Ordovician trace fossils from southern Jordan with particular consideration to the Cruziana rugosa group: Taxonomy, stratigraphy and trans-regional correlation throughout the Middle East and northern Africa

The Ordovician System in the Levant region (Middle East) and southern Turkey: review of depositional facies, fauna and stratigraphy

“…Up until the end-Ordovician the depositional area represented an epeiric and slowly subsiding shelf-sea with only few phases of instability or prominent sea-level fluctuations, that prompted unconformities or changes in sediment type. Most relevant research on the subject was published by Bender (1968), Selley (1970), Powell (1989), Makhlouf (1992Makhlouf ( , 1998, Abed et al (1993), Amireh et al (2001), Turner et al (2005Turner et al ( , 2012, Schneider et al (2007), Masri et al (2014), Douillet et al (2012), Makhlouf et al (2017), Meischner et al (2019Meischner et al ( , 2020 and Elicki et al (2020), (see for further research and references) and by a large number of bulletins and map explanations from mapping projects carried out by the Geological Survey of Jordan (NRA, MEMR).…”

“…In the subsurface the formation was drilled by a number of petroleum wells in central and northern Jordan -Teimeh et al (1990) reported a thickness of up to more than 1100 m. The lowest part of the unit consists dominantly of massive, trough cross-bedded and planar bedded fluvial braidplain sandstones (large-scale subaqueous dunes and channels; palaeocurrent direction to the north / northnorth-west), it is partly conglomeratic and periodically interrupted upsection by marginal to fully marine incursions (Moumani, 2003). Various authors have reported the occurrence of trace fossils from the upper part of the Disi Formation: Cruziana furcifera, C. goldfussi, C. rugosa, Gyrochorte zigzag, as well as Diplichnites, Ichnyspica, Incisifex, Tasmanadia, Merostomichnites, and rusophycids (Powell, 1989;Amireh et al, 2001;Moumani, 2003; for full list see Meischner et al, 2020). A Tremadocian (Early Ordovician) age is indicated for the upper part of the Disi Formation.…”

“…Also here the largest thickness (up to 1300 m subsurface) is in the most North-east part of Jordan. The lower boundary of the Dubaydib Formation is very clearly marked by the onset of thin bedded sandstone, that is intensely bioturbated by Skolithos (= densily spaced burrows of Sabellarifex, see Meischner et al, 2020). This about 35 m thick "Sabellarifex sandstone" succession, where some flat channels may be present, represents the entire lower part of the formation and is overlain by massive sandstone bodies.…”

“…11). Additionally, there seems to be a remarkable similarity between the Early to Mid-Ordovician trace fossil assemblages and related depositional systems of the Levant and southwestern Europe and northern Africa (Meischner et al, 2019(Meischner et al, , 2020Elicki and Magnus, 2021;Elicki, unpublished). These areas may offer a further potential correlative tool within this palaeogeographic domain.…”

“…Here, the Lower Palaeozoic was reported from the early-mid 20 th century onward (e.g., Blanckenhorn, 1910;King, 1923;Richter and Richter, 1941;Picard, 1942;Quennel, 1951;Bender, 1968;Shinaq and Bandel, 1992;Amireh et al, 1994Amireh et al, , 2008Powell et al, 1994;Rushton and Powell, 1998;Elicki et al, 2002;Makhlouf, 2003;Schneider et al, 2007;Shinaq and Elicki, 2007;Elicki, 2011;Hofmann et al, 2012;Bandel and Salameh, 2013;Elicki and Geyer, 2013;Mángano et al, 2013; for further references see Elicki et al, 2020). More recent research and reports on the Ordovician from the area are in, e.g, Powell (1989), Makhlouf (1992), Amireh et al (2001), Turner et al (2005Turner et al ( , 2012, Douillet et al (2012), Masri et al (2014), Makhlouf et al (2017), Masri (2017), Meischner et al (2019Meischner et al ( , 2020, Elicki et al (2020), and from a number of reports of mapping campaigns led by the Jordanian Natural Resources Authority (NRA) and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) of Jordan.…”