EARLY TELYCHIAN CHANGES IN GRAPTOLOID DIVERSITY AND SEA-LEVEL

It is suggested that a decrease in graptoloid diversity in the utilis Subzone (early Telychian) resulted from a eustatic fall in sea level induced by the spread of ice sheets from the highlands of central Gondwanaland. Major extinctions occurred within the retiolites and the genera Glyptograptus, Petalolithus, Stimulograptus and Rastrites. The selectivity of the extinction may reflect the degree of environmental tolerance of the various graptoloid taxa, with those exhibiting water mass specificity most seriously affected. Lithological changes, here correlated with the glacial interval, are recognized from the Yangtze Platform of China and from Europe.