DEVONIAN OF NEW YORK: A NEW, EXTENSIVE VOLUME ON THE NORTH AMERICAN STANDARD SECTION

Devonian strata in New York State comprise the North American Standard Section, referred to by researchers globally. Devonian bedrock occurs across 40% of NY (125,894 km²/48,607 mi²). It has been argued NY would have been a better global type area for the period, termed the “Erian”. Since publication of L.V. Rickard’s (1975) NY Devonian correlation chart, various higher-resolution stratigraphic analyses have been applied, even at bed-by-bed scale. The forthcoming volume will present an updated Devonian stratigraphic synthesis for NY and record, often in detail, current knowledge of the succession for future researchers.

Stratigraphic philosophy and practice in the NY Devonian since the 19^th century are strongly time-rock based, utilizing a range of tools and concepts from allo-/sequence-, chrono-, bio-, and chemostratigraphy, high resolution event and cycle/marker bed correlation, magnetic susceptibility and more. Lithostratigraphy is generally applied at member-level. This integrated approach permits relatively precise correlation regionally to globally, critical for the North American Devonian Standard Section.

The volume includes 11 in-depth chapters that review the geological and paleontological characters of the strata by 20 active NY to regional Devonian researchers. Several are members of the International Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy. Chapters examine the background of units, and recent discoveries and interpretations. Most chapters summarize key post-1970 geological and paleobiological research; some report on regional correlation beyond NY. Chapter 1 reviews the Devonian in general, in NY and throughout North America. The final chapter examines the largest remaining Devonian frontier in NY, the terrestrial strata.

The volume is dedicated to Lawrence V. Rickard, author of 2 previous NY Devonian correlation charts. Publication via Bulletins of American Paleontology/Paleontological Research Institution (PRI) is scheduled for later in 2021.

Editors are listed above. Volume authors are A. Bartholomew, G. Baird, A. Beard, C. Brett, S. Brisson, A. Bush, J. Ebert, J. Hannibal, J. Harper, M. Hren, R. Jacobi, W. Kirchgasser, D. Matteson, S. McKenzie, D.J. Over, J. Pier, G. Smith, I. Tesmer, C. Ver Straeten and J. Zambito. J. Hendricks and W. Allmon (PRI) are in charge of publication.