Arthur James Boucot (May 26, 1924, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to 10 April 2017, Denver, Colorado) was an American paleontologist, biostratigrapher, and taphonomist who was an expert in Silurian and Devonian marine invertebrates, particularly brachiopods. [1]
Boucot was born in Philadelphia, and raised in an academic family with early exposure to geology and paleontology. He began his studies at the University of Pennsylvania but dropped out in his freshman year to work at RCA. He was drafted into the United States Army during WWII, but enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces as a navigator with the Eighth Air Force on B-24 Bombers, and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. [2] [3]
Boucot obtained his geology degrees from Harvard University with a B.S. in 1948, an MS in 1949, and a PhD in 1953. Although he began his geological studies focused on mineralogy and petrography, his interest in paleontology was sparked at Harvard by assistant professor Preston Cloud, and expert on the Cambrian Explosion. Boucot's dissertation was on the biostratigraphy of the Devonian Moose River Basin where it crops out in Maine. From 1951 until 1956 he worked at the United States Geological Survey where Cloud was Chief of Paleontology and Stratigraphy. At the USGS he did work with J. Brookes Knight, an expert in Paleozoic gastropods and G. Arthur Cooper, a leading expert in extant and fossil brachiopods. Boucot left the USGS when he was awarded a Guggenheim fellowship for studies in Europe collecting Silurian and Devonian fossils in Western Europe. In 1957 he began his academic professional career at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. From 1961 to 1968 he taught at Caltech, then spent a year jointly at the University of Pennsylvania and the Smithsonian Institution, which houses many of his early letters and papers. In 1969 he began his lengthy career as a professor of geology and, eventually, integrative biology, at Oregon State University.
Boucot's major publications focus on both North American and global taxonomic studies of Silurian-Devonian invertebrates, primarily brachiopods. In North America Boucot worked largely in New England to publish on the taxonomy of middle Paleozoic brachiopods and create a biogratigraphy of Eastern North American brachiopods. His global field work, including work in Western Europe, Antarctica, and eastern Canada developed large scale taxonomies of Silurian-Devonian brachiopods. His later work, based on collaborative international field work, included publications on paleoecology of middle Paleozoic brachiopods.
In 1985, he was awarded the Raymond C. Moore Medal for Paleontology, and in 1999 the Paleontological Society Medal. [3] He has served as president of the Paleontological Society in 1980–1981, and president of the International Palaeontological Association from 1984–1989, and Vice-President of the International Commission on Stratigraphy from 1986–1989. The Boucot Plateau of the Geologists Range of Antarctica was named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names for Arthur J. Boucot to honor his research for United States Antarctic Program at Byrd Station and the Horlick Mountains in 1964-65. [4]
The Devonian is a geologic period and system of the Paleozoic era, spanning 60.3 million years from the end of the Silurian, 419.2 million years ago (Ma), to the beginning of the Carboniferous, 358.9 Ma. It is named after Devon, England, where rocks from this period were first studied.
The Silurian is a geologic period and system spanning 24.6 million years from the end of the Ordovician Period, at 443.8 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Devonian Period, 419.2 Mya. The Silurian is the shortest period of the Paleozoic Era. As with other geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period's start and end are well identified, but the exact dates are uncertain by a few million years. The base of the Silurian is set at a series of major Ordovician–Silurian extinction events when up to 60% of marine genera were wiped out.
Preston Ercelle Cloud, Jr. was an American earth scientist, biogeologist, cosmologist, and paleontologist. He served in the United States Navy, and led several field explorations of the U.S. Geological Survey. In academia, he was a member of the faculty of Harvard University, University of Minnesota, University of California, Los Angeles, and lastly University of California, Santa Barbara. He was best known for his work on the geologic time scale and the origin of life on Earth, and as a pioneering ecologist and environmentalist. His works on the significance of Cambrian fossils in the 1940s led to the development of the concept "Cambrian explosion," for which he coined the phrase "eruptive evolution."
Tabulata, commonly known as tabulate corals, are an order of extinct forms of coral. They are almost always colonial, forming colonies of individual hexagonal cells known as corallites defined by a skeleton of calcite, similar in appearance to a honeycomb. Adjacent cells are joined by small pores. Their distinguishing feature is their well-developed horizontal internal partitions (tabulae) within each cell, but reduced or absent vertical internal partitions. They are usually smaller than rugose corals, but vary considerably in shape, from flat to conical to spherical.
The history of invertebrate paleozoology differs from the history of paleontology in that the former usually emphasizes paleobiology and the paleoecology of extinct marine invertebrates, while the latter typically emphasizes the earth sciences and the sedimentary rock remains of terrestrial vertebrates.
Cymbidium is a brachiopod genus in the order Pentamerida from Silurian Alaska, from the Cape Phillips Formation from Baillie-Hamilton Island, Arctic Canada and Malaya.
