Newly recognized cyclomedusoid fossils in the Antelope Mountain Quartzite confirm that it is latest Neoproterozoic (Ediacaran) in age. Biogeographic affinities of the cyclomedusoid fossils suggest that the Yreka subterrane and its close associate, the Trinity subterrane, formed after the breakup of Rodinia in an ocean basin bordering Australia, northern Canada, Siberia, and Baltica. Reevaluating biogeographic, geological, and paleomagnetic evidence in the context of this starting point, the Yreka subterrane and Trinity subterrane may have been located at either 7°N or 7°S latitude ca. 580–570 Ma, but were not necessarily close to Laurentia. Continental detrital zircons (3.2–1.3 Ga) in the Antelope Mountain Quartzite most likely came from Australia or Siberia rather than Laurentia. The Yreka subterrane and Trinity subterrane record ∼180 m.y. of active margin events somewhere in Panthalassa (Proto-Pacific Ocean). Paleozoic biogeographic data, paleomagnetism, and regional relationships indicate that Yreka subterrane and Trinity subterrane were located throughout the early Paleozoic in the part of Panthalassa surrounded by Australia, NW Laurentia, Siberia, China, Baltica, and the Uralian terranes. By the mid-Devonian they were located at 31°N or 31°S in a somewhat isolated location, probably in a Northern Hemisphere oceanic plateau or island chain well outboard of other tectonic elements, and by the Permian they were almost completely isolated from other tectonic elements. The Yreka subterrane, as part of the Klamath superterrane, was not native to North America and did not accrete to it until the Early Cretaceous.

Silurian rocks in Alaska have been identified in 12 accreted terranes and in the Tatonduk-Nation River area of east-central Alaska, which represents part of autochthonous North America. Most of the terranes are in situ or structurally imbricated portions of the North American (or Siberian) continental margin. An exception is the Alexander terrane of southeastern Alaska, which originated as an offshore island arc. Discontinuously exposed and (or) highly altered sequences have precluded detailed investigations of Silurian rocks in most parts of Alaska, but reconnaissance-level studies reveal that graptolitic shales of turbidite or hemipelagic origin record deep-water or “shale out” conditions west or north of the ancient continental margin of North America. Platform carbonates are also exposed in many areas and are particularly well represented in southwestern (Nixon Fork subterrane of Farewell terrane) and southeastern (Alexander terrane) Alaska, indicating that much of Alaska resided close to the paleoequator in the Silurian. Subtidal stromatolite reefs in southwestern and southeastern Alaska that are similar to those in Salair and the Ural Mountains, Russia, indicate a paleobiogeographic connection between these two parts of Alaska, Siberia, and eastern Baltica via the Uralian Seaway in the Late Silurian. Deposition of vast accumulations of red beds and other siliciclastic rocks beginning in the Late Silurian suggests that parts of Alaska may have been affected by late stages in Cale-donian orogenesis and (or) early stages in the Ellesmere orogeny during formation of the Laurussian landmass.

Gastropods are described from Ludlow-age strata of the Heceta Limestone on Prince of Wales Island, southeast Alaska. They are part of a diverse megabenthic fauna of the Alexander terrane, an accreted terrane of Siberian or Uralian affinities. Heceta Limestone gastropods with Uralian affinities include Kirkospira glacialis , which closely resembles “ Pleurotomaria ” lindströmi Oehlert of Chernyshev, 1893 , Retispira cf. R. volgulica (Chernyshev, 1893), and Medfracaulus turriformis (Chernyshev, 1893). Medfracaulus and similar morphotypes such as Coelocaulus karlae are unknown from rocks that are unquestionably part of the North American continent (Laurentia) during Late Silurian time. Beraunia is previously known only from the Silurian of Bohemia. Pachystrophia has previously been reported only from western North American terranes (Eastern Klamath, York, and Farewell terranes) and Europe. Bathmopterus Kirk, 1928 , is resurrected and is only known from the Silurian of southeast Alaska. Newly described taxa include Hecetastoma gehrelsi n. gen. and n. sp. and Baichtalia tongassensis n. gen. and n. sp.

