The Paleontology of North America

The Devonian in Alabama, 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

No slide show is available for the Devonian in Alabama.

Paleontology and geology

The Devonian is not well represented in Alabama rocks, as at least some of the state was above sea level and subject to erosion. However, a stretch of Devonian rocks called the Frog Mountain Sandstone occurs in eastern Alabama. Formed nearshore in a marine environment, these rocks are reported to contain the first fragmentary traces of land plants in Alabama. Dark-colored marine rocks in northern Alabama (known as the Chattanooga Shale) show that the sea covering most of the state in the Late Devonian contained large areas of deeper, oxygen-poor water. Few organisms could tolerate these conditions. Fossils from these rocks are limited primarily to plant fragments and the remains of animals that swam above the deep, oxygen-starved waters.

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