瓶筐石(Calathium)是早-中奥陶世期间常见的重要的造礁生物之一,与菌藻类、海绵以不等丰度相聚集共同组成位于浅海区的礁丘群落。早期阶段(特马道克期-弗洛期早期)以瓶筐石-海绵-菌藻类礁群落为主,其后因海绵丰度减弱而逐渐演替为瓶筐石-菌藻群落,达瑞威尔期以瓶筐石为群落主体的礁丘分布已趋于局限,中奥陶世晚期伴随着珊瑚-层孔虫造礁群落的崛起,瓶筐石礁丘骤然衰减。瓶筐石在礁丘建造过程中主要是障积生屑,因而有利于形成海底正向地貌隆起,所形成点礁的生长阶段和群落的更替过程易于识别。一般分为定殖期生屑滩型的礁基,至拓殖期和泛殖期的礁核部位则多为瓶筐石和/或海绵构成的障积岩和菌藻类形成的粘结岩,与礁间相和/或礁翼相界线多显现清晰边界。经过一定距离搬运的瓶筐石也可与其他生屑颗粒共同堆积成展布宽泛的生物滩。 Calathium is one of the most important reef-forming organisms in the Early-Middle Ordovician period. Together with the algae and sponges, unequal abundance, Calathium forms a reef community in the shallow sea. In the early stage (Tema Dodecock - early Florian period), the community was dominated by the basket-stone-sponge-algae reef community, and gradually became the basal basket-bacteria-algal community due to the reduced sponge abundance. The distribution of reef domes with bottle baskets as the mainstay of the community has tended to be limited. Late in the Ordovician period was accompanied by the rise of the reef-forming community of coral-stomatal organisms, and the shoal of the baskets of stone basins declined abruptly. Bottom basket stone in the reef mound construction process is mainly waste debris, which is conducive to the formation of seafloor positive terrain uplift, the formation of point reef growth stage and community replacement process is easy to identify. Generally divided into colonization bivalve beach reef base, colonization and colonization during reefs are mostly more than the bottle basket stone and / or sponge composed of boulders and bacteria algae formation of bond rock, and the reef Phases and / or reef wing boundaries show more clearly the boundaries. Bottle basket stones that have been transported at a distance can also be stacked with other swarf particles into a wide-spread biological beach.