Se presenta el estudio lito y bioestratigráfico de la Formación Pizarras del Sueve en su area tipo de la Zona Cantábrica oriental, a partir de! análisis de nueve perfiles estratigráficos fosilíferos, enclavaclos en sus afloramientos más septentrionales. Estos han posibilitado definir formalrnente la unidacl, constituida esencialrnente por pizarras negras (Miernbros Cerracín y Cofiño), en cuya base pueclen aparecer horizontes de hierro oolítico, separados por un trarno medio de areniscas y pizarras (Miembro Bayo). que alcanzan en conjunto 50-100 m de potencia. El contenido paleontológico es muy notable, identificándose medio centenar de especies de invertebrados marinas (graptolitos, trilobites, ostrácoclos, braquiópodos. rnoluscos, equinodermos) e icnofósiles, a los que se suman de modo preliminar otras setenta especies de microfósiles de pared organica (quitinozoos y acritarcos). Estes últirnos, junto con los graptolitos, aportan informaciones bioestratigraficas muy precisas para la datación y correlación de la formación, cuyo depósito se inicia en el Oretaniense superior tardío (= Abereiddiense superior segun la nueva escala británica), e implica una laguna estratigrafica basal respecto a las cuarcitas de! Arenig.

Se analizan los datos de paleontología sistemática existentes en la bibliografía incorporándolos dentro de un esquema global junto a las unidades lito y cronoestratigráficas del Cámbrico y Ordovícico de las Cadenas Ibéricas y las Cadenas Hespéricas. Se pre­sentan las diferentes unidades bioestratigráficas definidas en estas regiones y se revisa su área geográfica de aplicación. Final­mente se refieren los problemas aun no resueltos.

En este trabajo se aborda el estudio sistemático de un rico nivel de braquiópodos fósiles procedentes de la parte media de la Serie de los Cabos en el Dominio del Navia y Alto Sil (Zona Asturoccidental-leonesa, NO de España). El material recogido en los alrededores de La Caridad (Asturias) está constituido exclusivamente por moldes de valvas desarticuladas de Protambonites primigenius Havlícek, 1972. La extensa muestra asturiana permite ampliar el conocimiento sobre esta especie, de la que sólo se conocen unos pocos ejemplares en los niveles de transición Cámbrico-Ordovícico de las Cadenas lbéricas. Las conchas estudiadas también aportan nuevos datos sobre el género Protambonites, que, aunque endémico de la Provincia Mediterránea, presenta un amplio interés al ser considerado la forma ancestral del suborden Clitambonitidina. Protambonites procedería del ortidino Billingsella, del que se diferencia, casi exclusivamente, por su sistema de canales del manto, pinado en ambas valvas; este rasgo es característico de los clitambonitidinos y está muy bien desarrollado en los ejemplares asturianos. El material estudiado refuerza la asignación de Protambonites a la familia Polytoechiidae.

A detailed overview of the taxonomical composition and diversity of the Late Ordovician brachiopod faunas in Morocco is presented. In addition, based on new brachiopod collections, the lower boundary of the Hirnantian Stage in the Anti-Atlas is constrained. A new, prolonged range of the Hirnantia Fauna in the Anti-Atlas region permits comparison between known Late Ordovician climatic excursions and changes in brachiopod diversity. Despite the late Katian Boda warming event, the Moroccan brachiopod associations remained notably endemic with low diversities throughout the studied interval. Contrary to what is seen in other high-latitude peri-Gondwanan terranes, species richness decreased during the Boda Event. This suggests that the Moroccan shelves experienced a more persistent, colder climate, favouring well-adapted, incumbent faunas that did not respond to this climatic optimum. Lastly, the two phases of Hirnantian extinctions, which globally are correlated with the growth and melting of ice caps, are expressed differently from elsewhere: the first pulse only caused minor disruption, followed by a radiation of the Hirnantia Fauna, whereas the second pulse, related to the subsequent warming phase in the uppermost Hirnantian, caused severe extinctions in Morocco among the opportunistic Hirnantia Fauna.

