The Lower Palaeozoic margins of Baltica

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Abstract
The palaeocontinent of Baltica was palaeobiologically and geographically isolated in the early Ordovician, but drew closer to other palaeocontinents as the Ordovician progressed, colliding firstly with Avalonia in the latest Ordovician and then Laurentia to form Laurussia in the middle to late Silurian. Key faunas, particularly from the Baltic craton, chart this early isolation and subsequent changes. The Lower Palaeozoic margins of Baltica vary; much of the western margin was subducted during the Caledonian orogeny, the northern margin is poorly known and much of the eastern margin is preserved but heavily tectonised in the Urals. The south and south-eastern margins are the best preserved, despite Caledonian, Hercynian and later tectonism; with craton-margin sequences developed in the central Baltic to Denmark, northern Germany and Poland.