Catskill Formation

The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic Wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to 10,000 feet (3,000 m)). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Formation of Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The Catskill is the largest bedrock unit of the Upper Devonian in northeast Pennsylvania and the Catskill region of New York, from which its name is derived. The Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania are largely underlain by this unit as well. The rocks of the Catskill are a clastic wedge of predominantly red sandstone, indicating a large-scale terrestrial deposition during the Acadian orogeny. Many beds are cyclical in nature, preserving the record of a dynamic environment during its approximately 20 million years of deposition.

The Catskill Formation preserves a highly diverse paleobiota, including many early sarcopterygians (especially tetrapodomorphs), providing important evidence about the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates. The formation also provides important fossils about the evolution of land plants.^[2]

Geology

Depositional environment

During the Devonian period, the Catskill Delta was formed by a series of river deltas and otherwise marshy terrain. This terrain was sandwiched between the epicontinental Kaskaskia Sea in central North America and the now-vanished Acadian Mountains. Erosion brought sediment from the mountain westwards into the sea, forming the deltas.

Eventually, the Delta formation was buried and transformed into sandstone, which was then revealed in places when the Catskill and Appalachian Mountains were formed at a later date. This transformation and uncovering is the primary reason why the Catskill Delta is notable in the present. Western Pennsylvania's petroleum was formed as a consequence. This was the first major oil region to be developed.

The Catskill was once considered to be related to the Old Red Sandstone, but in actuality, the two are only coincidentally similar. Both formed at approximately the same time, and under similar conditions: to the north of the Acadian Mountains were the Caledonian Mountains, and a similar region of marsh and river delta formed there.

Glacial erosion

Though both mountain ranges were formed during the Acadian orogeny, the Catskill Mountains, unlike the Appalachian Mountains underwent glacial erosion.^[3] Much of what formed the Catskills as they stand today is a result of the Wisconsin glaciation which ended only about 12,000 years ago.^[4]

There are many signs of the Glacial period event which carved the current day Catskill Mountains.

These markers include:

• Glacial Erratics such as the Devils Tombstone^[4]
• Striations
• "Dance Floors" such as Pratt Rock^[4]
• Terminal moraines

Members

Eastern Pennsylvania

Towamensing, Walcksville, Beaverdam Run, Long Run, Packerton, Poplar Gap, Sawmill Run, Berry Run, Clarks Ferry, and Duncannon.

Central Pennsylvania

Irish Valley, Sherman Creek, Buddys Run, Clarks Ferry, and Duncannon.

