Carbonate shelf environments and faunal communities in the Upper Bringewood Beds of the British Silurian
Abstract The Upper Bringewood Beds of the type Ludlow Series preserve a lateral suite of carbonate shelf facies. From west to east, the shelf edge is represented by three parallel belts of sediments: thin-bedded biocalcarenites (downslope deposits), biosparrudites (bank deposits), and thin-bedded biocalcarenites (overwash deposits). Further east, the inner shelf is represented by highly bioturbated calcisiltites, calcilutites, and mud-supported biocalcarenites. The shelf edge was a high-energy environment with high species diversity and dense populations of crinoids and the pentamerid brachiopod Kirkidium . Low-energy mud environments of the inner shelf contained a low-diversity community of tetracorals, ostracords, Bryozoa, and the brachiopod Atrypa . The composition and distribution of benthic communities across the shelf was determined by substrate, palaeogeographic relations, and the historical factor of previous communities in the area.