The Windom shale or Windom member is a
member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
* Element (mathematics), an object that belongs to a mathematical set
* In object-oriented programming, a member of a class
** Field (computer science), entries in ...
of the
Moscow formation
The Moscow Formation is a geologic formation in New York. It preserves fossils dating back to the Givetian stage. It represents around 1.5–2 million years of constant deposition.
See also
* List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Yo ...
in New York. It preserves fossils going back to the Givetian stage of the middle Devonian. The Windom shale is widely known for its high quality
trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...
fossils.
History
Early Study
![Phacops rana](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c7/Phacops_rana.jpg)
One of the first people who may have described the scientific importance of the Windom was
Jacob Green
Jacob Carl Green (born January 21, 1957) is a former American football defensive end. He played college football for Texas A&M.
Green was an All-American selection in 1979 after compiling 134 tackles and was a then school-record 20 quarterb ...
. In his book ''A monograph of the trilobites of North America: with coloured models of the species'', he mentions an abundance of “''
Calymene bufo''” in similar conditions to that of the Windom. Later on in 1935, David M. Delo’s “Revision of the Phacopid trilobites” would name the genus ''
Greenops
''Greenops'' is a mid-sized Devonian trilobite of the order Phacopida, subfamily Asteropyginae.
They are mainly reported from the mid-Devonian Hamilton Group of upstate New York and southwestern Ontario. A similar-looking trilobite from Morocco i ...
'' in honor of Jacob Green’s work.
In 1840, the geologist
Lardner Vanuxem first described the “
Hamilton Formation” in
Hamilton Hamilton may refer to:
People
* Hamilton (name), a common British surname and occasional given name, usually of Scottish origin, including a list of persons with the surname
** The Duke of Hamilton, the premier peer of Scotland
** Lord Hamilt ...
, New York. The American paleontologist
James Hall, would be very influential in early scientific examination of the Hamilton group. American geologist and malacologist,
Timothy Abbott Conrad
Timothy Abbott Conrad (June 21, 1803 in Trenton, New Jersey – August 9, 1877 in Trenton) was an American geologist and malacologist.
Biography
He was from early life an investigator of American paleontology and natural history, devoting hims ...
would describe many species found in the shale today. The work of Hall, Vanuxem, Conrad and other geologists of the time would give the foundation of the study of the geologic context behind the Windom.
The Windom shale was first named by the American geologist
Amadeus William Grabau in 1917. Paleobiologist
Gustav Arthur Cooper
Gustav Arthur Cooper (February 9, 1902 – October 17, 2000)''Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014''. Social Security Administration. was an American paleobiologist.
Cooper was born in College Point, Queens, and attended Colgate University. H ...
’s 1929 dissertation, “The Stratigraphy of the Hamilton Group of New York” was another very influential work to the study of the Windom shale.
Penn Dixie Fossil Park and Nature Preserve
![Penn Dixie](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Penn_Dixie.jpg)
A major site for the Windom shale would be the “Bay View Quarry” (Known more commonly today as the Penn Dixie site), opened sometime in the 1930s by the Bessemer Cement and limestone company. They would operate the quarry due to the Windom shale’s use as an ingredient in cement. Ownership of the quarry would be transferred to the Federal Portland Cement company sometime in the 1940s. In the late 1950s the Pennsylvania-Dixie cement company acquired the quarry.
During the 1970s the Bay View Quarry would go abandoned. Over the 30 years the quarry was abandoned, it built a reputation among educators for its well preserved fossils. When the
Town of Hamburg purchased the abandoned quarry with the intention of turning it into a waste dump, lobbying efforts stepped in. The lobbying efforts merged to become the Hamburg
Natural History Society, Inc., and successfully purchased the site in 1993 for its preservation. The site is today open to the public as the Penn Dixie fossil park and nature preserve.
Geologic Context
The Windom shale was deposited in the
Givetian
The Givetian is one of two faunal stages in the Middle Devonian Period. It lasted from million years ago to million years ago. It was preceded by the Eifelian Stage and followed by the Frasnian
The Frasnian is one of two faunal stages in the ...
stage of the Middle Devonian. The depositional environmental is from a shallow marine reef in the aerobic zone, although one of the beds suggests deposition in a dysaerobic zone. The bed known for being in a dysaerobic zone being the pyrite beds, where fossils are very often pyritized.
The erosion of the ancient
Acadian mountains to the east was a large factor behind the deposition of the Windom. Streams and
Rivers would bring clay and mud from inland into the sea. Some of the earliest
swamps lined the coast, situated on floodplains. This depositional environment was known as the
Catskill delta.
Carbonized wood, although rare, is known from the Windom. These fossils represent some of the first swamps of the Devonian.