Paleobiota

Plants

Invertebrates

Placoderms

Acanthodians

Chondrichthyans

Actinopterygians

Sarcopterygians

References

1. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/publication/288606271_Dating_the_earliest_tetrapods_A_catskill_palynological_problem_in_Pennsylvania
2. ^ Broussard, David R.; Trop, Jeffrey M.; Benowitz, Jeff A.; Daeschler, Edward B.; Chamberlain, John A.; Chamberlain, Rebecca B. (2018-12-15). "Depositional setting, taphonomy and geochronology of new fossil sites in the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian) of north-central Pennsylvania, USA, including a new early tetrapod fossil". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 511: 168–187. Bibcode:2018PPP...511..168B. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.07.033. ISSN 0031-0182
3. ^ Rich, John Lyon (1906). "Local Glaciation in the Catskill Mountains". The Journal of Geology. 14 (2): 113–121. Bibcode:1906JG.....14..113R. doi:10.1086/621285. JSTOR 30055593. S2CID 129029014
4. ^ Titus, Robert (1996). The Catskills in the Ice Age. Flieschmanns, New York: Purple Mountain Press. pp. 14–29. ISBN 978-0-935796-77-3.
5. ^ Shear, William A. (2000). "GIGANTOCHARINUS SZATMARYI, A NEW TRIGONOTARBID ARACHNID FROM THE LATE DEVONIAN OF NORTH AMERICA (CHELICERATA, ARACHNIDA, TRIGONOTARBIDA)". Journal of Paleontology. 74: 25–31. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0025:GSANTA>2.0.CO;2
6. ^ Wilson, Heather M.; Daeschler, Edward B.; Desbiens, Sylvain (2005). "New Flat-Backed Archipolypodan Millipedes from the Upper Devonian of North America". Journal of Paleontology. 79 (4): 738–744. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[0738:NFAMFT2.0.CO;2]
7. ^ Plotnick, Roy E. & Lamsdell, James C. (2023). "Eurypterids from the Price Formation of Virginia: First Eurypterids from the Mississippian of North America". Journal of Paleontology. 97 (1): 167-171. doi:10.1017/jpa.2022.84
8. ^ Downs, Jason P.; Criswell, Katharine E.; Daeschler, Edward B. (2011). "Mass Mortality of Juvenile Antiarchs ( Bothriolepis sp.) from the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian, Famennian Stage), Tioga County, Pennsylvania". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 161 (1): 191–203. Bibcode:2011PANSP.161..191D. doi:10.1635/053.161.0111. ISSN 0097-3157
9. ^ Daeschler, Edward B. & Cressler, Walter L., III (2011-01-01), "Late Devonian paleontology and paleoenvironments at Red Hill and other fossil sites in the Catskill Formation of north-central Pennsylvania", From the Shield to the Sea: Geological Field Trips from the 2011 Joint Meeting of the GSA Northeastern and North-Central Sections. Vol. 20, Ruffolo, Richard M. (ed.), Geological Society of America, p. 0, doi:10.1130/2011.0020(01). ISBN 978-0-8137-0020-5, retrieved 2025-04-15
10. ^ Long, John A. & Daeschler, Edward B. (2013). "First Articulated Phyllolepid Placoderm from North America, with Comments on Phyllolepid Systematics". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 162 (1): 33–46. Bibcode:2013PANSP.162...33L. doi:10.1635/053.162.0103. ISSN 0097-3157
11. ^ Daeschler, Edward B. (2000). "An Early Actinopterygian Fish from the Catskill Formation (Late Devonian, Famennian) in Pennsylvania, U.S.A.". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 150: 181–192. ISSN 0097-3157. JSTOR 4065069
12. ^ Friedman, Matt & Daeschler, Edward B. (2006). "Late Devonian (famennian) Lungfishes from the Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, Usa". Palaeontology. 49 (6): 1167–1183. Bibcode:2006Palgy..49.1167F. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00594.x. ISSN 1475-4983
13. ^ Daeschler, E.B. (2000). "Early tetrapod jaws from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, USA". Journal of Paleontology. 74 (2): 301–308. Bibcode:2000JPal...74..301D. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0301:etjftl>2.0.co;2. S2CID 131194763
14. ^ Downs, Jason P.; Barbosa, Jeremy; Daeschler, Edward B. (2021-05-04). "A new species of Eusthenodon (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a review of Eusthenodon taxonomy". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 41 (3). Bibcode:2021JVPal..41E6197D. doi:10.1080/02724634.2021.1976197. ISSN 0272-4634
15. ^ Downs, Jason P.; Osatchuck, Madison M.; Goodchild, Owen A.; Daeschler, Edward B. (2022-11-25). "Second species of Eusthenodon (Tristichopteridae, Sarcopterygii) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a review of global Eusthenodon occurrence". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 42 (5). Bibcode:2022JVPal..42E1627D. doi:10.1080/02724634.2023.2201627. ISSN 0272-4634
16. ^ Daeschler, Edward B.; Shubin, Neil H.; Thomson, Keith S.; Amaral, William W. (29 July 1994). "A Devonian Tetrapod from North America". Science. 265 (5172): 639–642. Bibcode:1994Sci...265..639D. doi:10.1126/science.265.5172.639. PMID 17752761. S2CID 2835592
17. ^ Daeschler, Edward B.; Downs, Jason P.; Matzko, Chelsea (2019-05-09). "New material supports a description and taxonomic revision of Holoptychius ? radiatus (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, USA". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 167 (1): 11. Bibcode:2019PANSP.167...11D. doi:10.1635/053.167.0102. ISSN 0097-3157
18. ^ Downs, Jason P. & Daeschler, Edward B. (2022-04-22). "Second species of Langlieria (Tristichopteridae, Sarcopterygii) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a new phylogenetic consideration of Tristichopteridae". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 167 (1): 115. Bibcode:2022PANSP.167.0115D. doi:10.1635/053.167.0115. ISSN 0097-3157
19. ^ Downs, Jason P. & and Daeschler, Edward B. (2020-03-03). "A New Species of Megalichthys (Sarcopterygii, Megalichthyidae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a Report on the Cosmine-Covered Osteolepiform Fossils of the Catskill Formation". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 40 (2). Bibcode:2020JVPal..40E4771D. doi:10.1080/02724634.2020.1774771. ISSN 0272-4634
20. ^ T.A. Stewart,J.B. Lemberg,N.K. Taft,I. Yoo,E.B. Daeschler,& N.H. Shubin, Fin ray patterns at the fin-to-limb transition, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117 (3) 1612-1620,(2020). Marcus C. Davis, Shubin, N., & Daeschler, E. B. (2004). A New Specimen of Sauripterus taylori (Sarcopterygii, Osteichthyes) from the Famennian Catskill Formation of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(1), 26–40.

External links

• Depositional environments in the Catskill Clastic Wedge Archived 2007-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
• Devonian Times Archived 2010-02-11 at the Wayback Machine Website summarize about Red Hill Shale in Catskill Formation