Geoconservation and geoethics are two emergent domains in geosciences. During the last decade, both topics have increasingly gained the attention of geoscientists and the society, but the main geoethical dilemmas related to the conservation and management of geoheritage are not clearly identified yet. This work aims at providing an overview on the meaning and scope of geoethics and how it intersects geoheritage and the practice of geoconservation. Some case studies-many of which are under current debate and have a high potential as geoeducational resources-are presented for addressing ethical, social and cultural settings as well as dilemmas affecting geoheritage. We find that there are particular cases (mostly concerning the trade of fossils, and in particular the growing concern about activities that rely on amber from Myanmar) for which a clear dichotomy of views makes them much more problematic and complex. These cases deserve more suitable legal frameworks that help implement more balanced ethical standards and practice guidelines for geoconservation, guarantee human rights and needs in relation to that heritage and contribute to the advancement of geosciences. Particular attention is given to palaeontological heritage, as fossils are among the most threatened elements of the Earth's diversity and are in need of more effective and statutory protection measures. In the context of geoethics applied to palaeontological heritage, and given the need of a clear understanding of what ethics in palaeontology means, a new concept-palaeontoethics-is proposed and formally defined.

The Recent planktonic larvae of the polychaete spionids are some of the most widespread and abundant group of coastal meroplankton worldwide. To study the possible co-migration of biotic partners and determine whether they were host-specific, the type of biotic relationship between hosts and borers of an Upper Ordovician Peruvian brachiopod collection from the Proto-Andean margin of Gondwana was re-exanimated and compared with material from Wales (Avalonia). The species list studied is composed of Colaptomena expansa (41%), Heterorthis retrorsistria (24%), Horderleyella chacaltanai (19%), Drabovinella minuscula (13%), and Dinorthis cf. flabellulum (3%) and coincides closely with that of the Dinorthis community described in the Caradoc series of North Wales. The borings attributed to these spionids have been identified as Palaeosabella prisca only present in the valves of Colaptomena expansa and Heterorthis retrorsistria . All the studied valves are disarticulated, with very low fragmentation and are randomly oriented in a context below the fair-weather wave base. The settling larvae would feed on their brachiopod host soft parts at an early stage, being the biotic interaction initially of the parasitic type. Since Palaeosabella borings from Peru and Wales are identical, as well as the species specificity of their producers with their brachiopod hosts, it can be concluded that the same spionid annelid species produced them. The Southern Westerlies current that connected the Proto-Andean margin of Gondwana with Avalonia must have been responsible for transporting the larvae of annelids and brachiopods in what had to be a successful biotic relationship over a great transoceanic distance.

Two strophomenoid brachiopods from the Middle Ordovician of the Toledo Mountains, Central Spain, representing the first arrival of the group to the high latitude Gondwanan shelves are described. They are the new genus and species Oretanomena meloui, from the Navas de Estena Shales and Rio Shales, Oretanian (mid Darriwilian) in age, and Dactylogonia asturica, from the Guindo Shales, Dobrotivian (late Darriwilian) in age. Oretanomena is a primitive strophomenid of concavo-convex, dorsally geniculate profile, very close to the Iranian Semnanostrophia. They both settled during mid Darriwilian times on the high latitude Gondwanan shelves, much probably originating from South China ancestors after a migration along the western Gondwanan coast. Dactylogonia asturica settled on the Iberian platform slightly later, during the late Darriwilian, as the result of the dispersion of its genus from Laurentia, crossing the Iapetus Ocean up to Avalonia, and then also the Rheic Ocean, up to the Mediterranean margin of Gondwana. Dactylogonia is added to other rare rhynchonelliform brachiopods that succeeded in crossing the Rheic Ocean, during a time of strong faunal isolation of the high latitude margin of Gondwana.

