SOME ODD THINGS FOUND IN RED ROCKS: SHERMAN CREEK MEMBER

In Newport, Pennsylvania, the Sherman Creek Member of the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian), can be described as a siliciclastic succession composed largely of fine-grained reddish-gray to dark reddish-gray terrestrial and fluvial deposits. It contains three dominant facies: (I) multistoried medium-grained channel sandstones, (II) interbedded sandstone and mudstone overbank deposits, and (III) fine-grained mudcracked to platy silty-shale. Plant traces occur throughout the exposure and can be regarded as transported remains situated on bedding planes or in situ complex root traces that cross cut sedimentary structures such as cross strata and laminations. The plant traces tend to be clay lined in the red, oxidized deposits, and carbonized in reduced deposits. Rock samples treated for spore analysis and prepared for examination using plane light microscopy yield things one does not expect to see in what could be regarded as highly oxidized red rocks. Preliminary examination of acid treated residues from each of the dominant facies yield spheroidal grains that resemble trilete spores, some possible disarticulated insect parts, and what appears to be fragmented sporangia casings. Palynological examination of red rock samples (from the Sherman Creek Member of the Catskill Formation) which contain plant traces was originally initiated to see if spores or other microscopic features, lucky enough to have survived oxidation, could be used to identify the larger plant and root trace fossils. Though we hesitate to absolutely identify and label the organic objects we have found in these oxidized deposits, it is suggested here that red, oxidized rocks, especially those that may have experienced alternating redox conditions during formation, may contain helpful environmental indicators.