You were the only member of the group who spent their time looking at cathedral walls through a pocket magnifier during your trip to Europe.
Stratigraphic Names
These are the fellows responsible for naming the stratagraphic
units that decribe rocks through geologic time.
Cambrian
Adam Sedgwick proposed the Cambrian System in 1835 for
a series of shale and sandstone in northern Wales. Excellant
exposures of Cambrian rocks occur in California, Utah, Alberta,
British Columbia, and Wisconsin.
Ordovician
Charles Lapworth named the Ordovician System in 1879
for a series of rocks involved in a controversy concerning
the boundry of the Cambrian and Silurian Systems. Ordovician
rocks are wll developed in New York, Ohio, Utah, and Nevada.
Silurian
Roderick Impey Murchison proposed the Silurian System
in 1835 for exposures in southern Wales. Silurian rocks are
well developed in the Niagara Gorge region of New York and
Ontario.
Devonian
Roderick Impey Murchison and Adam Sedgwick proposed the
Devonian System for rocks in Devonshire England. Devonian rocks
are well developed in New York and Pennsylvania.
Mississippian
Alexander Winchell proposed the Mississippian System
in 1870 for the Lower Carboniferous rocks exposed in the
Mississippi River Valley.
Pennsylvanian
Henry Shaler Williams proposed the Pensylvanian System
in 1891 for the coal bearing rocks of Pennsylvania, equivalent
to the Upper Carboniferous of Britain.
Permian
Roderick Impey Murchison named the Permian System from
the province of Perm on the west flank of te Ural Mountains in
Russia. Reef associated exposures in West Texas and New Mexico
are standards fro North America.
Triassic
Friedrich von Alberti introduced the term Triassic in
1834 for the three fold subdivision of salt bearing rocks in
northern Germany. Triassic rocks are extensive in the Mountain
West.
Jurassic
Alexander von Humbolt named the Jurassic from rocks in
in the Jura Mountains in northern Switzerland in 1795.
Leopold von Buch proposed it as a system in 1839. Much scenary
of the Colorado Plateau is carved into Jurassic rocks.
Cretaceous
d'Omalius d'Halloy proposed the term Cretaceous in 1822
for the chalk-bearing sandstones and shales around the Paris
Basin in France. Cretaceous rocks are well developed in the
Coastal Plains and western interior of Canada and the United
States.
Tertiary
Giovanni Arduino defined Tertiary rocks in 1760 in Italy
as separate from the Primary and Secondary. Epochs were proposed
by Charles Lyell in 1883 from type sections in France. Tertiary
rocks are extensive in the High Plains and Coastal Plains of
North America.
Quaternary
Jules Desnoyers proposed the Quaternary in 1829 for young
sedimentary deposits in France.
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