An introduction to the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event: insights from the Tafilalt Biota, Morocco

Abstract

The exquisitely preserved, diverse and abundant fossil assemblages yielded by the ‘echinoderm meadows’ of the Tafilalt region of the eastern Anti-Atlas represent a new Konservat-Lagerstätte, one of the few exceptionally preserved Late Ordovician open marine faunas found globally, giving us an insight into the radiation of life during the later phases of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event (GOBE) in high-latitude peri-Gondwana. The GOBE saw most phyla increase exponentially in diversity, at the fastest rate of the entire Phanerozoic and represents one of the most significant events in the evolution of the marine biosphere, preceding the end-Ordovician mass extinction. Nine different phyla and several soft-bodied problematica are represented in the Tafilalt, including several notable echinoderm Lagerstätten. This volume is the culmination of over 20 years of research by several international teams and integrates a series of contributions that look at diverse aspects of the biota, including the stratigraphic distribution of the faunas, depositional environments, systematic palaeontology, preservation, palaeobiogeograpy and the nature and impact of the international fossil trade on these exceptionally preserved fossil faunas.

The Late Ordovician Tafilalt Biota, Anti-Atlas, Morocco: a high-latitude perspective on the GOBE

“…This long-term faunal turnover provides new insights into the GOBE in high-latitude, siliclasticdominated settings (Hunter et al 2022), with some marked differences with regional patterns documented at lower latitude areas (e.g. Baltica and Laurentia).…”