The Heceta Formation of southeastern Alaska (Alexander terrane) comprises a 3000-m-thick limestone-siliciclastic deposit of Early–Late Silurian age. The limestones record the first widespread evidence of carbonate platform development in this ancient island arc. Interbedded polymictic conglomerates represent interruption in platform evolution during onset of the Klakas orogeny, an arc-continent collisional event that occurred in the Late Silurian–Early Devonian. Conglomerates grade upward into finer-grained siliciclastics capped by shallow-marine limestones in sequences that are 200–300 m thick. Clasts range in diameter from 2 to 30 cm, are subangular to well rounded, poorly to moderately sorted, and densely packed in disorganized, poorly stratified beds. Most of the clasts are volcanic (basaltic-andesitic), but limestone clasts predominate in some sections; rare fragments of volcaniclastic, plutonic, and indeterminate rocks also occur. Clast compositions match the lithology of rocks in the underlying Heceta and Descon formations, and sedimentary attributes indicate redeposition of recycled material by debris flows and rivers in a coastal alluvial fan complex. This evidence—together with affinities of marine fossils, paleomagnetic and detrital zircon data, associated Old Red Sandstone-like facies, and coincidence in timing of tectonism—suggests the Klakas orogeny was a Caledonide event that is manifest in Alaska's Alexander terrane.

Three brachiopod faunas discussed herein record different depositional and tectonic settings along the southwestern margin of Laurentia (North America) during Devonian time. Depositional settings include inner continental shelf (Cerros de Los Murciélagos), medial continental shelf (Rancho Placeritos), and offshelf continental rise (Rancho Los Chinos). Ages of Devonian brachiopod faunas include middle Early (Pragian) at Rancho Placeritos in west-central Sonora, late Middle (Givetian) at Cerros de Los Murciélagos in northwestern Sonora, and late Late (Famennian) at Rancho Los Chinos in central Sonora. The brachiopods of these three faunas, as well as the gastropod Orecopia , are easily recognized in outcrop and thus are useful for local and regional correlations. Pragian brachiopods dominated by Acrospirifer and Meristella in the “San Miguel Formation” at Rancho Placeritos represent the widespread Appohimchi Subprovince of eastern and southern Laurentia. Conodonts of the early to middle Pragian sulcatus to kindlei Zones associated with the brachiopods confirm the ages indicated by the brachiopod fauna and provide additional information on the depositional setting of the Devonian strata. Biostratigraphic distribution of the Appohimchi brachiopod fauna indicates continuous Early Devonian shelf deposition along the entire southern margin of Laurentia. The largely emergent southwest-trending Transcontinental arch apparently formed a barrier preventing migration and mixing of many genera and species of brachiopods from the southern shelf of Laurentia in northern Mexico to the western shelf (Cordilleran miogeocline) in the western United States. Middle Devonian Stringocephalus brachiopods and Late Devonian Orecopia gastropods in the “Los Murciélagos Formation” in northwest Sonora represent the southwesternmost occurrence of these genera in North America and date the host rocks as Givetian and Frasnian, respectively. Rhynchonelloid brachiopods (Dzieduszyckia sonora) and associated worm tubes in the Los Pozos Formation of the Sonora allochthon in central Sonora are also found in strati-form-barite facies in the upper Upper Devonian (Famennian) part of the Slaven Chert in the Roberts Mountains allochthon (upper plate) of central and western Nevada. Although these brachiopods and worm tubes occur in similar depositional settings along the margin of Laurentia in Mexico, they occur in allochthons that exhibit different tectonic styles and times of emplacement. Thus, the allochthons containing the brachiopods and worm tubes in Sonora and Nevada are parts of separate orogenic belts and have different geographic settings and tectonic histories. Devonian facies belts and faunas in northern Mexico indicate a continuous continental shelf along the entire southern margin of Laurentia. These data, in addition to the continuity of the late Paleozoic Ouachita-Marathon-Sonora orogen across northern Mexico, contradict the early Late Jurassic Mojave-Sonora megashear as a viable hypothesis for large-magnitude offset (600–1100 km) of Proterozoic through Middle Jurassic rocks from California to Sonora.