Stratigraphy
The Windom shale is mostly composed of shale, with some thin bands of limestone. The lowest and earliest layer of the Windom is the Bayview coral bed. This layer is known for abundant
Rugose coral
The rugosa, also called the tetracorallia or horn coral, are an extinct order of solitary and colonial corals that were abundant in Middle Ordovician to Late Permian seas.
Solitary rugosans (e.g., '' Caninia'', '' Lophophyllidium'', '' Neoza ...
fossils. This is followed by the Smoke Creek
Trilobite
Trilobites (; meaning "three lobes") are extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. Trilobites form one of the earliest-known groups of arthropods. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the ...
Bed. These beds are known for their abundant trilobites. Within the Upper Windom, there is a darker layer with pyritized fossils known as the Pyrite Beds.
List of Species in the Windom Shale
Brachiopoda
• ''Ambocoelia umbonata'' (Conrad, 1842)
• ''Athyris spiriferoides'' (Eaton, 1831)
• ''Atrypa reticularis'' (Linnaeus, 1758)
• ''Emanuella praeumbonata'' (Hall, 1857)
• ''Longispina mucronatus'' (Hall, 1843)
• ''Mediospiriter audaculus'' (Conrad, 1842)
• ''Megastrophia concava'' (Hall, 1857)
• ''Mucrospirifer consobrinus'' (D’Obrigny 1850)
• ''Mucrospirifer mucronatus'' (Conrad, 1841)
• ''Protoleptostrophia perplana'' (Conrad, 1842)
• ''Pseudoatrypa devoniana'' (Webster, 1921)
• ''Rhipidomella penelope'' (Hall, 1861)
• ''Rhipidomella vanuxemi'' (Hall, 1857)
• ''Spinatrypa spinosa'' (Hall, 1843)
• ''Spinocyrtia granulosa'' (Conrad, 1839)
• ''Tropidoleptus carinatus'' (Conrad, 1839)
Bryozoa
• ''Atactotoechus furcatus''
• ''Fenestella emaciata''
• ''Leptotrypella'' ssp.
Cnidaria
• ''Amplexiphyllum hamiltoniae'' (Hall, 1876)
• ''Aulocystis dichotoma'' (Grabau, 1899)
• ''Aulocystis jacksoni'' (Grabau, 1899)
• ''Cystiphylloides americanum'' (Edwards & Haime, 1851
• ''Cystiphylloides conifollis'' (Hall, 1876)
• ''Favosites hamiltoniae'' (Hall, 1876)
• ''Hadrophyllum woodi'' (Grabau, 1899)
• ''Heliophyllum halli'' (Edwards & Hame, 1850)
• ''Pleurodictyum americanum'' (Roemer, 1876)
• ''Stereolasma rectum'' (Hall, 1876)
• ''Streptalasma ungula'' (Hall, 1876)
Echinodermata
• ''Ancyrocrinus bulbous'' (Hall, 1862)
• ''Deltacrinus clarus'' (Hall, 1862)
• ''Dolatocrinus liratus'' (Hall, 1862)
Mollusca
Bivalvia
• ''Nuculoidea corbuliformis'' (Hall & Whitfield, 1869)
• ''Nuculites triqueter'' (Conrad, 1841)
• ''Paleoneilo filosa'' (Conrad, 1842)
• ''Palaeoneilo'' sp.
• ''Pterinopecten'' sp.
Cephalopoda
• ''Michelenoceras'' ssp.
• ''Syproceras nuntium'' (Hall, 1861)
• ''Tornoceras uniangulare'' (Conrad, 1842)
Gastropoda
• ''Mourlonia itys'' (Hall, 1843)
• ''Naticonema lineata'' (Conrad, 1842)
• ''Platyceras thetis'' (Hall, 1861)
Trilobita
• ''Bellacartwrightia whiteleyi'' (Lieberman & Kloc, 1997)
• ''Dipleura dekayi'' (Green, 1832)
• ''Eldredgeops rana'' (Green, 1832)
• ''Greenops'' sp. (Delo, 1935)
• ''Pseudodechenella rowi'' (Green, 1838)
References
*
* {{cite web, title= BIOSTRATIGRAPHY AND PALEOECOLOGY OF THE WINDOM SHALE MEMBER (MOSCOW FORMATION) IN ERIE COUNTY , NY., author=Carlton E. Brett , url=https://ottohmuller.com/nysga2ge/Files/1974/NYSGA%201974%20G-%20Biostratigraphy%20and%20Paleoecology%20of%20the%20Windom%20Shale%20Member%20(Moscow%20Fm)%20in%20Erie%20County,%20NY.pdf
Devonian geology of New York (state)
Devonian southern paleotemperate deposits