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

Abstract

The extensive, predominantly siliciclastic deposits of the Upper Ordovician of the Tafilalt have long been the subject of scientific investigation. In the past 25 years, intensified collecting for commercial purposes has resulted in the discovery of several exceptionally-preserved faunas (Konservat-Lagerstätten) in the Tafilalt region, preserving a range of non-biomineralised and soft-bodied organisms. The preservation of these fossils in the coarse clastic sediments of the Tafilalt is surprising, and in the case of soft-bodied organisms, remarkably similar to the preservational mode of typical Ediacaran biotas. These relatively recent discoveries have increased the scientific significance of the Tafilalt Biota, providing an unparalleled insight into the composition and temporal evolution of the shallow, open-marine ecosystems and their denizens during the later stages of the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event. At least nine different phyla, in addition to several soft-bodied problematica are represented in the Tafilalt. While the highly diverse and remarkably well-preserved echinoderm and euarthropod faunas are most emblematic for the Tafilalt Biota, further studies have revealed a relatively high diversity of molluscs and brachiopods. Among soft-bodied fossils, the problematic paropsonemid eldonids are iconic for the Tafilalt and stand out both through their abundance, and their wide temporal and geographic range throughout the area.

Healed injuries, ontogeny and scleritome construction in a Late Ordovician machaeridian (Annelida, Aphroditiformia)

“…Lefebvre et al . (2022) reviewed the geology and stratigraphy of the area and associated fauna. Most of the specimens are adults (Figs 1A–G, 2, 3) with 12 well‐preserved juvenile (Fig.…”

“…Here we describe new material of articulated Plumulites scleritomes from the Upper Ordovician (Katian) Upper Tiouririne Formation of southeastern Morocco, a Konservat‐Lagerstätte known as the Tafilalt Biota (Lefebvre et al . 2022). The material includes the most abundant collection of any machaeridian taxon known from articulated scleritomes and consequently represents an unprecedented opportunity to study the morphology, ontogeny, intraspecies variation and scleritome construction of the Plumulitidae.…”

A journey through the Ordovician System around the world

“…Penn-Clarke et al North and West Africa includes some very large Ordovician outcrop areas as well as extensive subsurface Ordovician sediments, of which only a small fraction is known in some detail so far. Morocco surely holds a key position, with famous sequences and Lagerstätten, such as the Fezouata and Tafilalt biotas (Lefebvre et al 2018(Lefebvre et al , 2022. Ghienne et al (2023) summarize the main patterns of Ordovician geology of North and West Africa.…”

The Ordovician System: Key concepts, events and its distribution across Europe

“…Servais 2013 andZhang et al 2019). There have been a number of recent reviews of the 'event' (Kröger et al 2019;Harper et al 2020Harper et al , 2021Servais et al 2021Servais et al , 2023aLefebvre et al 2022) and the substance of these papers is not repeated here. Many of the individual regional chapters contain biodiversity data, supplemented by graphs, providing further opportunities to analyse and reassess the existing taxonomic compilations for the period.…”