Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Special Volumes and Special Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscribers
    • FAQ
    • Terms & Conditions for use of AJS Online
  • Instructions to Authors
    • Focus and paper options
    • Submit your manuscript
  • Site Features
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Usage Statistics
    • RSS
  • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • The Journal

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
American Journal of Science
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
American Journal of Science

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Archive
    • Special Volumes and Special Issue
  • Subscriptions
    • Subscribers
    • FAQ
    • Terms & Conditions for use of AJS Online
  • Instructions to Authors
    • Focus and paper options
    • Submit your manuscript
  • Site Features
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
    • Usage Statistics
    • RSS
  • About Us
    • Editorial Board
    • The Journal
  • Follow ajs on Twitter
  • Visit ajs on Facebook
  • Follow ajs on Instagram
OtherArticles

James Dwight Dana and the Taconic controversy

John Rodgers
American Journal of Science March 1997, 297 (3) 343-358; DOI: https://doi.org/10.2475/ajs.297.3.343
John Rodgers
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

James D. Dana, being out of the country at the time, took no part in the early stages of the Taconic controversy (1840-1842). When he returned, he simply accepted the opinion of the majority, who rejected Emmons' claim that the Taconic System is separate from and entirely older than the New-York System-the well exposed and clearly displayed Lower and Middle Paleozoic stratigraphic sequence in New York State then being established by Emmons and his colleagues. When in 1861 Barrande showed that two trilobites described by Emmons in 1844 from a single locality in his Taconic slate were in fact "Primordial" (we would now call them Early Cambrian) and hence older than the oldest strata in the New-York System (Late Cambrian), Dana agreed to the age assignment. But he argued consistently that the validity of Emmons' Taconic System must be judged from the "original" or "true" Taconic of 1842, not from the greatly broadened Taconic of 1844 in which the trilobites were found. In 1871 Dana began fifteen summers of field work in the original Taconic region of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, and its extensions. Fossils had already been found and more were discovered, and they showed that at least the greater part of the "original Taconic" is in fact coeval with the lower part of the New-York System. But at the same time S. W. Ford showed that Emmons' trilobites and associated "Primordial" fossils are common in a belt west of the original Taconic region but between it and the established New-York System. Ford also showed that the contact of that belt with the New-York System to the west is not an unconformity, as Emmons had thought, but a major fault, comparable to the "great dislocation" found by Logan in the analogous position at Quebec City. Finally C. D. Walcott found additional fossil localities, which showed that both the original and the broadened Taconic include both strata older than and strata coeval with the New-York System; he concluded that the name Taconic has no further usefulness in stratigraphic nomenclature, and the matter was then considered closed. (The fossils also showed however that Dana's, as well as Emmons', concepts of the structure were far too simple, and they led to a second, 20th-century, Taconic controversy.)

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

American Journal of Science
Vol. 297, Issue 3
1 Mar 1997
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on American Journal of Science.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
James Dwight Dana and the Taconic controversy
(Your Name) has sent you a message from American Journal of Science
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the American Journal of Science web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
1 + 18 =
Solve this simple math problem and enter the result. E.g. for 1+3, enter 4.
Citation Tools
James Dwight Dana and the Taconic controversy
John Rodgers
American Journal of Science Mar 1997, 297 (3) 343-358; DOI: 10.2475/ajs.297.3.343

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
James Dwight Dana and the Taconic controversy
John Rodgers
American Journal of Science Mar 1997, 297 (3) 343-358; DOI: 10.2475/ajs.297.3.343
Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • PREFACE
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Timing and Nd-Hf isotopic mapping of early Mesozoic granitoids in the Qinling Orogen, central China: Implication for architecture, nature and processes of the orogen
  • India in the Nuna to Gondwana supercontinent cycles: Clues from the north Indian and Marwar Blocks
  • Unravelling the P-T-t history of three high-grade metamorphic events in the Epupa Complex, NW Namibia: Implications for the Paleoproterozoic to Mesoproterozoic evolution of the Congo Craton
Show more Articles

Similar Articles

Navigate

  • Current Issue
  • Archive

More Information

  • RSS

Other Services

  • About Us

© 2023 American Journal of Science

Powered by HighWire