The Fezouata fossils of Morocco; an extraordinary record of marine life in the Early Ordovician
Open accessAbstract
The discovery of the Fezouata biota in the latest Tremadocian of southeastern Morocco has significantly changed our understanding of the early Phanerozoic radiation. The shelly fossil record shows a well-recognized pattern of macroevolutionary stasis between the Cambrian Explosion and the Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, but the rich soft-bodied Fezouata biota paints a different evolutionary picture. The Fezouata assemblage includes a considerable component of Cambrian holdovers alongside a surprising number of crown group taxa previously unknown to have evolved by the Early Ordovician. Study of the Fezouata biota is in its early stages, and future discoveries will continue to enrich our view of the dynamics of the early Phanerozoic radiation and of the nature of the fossil record. Supplementary material: A complete faunal list is available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18843 .
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In the Fezouata Shale, complete carcasses of the radiodont Aegirocassis are relatively rare, yet many fragments were easily assigned to this genus.
“In the Fezouata Shale, complete carcasses of the radiodont Aegirocassis are similarly relatively rare (Saleh et al., 2020b), yet many fragments were easily assigned to this genus (Van Roy, Briggs & Gaines, 2015).”
From Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China) (2022) · cites this paper as Van Roy, Briggs & Gaines, 2015
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Exceptional Fossil Preservation and the Cambrian Explosion
Butterfield, N. J. (2003) · Integrative and Comparative Biology · doi:10.1093/icb/43.1.166 · Cited by 348 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Burgess Shale-type preservation was defined by Butterfield (1995, 2003) as exceptional preservation of non-biomineralizing organisms as carbonaceous compressions in marine shales.”
BackgroundOrdovician faunas of Burgess Shale type
Van Roy, P., Orr, P. J., Botting, J. P., Muir, L. A., Vinther, J., Lefebvre, B., Hariri, K. E., & Briggs, D. E. G. (2010) · Nature · doi:10.1038/nature09038 · Cited by 340 · see citing works
Self-citationThe Ordovician biodiversification: setting an agenda for marine life
Harper, D. A. T. (2006) · Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology · doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2005.07.010 · Cited by 261 · see citing works
Secular distribution of Burgess-Shale-type preservation
Butterfield, N. J. (1995) · Lethaia · doi:10.1111/j.1502-3931.1995.tb01587.x · Cited by 255 · cited 2× · see citing works
“Burgess Shale-type preservation was defined by Butterfield (1995, 2003) as exceptional preservation of non-biomineralizing organisms as carbonaceous compressions in marine shales.”
BackgroundMechanism for Burgess Shale-type preservation
Gaines, R. R., Hammarlund, E. U., Hou, X., Qi, C., Gabbott, S. E., Zhao, Y., Peng, J., & Canfield, D. E. (2012) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.1111784109 · Cited by 227 · cited 4× · see citing works
“Gaines et al. (2012b), however, showed that a number of important Cambrian Lagerstätten were deposited under persistent anoxic conditions and were not susceptible to bioturbation.”
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Taphonomic bias in exceptionally preserved biotas
Saleh, F., Antcliffe, J. B., Lefebvre, B., Pittet, B., Laibl, L., Perez Peris, F., Lustri, L., Gueriau, P., & Daley, A. C. (2020) · Earth and Planetary Science Letters · doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2019.115873 · Cited by 89 · see citing works
The early Paleozoic development of bioturbation—Evolutionary and geobiological consequences
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Orbital control on exceptional fossil preservation
Saleh, F., Pittet, B., Perrillat, J.-P., & Lefebvre, B. (2019) · Geology · doi:10.1130/g45598.1 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Storm-induced community dynamics in the Fezouata Biota (Lower Ordovician, Morocco)
SALEH, F., CANDELA, Y., HARPER, D. A. T., POLECHOVÁ, M., LEFEBVRE, B., & PITTET, B. (2018) · Palaios · doi:10.2110/palo.2018.055 · Cited by 29 · see citing works
Probability-based preservational variations within the early Cambrian Chengjiang biota (China)
Saleh, F., Ma, X., Guenser, P., Mángano, M. G., Buatois, L. A., & Antcliffe, J. B. (2022) · PeerJ · doi:10.7717/peerj.13869 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Hsieh, S., Plotnick, R. E., & Bush, A. M. (2022) · Paleobiology · doi:10.1017/pab.2021.46 · Cited by 18 · see citing works
- Authors
- Van Roy, P., Briggs, D. E. G., & Gaines, R. R.
- Affiliations
- Department of Geology and Geophysics and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208109, New Haven, CT 06520-8109, USA
- Yale University (US)
- Pomona College (US)
- Venue
- Journal of the Geological Society
- Publisher
- Geological Society of London
- Published
- 2015-07-07
- Volume
- 172
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 541-549
- ISSN
- 0016-7649 (ISSN-L)
- 2041-479X
- OpenAlex
- W2124526279
- Cited by
- 164
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 10 · 2023: 16 · 2022: 17 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 17 · 2019: 16 · 2018: 9 · 2017: 14 · 2016: 19 · 2015: 9
- FWCI
- 12.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Locations
- Journal of the Geological Society (publishedVersion)
- Ghent University Academic Bibliography (Ghent University) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- National Science Foundation (1053247)
- Yale University
- Agence Nationale de la Recherche (RALI 197)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Paleontology and Evolutionary Biology
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Keywords
- Tremadocian, Lower Ordovician, marine fossils, soft-bodied fossils, Great Ordovician Biodiversification Event, Cambrian explosion, fossil record, faunistic checklist
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