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Mass Extinction in the Cambrian Trilobite Faunas of North America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 July 2017

Stephen R. Westrop
Stephen R. Westrop*
Affiliation:
Department of Geological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1, Canada
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Extract

Sepkoski (1981a,b, 1988) has characterized the Cambrian fauna as unique, both in terms of taxonomic composition and in environmental distribution of taxa. Compared with the rest of the Phanerozoic, the frequency of mass extinction in the Cambrian must also rank as a distinctive feature which had a profound impact on macroevolutionary patterns. Three well-documented extinctions occurred in the Upper Cambrian of North America (Figure 1; Palmer, 1979; Westrop and Ludvigsen, 1987) and are best expressed in the trilobite faunas. Possible older extinctions may be present at the top of the Olenellus Zone and near the base of the Bolaspidella Zone (e.g., see Palmer, 1982) but more data are required.

Type
Research Article
Information
Short Courses in Paleontology , Volume 3: Arthropod Paleobiology , 1990 , pp. 99 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © 1990 Paleontological Society 

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