Silurian Period
(400-440 million years ago)
Until very recently, no Silurian rocks or [fossils] were known in Colorado, and it was thought that seas did not extend into the state during this period. However, a few years ago good Silurian corals and [brachiopods] were discovered near the northern edge of the state. They occur in broken blocks and patches of Silurian limestone, mingled with blocks of other [sedimentary rocks] and, oddly enough, with volcanic material.
What seems to have happened here is that sedimentary layers of Silurian age were present over northern Colorado at one time. During some subsequent period of volcanism, volcanic lavas penetrated these sediments from below. Near the volcanic tubes, broken, angular fragments of the surrounding sedimentary rocks were sometimes carried upward or downward by the motion of the [lava].
Much later, both the volcanic outpourings (if the lavas ever reached the surface) and the sediments were stripped away by erosion, probably at a time when mountains were rising in the area. Only the deep portions of the tubes that fed the volcanoes were preserved. These tubes are called [diatremes], and thanks to the blocks of sedimentary rock in them we know that there were indeed seas in Colorado during Silurian time, seas containing the abundant life of a shallow marine environment very much like that existing at the same time in Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana.
Devonian Period
(350-400 million years ago)
As far as we know now, Colorado was just a little above sea level during most of Devonian time. Early and Middle Devonian deposits are lacking. Late in the period, however, Colorado was widely inundated once more. Embayments of a western sea covered most of the central part of the state and an area in southwestern Colorado around Ouray.
Deposits formed in these embayments have been given several names. Chaffee Formation is the name most commonly used in central Colorado; Ouray Formation identifies rocks of the same age in southwest Colorado. The Chaffee Formation has been subdivided into two well defined units, the Parting Sandstone or Quartzite, and the Dyer Dolomite or Limestone. Many ore deposits are associated with these rock units—notably deposits of lead and zinc. The Parting Sandstone is frequently so well cemented with silica that it is actually a quartzite; thin shale beds or “partings” make it easy to recognize. It frequently contains remains of [fossil] fish and distinctive beds of algae.
The Dyer Dolomite contains [brachiopods] and [bryozoans], [mollusks] and corals. Some of the best [fossil] hunting in Colorado is in Dyer beds around the White River [Plateau], where the fossils frequently weather out of the rock as almost perfect specimens.
These Devonian [brachiopods] come from the White River [Plateau] in western Colorado.