Quick Search:    advanced search

GSW Home   GeoRef Home   My GSW Alerts   Contact GSW   About GSW   Journals List   Help

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in Web of Science Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Web of Science (4) Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Narayan, Y. R. Articles by Johns, M. J. Search for Related Content GeoRef GeoRef Citation

Taxonomy and biostratigraphy of Cenozoic foraminifers from Shell Canada wells, Tofino Basin, offshore Vancouver Island, British Columbia

¹ School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, PO Box 3055, STN CSC, University of Victoria, Victoria, BC, V8W 3P6, Canada
² Pacific PaleoQuest, PO Box 220, Brentwood Bay, BC, V8M 1R3, Canada, email: roshni_narayan{at}hotmail.com, crbarnes{at}uvic.ca, ppq{at}shaw.ca

Detailed descriptions and stratigraphic analysis of 159 species of foraminifers recovered from six existing wells drilled in the Tofino Basin, offshore Vancouver Island support the establishment of 10 zones, ranging from upper Eocene to Pleistocene-Recent. The newly refined stratigraphic ages improve correlations between the offshore Tofino Basin and onshore outcrops of the Carmanah Group on western Vancouver Island and to other areas in the Pacific North-west and Canadian Arctic.

Paleobathymetric estimates from interpreted biofacies changes indicate a shallowing upward trend throughout the Oligocene, with deep biofacies encountered during the early Miocene and early Pliocene, reflecting a major transgression or basin subsidence. Late Pliocene-Pleistocene inner to outer neritic biofacies, cool-water faunal assemblages and coarser-grained lithology indicate a regressive phase and regional onset of glaciation.

The TB represents a complex tectono-stratigraphy, which has undergone episodic uplift, tectonic underthrusting, climatic cooling and eustatic fluctuations resulting in complex facies changes, stratigraphic breaks and structural complexities. The new, updated biostratigraphy has constrained many of these regional geological events, with improved/high resolution analysis of correlations and paleoenvironmental interpretations. Proposed lifting of federal and provincial moratoriums on offshore exploration and development has renewed interest in offshore energy resource potential, reassessment of existing data, and interpretations of the Tofino Basin (TB) and adjacent shelf architecture. This study provides baseline data for future taxonomy, biostratigraphy, basin modeling and energy resource assessments.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				D. B. SAJA, H. W. PFEFFERKORN, and S. P. PHIPPS BATHYSIPHON (FORAMINIFERIDA) AT PACHECO PASS, CALIFORNIA: A GEOPETAL, PALEOCURRENT, AND PALEOBATHYMETRIC INDICATOR IN THE FRANCISCAN COMPLEX Palaios, March 1, 2009; 24(3): 181 - 191. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]