Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2006
Abstract
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 le of the plant remains deposited in the pond, and additional taphonomic evidence all support a model of niche partitioning of the Late Devonian landscape by plants at a high taxonomic level. At Red Hill, Archaeopteris was growingon the well-drained areas; Rhacophyton was growing in widespread monotypic stands; cormose lycopsids grew along the pond edge; and gymnosperms and Gillespiea were possibly opportunists following disturbances. Tetrapod fossils have been described from Red Hill—therefore, this paleoecological analysis is the fi rst systematic interpretation of a specific site that refl ects the type of wetland environment within which the earliest tetrapods evolved.
Publication Title
Wetlands Through Time, Geological Society of America, Special Paper 399
Publisher
Geological Society of America
Volume
399
First Page
79
Last Page
102
DOI
10.1130/2006.2399(04)
Recommended Citation
Cressler III, W.L., 2006. Plant paleoecology of the Late Devonian Red Hill locality, north-central Pennsylvania, an Archaeopteris-dominated wetland plant community and early tetrapod site. In W. A. DiMichele and S. Greb [eds.], Wetlands Through Time, pp. 79-102. Geological Society of America, Special Paper 399.