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Catskill Formation

{{Short description|Unit of sedimentary rock in the US}}

{{more citations needed|date=April 2014}}

{{Infobox rockunit

| name = Catskill Formation

| image = Catskill1.jpg

| caption = Outcrop of the Irish Valley Member of the Catskill Formation along the Horseshoe Curve, Blair County, Pennsylvania

| type = sedimentary

| age = {{fossil range|365.2|358.8|Late Devonian (Late Famennian)}}

| period = Devonian

| prilithology = Sandstone

| otherlithology = Siltstone, shale

| namedfor = Catskill Mountains, New York

| namedby =

| region = Appalachian Mountains

| country = United States

| coordinates =

| unitof =

| subunits =

| underlies = Rockwell Formation, Huntley Mountain Formation, Pocono Formation, Spechty Kopf Formation

| overlies = Foreknobs Formation, Lock Haven Formation, Trimmers Rock Formation

| thickness = Up to {{convert|10000|ft|m|abbr=on}}

| extent = Pennsylvania, New York (state)

| area =

| map =

| map_caption =

}}

The Devonian Catskill Formation or the Catskill Clastic Wedge is a unit of mostly terrestrial sedimentary rock found in Pennsylvania and New York. Minor marine layers exist in this thick rock unit (up to {{convert|10000|ft|m}}). It is equivalent to the Hampshire Formation of Maryland, West Virginia, and Virginia.

The Catskill is the largest bedrock unit of the Upper Devonian in northeast Pennsylvania and the Catskill region of New York, from which its name is derived. The Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania are largely underlain by this unit as well. The rocks of the Catskill are a clastic wedge of predominantly red sandstone, indicating a large-scale terrestrial deposition during the Acadian orogeny. Many beds are cyclical in nature, preserving the record of a dynamic environment during its approximately 20 million years of deposition.

The Catskill Formation preserves a highly diverse paleobiota, including many early sarcopterygians (especially tetrapodomorphs), providing important evidence about the evolution of terrestrial vertebrates. The formation also provides important fossils about the evolution of land plants.{{Cite journal |last1=Broussard |first1=David R. |last2=Trop |first2=Jeffrey M. |last3=Benowitz |first3=Jeff A. |last4=Daeschler |first4=Edward B. |last5=Chamberlain |first5=John A. |last6=Chamberlain |first6=Rebecca B. |date=2018-12-15 |title=Depositional setting, taphonomy and geochronology of new fossil sites in the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian) of north-central Pennsylvania, USA, including a new early tetrapod fossil |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031018218303274 |journal=Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology |volume=511 |pages=168–187 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.07.033 |bibcode=2018PPP...511..168B |issn=0031-0182|url-access=subscription }}

Geology

= Depositional environment =

File:Catskill-slab-new.jpg of the Endless Mountain Stone Company, Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, showing mud clasts within sandstone]]

File:Meandering catskill MCR1.JPG

During the Devonian period, the Catskill Delta was formed by a series of river deltas and otherwise marshy terrain. This terrain was sandwiched between the epicontinental Kaskaskia Sea in central North America and the now-vanished Acadian Mountains. Erosion brought sediment from the mountain westwards into the sea, forming the deltas.

Eventually, the Delta formation was buried and transformed into sandstone, which was then revealed in places when the Catskill and Appalachian Mountains were formed at a later date. This transformation and uncovering is the primary reason why the Catskill Delta is notable in the present. Western Pennsylvania's petroleum was formed as a consequence. This was the first major oil region to be developed.

The Catskill was once considered to be related to the Old Red Sandstone, but in actuality, the two are only coincidentally similar. Both formed at approximately the same time, and under similar conditions: to the north of the Acadian Mountains were the Caledonian Mountains, and a similar region of marsh and river delta formed there.

