Devonian Nautiloids of Eastern and Southern Morocco: Systematics, Biostratigraphy, Biogeography and Response to Devonian "Events"

PI将在现有的牙形刺和菊石生物地层框架内首次对冈瓦那北部(北非-摩洛哥)泥盆纪鹦鹉螺头足类进行系统分析。这些数据将提供必要的基础：1)建立泥盆纪四个主要海洋类群(鹦鹉螺类和菊形头足类、三叶虫和牙形刺)之间的联系；2)帮助阐明与同时代鱼类(比目鱼、软骨鱼和骨鱼类)之间的时间联系，从而更好地了解远洋海洋动力学，3)通过提供第三组增殖牙形刺和菊石数据的详细分析，更清楚地了解泥盆纪“事件”的演化扰动，以及4)首次允许，将与欧亚大陆(波罗的海+劳伦西亚)南缘并列的冈瓦那地区的动物群与西澳大利亚和中国的动物群进行明确的比较，后者是冈瓦那仅有的具有低纬度盆地的地区，含有丰富的鹦鹉螺头足类动物。在根据生物地层学和生物地理学数据继续评估古地理重建方面，这最后一个方面尤其重要。这项工作将与迈克尔·豪斯(大学)正在进行的菊石项目一起进行。此外，还在北非和澳大利亚实施了一项现有的测绘项目，即在摩洛哥梅塞塔地区、反阿特拉斯地区和廷杜夫地区开展测绘项目，由皇家马鲁克地质研究所(L能源和矿业部)领导。

PI will establish the first systematic analysis of northern Gondwana (North Africa-Morocco) Devonian nautiloid cephalopods within the existing conodont and ammonoid biostratigraphic framework. These data will provide the necessary foundation 1) to establish correlation between four of the major marine groups of the Devonian (nautiloid and ammonoid cephalopods, trilobites, and conodonts), 2) to help elucidate the temporal tie to coeval fish (members of the Placodermi, Chondrichtyes and Osteichthyes) and thus provide a better understanding of pelagic marine dynamics, 3) to understand more clearly evolutionary perturbations of Devonian "events" by providing a detailed analysis of a third group of augment conodont and ammonoid data, and 4) to allow, for the first time, a definitive comparison to be made between faunas of that portion of Gondwana juxtaposed to the southern margin of Euramerica (Baltica + Laurentia) and those of western Australia and China, the only other regions of Gondwana with low latitude basins containing abundant nautiloid cephalopods. This last aspect is especially important in the continuing assessment of paleogeographic reconstructions on the basis of biostratigraphic and biogeographic data. This work will be done in conjunction with ongoing ammonoid projects of Michael House (Univ. Southhampton, UK) and Thomas Becker (Free University, Berlin) in North Africa and Australia and an existing mapping project in the Meseta, Anti-Atlas and Tindouf regions of Morocco under the direction of the Royal Maroc Division de la Geologie Generale (Ministere de L'Energie et des Mines).