Fossil plants applied to dating of the Hazelton group

Fossil plant remains from the "upper sedimentary-unit" of the Hazelton Group were investigated in order to attempt the assignment of a precise age to the strata. Collections of leaves and specimens for plant microfossil analysis were collected in the Hazelton area, and were supplemented by leaf collections loaned by the Geological Survey of Canada. Intensive maceration of rock specimens failed to yield sufficient microfossils for dating or correlation, and subsequent work was limited to the analysis of megafossils. Identification of leaves and other remains resulted in the discovery of one new species and the recognition of 7 species previously unreported in the Hazelton flora. Statistical analyses and correlations with other floras have led to the conclusion that, the flora from the "upper sedimentary unit" of the Hazelton Group is late Jurassic to early Cretaceous in age, encompassing the stages Portlandian to Neocomian inclusive.Science, Faculty ofEarth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences, Department ofGraduat