Late Ordovician and Early Silurian stromatoporoid sponges from Anticosti Island, eastern Canada Crossing the O/S mass extinction

Stromatoporoid sponges, once dominant in Late Ordovician and Early Silurian shallow tropical seas, thrived in the Anticosti Basin (Gulf of St. Lawrence), forming extensive calcium carbonate skeletons—some over a meter wide—in reefs and deeper shelf environments near the photic zone's edge. This study highlights their fossil record across a critical global mass extinction boundary, revealing both the taxa that perished during this transition and the subsequent repopulation of equatorial seas. By analyzing the basin's exceptionally well-preserved carbonate sequence, researchers reconstructed ecological shifts, providing insights into resilience and recovery in marine ecosystems following major extinction events.

Nestor, H., Copper, P., & Stock, C. (2010). Late Ordovician and Early Silurian stromatoporoid sponges from Anticosti Island, eastern CanadaCrossing the O/S mass extinction https://doi.org/10.1139/9780660199306