Rocky Harbour Formation

The Rocky Harbour Formation is an Ediacaran formation cropping out in Newfoundland. Its depositional setting was deltaic, with sediments showing the influence of tides and waves.^[4]

Rocky Harbour Formation
Stratigraphic range: Ediacaran 580 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N ↓
Type	Formation
Unit of	Musgravetown Group
Underlies	Crown Hill Formation[1]
Overlies	Maturin Ponds Formation[1]
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone[1]
Other	Siltstone, Tuff, Diamictite[2]
Location
Region	Newfoundland
Country	Canada
Type section
Named by	Jenness 1963
Occurrence of the Rocky Harbour Formation in southeastern Newfoundland[3]

It is also known to preserve pre-Gaskiers glaciation fossils, in the form of Palaeopascichnid specimens, around 579 Ma.^[2]

Facies from top to bottom

As reported in,^[4] and partly in.^[2]

• Herring Cove

Peperite, it is also one of fossil bearing facies of this formation.

• Kings Cove Lighthouse

Purple to pink medium/coarse sandstones with rip-up clasts. It is also one of fossil bearing facies of this formation.

• Kings Cove North

Wave-influenced, light grey/green/yellow fissile siltstone (weathering white); laminated; interbedding with fine ssts.

• Monk Bay

Dark grey trough-crossbedded and rippled sandstones; poor sorting, coarse to fine grains.

• Cape Bonavista

Crossbedded coarse pink arkosic sandstones

Type section

Ford's Harbour (previously known (or mapped) as Rocky Harbour).^[4]

Paleobiota

The Rocky Harbour Formation is currently the oldest formation in Newfoundland, Canada, to bear pre-Gaskiers glaciation fossil material at around 579 Ma,^[2] although it is beaten by the Lantian Formation, which sits at 602 - 577 Ma. These fossils are of the enigmatic Palaeopascichnids,^[2] elongated to agglutinated organisms which consist of multiple sausage-shaped chambers or spherical or hemispherical chambers that occasionally branch.^[5]

Color key Taxon Reclassified taxon Taxon falsely reported as present Dubious taxon or junior synonym Ichnotaxon Ootaxon Morphotaxon		Notes Uncertain or tentative taxa are in small text; crossed out taxa are discredited.

incertae sedis

Genus	Species	Notes	Images
Orbisiana?[2]	Orbisiana sp.	Agglutinated, branching organism.
Palaeopascichnus[2]	P. linearis	Elongated, branching organism.