The Lions Gate Member: A New Late Cretaceous Sedimentary Subdivision in the Vancouver Area of British Columbia
Sediments bordering Burrard Inlet in Greater Vancouver are described as the Lions Gate Member of the Burrard Formation. This new member, comprising the lowest part of the previously defined Burrard Formation, rests nonconformably upon deeply weathered granitic rocks of the Coast Plutonic belt, and dips southwards into the Whatcom Basin. Four sedimentary units are recognizable, comprising a basal unit of conglomerate with minor sandstone lenticles; a sandstone–siltstone unit; a shale unit; and an upper coarse arkose. The upper contact with overlying sandstone and shales of Tertiary age occurs on the south shore of Burrard Inlet. Palynomorphs from both surface and borehole samples are of Late Cretaceous (Campanian) age, suggesting correlation of the Lions Gate Member with the Extension-Protection Formation of eastern Vancouver Island.