Abstract
The Lower Ordovician Fezouata Biota (central Anti-Atlas, Morocco) is the sole exceptionally preserved marine fossil assemblage of Burgess Shale type so far known from post-Cambrian rocks. It offers a unique opportunity to document the transition between the Cambrian and Palaeozoic evolutionary faunas. Recent fieldwork in the area north of Zagora has yielded critical new information on both the precise stratigraphic position of, and the palaeoenvironmental conditions associated with, the exceptionally preserved assemblages of the Fezouata Biota.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Aldridge, R., Gabbott, S., & Theron, J. (2007). The soom shale. In D. E. G. Briggs, P. R. Crowther (Eds.), Palaeobiology II (pp. 340–342). Malden: Blackwell Science.
Botting, J. P. (2007). ‘Cambrian’ demosponges in the Ordovician of Morocco: Insights into the early evolutionary history of sponges. Geobios,40, 737–748.
Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Sutton, M. D., & Barnie, T. (2011). Welsh gold: A new exceptionally preserved pyritized Ordovician biota. Geology,39, 879–882.
Briggs, D. E. G., Erwin, D. H., & Collier, F. J. (1994). The fossils of the burgess shale (p. 238). Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Conway Morris, S., Peel, J., Higgins, A. K., Soper, N. J., & Davis, N. C. (1987). A Burgess Shale-like fauna from the Lower Cambrian of North Greenland. Nature,326, 181–183.
Destombes, J. (1962). Stratigraphie et paléogéographie de l’Ordovicien de l’Anti-Atlas (Maroc): Un essai de synthèse. Bulletin de la Societe Geologique de France,7(4), 453–460.
Destombes, J. (1971). L’Ordovicien au Maroc. Essai de synthèse stratigraphique. Mém BRGM, 73, 237–263.
Destombes, J., Hollard, H., & Willefert, S. (1985). Lower Palaeozoic rocks of Morocco. In C. H. Holland (Ed.), Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the world. Lower Palaeozoic of North-Western and West-Central Africa (Vol 4, pp. 91–336). New York: Wiley.
Farrell, U. C., Martin, M. J., Hagadorn, J. W., Whiteley, T., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2009). Beyond Beecher’s Trilobite Bed: Widespread pyritization of soft tissues in the Late Ordovician Taconic foreland basin. Geology,37, 907–910.
Harper, D. A. T. (2006). The Ordovician biodiversification: Setting an agenda for marine life. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology,232, 148–166.
Hou, X. G., Aldridge, R. J., Bergström, J., Siveter, D. J., Siveter, D. J., & Feng, X. H. (2004). The Cambrian Fossils of Chengjiang China. Oxford: Blackwell. 233 p.
Lin, J.-P., Zhao, Y.-L., Rahman, I. A., Xiao, S.-H., & Wang, Y. (2010). Bioturbation in Burgess Shale-type Lagerstätten—Case study of trace fossil-body fossil association from the Kaili Biota (Cambrian Series 3), Guizhou, China. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology,292, 245–256.
Liu, H. P., McKay, R. M., Young, J. N., Witzke, B. J., McVey, K. J., & Liu, X. (2006). A new Lagerstätte from the Middle Ordovician St. Peter Formation in Northeastern Iowa, USA. Geology,34, 969–972.
Noailles, F., Lefebvre, B., Guensburg, T. E., Hunter, A. W., Nardin, E. & Sumrall, C. D. et al. (2010) New echinoderm-Lagerstätten from the Lower Ordovician of central Anti-Atlas (Zagora area, Morocco): A Gondwanan perspective of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. In M. Reich, J. Reitner, V. Roden, B. Thuy (Eds.), Echinoderm Research 2010 (pp. 77–78). Göttingen: The University of Göttingen.
Paterson, J. R., Jago, J. B., Gehling, J. G., García-Bellido, D. C., Edgecombe, G. D., Lee, M. S. Y. (2008). Early Cambrian arthropods from the Emu Bay Shale Lagerstätte, South Australia. In I, Rábano, R. Gozalo, D. García-Bellido (Eds.), Advances in Trilobite Research (pp. 313–320). Madrid: Cuadernos Mus. Geominero.
Servais, T., Lehnert, O., Li, J., Mullins, G. L., Munnecke, A., Nützel, A., et al. (2008). The Ordovician Biodiversification: Revolution in the oceanic trophic chain. Lethaia,41, 99–109.
Servais, T., Owen, A. W., Harper, D. A. T., Kröger, B., & Munnecke, A. (2010). The Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event GOBE: The palaeoecological dimension. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology,294, 99–119.
Van Roy, P. (2006). Non-trilobite arthropods from the Ordovician of Morocco. Unpublished PhD thesis, Ghent University, 230 p.
Van Roy, P., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2011). A giant Ordovician anomalocaridid. Nature,473, 510–513.
Van Roy, P., Orr, P. J., Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Vinther, J., Lefebvre, B., et al. (2010). Ordovician faunas of Burgess Shale type. Nature,465, 215–218.
Vidal, M. (1998). Trilobites (Asaphidae et Raphiophoridae) de l’Ordovicien inférieur de l’Anti-Atlas Maroc. Palaeontographica Abt. A,251, 39–77.
Vinther, J., Van Roy, P., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2008). Machaeridians are Palaeozoic armoured annelids. Nature,451, 185–188.
Young, G. A., Rudkin, D. M., Dobrzanski, E. P., Robson, S. P., & Nowlan, G. S. (2007). Exceptionally preserved Late Ordovician biotas from Manitoba, Canada. Geology,35, 883–886.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this paper
Cite this paper
Martin, E. et al. (2014). The Fezouata Biota (Central Anti-Atlas, Morocco): Biostratigraphy and Associated Environmental Conditions of an Ordovician Burgess Shale. In: Rocha, R., Pais, J., Kullberg, J., Finney, S. (eds) STRATI 2013. Springer Geology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_81
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-04364-7_81
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-04363-0
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-04364-7
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)