Abstract

The first discovery in North America of a succession of graptolite faunas across the Ordovician–Silurian boundary has been made on Esquibel Island, in south-eastern Alaska, where five graptolite zones are represented in an 18 m interval of shale in the Descon Formation. Despite the thinness of the graptolite zones, no stratigraphical breaks can be inferred from more complete graptolite successions known elsewhere. The Alaskan faunas can be closely correlated with those of the standard British zones—the Dicellograptus anceps Zone (uppermost Ordovician), the Glyptograptus persculptus Zone (lowermost Silurian) and the immediately overlying Akidograptus acuminatus, Orthograptus vesiculosus and Monograptus cyphus Zones of the Lower Silurian. They thus give evidence of the cosmopolitan distribution of graptolite faunas during latest Ordovician and earliest Silurian time.