Gracianella is a genus of fossil brachiopods. It was described by Johnson and Coucot in 1967, and existed from the Silurian to the Devonian of Australia, Austria, Canada, China, the Czech Republic, Italy, Tajikistan, and the United States. A new species, G. paulula, was described by Andrzej Baliński in 2012, from the early Devonian of Ukraine.
Helen Margaret Duncan was a geologist and paleontologist with the United States Geological Survey from 1945 to 1971, where she worked in the Paleontology and Stratigraphy Branch. Duncan was considered one of the strongest women in the Cincinnati geology department; her contributions to the Lipalian Research Foundation and the Pick and Hammer shows were additional work of her time. Duncan paved the path for many geology scholars to follow with her discoveries on fossil records and her studies in paleontology and stratigraphy.
Ray Smith Bassler was an American geologist and paleontologist.
Paleontology in Ohio refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Ohio. Ohio is well known for having a great quantity and diversity of fossils preserved in its rocks. The state's fossil record begins early in the Paleozoic era, during the Cambrian period. Ohio was generally covered by seawater from that time on through the rest of the early Paleozoic. Local invertebrates included brachiopods, cephalopods, coral, graptolites, and trilobites. Vertebrates included bony fishes and sharks. The first land plants in the state grew during the Devonian. During the Carboniferous, Ohio became a more terrestrial environment with an increased diversity of plants that formed expansive swampy deltas. Amphibians and reptiles began to inhabit the state at this time, and remained present into the ensuing Permian. A gap in the local rock record spans from this point until the start of the Pleistocene. During the Ice Age, Ohio was home to giant beavers, humans, mammoths, and mastodons. Paleo-Indians collected fossils that were later incorporated into their mounds. Ohio has been the birthplace of many world famous paleontologists, like Charles Schuchert. Many significant fossils curated by museums in Europe and the United States were found in Ohio. Major local fossil discoveries include the 1965 discovery of more than 50,000 Devonian fish fossils in Cuyahoga County. The Ordovician trilobite Isotelus maximus is the Ohio state invertebrate fossil.
Paleontology in Vermont comprises paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Vermont. Fossils are generally uncommon in Vermont. Nevertheless, however, significant finds have been made in the state. Very few fossils are known in Vermont east of the Green Mountains due to the type of rock underlying that area. During the early part of the Paleozoic era, Vermont was covered by a warm, shallow sea that would end up being home to creatures like brachiopods, corals, crinoids, ostracoderms, and trilobites. There are no rocks in the state from the Carboniferous, Permian, Triassic, or Jurassic periods. The few Cretaceous rocks present contain no fossils. The Paleogene and Neogene periods are also absent from the local rock record. During the Ice Age, glaciers scoured the state. At times the state was inundated by seawater, allowing marine mammals to venture in. After the seawater drained away the state was home to mastodons. Local fossils had already attracted scientific attention by the mid-19th century when mastodon remains were found in Rutland County. In 1950 a major Paleozoic invertebrate find occurred. The Pleistocene Beluga whale Delphinapterus leucas is the Vermont state fossil.
Paleontology in New Hampshire refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of New Hampshire. Fossils are very rare in New Hampshire because so much of the state's geology is highly metamorphic. The state's complicated geologic history has made dating its rocks and the fossils they contain "a difficult task." The state's Devonian rocks are especially metamorphosed, yet its Mississippian rocks formed too recently to have been subject to the same metamorphism. Nevertheless, despite the geologic complications some fossils have been discovered in the state.
Paleontology in Wisconsin refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The state has fossils from the Precambrian, much of the Paleozoic, and the later part of the Cenozoic. Most of the Paleozoic rocks are marine in origin. Because of the thick blanket of Pleistocene glacial sediment that covers the rock strata in most of the state, Wisconsin’s fossil record is relatively sparse. In spite of this, certain Wisconsin paleontological occurrences provide exceptional insights concerning the history and diversity of life on Earth.
The Laketown Dolomite is a dolomite geologic formation in Nevada and Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period.
The Jupiter Formation is a geologic formation in Quebec, well-exposed in the southern third of Anticosti Island and lying in the St Lawrence River Valley. It preserves fossils dating back to the Silurian period.
Olev Vinn is Estonian paleobiologist and paleontologist.
Crurithyris is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Spiriferida and family Ambocoeliidae.
Leiorhynchus is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Rhynchonellida and family Leiorhynchidae. Specimens have been found in South America, North America, and Russia in beds of middle Devonian to Mississippian age. The genus may have been adapted to dysaerobic environments, colonizing areas of reduced oxygen concentrations rich in organic matter. The genus has been used as an index fossil in North America.
Pugnoides is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Rhynchonellida and family Petasmariidae. Specimens have been found in Devonian to Permian beds in North America, Asia, Europe, western Australia, New Zealand,and New Zealand. The genus was particularly widespread in the Visean.
Roundyella is an extinct genus of ostracod belonging to the order Leperditellocopida and family Scrobiculidae. Specimens have been found in beds of Devonian to Triassic age in Australia, Asia, Europe, North America, and South America.