There are several isolated outcrops (outliers?) of Devonian rocks in the Pacific Northwest (Washington and Oregon), USA. A locality in northeastern Washington, Limestone Hill, is considered in detail, and other small outcrops in northwest Washington and central Oregon are discussed. Limestone Hill is a Paleozoic outlier. The locality has Ordovician and Silurian (Llandovery and Wenlock) strata, Lower Devonian (Lochstone conglomerate, and Upper Devonian (Frasnian) carbonates with fossils. It has long been known that the area has many allochthons, and it has been assumed that Limestone Hill represents lithologies deposited much farther west. More recent data suggest that Limestone Hill is parautochthonous. Several brachiopod taxa, previously unknown from the Frasnian portion of Limestone Hill, have been found recently and are described herein. The brachiopod faunule consists of Emanuella sp., “ Allanella ” engelmanni , Cyrtina sp., Thomasaria sp., and an athyridid. These brachiopods appear to be like coeval faunas in Idaho, Montana, Utah, and Nevada, although more species assignments must be made. Frasnian brachiopods are in serious need of updates, as Famennian miospore and acritarch data suggest significant basin restriction and reduced seaway connectivity, with at least ephemerally extensive land areas with ubiquitous land plant taxa.

The vast majority of Emsian gastropods from Limestone Mountain, Medfra B-4 quadrangle, west-central Alaska (Farewell terrane) belong to species with lecithotrophic larval strategy. The present data show that there is no significant difference in the paleobiogeographic distribution of Emsian gastropod genera with lecithotrophic and planktotrophic larval strategies. Numerical analysis of the faunal affinities of the Emsian gastropod fauna from the Farewell terrane reveals that this terrane has much stronger faunal connections to regions like Variscan Europe, eastern Australia, and the Alexander terrane of southeast Alaska than to cratonic North America (Laurentia). The Canadian Arctic Islands is the only region of cratonic North America (Laurentia) that shows significant faunal affinities to the Emsian gastropod faunas of the Farewell terrane. The analysis also indicates a close faunal link between the Farewell and Alexander terranes. Published paleontological and geological data suggest that the Farewell and Alexander terranes represents tectonic entities that have been rifted away from the Siberia, Baltica, or the paleo-Pacific margin of Australia. The results of the present numerical analysis are not in conflict with any of these possibilities. However, the principle of spatial continuity of the wandering path prefers Siberia as the most probable “parental” paleocontinent for the derivation of both the Farewell and Alexander terranes.