= Glacial erosion =

Though both mountain ranges were formed during the Acadian orogeny, the Catskill Mountains, unlike the Appalachian Mountains underwent glacial erosion.{{Cite journal|last=Rich|first=John Lyon|date=1906|title=Local Glaciation in the Catskill Mountains|journal=The Journal of Geology|volume=14|issue=2|pages=113–121|jstor=30055593|doi=10.1086/621285|bibcode=1906JG.....14..113R |s2cid=129029014 }} Much of what formed the Catskills as they stand today is a result of the Wisconsin glaciation which ended only about 12,000 years ago.{{Cite book|title=The Catskills in the Ice Age|last=Titus|first=Robert|publisher=Purple Mountain Press|year=1996|isbn=978-0-935796-77-3|location=Flieschmanns, New York|pages=14–29}}

There are many signs of the Glacial period event which carved the current day Catskill Mountains.

These markers include:

= Members =

== Eastern Pennsylvania ==

Towamensing, Walcksville, Beaverdam Run, Long Run, Packerton, Poplar Gap, Sawmill Run, Berry Run, Clarks Ferry, and Duncannon.

== Central Pennsylvania ==

Irish Valley, Sherman Creek, Buddys Run, Clarks Ferry, and Duncannon.

{{Wide image|Geologic cross section of Devonian strata from New York to Alabama.svg|1000px|Geologic cross section of upper to middle Devonian strata from Cherry Valley, New York, south-southwest across the Allegheny Plateau and then along the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians to Tennessee. The Catskill Formation is at the top.{{cite journal

|author1=Boughton, Carol J. |author2=McCoy, Kurt J. | publisher = U.S. Geological Survey

| year = 2006

| title = Hydrogeology, Aquifer Geochemistry, and Ground-Water Quality in Morgan County, West Virginia

|journal=USGS Report |series=Scientific Investigations Report |page=81 |doi=10.3133/sir20065198 |bibcode=2006usgs.rept...81B | url = http://pubs.usgs.gov/sir/2006/5198/

| id= Scientific Investigations Report 2006-5198

|url-access=subscription }}|100%|left}}

{{clear}}

Paleobiota

{{paleobiota-key-compact}}

=Plants=

class="wikitable" align="center"
colspan="7" align="center" | Plantae
NameSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Taeniocrada

| sp

| Catskill Formatiom, Potter County

| >80 Specimens

|

|

Barinophyton

| citrulliforme

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| >20 specimens

|

|

| cf. obscurum

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

|

|

|

| ssp.

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| >100 Specimens

|

|

Protobarinophyton

| P. pennsylvanicum

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| 2 Specimens of megaspore

| The genus these spore are attached to belong to an early group of land plants from the Silurian.

|

Rhacophyton

|

|

|

|

|

Lycopsida

| Indeterminate

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| 8 Specimens

|

|

Archaeopteris

| A.ssp

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| >160 Specimens

| One of the earliest known large "tree" like plants to take root

|

=Invertebrates=

class="wikitable" align="center"
colspan="7" align="center" | Protostomes
NameSpeciesLocalityMaterialNotesImages
Lingula

| sp

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| 1 Specimen

|

|

Gigantocharinus

| G.szatmaryi

| Red Hill Locality, Clinton County, Pennsylvainia

| Holotype consists of an extremely well preserved exoskeleton and a few impressions.

| The genus has helped begin brigding the gap between it's family's missing record from the Middle Devonian to the Late Carboniferous.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/journal-of-paleontology/article/abs/gigantocharinus-szatmaryi-a-new-trigonotarbid-arachnid-from-the-late-devonian-of-north-america-chelicerata-arachnida-trigonotarbida/D22B118C62AA9463871B46932CA82764

|

Orsadesmus

| O.rubecollus

| Red Hill Locality, Clinton County, Pennsylvainia

| Holotype is an impression of the exoskeleton

| The species was described alongside the Quebec genus Zanclodesmus, forming a new family within the broad flat keeled members of the order Archidesmida.https://www.academia.edu/45644301/New_Flat_Backed_Archipolypodan_Millipedes_from_the_Upper_Devonian_of_North