Abstract The Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, very rich in bryozoans and echinoderms but relatively poor in other fossil groups, has provided a brachiopod association that allows an improvement in the stratigraphic correlation of this Moroccan eastern Anti-Atlas unit with those from the Upper Ordovician of SW Europe and the rest of the Anti-Atlas. The intermediate marly beds, with bryozoan and echinoderm patches, of the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation have yielded Streptis ? sp., Paucicrura catalanica and Drabovia sp. Of these, P. catalanica , the richest in the association and known up to now exclusively from the Catalonian Coastal Ranges in NE Spain, is dated as mid to late Katian (Ka2–Ka4), since it occurs in the La Mora Slates, correlatable with horizons of that age from Iberia, Sardinia or the Montagne Noire. The analysis of the stratigraphic and palaeobiogeographical ranges of the bryozoans from the same formation agrees with the correlation above. The quartzitic sandstones that underlie the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation in the surroundings of Erfoud have yielded a different brachiopod association, including Kiaeromena ? chouberti and Rostricellula termieri among other forms more poorly represented. K. ? chouberti allows its yielding horizon to be dated as mid Katian (Ka2) and supports the identification of the sandstone-dominated unit where it occurs as the Tiouririne Formation.

An integrated sedimentological and paleontological analysis has been canted out in the lower member (d2a) of the shallow-marine Nogueras Formation (Lower Devonian, Iberian Chains). This formation represents the first carbonate-dominated and fossil-rich sedimentary unit of the Devonian of the Iberian Chains. Nine sedimentary facies, including terrigenous-clastic, mixed and carbonate facies, which are complexly intercalated at bed scale, have been characterized. Based on their sedimentary features and their lateral relationships using Markov chain analysis, two sedimentary models for the lower and upper part of d2a member have been proposed, which represent deposition in a mixed elastic-carbonate shallow marine depositional system. They include terrigenous-clastic intertidal deposits and predominant skeletal, carbonate-dominated and grain-supported facies in the high-energy shallow subtidal zone, whith a clear zonation of the skeletal components (brachiopods, bryozoans and crinoids, from shallow to relatively deep areas). Phosphate nodules, phosphatized fossils, ferruginous crusts and iron ooids, which are frequently associated with the relatively shallower bioclastic brachiopod facies, were probably linked to mineral continental sources and to remobilization in the shallow water high-energy area. The paleontological analysis shows that some of those organisms lived in protected areas of the subtidal zone, including in particular high-diversity communities of brachiopods, adapted to turbid waters with fine terrigenous suspended sediments.

Trabajo presentado en el 35th International Geological Congress, celebrado en Cape Town (Sudafrica), del 27 de agosto al 4 de septiembre de 2016

La nuevas divisiones de la escala global del Sistema Ordovicico, con excepcion de los pisos Tremadociense e Hirnantiense, son dificiles de aplicar en la Peninsula Iberica, pues sus estratotipos de limite radican en facies y faunas de aguas profundas, desconocidas en las plataformas someras y de paleolatitud elevada del ambito peri-gondwanico. Antes de ello, la escala regional britanico-avalonica fue utilizada en Iberia durante todo el siglo XX, pero presenta serios inconvenientes de correlacion vinculados con la propia evolucion, conceptual y de criterio, registrada en las areas tipo britanicas durante los ultimos 40 anos. Sin embargo, la escala regional bohemo-iberica es la que actualmente aporta una mayor precision a las correlaciones, pues se basa en elementos bioestratigraficos y biocronologicos de distribucion comun a todo el margen peri-gondwanico europeo y norteafricano, y la que mantiene vinculos episodicos con otras escalas regionales, que permitiran resolver progresivamente las equivalencias con la escala global.

A new study of the Upper Ordovician bryozoans belonging to the families Aisenvergiidae, Amplexoporidae, Arthrostylidae, Enalloporidae, Halloporidae, Heterotrypidae, Mesotrypidae, Ptilodictyidae, Rhinidictyidae and Trematoporidae from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco is presented here. These bryozoans come from the calcarenitic levels of the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, upper Katian, where for the first time the orders Fenestrata and Cryptostomata are described in this formation. This fauna inhabited an upper offshore environment and represent high-energy deposits, typical of a shore face environment, as well as storm-induced deposits. A total of 15 species included in 13 genera, 10 of them only identified in the calcarenitic levels of the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, and two incertae sedis taxa are described. A new species, Trematopora vesiculata, is defined. An update of the Upper Ordovician bryozoan presence/absence database, including the 22 genera described in total in the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, has been carried out. The augmented database has been analysed with two multivariate statistical techniques: detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and principal coordinate analysis (PCO), in order to assess the palaeogeographic affinity of this fauna, and the results show that Moroccan bryozoans, in spite of belonging to the fauna developed in the highest latitudes during the upper Katian, have a clear Mediterranean affinity.

