When I first observed these windrows, in the waterlime layers of the Phelps Waterlime at Passage Gulf northeast of Cedarville, New York (Ciurca, 1963), I became aware of the linear distribution of most of the remains of these arthropods and associated fauna and rare flora. Every other site I have exam- ined, from the base of the Salina Group to the Early Devonian Olney Limestone, exhibited the same phenomena, i.e. most, if not all, eurypterid remains occur in windrows. Eurypterid molts collected, via currents, into linear accummulations of organic remains, and these are what we observe when we encounter these remains in the Late Silurian waterlimes and black shales of New York and Ontario, Canada.
While windrows are important sedimentary structures occurring within the Salina and Bertie Groups, I have observed many other interesting structures, in recent years, and some of these are the sub- ject of the 2002 NYSGA Meeting at Lake George. Newly observed sedimentary structures will have an impact on our interpretation of the paleoenvironments of deposition of the eurypterid-bearing units of the above mentioned groups. There has been a lot of interpretation and speculation on the actual paleoenvironment of the eurypterids. However, these interpretations were based upon limited obser- vations. Because of exceptional exposition of the uppermost surface of the Williamsville A Waterlime, at a quarry in the Niagara Peninsula of Ontario, Canada, I am able to describe many new features not observed previously and that, certainly, will aid in paleoenvironmental interpretation of the eurypterid-bearing units of the Salina and Bertie Groups (Late Silurian) and also the Early Devonian units. |
