Geological Survey of Canada, Current Research (Online) 2005-A4

Book excerpt: The Quilchena fossil site in the Okanagan Highlands of south central British Columbia is a rich repository of Eocene plant, insect, & fish fossils. Reliable age assignment of this site is critical in order to reconstruct the biogeographic, climatic, & evolutionary relationships between the flora & fauna of the Okanagan Highlands and those of other Tertiary sites around the world. Previous radiometric age determinations have been variable and inconclusive. This paper presents new data using uranium-lead dating of zircons from a thick tephra combined with argon-argon dating of sanidine crystals from the same bed. The age determined can be securely ascribed to the Quilchena fossils, since the dated tephra was deposited within the fossil-bearing shale & mudstone sequences.