Trabajo presentado en el XVIII Congreso Peruano de Geologia, celebrado en Lima (Peru), del 16 al 19 de octubre de 2016

Trabajo presentado en el 60th Annual Meeting of the Palaeontological Association, celebrado en Lyon (Francia), del 14 al 17 de diciembre de 2016

A Sandbian brachiopod association from the Calapuja Formation, in the Peruvian Altiplano, north-west of Lake Titicaca, has allowed a re-examination of the palaeobiogeographical relationships between Gondwana and Avalonia during the Late Ordovician, when the palaeocontinents are considered to be already very distant from one another. The brachiopod fauna includes the new species Onnizetina calapujensis sp. nov., Horderleyella chacaltanai sp. nov., Drabovinella minuscula sp. nov. and Tasmanella curtiseptata sp. nov., as well as Caeroplecia sp., Dinorthis cf. flabellulum and Tunariorthis cardocanalis. In addition, Colaptomena expansa expansa and Heterorthis retrorsistria, known from the British Burrellian Stage of the Caradoc Series (late Sandbian) in Wales and the Welsh Borderlands, have also been identified. The brachiopod collection is the most diverse known from a single locality in the whole Central Andean Basin. Within it, forms with clear Gondwanan links occur, such as the new species of Onnizetina, Drabovinella and Horderleyella, and typical representatives of the Avalonian faunas, such as the Welsh Colaptomena expansa expansa and Heterorthis retrorsistria. The brachiopod species exchange between the Proto-Andean margin of Gondwana and Avalonia, now believed to be possible during the late Sandbian, allows a reconsideration of the global taxonomic affinities of both regions. With this in mind, detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) and cluster analysis have been applied to an updated rhynchonelliformean brachiopod matrix consisting of presence/absence data. The scatter plot resulting from the DCA allows a vivid visualization of the grouping and geographical trends of the South American localities with respect to Avalonia-Baltica and the Mediterranean margin of Gondwana during the Sandbian. Our results agree with previous palaeogeographical reconstructions, depicting Avalonia very close to Baltica and already distant from Gondwana. As a few brachiopod species, with low dispersal potential, would have been able to migrate between those distant palaeocontinents, the existence of intermediate islands in the Rheic Ocean, permitting the transit by island hopping of eurythermal species, must be considered.

The Angosto de Lampazar, a classic locality for the study of lower Paleozoic successions in the Cordillera Oriental, NW Argentina, has yielded a late Cambrian relatively diverse, lingulate brachiopod fauna. Sandy lenses with calcareous cement from the uppermost levels of the Lampazar Formation have yielded abundant remains of articulate and phosphatic brachiopods. Among the latter, the new species Eurytreta harringtoni Mergl and Herrera, Lingulella? melonica Mergl and Herrera, Libecoviella lenticularis Mergl and Herrera, and Schizambon cardonalis Mergl and Herrera, as well as the new genus and species Saltaia lampazarensis Mergl and Herrera are formally introduced. Trilobites and conodonts from the same horizons characterize the Cordylodus proavus Zone, allowing a correlation with Stage 10 of the Furongian Series. Although the information on lingulate brachiopods from the C. proavus Zone is scarce across the world, the composition of the studied association displays a relationship with coeval and slightly younger faunas of Utah and Kazakhstan. The Argentine brachiopods, the first described from the late Cambrian Proto-Andean margin of Gondwana, are more closely related to temperate Laurentian faunas than to those from the high latitude North African margin of Gondwana.

