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Paleontology in New Jersey refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the US state of New Jersey. During the Precambrian, New Jersey was covered by a shallow sea that was home to stromatolite forming bacteria. During the early part of the Paleozoic, the state was still covered by the sea, which was home to creatures like brachiopods and trilobites. By the Silurian, the northern part of the state was home to a river system. Sea levels rose and fell throughout the remainder of the state's Paleozoic rock record. There are no local rocks of Carboniferous or Permian age. During the Triassic, the state was a terrestrial ecoregion. Local lakes were home to the crustacean ''Cyzicus'' and the coelacanth ''Diplurus''. On land, dinosaurs left behind footprints, and continued to do so into the Jurassic. A sea rose over southern New Jersey during the Cretaceous. Invertebrates, plesiosaurs and turtles lived in its waters. Dinosaurs roamed the land. New Jersey has the most fossiliferous Late Cretaceous rocks of the Mid-Atlantic region.〔 Southern New Jersey remained a sea home to invertebrates and sharks into the Cenozoic era. By the Ice Age, northern New Jersey was home to mastodons and glaciers covered the northern part of the state. Local Native Americans are known to have possessed petrified wood. By the late 18th century, local fossils had attracted scientific attention. In the mid-19th century ''Hadrosaurus foulkii'' was discovered and named. The Cretaceous duck-billed dinosaur ''Hadrosaurus foulkii'' is the New Jersey state fossil. ''Hadrosaurus foulkii'' is also the state dinosaur of New Jersey. ==Prehistory== During the Precambrian New Jersey was covered in seawater. The activities of contemporary local bacteria formed stromatolites in those waters. During the Cambrian period of Paleozoic era New Jersey was still inundated by seawater.〔 Cambrian life left behind few fossils in New Jersey.〔 Among the Cambrian fossils that are present were brachiopods and trilobites.〔 Stromatolites continued to form in the local area. During the ensuing Ordovician period the seas deepened.〔 Like the Cambrian, Ordovician life also left little evidence for paleontologists to interpret in New Jersey.〔 Ordovician fossils include corals, sponges, and trilobites.〔 Northern New Jersey was home to a river system during the Silurian. As time went on local sea levels rose and fell so the area alternated between a riverside or marine environment.〔 In contrast to the Ordovician, Silurian fossils were preserved in abundance near Clinton.〔 During the Late Silurian the area remained submerged by the shallow sea through the Devonian. The local sea was inhabited by creatures like brachiopods, bryozoans, corals, and crinoids. Local sediments were being eroded away rather than deposited from the Carboniferous to the Permian, so there are no rocks of this age in which fossils could have been preserved.〔 During the Triassic, New Jersey was experiencing geologic upheaval caused by the breakup of Pangaea. Rifts formed in the state as the supercontinent was being disassembled. Water filled these rifts and created large lakes. Local reptiles would sometimes be preserved in the sediments of these lakes.〔 During the Triassic, local dinosaurs left behind footprints that would later fossilize.〔 Other Triassic life included the coelacanth ''Diplurus'', which fossilized by the hundreds, and the crustacean ''Cyzicus'', which also left behind abundant fossils.〔 Cycads were significant members of the state's fossil flora.〔 In the Jurassic, Pangaea was still breaking up. Lava flows formed in New Jersey during the Jurassic. Local dinosaurs left behind footprints that would later fossilize.〔 During the ensuing Cretaceous period the southern part of New Jersey was submerged under seawater.〔 Invertebrate remains are the state's most common Cretaceous fossils. Invertebrates that lived in New Jersey during the Cretaceous include the oysters ''Exogyra ponderosa'' and ''Gryphaea''. Others include mollusks and the tubular trace fossil ''Halymenites major''.〔 Cephalopods were also present.〔 More than fifty different vertebrate species from this time have been found in New Jersey.〔 Shark teeth are relatively common, but bony fish remains are rare.〔 Among the local fishes were sharks and rays. These were generally more abundant in Cretaceous New Jersey than they were at the same time in the Seaway of the western US.〔 The swordfish-like bony fish ''Protosphyraena'' has been preserved in the Navesink Formation.〔 The turtle ''Bothremys'' also lived in New Jersey during the Cretaceous.〔 Other local marine vertebrates included plesiosaurs and squamates.〔 Occasionally fossil footprints dating back to this age are found. Few plant fossils are known in New Jersey from this time.〔 Northern New Jersey, in contrast to the state's southern half, was dry land. A rich flora grew in the state at the time. Local plants left behind leaves that would later fossilize. Local insect life also left behind fossils. Dinosaurs inhabited the region, leaving behind both footprints and bones.〔 During the Tertiary period of the ensuing Cenozoic era the local New Jersey climate was warmer than it is today. Southern New Jersey remained inundated by seawater. Brachiopods, corals, echinoderms, and sharks lived there.〔 On land, there were at least 8 kinds of Eocene bird in New Jersey.〔 Miocene life in New Jersey included a brachiopod, a crustacean, more than 60 pelecypods and more than forty gastropods.〔 During the Quaternary northern New Jersey was covered by glaciers. Local sea levels rose and fell in time with the melting or expansion of the glaciers.〔 Pleistocene deer, fish, and whale fossils have been found under the marshes of Atlantic and Cape May Counties.〔 Mastodons living in New Jersey left behind remains in places like Mannington Township and the region between Hackettstown and Vienna. Even areas off the Atlantic coast bear mastodon remains.〔 Mammoths also inhabited the state.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paleontology in New Jersey」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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