Olcese Sand Formation

The Olcese Sand near Bakersfield, California, contains evidence of a range of paleoenvironments including nonmarine, estuarine, and outer shelf depositional settings. Foraminifera from surface and subsurface samples place the Olcese in the Saucesian and Relizian of the California benthic stages. A pumice bed in the Olcese has been dated by fission track methods at 15.5 Ma. The Olcese Sand interfingers with the underlying Freeman Silt and the overlying Round Mountain Silt. In the type area, in Round Mountain oil field, the Olcese is 300-360 m thick.