DEVONIAN OF NEW YORK: AN EXTENSIVE OVERVIEW, AND GUIDE TO FUTURE RESEARCH

The New York Devonian succession has been the North America standard since the 19^th century. Since publication of L.V. Rickard’s Correlation of the Devonian Rocks in New York chart in 1975, new methods and data led to a new synthesis of the Devonian in New York, titled Devonian of New York.

To be a globally relevant standard section, strata need to be time-correlative elsewhere, at regional to global scales. Beginning with James Hall in the 19^th century, a hybrid stratigraphic philosophy and practice evolved, in which both time-rock/allostratigraphic relationships and lithostratigraphic information are of importance. This practice continues, keeping New York’s sedimentary rock succession significant. It permits scientific reconstruction of Earth and Life history in “deep time”, provides a window into events and processes relevant today, and provides information on geological materials relevant to many.

In the classic Middle Devonian Hamilton Group, group and bed-level units are time-rock/allostratigraphic, and extend through lithologic changes. Lithostratigraphy is mostly ascribed to member-level, and formations at magnafacies-level. Methods utilized include high resolution sequence-, bio-, event-, chemo-stratigraphy, and magnetic susceptibility. The strong New York focus on time-rock relationships permits regional to global correlation.

Aims of this publication are fivefold: 1) summarize post-1975 stratigraphic changes; 2) present details not generally published; 3) summarize post-1975 geological-paleobiological research in a single source; and 4) present correlations of strata beyond the boundaries of New York State. An update of Rickard’s 1975 Devonian correlation chart will be released later. Seven authors are elected members of the International Subcommission on Devonian Stratigraphy.

The Devonian of New York consists of twelve extensive chapters, and added digital appendices. Published as a 3 volume set in Bulletins of American Paleontology, it is a central source for future research in the coming decades.

Editors, publishers, listed above. Authors: 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.