Britannica
Sources used in this answer
Which geologists proposed the name Devonian in 1839?
Created from Britannica articles
using AI.
AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Devonian Period
Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins during the early Devonian Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.
The English geologist Adam Sedgwick and the Scottish geologist Roderick Murchison proposed the name Devonian in 1839.12
They introduced this designation for marine rocks found in southwestern England, specifically in the county of Devon, after William Lonsdale identified that local fossil corals appeared to be intermediate between the underlying Silurian Period and the overlying Carboniferous Period. Their findings were formally presented to the Geological Society of London in their 1839 paper, "On the Physical Structure of Devonshire".12