John Allen Howe

“ In the Carnic Alps are coral reef limestones, the equivalents of the Iberg limestone, which attain an enormous thickness; these are underlain by coral limestones with fossils similar to those of the Konjeprus limestone of Bohemia; below these are shales and nodular limestones with goniatites. The Devonian rocks of Poland are sandy in the lower, and more calcareous in the upper parts. They are of interest because while the upper portions agree closely with the Rhenish facies, from the top of the Coblentzien upwards, in the sandy beds near the base Old Red Sandstone fishes (Coccosteus, &c.) ”

“ In the Chautauquan series the Chemung formation is not always clearly separable from the Portage beds, it is a sandstone and conglomerate formation which reaches its maximum thickness (8000 ft.) in Pennsylvania, but thins rapidly towards the west. In the Catskill region the Upper Devonian has an Old Red facies—red shales and sandstones with a freshwater and brackish fauna.
Although the correlation of the strata has only advanced a short distance, there is no doubt as to the presence of undifferentiated Devonian rocks in many parts of the continent. ”

“ In the Old Red rocks of Scotland there is a great thickness (6000 ft.) of igneous rocks, including diabases and andesitic lavas with agglomerates and tuffs. In Devonshire diabases and tuffs are found in the middle division. In west central Europe volcanic rocks are found at many horizons, the most common rocks are diabases and diabase tuffs, schalstein. Felsitic lavas and tuffs occur in the Middle Devonian of Australia. Contemporaneous igneous rocks are generally absent in the American Devonian, but in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick there appear to be some. ”

“ In the eastern Thuringian Fichtelgebirge the upper division is represented by Clymenia limestone and Cypridina slates with Adorf limestone, diabase and Planschwitzer tuff in the lower part. The middle division has diabases and tuffs at the top with Tentaculite and Nereite shales and limestones below. The upper part of the Lower Devonian, the sandy shale of Steinach, rests unconformably upon Silurian rocks. ”

“ Traces of salt deposits are indicated by occasional saline springs. It is evident that the geographical conditions of the Russian area during the Devonian period must have closely resembled those of the Rhine basin and central England during the Triassic period. ”

“ The Helderbergian series is mainly confined to the eastern part of the continent; there is a northern development in Maine, and in Canada (Gaspé, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Montreal) ; an Appalachian belt, and a lower Mississippian region. The series as a whole is mainly calcareous (2000 ft. in Gaspé) , and thins out towards the west. The fauna has Hercynian affinities. The Oriskany formation consists largely of coarse sandstones; it is thin in New York, but in Maryland and Virginia it is several hundred feet thick. It is more widespread than the underlying Helderbergian. ”

“ These plants evidently flourished around the shores of the lakes and lagoons in which their remains were buried along with the other forms of life. Lycopods and ferns were the predominant types; and it is important to notice that both groups were already highly developed. ”