The Paleontology of North America

The Devonian in New York, US

 map

undifferentiated rock units

See exposures in this state from the:

Quaternary
Tertiary
Cretaceous
Jurassic
Triassic
Permian
Carboniferous
Devonian
Silurian
Ordovician
Cambrian
Precambrian

Devonian Fossils
Fossil photos from Devonian in New York

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Paleontology and geology

During the Devonian, North America collided with Western Europe forming the Acadian Mountains in eastern New York. This collision buckled the crust downward, deepening part of the inland sea that covered New York. The Acadian Mountains eroded rapidly, providing huge amounts of sediment, which formed a large delta—the Catskill Delta. The coarsest sediments were deposited close to the mountains and finer-grained sediments spread westward into the inland sea. At times, when the amount of sediment being deposited from the highlands decreased, limestone and dolostone were formed. Marine sediments contain fossils of trilobites, corals, and bryozoans. This map indicates a broad exposure of Devonian rocks across southern New York.

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