Various stuff

[Ralph Chapman <MNHAD002@SIVM.SI.EDU>]

 Forgot to mention the dino issue of Natural History. A greatest
 hits compendium of pretty short discussions. Nice.

 Intro books on cladistics are scattered - at least those I know of
 worth reading for intro. I would suggest the MacClade Manual
 (Sinauer - Wayne P. and David R. Maddison, don;t know ISBN)
 Then there is Wiley, E.O., D. Siegel-Causey, D.R. Brooks and
 V.A. Funk (Ms. Funkadelic - here at NMNH). 1991. The Compleat
 Cladist: A Primer of Phylogenetic Procedures. U. Kansas Museum
 Natural History Special Publication #19. The Paup Manual also
 has some good intro stuff (Swofford & Begle, 1993) - put out by
 OH MY GOD - the Smithsonian Institution (Lab. Molecular Systematics)
 and Illinois Natural History Survey. Buena suerte.

 I have generally thought of Gondwanaland as a Paleozoic unit,
 especially the later Paleozoic (post Silurian) and Laurasia as
 a Mesozoic unit since Gondwanaland was more proactive about breaking
 up after the congregating of Pangaea. Another interesting tale of
 plate tectonics is the closing of the proto-Atlantic ocean Iapetus
 which had North American and Europe equivalents in it as well as a
 smaller unit called Avalonia. When it closed, everything sutured
 together. When it re-split, parts of Avalonia went both to NA and
 Europe, parts of old Europe stuck onto NA and parts of NA went to
 Europe. this explains the Cambrian trilobite distributions with the
 odd Paradoxides trilobite fauna showing up in various parts of eastern
 NA including Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Massachusettes, RI and even,
 I believe, down to the Carolinas. It explains why you also get classic
 NA Lower Cambrian trilos in Scotland (Olenellus zone stuff). In
 Newfoundland you can actually walk from NA Cambrian archaeocyathid
 reefs across the suture zone into Avalonia and collect a different
 suite of Cambrian trilos (it's a long hike, admittedly).

 No one Geology and Paleontology aren't fun.   Ralph Chapman, NMNH