician System (i.e., the upper stage of the Lower Ordovician Series), which will be named after the upper boundary of the stage is defined.  Fagelsang GSSP defines base of Upper Ordovician Series and the Fifth Stage of the the Ordovician System (i.e. lower stage of the Upper Ordovician Series), which will be named after the upper boundary of the stage is defined.

                b. The 9th International Symposium on the Ordovician System was held in San Juan, Argentina in August 2003.  This meeting was held in conjunction with the 7th International Graptolite Conference and a Field Meeting of the Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy.  There were 130 registered participants.  Over three days of technical sessions, 124 papers were presented.  Pre- and post-symposium and mid-symposium field trips explored Ordovician and Silurian stratigraphy and examined graptolite successions in the Precordillera and Eastern Cordillera of the northwestern Argentina.  Two proceedings volumes were distributed at the meeting: "Ordovician from the Andes: Proceedings of the 9th International Symposium on the Ordovician System", edited by Guillermo L. Albanesi, Matilde S. Beresi, and Silvio H. Peralta with 94 papers and 556 pages, and "Proceedings of the 7th International Graptolite Conference and Field Meeting of the International Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy", edited by Gladys Ortega and Guillermo F. Aceñolaza with 30 papers and 188.  Also a series of field trip guidebooks were prepared and published. And, as an expression of their pride in organizing this importance symposium, the Argentine colleagues produced the book Aspects of the Ordovician System in Argentina, edited by F.G. Acenolaza, which includes 24 papers on a rich variety of topics related to Ordovician geology in Argentina.  All this products were published by the Instituto Superior de Correlacion Geologica, Universidad Nacional de Tucuman as part of the established publication series Serie Correlacion Geologica. 

                c. Considerable progress was made on selection of the GSSP for the base of the Middle Ordovician Series (also the base of the Third Stage).  Proposals have been submitted to the Subcommission for two candidate GSSPs: 1) the FAD of the conodont Protoprioniodus aranda in the Niquivil section, Argentina, and 2) the FAD of the conodont Baltoniodus triangularis in the Huanghuachang section, China. The Niquivil section was visited during the pre-symposium field excursion during the 9th ISOS.  A small group of voting members and offiers will inspect the Huanghuachang in March 2004.  In addition, a small, dedicated section is evaluating the potential of a section in Western Newfoundland, Candidate.  The Subcommission expects to move forward with voting on the candidate GSSPs in Spring 2004. 

                d. In 1995, the Subcommission voted to subdivide the Upper Ordovician Series into two stages (the Fifth and Sixth Stages of the Ordovician System) with the boundary between them being based on the FAD of the graptolite Dicellograptus complanatus and/or the conodont Amorphognathus ordovicicus.  After 17 years of evaluating sections, no adequate stratotype sections could be found for these biohorizons.  Accordingly, in business meetings at 9th ISOS, the Subcommission voted to pursue a new strategy, which is to divide the Upper Ordovician Series into three stages with the boundaries between them placed at biohorizons with known potential for reliable global correlation and for which there exists suitable stratotype sections. The FAD of the graptolite Diplacanthograptus caudatus is favored as the biohorizon for defining the base of the Sixth Stage (base of middle stage of Upper Ordovician Series) with candidate stratotype sections at Black Knob Ridge, Oklahoma, USA and Hartfell Spa, southern Scotland, UK.  The Seventh Stage (or uppermost stage of the Upper Ordovician Series) will be the Hirnantian Stage.  One GSSP proposal is the base of the Normalograptus extraordinarius-N. ojsuensis graptolite biozone in the Wangjiawan section in China.  A call has gone out for additional proposals.  The Wangjiawan section will be visited by the Subcommission in March 2004.  A January 10, 2004 deadline has been set for GSSP proposals for all boundaries for all Upper Ordovician stages.  The goal is to move towards voting on candidate GSSPs in the Spring 2004. 

                e. Ordovician News No. 20 was produced and posted on the Subcommission web site in September 2003 and a limited number of hard copies were printed and distributed.

 

8.  Chief problems encountered in 2003

                Progress stalled on identifying potential GSSPs for the base of the Middle Ordovician Series and for the base of the stage boundary within the Upper Ordovician Series.  Accordingly, the Subcommission was forced to devise a new strategy, which it is now pursuing as describe above. As always, the lack of travel support limits the participation of Voting Members in field meetings to evaluate potential stratotype sections. Although the Subcommission supports investigations of potential GSSPs, the amount available is so limited that most of these investigations must be supported by other sources.