|

Hallipterus

| H.excelcior

| Catskill Formation, Wyoming County, Pennsylvania

|

|

|

Adelophthalmus

| A.ssp

| Catskill Formation, Potter County, Pennsylvania

| 1 Specimen

| It was described in 2002 by W. E. Stein (2002) as an indeterminte Eurypterid, it was then redescribed as an indeterminte species of Adelophthalmus in 2022 by R. E. Plotnick (2022).https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/8D4FFD7640A6FD82C65E1D4DD896855D/S0022336022000841a.pdf/eurypterids_from_the_price_formation_of_virginia_first_eurypterids_from_the_mississippian_of_north_america.pdf

|

= Placoderms =

class="wikitable" align="center"

! colspan="6" align="center" |Placoderms of the Catskill Formation

Genus

!Species

!Presence

!Material

!Notes

!Images

Bothriolepis

|B. sp.

| Mansfield, Tioga County, Pennsylvania

|Abundant material, including mass mortality of hatchlings.{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=Criswell |first2=Katharine E. |last3=Daeschler |first3=Edward B. |date=2011 |title=Mass Mortality of Juvenile Antiarchs ( Bothriolepis sp.) from the Catskill Formation (Upper Devonian, Famennian Stage), Tioga County, Pennsylvania |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1635/053.161.0111 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |language=en |volume=161 |issue=1 |pages=191–203 |doi=10.1635/053.161.0111 |bibcode=2011PANSP.161..191D |issn=0097-3157|url-access=subscription }}

|A bothriolepidid. Species unknown, though sometimes referred to as B. nitida.{{Citation |last1=Daeschler |first1=Edward B. |title=Late Devonian paleontology and paleoenvironments at Red Hill and other fossil sites in the Catskill Formation of north-central Pennsylvania |date=2011-01-01 |work=From the Shield to the Sea: Geological Field Trips from the 2011 Joint Meeting of the GSA Northeastern and North-Central Sections |volume=20 |pages=0 |editor-last=Ruffolo |editor-first=Richard M. |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/books/edited-volume/802/chapter-abstract/3908551/Late-Devonian-paleontology-and-paleoenvironments?redirectedFrom=fulltext |access-date=2025-04-15 |publisher=Geological Society of America |doi=10.1130/2011.0020(01) |isbn=978-0-8137-0020-5 |last2=Cressler |first2=Walter L., III |editor2-last=Ciampaglio |editor2-first=Charles N.|url-access=subscription }}

|frameless

Groenlandaspis

|G. pennsylvanica

|

|

|A groenlandaspidid.

|frameless

rowspan="2" |Phyllolepis

|P. rossimontina

|

|

| rowspan="2" |A phyllolepidid.

| rowspan="2" |frameless

P. thomsoni{{Cite journal |last1=Long |first1=John A. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |date=2013 |title=First Articulated Phyllolepid Placoderm from North America, with Comments on Phyllolepid Systematics |url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1635/053.162.0103 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |language=en |volume=162 |issue=1 |pages=33–46 |doi=10.1635/053.162.0103 |bibcode=2013PANSP.162...33L |issn=0097-3157|url-access=subscription }}

|

|Articulated skeleton.

Turrisaspis

|T. elektor

|

|

|A groenlandaspidid.

|frameless

= Acanthodians =

class="wikitable" align="center"

! colspan="6" align="center" |Acanthodians of the Catskill Formation

Genus

!Species

!Presence

!Material

!Notes

!Images

Gyracanthus

|G. cf. sherwoodi

|

|

|A gyracanthid.

|frameless

= Chondrichthyans =

class="wikitable" align="center"

! colspan="6" align="center" |Chondrichthyans of the Catskill Formation

Genus

!Species

!Presence

!Material

!Notes

!Images

Ageleodus

|A. pectinatus

| Red Hill Locality, Clinton County, Pennsylvainia

|Teeth

|A holocephalan of uncertain affinities.

