| Silurian Plants 1 |
| During the Silurian Period, plants established themselves securely along coastal shallow waters and nearshore regions, including the inland rivers and places moist enough to sustain plant growth. |
| During the Silurian Period, plants really conquered the landscape. Where conditions were moist, the algae were prevalent whether we have the proof, or not. But also during this period, 'simple' plants, derived from the algae, began to cover the very shallow waters and adjacent moist lands. This page illustrates some of these forms, in no specific order, but just to show some of the specimens the author has collected from the Silurian rocks of the State of New York and nearby Ontario, Canada. |
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| Cooksonia is generally regarded as one of the earliest of the land plants and is now recorded not only from the Phelps Waterlime of Eastern New York (see photo at left), but also from Ontario, Canada (Ciurca, 1994) and the area of Buffalo, New York. Extensive search of earlier strata, for example, the lower Vernon Formation black shale units, and overlying Syracuse Formation eurypterid-bearing units, have failed to yield Silurian plant remains. Possibilities for future important finds may included areas to the south, in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. These areas are known to bear eurypterid faunas not unlike those of the Silurian of New York. |
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| To the right is an example of a fossil that is common- ly found in the waterlimes of the Williamsville Waterlime of Ontario, Canada and Western New York State. Inncaulis lesquerauex is generally regarded as a form of graptolite and is now known mostly from the rocks of the Williamsville Formation. It has not been reported from any of the other units of the Bertie Fm. Innocaulis usually occurs in masses, apparently drifted into the area of deposition by strong currents into the windrows we now observe. |
| THE "FINGER PLANT" INOCAULIS Williamsville Waterlime Fort Erie, Ontario, Canada |
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| Medusaegraptus, at left, was first described as a grap- tolite, but is now regarded as an alga (dasyclad). This form occurs in the Williamsville Waterlime of Ontario, Canada eastward to the Syracuse, N.Y. area (Oxbow Waterlime). The best known specimens, however, are from interreef deposits in the lower Lockport Group of Western New York. |
| Eurypterids.net |