The McCoy Brook Formation is a

geological formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...

dating to roughly between 200 and 190

million years ago The abbreviation Myr, "million years", is a unit of a quantity of (i.e. ) years, or 31.556926 teraseconds. Usage Myr (million years) is in common use in fields such as Earth science and cosmology. Myr is also used with Mya (million years ago). ...

and covering the

Hettangian The Hettangian is the earliest age and lowest stage of the Jurassic Period of the geologic timescale. It spans the time between 201.3 ± 0.2 Ma and 199.3 ± 0.3 Ma (million years ago). The Hettangian follows the Rhaetian (part of the Triassi ...

Sinemurian In the geologic timescale, the Sinemurian is an age and stage in the Early or Lower Jurassic Epoch or Series. It spans the time between 199.3 ± 2 Ma and 190.8 ± 1.5 Ma (million years ago). The Sinemurian is preceded by the Hettangian an ...

stages. The McCoy Brook Formation is found in outcrops around the

Bay of Fundy The Bay of Fundy (french: Baie de Fundy) is a bay between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, with a small portion touching the U.S. state of Maine. It is an arm of the Gulf of Maine. Its extremely high tidal range is th ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Agen

The McCoy Brook Formation rests on the

North Mountain Basalt North Mountain (French: ''Montagne du Nord''; Gaelic: ''Beinn a Tuath'') is a narrow southwest-northeast trending volcanic ridge on the mainland portion of southwestern Nova Scotia, stretching from Brier Island to Cape Split. It forms the nor ...

, one of the volcanic flows associated with the

Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ...

–

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

boundary in the

Newark Supergroup The Newark Supergroup, also known as the Newark Group, is an assemblage of Upper Triassic and Lower Jurassic sedimentary rocks which outcrop intermittently along the United States East Coast. They were deposited in a series of Triassic basins ...

. The base of the McCoy Brook Formation is probably within 100,000 to 200,000 years of the boundary.

Scots Bay Member

This thin unit (9 m) of lacustrine sediments is preserved in six small synclinal outcrops around Scots Bay on the west side of the Blomidon Peninsula. Originally named as the ''Scots Bay Formation'', it is now correlated with the lowermost part of the McCoy Brook Formation, where it is referred to as the ''Scots Bay Member''.

Fossil content

Sharks

Ray-finned fish

Synapsids

Sphenodonts

Crocodyliforms

Dinosaurs

Ornithischia

Sauropodomorpha

Ichnotaxa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mccoy Brook Formation Geologic formations of Canada Jurassic System of North America Hettangian Stage Sandstone formations of Canada Alluvial deposits Aeolian deposits Fluvial deposits Lacustrine deposits Ichnofossiliferous formations Geology of Nova Scotia