Calcite-Mineralized Fossil Wood from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada

Calcite-mineralized wood occurs in marine sedimentary rocks on Vancouver Island, British Columbia at sites that range age from Early Cretaceous to Paleocene. These fossil woods commonly have excellent anatomical preservation resulted a permineralization process where calcite infiltrated buried under relatively gentle geochemical conditions. Wood specimens typically occur calcareous concretions feldspathic clastic sediment. Other the same outcrops contain abundant mollusk and crustacea fossils are evidence plant remains were fluvially transported into basin. Fossiliferous show zoning, comprising an inner region of progressive precipitation cement developed as concentric halo around organic nucleus. An outer zone was produced by pervasive cementation, which when simultaneously precipitated pore spaces over entire zone.