STRANGE ANOMALIES: DIFFERING MARINE COMMUNITY STRUCTURE THROUGHOUT EARLY DEVONIAN LOCALITIES IN WV AND PA

The Helderberg formation from the Appalachian basin represents the earliest Devonian rocks in North America, however, the precise time of deposition for this formation likely varies spatially across the basin. This marine reef environment is preserved diachronously across New York, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey, and West Virginia due to sediment in-fill, which results in the progradation of the environment over time. This diachronous relationship raises questions about how the Helderberg community structure may have changed spatially and temporally as this environment progresses across the basin. We have collected specimens from the Helderberg in Pennsylvania and West Virginia to assess community structure in these locations and compare them to material collected in New York. After observing the material from Pennsylvania, we concluded that the environment consisted mainly of a stromatoporoid reef, due to the large amount of stromatoporoid and coral growing consecutively together. However, we observed differences between localities, within West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We have created faunal lists from both localities to investigate community composition differences. Future work will involve comparing in situ material from multiple localities in West Virginia to investigate more local variations in community structure.