| NEW YORK |
| PALEONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY |
| FIELD TRIPS |
| PENNSYLVANIAN COAL FOREST FOSSILS |
| SAINT CLAIR AREA, PENNSYLVANIA |
| AND THE |
| MARINE DEVONIAN FOSSILS |
| DEER LAKE AREA |
| Saturday, April 28, 2001 |
The first will be to a marine Devonian site (Hamilton Gp., Mahantango Fm.). Fossils include brachiopods, gastropods (snails), cephalopods (nautilus-like creatures) and pelecypods, and trilobites.
The next site is the world famous site near St. Clair, a site that our Society has not visited previously. The fossils here are renowned for their beauty. Fossils representing the ancestors of almost all living plants are found in the Llewellyn Formation of Eastern Pennsylvania. The gray shales of this site produce some of the finest specimens of fossil plants from the Mid to Upper Pennsylvanian Period in the world, during which time this area was covered by coastal swamps periodically inundated by marine incursions. Many fossils are coated with pyrophyllite - a whitish mineral that makes the fossil stand out in contrast to the dark gray matrix - a phenomena basically found only in this quarry, making them so sought after.
The fossil flora consists of extinct water loving plants and trees, some of which grew to over a hundred feet in height. Included are leaflets and fronds of ferns, including the now extinct seed ferns, believed by most paleobotanists to be ancestral to all modern seed plants. Also found are the whorled leaves of sphenopsid plants - represented today by the scouring rushes - including the leaves and parts of the trunk of the giant Calamites. Also found are the bark and leaves of the tree-like Lepidodendron, and parts of one of the earliest conifers Cordaites. Preservation is usually excellent, and fine specimens are very common.
The Guest Field Trip Leader will be Donald Phillips.
A field guide written by Donald Phillips and edited by Erich Rose and will be provided for those attending.
TRANSPORTATION : This year we've decided to provide a bus for members without autos, and yet allow members with cars to also attend without paying for the bus. This is risky for the Society, since a less-than-full bus could hurt our treasury. We strongly encourage members to use the bus if at all possible. There is no attendance fee.
For more information, contact the Field Trip Leader.
Note: All attending must be members of the New York Paleontological Society