Ancient Life of the Great Lakes Basin: Precambrian to PleistoceneUniversity of Michigan Press, 1995 - 287 pages Today, Michigan is home to many different animals and plants. Yet nearly 12,000 years ago it was home to very different kinds of animals and flora. Huge mastodons and mammoths roamed through southern Michigan. Whales, walruses, and giant rodents swam in the lakes, and shaggy musk oxen grazed in the woodlands. Now, 2000 years later, all but their fossils are gone. Ancient Life of the Great Lakes Basin provides a one-of-a- kind look at ancient life in the Great Lakes. Written for the layperson and for the professional with biological or geological interest in the Great Lakes region, the book describes most of the common fossils found in this region. Detailed illustrations help identify many of the fossilized organisms that can be found today. Among the most interesting illustrations presented in the book are Gijsbert van Frankenhuyzen's conceptions of what the fossilized creatures may have looked like when they were alive. In addition, color illustrations by van Frankenhuyzen depict spectacular scenes of ancient life in the Great Lakes area. The book begins with a brief review of biological and geological principles and then offers a framework for the study of the fossil record. Methods of collection, preservation and maintenance of fossils are also presented. Throughout the book, common fossils found today embedded in rocks and other solid matter are emphasized. J. Alan Holman is Curator of Vertebrate Paleontology in the Michigan State University Museum, and Professor of Geological Sciences, Michigan State University. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Geological History of the Great Lakes Basin | 15 |
The Five Biological Kingdoms | 41 |
Paleoecological Concepts | 79 |
Fossil Study | 85 |
Collecting Fossils | 93 |
Fossils of Simple Organisms and Plants | 103 |
Fossil Invertebrates | 121 |
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Common terms and phrases
abundant acanthodians ancient antiarchs bacteria body bones bony fishes brachiopods bryozoan called Cambrian carbon 14 cave Caverns late Pleistocene cells common composed corals Cretaceous deposits Devonian dinosaurs Dunkleosteus early eurypterids evolved extinct fauna fins forests fossil record freshwater geological giant beaver glacial age head shield herbivores Ice Age ice sheet important Indian Trail Caverns interglacial invertebrate J. A. Holman jaws Lakes Basin Lakes region late Pleistocene late Pleistocene postglacial late Wisconsinan Lower Peninsula lycopod mainly mammals mammoths and mastodonts mastodont Michigan Basin middle Devonian million Mississippian modern North America northern northwestern Ohio occur Ontario Ordovician organisms ostracoderms paleontologists Paleozoic Peninsula of Michigan Pennsylvanian period placoderms Precambrian predators primitive protists rayfinned reefs reptiles rocks sediments shales sharks shell Silurian skeleton skull southern species sphenopsids structures teeth tetrapods tiny Trail Caverns late trees trilobites turtles ungulates vertebrates whale wooly mammoth