|File:Ageleodus pectinatus.jpg

Ctenacanthus

|C. sp.

|

|

|A ctenacanthiform elasmobranch.

|frameless

= Actinopterygians =

class="wikitable" align="center"

! colspan="6" align="center" |Actinopterygians of the Catskill Formation

Genus

!Species

!Presence

!Material

!Notes

!Images

Limnomis

|L. delaneyi

| Red Hill, Clinton County, Pennsylvania

| Holotype is a compressed skull.

|An early ray-finned fish.{{Cite journal |last=Daeschler |first=Edward B. |date=2000 |title=An Early Actinopterygian Fish from the Catskill Formation (Late Devonian, Famennian) in Pennsylvania, U.S.A. |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/4065069 |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=150 |pages=181–192 |jstor=4065069 |issn=0097-3157}}

|

= Sarcopterygians =

class="wikitable" align="center"

! colspan="6" align="center" |Sarcopterygians of the Catskill Formation

Genus

!Species

!Presence

!Material

!Notes

!Images

Apatorhynchus

|A. opistheretmus

| Apatorhynchus-type locality, Tioga County, Pennsylvania

| Holotype is a partial skull, 1 specimen.

|A lungfish of uncertain affinities.{{Cite journal |last1=Friedman |first1=Matt |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |date=2006 |title=Late Devonian (famennian) Lungfishes from the Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, Usa |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00594.x |journal=Palaeontology |language=en |volume=49 |issue=6 |pages=1167–1183 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-4983.2006.00594.x |bibcode=2006Palgy..49.1167F |issn=1475-4983}}

|

Densignathus

|D. rowei

|

|

|A stegocephalian tetrapodomorph.{{cite journal |last=Daeschler |first=E.B. |year=2000 |title=Early tetrapod jaws from the Late Devonian of Pennsylvania, USA |journal=Journal of Paleontology |volume=74 |issue=2 |pages=301–308 |doi=10.1666/0022-3360(2000)074<0301:etjftl>2.0.co;2 |bibcode=2000JPal...74..301D |s2cid=131194763}}

|

rowspan="2" |Eusthenodon

|E. bourdoni{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=Barbosa |first2=Jeremy |last3=Daeschler |first3=Edward B. |date=2021-05-04 |title=A new species of Eusthenodon (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a review of Eusthenodon taxonomy |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2021.1976197 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=41 |issue=3 |pages=e1976197 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2021.1976197 |bibcode=2021JVPal..41E6197D |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

|

|

| rowspan="2" |A tristichopterid tetrapodomorph.

| rowspan="2" |frameless

E. leganihanne{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=Osatchuck |first2=Madison M. |last3=Goodchild |first3=Owen A. |last4=Daeschler |first4=Edward B. |date=2022-11-25 |title=Second species of Eusthenodon (Tristichopteridae, Sarcopterygii) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a review of global Eusthenodon occurrence |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2201627 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=42 |issue=5 |pages=e2201627 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2023.2201627 |bibcode=2022JVPal..42E1627D |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

|

|

Hyneria

|H. lindae

| Red Hill Site, Clinton County, Pennsylvainia

| Holotype is a disarticulated skull and 3D body fossil.

|A tristichopterid tetrapodomorph.

|frameless

Hynerpeton

|H. bassetti

|

|

|A stegocephalian tetrapodomorph.{{Cite journal |last1=Daeschler |first1=Edward B. |last2=Shubin |first2=Neil H. |last3=Thomson |first3=Keith S. |last4=Amaral |first4=William W. |date=29 July 1994 |title=A Devonian Tetrapod from North America |journal=Science |volume=265 |issue=5172 |pages=639–642 |bibcode=1994Sci...265..639D |doi=10.1126/science.265.5172.639 |pmid=17752761 |s2cid=2835592}}

