New York State Geoparks Highlighted in New Videos

Two videos on classic geologic sites in New York are available from the Geological Society of America “Geoheritage” program. The videos, made by Drs. Ed Landing (New York State Paleontologist, emeritus) and Alexander Bartholomew (SUNY-New Paltz, geology department) feature two sites in Saratoga County that have been designated “New York State Geoparks.”

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Stromatolites at Lester Park
Stromatolites at Lester Park

Lester Park

The first video, “New York State Geoparks: Lester Park—Stromatolites,” is a field trip on the earliest named stromatolites (layered microbial domal structures) and explains their ancient, shallow-marine setting. At that time, ancestral North America was rotated 90 degrees and tropical eastern New York was at ca. 35 degrees south latitude. The ca. 490 million year-old age of Lester Park was established by thorough fossil collecting from Lester Park and related areas by Dr. Landing and University of Toronto colleagues. This led to publications (NYSM Memoir 13, among others) based on extensive trilobite collections now in the New York State Museum.

View the Video: New York State Geoparks: Lester Park—Stromatolites

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZLGJ2hdX9tk

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"Submarine Pillow Basalts" at Starks Knob
"Submarine Pillow Basalts" at Starks Knob

Stark's Knob

The second video, "New York State Geoparks: Stark's Knob—Submarine Pillow Basalts” reviews the only volcanic edifice in New York State. The study of Stark’s Knob by Dr. Ed Landing and Canadian colleagues changed plate tectonic models, showing that small volcanoes, later called “petit volcanoes”, appear on the “lip” of plate margins where they are subducted into trenches, similar to the modern Japan trench. A reconstruction of the “Pacific Ring of Fire” should show giant explosive volcanoes, like Mount St. Helens or Mount Lassen, inboard of the subduction zone, with petit volcanoes like Stark’s Knob appearing on the subducting plate as it is pulled apart and descends into the submarine trench. The Late Ordovician (ca. 460 million year) age of Stark’s Knob was established by discovery of a time-diagnostic fossil snail in rocks of the Knob. The specimen is now part of the New York State Museum Collections.

View the Video: New York State Geoparks: Stark's Knob—Submarine Pillow Basalts

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=khFMjqcWlPg