What we find at crime scenes and fossil sites is just as interesting as what is missing. We see this play out in some of the freshwater sites of British Columbia.
The Okanagan Highlands act as the epicentre to an arc of 50-million lakebed sites that extend from Smithers in the north to the fossil sites of Republic, Chuckanut in Washington state. The grouping includes the fossil sites of Driftwood Canyon, Quilchena, Allenby, Tranquille, McAbee, Princeton and Republic. These fossil sites range in time from Early to Middle Eocene, and the fossil they contain give us a snapshot of what was happening in this part of the world because of the varied plant fossils they contain. While the area around the Interior of British Columbia was affected.
McAbee, near Cache Creek, was not as warm as some of the other Middle Eocene sites, a fact inferred by what we see and what is conspicuously missing. In looking at the plant species, it has been suggested that the area of McAbee had a more temperate climate, slightly cooler and wetter than other Eocene sites to the south at Princeton, British Columbia and Republic and Chuckanut, Washington.
Missing are the tropical Sabal (palm), seen at Princeton and the impressive Ensete (banana) and Zamiaceae (cycad) found at Republic and Chuckanut, Washington. Everytime I see a sabal palm now, I'll be tempted to say, "the vic."
