Return to the Silurian of New York

1 Cichorium intybus SR 93 585LOCKPORT, NEW YORK (August 8, 2015) — Andrej and I began some deep collecting of Silurian localities in the Lockport area today in our survey of the bryozoan and sclerobiont faunas. The sites are, shall we say, not the most attractive, so let’s start with this common but gorgeous flower along the roadsides in western New York: Cichorium intybus (chicory). It is an invasive perennial from Europe that now has a global distribution. It has its uses as a coffee substitute, livestock feed, and salad stock. I love the color and serrated petals.

2 Andrej Hickory CornersAnd here is why we lead with a flower. Andrej Ernst is sorting through samples from the Hickory Corners locality on State Route 93 in Lockport. The fossiliferous limestone here is the Hickory Corners Member of the Reynales Formation (Lower Silurian, Aeronian). The bryozoans are wonderfully diverse, and the top of the unit is a bored carbonate hardground. We happily collected here most of the morning, despite the trash and traffic.

3 Lewiston B beds Niagara RoadWe returned to a site along railroad tracks at Niagara Street in Lockport to collect from the Lewiston Member, part B, of the Rochester Shale. Again, the bryozoans here are fantastic, including my new favorite, a delicate cyclostome named Diploclema.

4 Lewiston E Burleigh Hill Shale LaFarge QuarryOur last site of the day was along the entrance road to a quarry. With all the surrounding rock, the only fossiliferous horizon is exposed in a shallow drainage cut in the road itself. Andrej is pulling a few bryozoans from the top of Lewiston Member, part E, of the Rochester Shale. The thick shales above him are the Burleigh Hill Formation.

5 Erie Canal at LockportWhen our work was done for the day, we became tourists and visited the Erie Canal locks in Lockport. (Hence the name!) This is a view looking east from the bottom of the two-lock sequence. We wanted to see the locks actually transport a boat, but it was a slow Saturday afternoon.

6 Erie Canal Lock LockportA view of the massive doors upstream of one of the modern locks. The engineering feats here date back to the early 1820s.

7 Crinoidal cross-sets Erie CanalGeology is evident here too. This is a block of crinoidal limestone showing cross-stratification. Many of the older buildings in Lockport are made of Silurian stone excavated to create the Erie Canal.

About Mark Wilson

Mark Wilson is a Professor of Geology at The College of Wooster. He specializes in invertebrate paleontology, carbonate sedimentology, and stratigraphy. He also is an expert on pseudoscience, especially creationism.
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