|frameless

rowspan="2" |Langlieria

|L. radiata

|

|

| rowspan="2" |A tristichopterid tetrapodomorph. Originally identified as Holoptychius.{{Cite journal |last1=Daeschler |first1=Edward B. |last2=Downs |first2=Jason P. |last3=Matzko |first3=Chelsea |date=2019-05-09 |title=New material supports a description and taxonomic revision of Holoptychius ? radiatus (Sarcopterygii, Tristichopteridae) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation in Pennsylvania, USA |url=https://bioone.org/journals/proceedings-of-the-academy-of-natural-sciences-of-philadelphia/volume-167/issue-1/053.167.0102/New-material-supports-a-description-and-taxonomic-revision-of-Holoptychius/10.1635/053.167.0102.full |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=167 |issue=1 |pages=11 |doi=10.1635/053.167.0102 |bibcode=2019PANSP.167...11D |issn=0097-3157|url-access=subscription }}

| rowspan="2" |frameless

L. smalingi{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |date=2022-04-22 |title=Second species of Langlieria (Tristichopteridae, Sarcopterygii) from the Upper Devonian Catskill Formation of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a new phylogenetic consideration of Tristichopteridae |url=https://bioone.org/journals/proceedings-of-the-academy-of-natural-sciences-of-philadelphia/volume-167/issue-1/053.167.0115/Second-species-of-Langlieria-Tristichopteridae-Sarcopterygii-from-the-Upper-Devonian/10.1635/053.167.0115.full |journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia |volume=167 |issue=1 |page=115 |doi=10.1635/053.167.0115 |bibcode=2022PANSP.167.0115D |issn=0097-3157|url-access=subscription }}

|Irish Valley Member

|

Megalichthys

|M. mullisoni

|

|

|A megalichthyid tetrapodomorph.{{Cite journal |last1=Downs |first1=Jason P. |last2=and Daeschler |first2=Edward B. |date=2020-03-03 |title=A New Species of Megalichthys (Sarcopterygii, Megalichthyidae) from the Upper Devonian (Famennian) of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and a Report on the Cosmine-Covered Osteolepiform Fossils of the Catskill Formation |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02724634.2020.1774771 |journal=Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=e1774771 |doi=10.1080/02724634.2020.1774771 |bibcode=2020JVPal..40E4771D |issn=0272-4634|url-access=subscription }}

|frameless

Sauripterus

|S. taylori

| Sherman Creek Locality, Lycoming County, Pennsylvainia

| The Holotype is an articulated limb and 3 scales, there are 3 individuals.

|A rhizodontid tetrapodomorph.T.A. Stewart,J.B. Lemberg,N.K. Taft,I. Yoo,E.B. Daeschler,& N.H. Shubin, Fin ray patterns at the fin-to-limb transition, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 117 (3) 1612-1620,(2020). Marcus C. Davis, Shubin, N., & Daeschler, E. B. (2004). A New Specimen of Sauripterus taylori (Sarcopterygii, Osteichthyes) from the Famennian Catskill Formation of North America. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology, 24(1), 26–40.

|frameless

Soederberghia

|S. groenlandica

| Catskill Formation, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania

|

|A rhynchodipterid lungfish.

|

Sterropterygion

|S. brandei

|

|

|An indeterminate osteolepiform tetrapodomorph.

|

References

{{Reflist}}

External links

  • [http://csmres.jmu.edu/geollab/vageol/vahist/catskilenv.html Depositional environments in the Catskill Clastic Wedge]
  • [http://www.devoniantimes.org/index.html Devonian Times] Website summarize about Red Hill Shale in Catskill Formation

{{Chronostratigraphy of Pennsylvania}}

{{Portal bar|Devonian}}

Category:Geologic formations of New York (state)

Category:Geologic formations of Pennsylvania

Category:Devonian Pennsylvania

Category:Devonian System of North America

Category:Devonian geology of Pennsylvania

Category:Devonian geology of New York (state)

Category:Devonian southern paleotemperate deposits

Category:Sandstone formations of the United States

Category:Shale formations of the United States

Category:Siltstone formations of the United States

Category:Deltaic deposits