The regional chronostratigraphy of the British Ordovician, established mainly for shelly facies, is hard to correlate in the Iberian Peninsula, especially after the separation and drift of Avalonia from Gondwana by the early Middle Ordovician. The same applies to the Ordovician global scale, whose stratotypes involve deeper-water facies and faunas not recorded in the high-paleolatitudinal settings of southern peri-Gondwana. In order to solve the problem, an alternative regional scheme for the "Mediterranean" Ordovician was proposed in the 1970s. This comprises five regional stages plus the global Tremadocian and Hirnantian, which are largely based on the distribution of endemic shelly fossils combined with some graptolites and a good palynological record. This Ordovician scale presents precise correlation potential for southwestern and central Europe (Ibero-Armorica, Sardinia, Bohemia, Bulgaria) and may be extended around the Mediterranean region. Sporadic occurrences of graptolites and shelly faunas of Baltic or Avalonian affinities allow for indirect correlation with the global stages through their own regional scales.

In the Iberian Chains of northeastern Spain, the Hirnantian Orea Shale comprises three erosive glaciogenic unconformities punctuating two transgressive glaciomarine sequences. These sequences represent ice retreat episodes of grounded ice on a North Gondwanan region of 50-60 degrees S of estimated palaeolatitude. In contrast, the same formation recorded in the Hesperian Chains repeated episodes of extensional tectonic activity: diamictites were associated with slope-related debris flows and slumps commonly interrupted by truncating discontinuities.An analysis of delta C-13(org) in the Orea Shale has revealed that the lower Orea sequence displays isotopically light baseline values (similar to -27%0) punctuated by minor (2-3 parts per thousand) shifts. In distal parts, the upper sequence is characterised by a rapid rise in delta C-13(org) values, which mark a positive excursion, in the range of 2.5 parts per thousand to 7 parts per thousand over 40 cm of thickness. The stratigraphic gap involved in the intra-Orea erosive unconformity appears to be greater both in proximal exposures and slope-related (Hesperian) areas, where the chemostratigraphic shift was not recorded. Upsection in the three studied sections, the delta C-13 values display upsection a sharp wreturn to baseline values of -26 parts per thousand to -28 parts per thousand.The Hirnantian strata of the Iberian and Hesperian Chains have recorded three major correlatable events: (i) a the karstic surface that caps upper Katian limestones and reflects the maximum glacial extension; (ii) a single delta C-13(org) positive peak of-6 parts per thousand that is recognisable in distal ramp settings, marking the beginning of the second ice retreat episode and probably representing the late Hirnantian HICE shift; and (iii) the erosive unconformity marked by the progradation of the Los Puertos shoreline complexes. (C) 2015 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Abstract. A study of the Upper Ordovician trepostomate bryozoans belonging to the families Amplexoporidae and Monticuliporidae, from the eastern Anti-Atlas of Morocco, is presented here. They occur in the marly to fine-grained limestone, intermediate unit of the Khabt-el-Hajar Formation, late Katian in age, representing outer-ramp depositional environments. They inhabited the highest paleolatitude known for a bryozoan fauna during the Ordovician, estimated at more than 65–70°S. A total of 11 species of the genera Anaphragma, Atactoporella, Homotrypa, Monotrypa, Monticulipora, and Prasopora are described. Three species are already known from the equatorial-tropical paleocontinents of Baltica, Laurentia, and Siberia: Anaphragma mirabile, Monotrypa jewensis, and Prasopora falesi. Four new taxa are described:Anaphragma undulata, Atactoporella moroccoensis, Monticulipora globulata, and Monticulipora irregularis. The two species of Anaphragma and the one of Atactoporella display significantly larger zoarial sizes than congeneric species, representing gigantism among bryozoans. Polar gigantism is rejected for the two species of Anaphragma as is gigantism related to photosynthetic endosymbionts. An alternative proposal for their giant size is their long zoarial life span due to their well-balanced, robust branching form, with a relatively wide basal supporting surface, adapted to unconsolidated substrates in environments below wave base. Their great stability in outer-ramp environments, with infrequent storms, would allow the zoaria to grow for an extended time and reach large sizes before being overturned and buried. Atactoporella moroccoensis, has both zoaria and zooecia gigantic, suggesting a hypothesis of polar gigantism.