During Devonian time, western Gondwana (northern Chile, Bolivia, and Peru) witnessed a period of thick clastic rock deposition. The sialic Arequipa Massif, apparently a stable terrane since Precambrian time, supplied the bulk of the Bolivian intracratonic basinal sediments. Late Ordovician orogeny in northern Chile-northwestern Argentina included the emplacement of the Puna magmatic arc, with attendant plutonism. The resulting highland supplied coarsegrained sediments to northern Chile. Late Devonian(?) orogenesis deformed Early to Middle Devonian rocks in northern to central Peru. It is suggested that mid-Palaeozoic convergence was 'buffered' by the Arequipa Massif, giving little evidence of orogeny in the Bolivian Devonian-Carboniferous sequence. A highly endemic (Malvinokaffric) shelly fauna, indicative of high palaeolatitudes, occupied the region in Early Devonian (Emsian) time, while allochthonous (Eastern Americas Realm) faunas entered southern Peru. During Middle Devonian time a much lower diversity 'post-Malvinokaffric' fauna (consisting of the brachiopods Tropidoleptus, Globithyris , and other taxa) arrived, although a Malvinokaffric stock remained. These taxa arrived via the Amazonas and other eastern basins during a rotation of the region to lower latitudes and presumably warmer waters in Middle Devonian time.