Arenig to Llandovery faunal distributions in the Caledonides

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Abstract
Summary: Faunal distributions in the Arenig to Llandovery period can be seen to be due to an interplay of the following factors: (i) the biofacies and community distributions on the shelves and slopes of continental margins; (ii) the distribution of former continental masses relative to palaeolatitude; (iii) the contemporary transgressive-regressive cycles which cause diachronous shifts of biofacies belts (with a major crisis at the Ordovician-Silurian boundary); (iv) differential dispersal methods and rates of the different invertebrate groups. The distribution of the common brachiopods, trilobites, graptolites and conodonts exemplify these various influences, and these distributions are considered from both the margins and the central areas of the Caledonides. Palaeogeography cannot be reliably reconstructed without due consideration of all these factors which give results which are relatively independent of structural studies.