U-Pb isotopic dating of detrital zircons from a conglomeratic barite sandstone in the Sonora allochthon and a calciclastic sandstone in the Mina México foredeep of the Minas de Barita area reveals two main age groups in the Upper Devonian part of the Los Pozos Formation, 1.73–1.65 Ga and 1.44–1.42 Ga; and three main age groups in the Lower Permian part of the Mina México Formation, 1.93–1.91 Ga, 1.45–1.42 Ga, and 1.1–1.0 Ga. Small numbers of zircons with ages of 2.72–2.65 Ga, 1.30–1.24 Ga, ca. 2.46 Ga, ca. 1.83 Ga, and ca. 0.53 Ga are also present in the Los Pozos sandstone. Detrital zircons ranging in age from 1.73 to 1.65 Ga are considered to have been derived from the Yavapai, Mojave, and Mazatzal Provinces and their transition zones of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The 1.45–1.30 Ga detrital zircons were probably derived from scattered granite bodies within the Mojave and Mazatzal basement rocks in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, and possibly from the Southern and Eastern Granite-Rhyolite Provinces of the southern United States. The 1.24–1.0 Ga detrital zircons are believed to have been derived from the Grenville (Llano) Province to the east and northeast or from Grenville-age intrusions or anatectites to the north. Several detrital zircon ages ranging from 2.72 to 1.91 Ga were probably derived originally from the Archean Wyoming Province and Early Paleoproterozoic rocks of the Lake Superior region. These older detrital zircons most likely have been recycled one or more times into the Paleozoic sandstones of central Sonora. The 0.53 Ga zircon is believed to have been derived from a Lower Cambrian granitoid or metamorphic rock northeast of central Sonora, possibly in New Mexico and Colorado, or Oklahoma. Detrital zircon geochronology suggests that most of the detritus in both samples was derived from Laurentia to the north, whereas some detritus in the Permian synorogenic foredeep sequence was derived from the evolving accretionary wedge to the south. Compositional and sedimentological differences between the continental-rise Los Pozos conglomeratic barite sandstone and the foredeep Mina México calciclastic sandstone imply different depositional and tectonic settings.

New collections of floral and faunal remains were recovered from late Paleozoic sediments of the Mount Dall conglomerate in the Alaska Range of south-central Alaska. This isolated unit's type section is ∼1500 m thick and comprises thick to very thick conglomerate beds with interbedded sandstones and siltstones in a series of fining-upward intervals each tens of meters thick. The unit is interpreted to be a coastal braidplain deposit of Early Permian age in the upper Farewell terrane (Mystic subterrane sequence). Genus-level taxonomic composition of paleobotanical collections from lenticular mudstones to siltstones is discussed with regard to taphonomy and the interpreted lowland paleoenvironment of deposition. Poorly to moderately preserved megafossil compressions and impressions of the foliage genera Pecopteris , Zamiopteris , Rufloria , Angaropteridium , Cyclopteris , and Cordaites are consistent through several hundred meters of section and suggest a locally dense floral community. Horizons with sideritic rhizoliths indicate the presence of immature soils. The co-occurrence of these foliar and reproductive organs in the Mount Dall conglomerate suggests a mixed phytogeographic affinity to both the temperate Angaran Floristic Province of northern Pangea and the Euramerican Province of lower paleolatitudes. The brachiopod genera ? Stenoscisma and ? Schuchertella also were recovered and indicate a coastal depositional setting. These new biogeographic data complement exclusively marine zoogeographic data from the Farewell terrane's older strata and may be used to test hypotheses regarding the paleogeography of this displaced continental fragment. The paleofloral data support the placement of this terrane within a midlatitude climate belt during the Early Permian.

Study of Late Triassic biofacies and associated paleoecology reveals new silicified shallow-water corals and other fossils from new and previously known localities within the Alexander terrane (Keku Strait and Gravina Island, southeast Alaska) and Wrangellia (Wrangell Mountains, Alaska, and Vancouver Island, British Columbia). Twenty-five species of coral are identified from eight localities within the Alexander terrane and 34 species are identified from four localities in Wrangellia. Distributions of silicified shallow-water marine fossils contribute to Late Triassic (Norian–Rhaetian) paleoecology, biotic diversity, and terrane paleogeography. Depositional environments establish the conditions in which these organisms lived as well as provide evidence for lithological correlation between tectonically separate fragments. This study also confirms the presence of biostrome reef buildups in the southern Alexander terrane (Gravina Island), indicating warm, clear, and nutrient-free water with lots of sunlight; this differs from the central Alexander terrane (Keku Strait) and northern Wrangellia (Wrangell Mountains), where corals grow as individual colonies, not in a structured, reef-like buildup, and are accompanied by filter- and detritus-feeding organisms indicating warm, cloudy and nutrient-rich water in a back-reef environment. Paleobiogeographic results from silicified Upper Triassic corals show faunal similarity between Gravina Island and Keku Strait (Alexander terrane) and no similarity between northern and southern Wrangellia. Likewise, no similarity was found between the Alexander terrane and either northern or southern Wrangellia.

