RUSOPHYCUS IN THE HERKIMER FORMATION BUILDING MATERIALS ON THE HAMILTON COLLEGE CAMPUS

Trilobites, a type of extinct arthropod, were marine organisms that lived during the Paleozoic Era. These organisms left a multitude of fossils, including preserved records of their behavior, called trace fossils. Trace fossils are structures formed by ancient organisms that can provide insight into movement, feeding, and resting patterns of extinct species. Also known as ichnofossils or biogenic sedimentary structures, these fossils are often found in formations where body fossils were not commonly preserved. Trilobites created several types of trace fossils, including Diplichnites, Cruziana, and Rusophycus. Rusophycus, the most abundant of the trilobite trace fossils, are short, bi-lobate, and sometimes furrowed imprints that are the result of a trilobite burrowing for rest or protection.

Hamilton College, located in Clinton, New York, has many buildings on campus made with building material quarried locally from the Herkimer Formation of the Late Silurian Period. Of the 30 buildings and structures surveyed, 13 contained Rusophycus for a total of 100 mapped and measured specimens. All were preserved as casts with an average size of 6.8 centimeters in length and 4.9 centimeters in width. The large number of specimens identified in this project provides further information on Rusophycus in the Herkimer Formation as well as the geology of the Hamilton College building materials.