Conodont biostratigraphy of the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician of north-western Öland, south-eastern Sweden

Abstract

This paper forms part of the author's thesis "Lithostratigraphy, environmental interpretation and conodont biostratigraphy of the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician of north-western bland, south-eastern Sweden". The purpose of this investigation was to unravel the lithogenesis and the history of the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician rocks along the north-western coast of bland (figs. 1 and 2). To obtain a picture of the sedimentary environments of these deposits a close investigation was carried out into their lithologic characteristics; the rocks were classified lithostratigraphically on the basis of these characteristics. Considering the amount of detail of the resulting subdivision it appeared necessary to find a method of comparable refinement for the biostratigraphic correlation of the lithostratigraphic units. None of the existing biozonations suited this purpose and therefore a detailed conodont-zonation has been established. Lindstrom (1963) has shown that these fossils occur in enormous quantities in the strata of bland and they proved to be extremely suitable for detailed biozonation. After a short introduction into the lithostratigraphy this paper will deal especially with the conodont-biostratigraphy, the chronostratigraphic position of the lithostratigraphic and biostratigraphic units and with the conodont systematics. The lithostratigraphy, the sedimentary environments and the sedimentary history of the area will be treated in a separate paper under the title "Lithostratigraphy and environmental interpretation of the Upper Cambrian and Lower Ordovician of north-western bland, south-eastern Sweden."