Upper Triassic rocks in the Keku Strait area of southeast Alaska record a variety of facies in an intra-arc setting. The Hyd Group consists of the Burnt Island Conglomerate, Keku sedimentary strata, Cornwallis Limestone, Hamilton Island Limestone, and the Hound Island Volcanics. The Burnt Island Conglomerate represents initial infill of the basin and underlies the Hamilton Island Limestone, which is coeval with the Cornwallis Limestone and Keku sedimentary strata. Volcanic and sedimentary rocks of the Hound Island Volcanics overlie the entire area. An improved biostratigraphic framework indicates deposition from early Carnian through late Norian time. Conodonts originating in the late Carnian include Metapolygnathus polygnathiformis , Metapolygnathus carpathicus , Metapolygnathus nodosus , Metapolygnathus sp. cf. M. reversus , Metapolygnathus sp. aff. M. zoae , Metapolygnathus sp. aff. M. nodosus , and Metapolygnathus primitius . Early Norian conodonts include Epigondolella quadrata , Epigondolella triangularis , Epigondolella sp. aff. E. triangularis , and the longer-ranging Neogondolella sp. and Misikella longidentata . Middle Norian conodonts include Epigondolella spiculata , Epigondolella transitia , Epigondolella matthewi , Epigondolella postera , and Neogondolella steinbergensis . Late Norian conodonts include Epigondolella bidentata , Epigondolella englandi , Epigondolella sp. aff. E. mosheri , and Epigondolella tozeri . This study resulted in three major accomplishments. Reworked Paleozoic conodonts in Upper Triassic rocks, combined with geologic evidence, suggest major preLate Triassic uplift due to compressional tectonics. Late Carnian and early Norian ages support the correlation between the Keku sedimentary strata, shallow-marine limestone of the Cornwallis Limestone, and deeper-water limestone of the Hamilton Island Limestone. Precise conodont biostratigraphy establishes the base of the Hound Island Volcanics as late early Norian, within the Epigondolella triangularis Zone.

The Upper Triassic (Carnian–Norian) Martin Bridge Formation of northeastern Oregon, southeastern Washington, and western Idaho is characterized by rapidly shifting depositional processes within a tropical volcanic island arc setting. Martin Bridge sequences in the Hells Canyon and northern Wallowa Mountains document shallow-water peritidal evaporitic sediments that are succeeded by deeper and predominantly subtidal deposits. This indicates drowning of the carbonate platform and a transition to deeper-water turbiditic sedimentation before a late Triassic transition into the overlying mid-Norian to Jurassic Hurwal Formation. At the type locality in the southern Wallowa Mountains, dysaerobic shales, carbonate debris sheets, and turbiditic sediments indicate distal slope and basinal environments while other facies at other sites in the Wallowa Mountains and Hells Canyon areas indicate reef and shallow-water platform settings. In this paper we formally recognize the name Martin Bridge Formation and reinstate the type locality in the southern Wallowa Mountains as the principal unit strato-type. An additional reference section is given at Hurricane Creek in the northern Wallowa Mountains. The Martin Bridge is formally divided into four members: the Eagle Creek and Summit Point Members are introduced and formally proposed herein and the BC Creek and Scotch Creek Members also are elevated to formal status. A partial reconstruction of the Wallowa terrane during deposition of the Martin Bridge Formation suggests a north-south (or northeast-southwest) trending platform margin facing a forearc basin situated to the east (or southeast). The lithofacies and paleontological characteristics of the Martin Bridge can be put into the framework of a depositional and a tectonic model to help better explain many of the stratigraphic and paleontologic problems previously encountered. We believe that the Wallowa terrane provides one of the best and most complete examples yet known for shallow-water carbonate depositional patterns in an oceanic island arc setting.