 

9. Work plan, critical milestones, anticipated results and communications to be achieved next year

Inspection of Huanghuachang section, China, candidate GSSP for base of Middle Ordovician Series, March 2004.

Inspection of Wangjiawan section, China, candidate GSSP for base of Hirnantian Stage, March 2004.

Selection of new voting members of Subcommission and retirement of several long-term voting members.

Evaluation of candidate GSSPs for base of Middle Ordovician Series and decision to proceed with voting or to reconsider a different biohorizon, April 2004.

Evalution of candidate GSSPs for base of Hirnantian Stage (7th stage of Ordovician System) and decision to proceed with formal ballot, April 2004.

Evaluation of candidate GSSPs for base of middle stage of Upper Ordovician Series (6th stage of Ordovician System), and decision to proceed with formal ballot, April 2004.

Sponsorship of General Symposium G - 22.02 "The global Ordovician Earth system" at the 32nd International Geological Congress, Florence, August 2004

                Production and internet distribution of Ordovician News No. 21 in May 2004.

 

10.  Review chief accomplishments over last five years (1999-2003)

                a. Approval, ratification, and dedication of the Green Point GSSP for the base of the Ordovician System.

                b. Approval, ratification, and dedication of the Diabasbrottet and Fågelsång GSSPs for the bases of the upper stage of the Lower Ordovician Series and the Upper Ordovician Series, respectively. 

                c. Significant progress on definition of series and stages for the Ordovician System with only three GSSPs remaining to be selected and approved by the Subcommission, following change in strategy for stages of Upper Ordovician Series in August 2003.

                d. With publication in 2000 of A Revised Correlation of Ordovician Rocks in the British Isles, correlation charts have been completed for Ordovician rocks on all continents.

                e. 8th International Symposium on the Ordovician System in Prague, Czech Republic in July 1999, and publication of a 543 page proceedings volume (Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Geologica, v. 43, no. 1/2).  147 participants represented 21 countries; 142 papers were presented in technical sessions.

                f. 9th International Symposium on the Ordovician System in San Juan, Argentina, in August 2003, in conjunction with the 7th International Graptolite Conference and a Field Meeting of the Subcommission on Silurian Stratigraphy and publication of 556 page proceedings, 130 participants represented 18 countries, 124 papers were presented in technical sessions.

                g. Publication of Ordovician News nos. 16-20 and their posting on the Subcommission’s web site.

                h. Development of the web site “Ordovician Stratigraphy Discussion Group” to facilitate discussions on selection of the GSSP for the base of the Middle Ordovician Series.  This site has evolved into the Subcommission's web site and also includes postings of Ordovician News.

                i. Sponsorship of a technical session and field excursion on the GSSP for the base of the Middle Ordovician Series at the Annual Meeting of the Geological Society of America in         November 2000.

                j. Sponsorship at the 31st International Geological Congress of the symposium “Paleontological, stratigraphical, and paleogeographical relations among South America, Laurentia, Avalonia, and Baltica during the Ordovician.”

                k. Sponsorship at the 32nd International Geological congress of the symposium "The global Ordovician Earth system."  

                l. Launched GOES (Global Ordovician Earth System) Program to stimulate integrated multi-disciplinary studies of global events (mass extinction, sea-level changes, greenhouse         conditions, tectonics) during the Ordovician Period.

                m. Sponsorship of special symposium on the Ordovician System at the Geological Society of America Annual Meeting in 2000, of WOGOGOB 2001 in Copenhagen, and of the meeting and field excursion “The Gondwanan Platform in Ordovician times: Climatic, eustatic and geodynamic evolution”, in Morocco in February 2001.

 

11. Objectives and work plan for next 5 years (2004-2009)

 

Selection of GSSP for base of Middle Ordovician Series.

Selection of GSSP for base of middle stage of Upper Ordovician Series (6th stage of Ordovician System).

Selection of GSSP for base of Hirnantian Stage (7th stage of Ordovician System)

Publication of papers presented at "The global Ordovician Earth system" symposium at the 32nd IGC.

With completion of selection of GSSPs for all stages, refocusing of Subcommission to address the global Ordovician Earth system.

Transfer of executive to new chair.

10th International Symposium on the Ordovician System to be held in Nanjing, China in summer 2007.

 

Stan Finney