TRACE FOSSILS OF THE MIDDLE DEVONIAN STONY HOLLOW FAUNA, HURLEY & CHERRY VALLEY MEMBERS, KINGSTON, NY (Invited Presentation)

The shelled invertebrate macrofauna of the Middle Devonian's lower Marcellus sub-Group (Bakoven and Stony Hollow members of the Union Springs Formation, Hurley and Cherry Valley members of the Mount Marion and Oatka Creek formations) is markedly different from the shelled macrofauna found in the Onondaga Formation below and upper Marcellus-Hamilton Group units above. Known as the Stony Hollow Fauna, this anomalous group of taxa records an invasion of warm-water species into the Eastern Americas Realm (EAR), displacing the temperate marine organisms that had previously existed in the region. Multiple studies over recent years have investigated the nature of the Stony Hollow's faunal stability as well as the invasion and extinction of the taxa in several regions of the EAR, however little if any effort has been made towards examining the ichnology of this interval. Attempting to better understand the ichnological activity of the Stony Hollow Fauna can help us further elucidate poorly- to non-fossilized components of this unusual species assembly. Endichnial burrowing traces in the Hurley and Cherry Valley members of the Mount Marion Formation are abundant and clearly visible within multiple sandstone beds exposed along Rte. 209 in Kingston, NY. Examination of coeval strata indicates that similar traces are present in the sandstone beds near Catskill, NY and mostly absent from the more calcareous facies preserved in Cherry Valley, NY. This study aims to offer a preliminary census of the ichnotaxa of the Hurley and Cherry Valley members as preserved in an area that is siliciclastic-dominated and not very time-condensed.