Palaeobiogeographic affinities of the reef faunas from the earliest Pragian in the Cantabrian Zone (NW Spain)

Abstract

Devonian reef faunas in the Cantabrian Zone are well known through several works done by the Research Group on Devonian Reefs from Oviedo University. This Group has established up to seven Devonian reef episodes of different magnitude and some of them were widely studied (Méndez-Bedia et al., 1994, Fernández et al., 1997, among others). The first episode was developed during the earliest Pragian and is recorded in some thin-bedded biostromal limestones with a rich fauna of corals and stromatoporoids. This interval has been studied within the context of the project CGL2005-03715/BTE and the results are currently in press. The aim of this work is to display the palaeobiogeographical affinities shown by the corals and stromatoporoids occurring in this first reef episode.