The stratigraphy and palaeontology of the Clam Bank Formation, and the upper part of the Long Point Formation of the Port au Port Peninsula, on the west coast of Newfoundland

Abstract

This thesis is a study of the palaeontology of the Long Point and Clam Bank Formations exposed between Misty Cove and Salmon Cove on the west coast of the Port au Port Peninsula of Western Newfoundland. -- The red-beds which outcrop along the coast north of Lourdes Cove have previously been thought to be part of the red sandstones and conglomerates of the Clam Bank Formation. A detailed study of the rocks in thin section and of the palaeontology of these beds and those immediately below them, showed that these beds are conformable with, and of similar age to, the Long Point Formation. They have, therefore, been named the Lourdes Member of the Long Point Formation. -- The fauna of the upper part of the Misty Cove Member and the Lourdes Member of the Long Point Formation, and the fauna of the total exposed Clam Bank Formation is described. The age of the upper part of the Long Point Formation deduced from the fauna, is thought to be at the boundary between the Middle and Upper Ordovician, and that of the Clam Bank Formation to be Pridolian in age.