Tonopah daily bonanza. [volume] (Tonopah, Nev.) 1906-1929, 1913-12-12

In these days Of exploration few
parts of the globe remain unknown
and uncharted, and in our desire
for new lands to conquer we map the
mountains and deserts of the moon
and the canals of Mars. Within the
last few years. as the work of the
United States geological survey has
given biologists a larger knowledge
of the rocks of the United States,
new sort Of geography has sprung
up-fossil geography In this new
geography the lands and seas of the
remote past are mapped in their true
form, and by means of these maps
we may follow the development of
the American continent and trace its
many changes of land and water
from age to age. Why should not the
geography of the American continent
in remote geological time be of great
er interest to us here in the United
States than the present geography Of
J the moon, or perhaps even the pres
ent geography Of the interior CT
| Africa? As the natural wealth Of
the country is in large part depend
ent on the rocks that make up the
crust of the earth, it is well to know
how and when the rocks were formed.
1t may seem scarcely possible to map
these ancient lands and seas by
studying handfuls of fossils taken
from the rocks on their sites, but this
is what is being done.
The geelogist can trace these geo
graphic changes by noting the extent
of successive formations and the
changes in the character of the rocks
but the age and the identity of 2
\ geographical formation must be de
termined principally by means Of the
fossils it contains. The more eXaet
determination of the ages of sedi
mentary formations-the floors o
ancient makes possible, among
other things, the correlation from
place to place of geographic changes
and shows the direction of invasion
or retreat of oceanic waters.
Some of the principles used b!
biologists in their detailed work il
. stratigraphic geology are set forth il
the United States geological surveys
professional paper 10, "Recurren
Tropidoleptus Zones of the Upper De
vonian in New York, by II. s. vii
liams This paper shows that groups
of animals, or faunas, may be driver
out of a region by earth movement
or by other causes and that the sam,
animals, slightly modified perhaps
but still to be recognized, may late
return to the region. A study of tn
fossils representing these recurren
faunas may thus throw light on gee
graphic changes.
The larger portion Of Professo
Williams paper discusses the recul
renee of a Hamilton fauna (of MID
die Devorian geologic age) at fou
horizons in Upper Devonian rocks j
New York, the fossils having bee
collected in mapping the geology {
T the Watkins Glen and Catatonk qua
rangles for the geological survey. Pr
fessor Williams presents conclusion
that are of both geological and biolo
ical interest. He discusses at lengt
the geographic changes and correl
tons indicated by the fluctuations
= the faunas and the evolution and va
iation OF the fossils themselves. IN
value of fossils in determining Il
contemporaries of sedimentary rocl
is discussed and the conclusion
e reached are applied to the classific
ton of the Upper Deyonian Of Ne
A York state. Changes in character
sediment caused by the transgressiC
or recession of the ocean is check'
by comparisons with the changes
~---------------------