Becraft Formation
Lisa Rodrigues


 
The Becraft Formation is a very coarse grained limestone that is often dark gray or pink in color. The unit is full of fossils! Over 70 species of invertebrates have been described, including brachiopods, crinoids, gastropods, and trilobites. As you can see from the pictures, most of the fossils are broken into small pieces, suggesting that the Becraft is representative of a shallow water, high-energy environment.  This environment is thought to be very similar to that of the Coeymans Formation.
An anticline along Rt. 199 in Kingston.  The bottom layer is Becraft.

 
Piece of Becraft in the field, showing broken shells of
crinoids and brachiopods (pen = 15 cm in length for scale).

 
Specific fossils from the Becraft Formation are not easy to identify because they are mostly fragments.  The fragments in this rock are mostly brachiopods and crinoids.

 
References:

Ebert (1987) Tidal currents, biogenic activity and pycnoclinal fluctuation on a Lower Devonian Ramp: Becraft, Alsen, Port Ewen Formations, Central Hudson Valley. In: Warnes RH (ed) New York State Geological Association 59th Annual Meeting Guide Book, New Paltz, New York. pp. K1-K35.

Rickard (1962) Late Cayugan and Helderbergian Stratification in New York. New York Museum and Science Bulletin 386: 157.

Rickard (1989) Stratification of the subsurface low and mid-Devonian of New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Ontario. New York State Museum and Science Map and Chart Series 39: 59.
 


 
Biography

I'm a graduate student in the Department of Earth & Environmental Science in my first year of the PhD Program.  I will be investigating the effects 
of coral bleaching and recovery on coral physiology, in particular the effects on lipid biomass in the animal.  My research interests include marine invertebrate ecology, animal behavior, and conservation.


 
Links

http://www.paleosoc.org
Paleontology Society website with links to conferences, journals, etc.

http://www.levins.com/dinosaur.html
Tells the story of the discovery of the first dinosaur at Haddenfield, NJ.

http://www.tyrrellmuseum.com/encyclo/index.htm
A comprehensive fossil encyclopedia from Tyrrell Museum in Alberta, Canada.  It is constantly updated and gives information about a lot of  different fossils sorted alphabetically be genus or group name.

http://www.zoomdinosaurs.com
A fun website with facts and figures on dinosaurs and good general  information on extinction and paleoecology.  The site has a great link to 
a list of renowned paleontologists with short biographical summaries and pictures.

http://wilshire.iccas.com/gslak/
A great website that is called California's amateur paleontology and fossils: Greg's excellent fossil adventure. It has good fossil pictures 
and is written like an adventure story and road trip of how and they were collected.
 


 
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