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The first sphinctozoan-bearing reef from an Ordovician back-arc basin

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Abstract

Although sphinctozoans, multi-chambered hypercalcified sponges, can be traced from the Cambrian, their reef-building capacity in the Early Paleozoic appears limited. The oldest sphinctozoan-coral-microbial reef‏ is documented here, from the Upper Sanqushan Formation (Late Katian) of southeast China. This is also the first report of Ordovician sphinctozoans from South China. The sponges occur in a >120-m-thick reef that is mainly constructed by calcimicrobes (Kordephyton, Renalcis, and Epiphyton) with a low abundance of in situ metazoans, predominantly sphinctozoan sponges (Corymbospongia) and rugose corals (mostly Palaeophyllum and Streptelasma). Tetradium is the only tabulate coral preserved in growth position. Crinoids and brachiopods are common reef dwellers. Dasycladacean algae are rare and probably transported and stromatactis is abundant. Bio- and litho-facies in this area as well as the characteristics of the microbialite suggest that the reef developed in a deeper subtidal setting that was unfavorable for most metazoan reef builders. In contrast to the high-energy stromatolite-sphinctozoan reefs from the Late Silurian, this case represents a low-energy community, indicating that the first reef-building sphinctozoans might have originated in a relatively deep-water environment on seamounts of a back-arc basin during the Late Ordovician.

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Acknowledgments

Financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41072002 and 41221001), China Scholarship Council (File No. 201204910171) and Postgraduate Grant Scheme from the International Association of Sedimentologists (1st session in 2014) is acknowledged. We are grateful to Prof. Baba Senowbari-Daryan (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Dr. Guangxu Wang (Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology) for assistance in identifying the sphinctozoans and corals, respectively. We thank Birgit Leipner-Mata (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) for the help with thin-sections and polished slabs, and Christian Schulbert (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) and Kristoffer Uhl (University of Erlangen-Nürnberg) for the help with photographing. Constructive reviews by Marcelo Carrera and Maurice Tucker are greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. GeoZentrum Nordbayern, University of Erlangen-Nürnberg, 91054, Erlangen, Germany

    Qijian Li & Wolfgang Kiessling

  2. Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, China

    Yue Li

  3. Museum für Naturkunde, Invalidenstr. 43, 10115, Berlin, Germany

    Wolfgang Kiessling

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  1. Qijian Li
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Li, Q., Li, Y. & Kiessling, W. The first sphinctozoan-bearing reef from an Ordovician back-arc basin. Facies 61, 17 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10347-015-0444-6

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