Conodonts are marine organism ranging from Cambrian to Triassic periods, having a long wormlike body, numerous small teeth and a pair of eyes. It is now believed as the earliest vertebrate and now it is an extinct group of organism. First identified by the LATVIAN embryologist and palaeontologist Christian Pander in 1856. Conodonts are most frequently occuring fossil in marine Sedimentary Rocks. Size of Conodonts commonly in between 200 microns and 5 millimetres. The preserved color varying from translucent and colorless through light brown to black.

1. PRESENTED BY:
GROUP-D
SHYAMOL CHARAIMURIA
QUEEN CHETIA
KUKI MONJORI BORUAH
WAZBIR AHMED
MARINA CHORAI
ASSAM UNIVERSITY, SILCHAR
DEPARTMENT OF EARTH SCIENCE
MORPHOLOGY AND SIGNIFICANCE
OF CONODONT
GUIDED BY:
Dr. URBASHI SARKAR
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

2.  INTRODUCTION
 GENERAL MORPHOLOGY
 MORPHOTYPE OF CONODONT
SIMPLE CONE
BLADE TYPE
BAR TYPE
PLATFORM TYPE
 SIGNIFICANCE OF CONODONT
APPLICATION
 CONCLUSION
 REFFERENCE

3.  Conodonts are marine organism ranging
from Cambrian to Triassic periods,
having a long wormlike body, numerous
small teeth and a pair of eyes.
 It is now believed as the earliest
vertebrate and now it is an extinct group
of organism.
 First identified by the LATVIAN
embryologist and palaeontologist
Christian Pander in 1856.
 Conodonts are most frequently occuring
fossil in marine Sedimentary Rocks.
 Size of Conodonts commonly in between
200 microns and 5 millimetres.
 The preserved colour varying from
translucent and colourless through light
brown to black.

4.  Most recent the conodont bearing animal found preserved in fine grained
rock of NORTH AMERICA.
TAXONOMIC CLASSIFICATION
Kingdom – Animalia
Phylum – Chordata
Subphylum – Vertebrata
Class – Conodonta

5.  Conodont shape are commonly describe as SIMPLE CONES, BAR TYPE,
BLADE TYPES OR PLATE FORM type
 Conodont elements are composed of calcium carbonate fluor apatite
with additional organic matter.
 It is generally preserved as minute discrete, often denticulate having tooth-
like projection elements of 0.3mm to 3mm length.
 Its shape verying from CONIFORM to RAMIFORM to PECTINIFORM.
 It is an extinct group of jawless vertebrate.
 The spine of the
of the conodont
contain no bone.

6.  Morphologically conodont can be
classified into four types- Simple
cone, Blade type, Bar type and
Platform type.
Simple cone
 These are tooth shaped single denticle
only.
 Using their outer feature such as their
cross section, various units can be
recognized.
 The oldest conodonts are from
Lower-Cambrian rocks, which are
largely single cones. Thus they are
important index fossil from
Cambrian.
 For example- Hertzina, Furnishina. HERTZINA FURNISHINA

7. BLADE TYPE
Elongate, laterally
compressed units formed by a
row of denticles which are
fused except at their tip.
Basal cavity present as a
groove like feature.
Silurian-Triassic index fossil.
For example- Spathognathodus
(Ordovician-Permian).

8. BAR TYPE
Thin bars with or without a
bent shaft which is commonly
branched.
Denticles not fused along
their sides.
Main cusp stands out and
other denticles may develop
on either sides or on one side
of the main cusp.
Basal cavity present, deepest
below main cusp.
For example: Ozarkodina
(Silurian-Devonian)

9. PLATFORM TYPE
They have a wide range of
shapes.
Denticulate processes extending
both anteriorly, posteriorly
and/or laterally from the area of
the basal cavity.
Posterior base expanded into a
platform, while anterior base
remains narrow.
It is a Ordovician-Triassic index
fossil.
For example- Polygnathus,
Gnathodus.

10.  Conodonts can be used to help correlate areas of time
in the Paleozoic.
 Figure out the climatic changes in the past geologic
time.
 The great abundance helps with understanding the
evolutionary relationships.
 Conodonts had a complex evolutionary history.
 Understanding geochemical characteristics of
Paleozoic oceans.

11.  In spite of doubtful systematic, conodonts are
excellent index fossils due to distinctive morphology,
abundant occurrence, restricted stratigraphic range
of several taxa and wide occurrence.
 CONODONT ALTERATION
INDEX (CAI) is used to estimate
the maximum
temperature reached by a
SEDIMENTARY ROCK

12.  Conodonts are relatively common
in rocks of Paleozoic age, made
them extremely useful
stratigraphic tools.
 Conodonts are one of the primary
microfossils available to
paleontologists working on
Ordovician to permo-Triassic
strata.
 Conodonts helped geologists to
find oil and tel deep time.

13.  Conodonts are type of microfossil ,first aquatic vertebrate.
 Conodonts are extinct chordates, resembling eels, class
conodonta.
 Short lived but time markers in stratigraphy.
 First appearance in late Cambrian – early Ordovician.
 The name conodont was coined by c.h.pander(a Russian) in
1856.

14.  Benton,M.J (4th Edition): Vertebrate Palaeontology.
 Armstrong, H & Brasier, M (2nd Edition): Microfossils.
WEBSITES –
 https://www.google.com/conodont morphology
 https:// wikipedia.org/ wiki/ conodont
 http://www.academia.edu/conodont
 https://www.britannica.com/science/conodont

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