Provenance of the Paleocene-Eocene Oyster Bay Formation, British Columbia

Abstract

The Oyster Bay Formation is a recessive, thin-bedded, fine-grained succession that disconformably overlies the Upper Cretaceous Nanaimo Group in isolated exposures along the eastern coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The Formation consists of thin-bedded siltstone and sandy siltstone intercalated with lesser intervals, and contain permineralized fossil plants, gastropods, decapods, corals, echinoderms, bivalves, and foraminifera. Those fossils, coupled with fossilized crab burrows, suggest a shallow marine depositional setting. Paleontology and palynology suggest a Palocene to Eocene age.