Paleobiology Commons^™

Plant Paleoecology Of The Late Devonian Red Hill Locality, North-Central Pennsylvania, An Archaeopteris-Dominated Wetland Plant Community And Early Tetrapod Site., Walter L. Cressler Iii

Earth & Space Sciences Faculty Publications

The Late Devonian Red Hill locality in north-central Pennsylvania contains an Archaeopteris-dominated plant fossil assemblage, a diverse fossil fauna, and an extensive sedimentary sequence ideal for investigating the landscapes and biotic associations of the earliest forest ecosystems. Sedimentological analysis of the main plantfossil bearing layer at Red Hill indicates that it was a fl ood-plain pond. A seasonal wet-and-dry climate is indicated by well-developed paleovertisols. The presence of charcoal interspersed with plant fossils indicates that fi res occurred in this landscape.Fires appear to have primarily affected the fern Rhacophyton. The specifi city of the fires, the distribution profi …