Shell bed of the Hanover Shale Member of the Java Formation in western New York (Devonian of the United States)

Where: Wyoming County, New York (42.7° N, 78.5° W)

• Paleocoordinates: 33.0° S, 44.7° W (Wright 2013)

• coordinate estimated from map

• local area-level geographic resolution

When: Hanover Shale Member (Java Formation), Early/Lower Famennian (372.1 - 368.5 Ma)

• Brachiopod bed about 1.4 m above Frasnian-Famennian boundary. Aged based on conodonts present. Lower Palmatolepis triangularis Zone, lowermost Famennian.

• bed-level stratigraphic resolution

Environment/lithology: marine; shelly/skeletal, gray siltstone and gray, green mudstone

• "The rhythmic bedding, ripple marks, scour surface, shell concentration, and current alignment of brachiopod valves suggest deposition in a turbidity flow..."[implication of rest of text is that this is associated with a prograding delta]
• "The Hanover Shale consists of green-gray pyritic silty mudstone, interbedded with thin black mudshale beds, siltstones, and nodular carbonate beds, that grade eastward into silts and sands of the Wiscoy Member...

•The brachiopod bed is a 5-8 cm thick medium gray siltstone that consists of three fining upward intervals. Brachiopods are ... concentrated in a single 1.0-1.5 cm interval in the middle of the bed, developed in a coarser and more pyritic zone over clay-rich and bioturbated laminae. The pyrite and shell-rich interval overlies a low relief scour surface, indicating a concentration of coarser and denser material during higher energy conditions. the shell-bearing bed [has] low amplitude ripple marks [with] a 6-7 cm wavelength with ripple crests oriented NNE-SSW..."

Primary reference: J. Day and D. J. Over. 2002. Post-extinction survivor fauna from the lowermost Famennian of eastern North America. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica 47(2):189-202 [M. Foote/M. Foote/M. Foote]more details

Purpose of describing collection: biostratigraphic analysis

PaleoDB collection 35384: authorized by Michael Foote, entered by Michael Foote on 09.12.2003

Creative Commons license: CC0 (CC0)

Taxonomic list

• Also present but not listed by authors are crinoids, ostracodes, bryozoans, and fishes.
Conodonta
 Prioniodontida - Icriodontidae
Icriodus alternatus conodont
I. alternatus alternatus and I. a. helmsi
Icriodus sp. Branson and Mehl 1938 conodont
 Ozarkodinida - Polygnathidae
Polygnathus sp. Hinde 1879 conodont
 Ozarkodinida - Palmatolepidae
Palmatolepis triangularis conodont
P. triangularis triangularis
Palmatolepis sp. Müller 1956 conodont
Lingulata
 Lingulida - Discinidae
Orbiculoidea sp. d'Orbigny 1847
 Lingulida - Lingulidae
Barroisella cf. campbelli
estimate based on ratio of Retichonetes to Barroisella in complete survey of one slab; 184 specimens were measured to produce a rose diagram
Strophomenata
 Strophomenida - Chonetidae
Retichonetes aff. obscurus Cooper and Dutro 1982
six numbered specimens and "approximately 2,000 unnumbered" shells
 Productida - Sentosiidae
Praewaagenoconcha speciosa
five numbered specimens and "60-80 unnumbered specimens"
Rhynchonellata
 Orthida - Rhipidomellidae
 Orthida - Schizophoriidae
 Rhynchonellida -
 Rhynchonellida - Pugnacidae
? Chapinella sp. Savage et al. 1978
plus "numerous unnumbered valve fragments"
 Rhynchonellida - Trigonirhynchiidae
 Spiriferida - Mucrospiriferidae
Tylothyris mesacostalis Hall 1867
one figured spedcimen and "approximately 180 additional unnumbered specimens"
 Spiriferida - Ambocoeliidae
 Spiriferida - Cyrtospiriferidae