page_title: Potsdam Sandstone
section_title: Paleontology
hierarchical_section_title: Potsdam Sandstone / Paleontology
caption_attribution_description: English: Protichnites in the lower Potsdam Sandstone near Burke, NY. These fossils record arthropod locomotion in a subaerial environment and represent some of the oldest indicators of life traversing terrestrial environments. For a complete discussion of these fossils, please see Hagadorn, J. W., Collette, J. H., and Belt, E. S., 2011, Eolian-aquatic deposits and faunas of the Middle Cambrian Potsdam Group: Palaios, v. 26, no. 5, p. 314-334.
context_page_description: The Potsdam Sandstone, more formally known as the Potsdam Group, is a geologic unit of mid-to-late Cambrian age found in Northern New York and northern Vermont and Quebec and Ontario. A well-cemented sandstone of nearly pure quartz, in the 19th century it was widely used in construction and in refractory linings for iron furnaces.
context_section_description: Fossil remains of whole animals are rare in the Potsdam Sandstone, but there are some significant occurrences of trace fossils.  Trace fossils in the unit include both vertical burrows, such as Diplocraterion and Skolithos and horizontal trackways, such as Diplichnites, Protichnites, and Climactichnites. In 1903, a 20-ton (18-tonne) slab of Potsdam Sandstone from Clinton County, New York, displaying tracks attributed to trilobites, was placed in the New York State Museum. Fossil impressions of the whole bodies of jellyfish have also been found in the Potsdam.
caption: Protichnites in the lower Potsdam Sandstone.
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