Late Devonian tetrapod habitats indicated by palaeosols in Pennsylvania
G.J. Retallack
R.R. Hunt
T.S. White
10.6084/m9.figshare.3454724.v1
https://geolsoc.figshare.com/articles/dataset/Late_Devonian_tetrapod_habitats_indicated_by_palaeosols_in_Pennsylvania/3454724
<p>Late Devonian (Famennian) tetrapods from the Duncannon Member of the Catskill Formation, near Hyner (Pennsylvania, USA) have
been found within palaeosols that offer a new line of evidence for their ancient environments. Hyner has yielded at least
two fossil tetrapod species, <em>Hynerpeton basseti</em> and <em>Densignathus rowei</em>. Subhumid Vertisol palaeosols and semiarid Aridisol palaeosols alternate at Hyner, as in other Catskill Formation sedimentary
cycles attributed to Milankovitch-eccentricity periods (100 ka). Tetrapods were found in palaeosols of subhumid, not semiarid,
phases of 100 ka palaeoclimate cycles. In addition, palaeosols at Hyner record an unusually warm and wet climatic episode
compared with other palaeosols of the Catskill Formation, and correlated with the European <em>Annulata</em> black shale event. Tetrapod bones are cracked and disarticulated in red palaeosols of an oxbow lake margin, as if victims
of dry-season death, decay, and subaerial weathering. Vegetation-choked swales and floodplains would have afforded shelter
from 3–4 m long predatory fish (<em>Hyneria lindae</em>) of open water, and offered food of large dead fish, small live fish, arachnids, myriapods and scorpions. If these early
tetrapods lived on land at all, it was during wet seasons of feeding and breeding, rather than fatally dry seasons.
</p>
2016-06-21 12:18:51
oxbow lake margin
Subhumid Vertisol palaeosols
Hyner
100 ka palaeoclimate cycles
Catskill Formation
USA
Devonian tetrapod habitats
Geology