PRELIMINARY SURVEY OF THE COAL RESOURCES OF UF'PER CRETACEOUS ROCKS, NORTHEASTERN BRITISH C0LUM;BIA (93,941 By Barry Ryan

KEYWORDS: Coal geology,Dunvegan Formation. Wapiti ary point and thenorth side extends250 kilmxnetres west from Formation the same point. There are two major Upper Cretaceour. coal-bearing for- INTRODUCTION mations in this area separited by marine shales: the IDun- The area covered by this study area forms a triangle in the vegan Formation of Cenomanian age and the Wapiti Forma- northeast corner of . The east side of the tion of Late Cretaceous to Early Paleocene age. Figure 48-1 triangleextends 600 kilometres south from the British illustrates the general extellt of outcrops of Dunvegan md Columbia. Alherta. Northwest Territories common bound- Wapiti formations in Northeastern British Columbia. Coal also occurs in at least one $.mall Tertiary basin. The lower part of the Dunvegan Formalion includes ,130- metre section containing up to four coal seams, all gener,llly less than SO centimetresthick. Lateral (extent of the roal seams within the Dunvegan is not known, but they are absent in some outcrop locations. Drilling in the Wapiti Formation south of indicates that a single seam, gener- ally less than 2 metres thick, is nearly alviays present at the base of the formation. A lertiary basin containing about 5 nietresofligniteextending~~veranareaofapproximatelqtiby 15 kilometres is located on the at Mile 533. In general the open-pitcoal resource potentialof the L'pper Cretaceous appears at this time to he marginal even for local markets. It is possible that the Tertiary coal basins may provide more resource potential

1989 FIELD PROGRAM The 19x9 field program consisted of two weeks fieldhork in September. The late star):did not permit a longer or more detailed field study. In preparationfor the fieldwork all geological literatureon the area was checked for references to cnal occurrences, and a number of people were cont,rcted who might have detailedknowledge of coal in thearea. Generally the area is rollingfarmland or wooded and swampy. Rivers have incised canyons inta the landscap: tn produce good outcrops. It was found that the low-rank ,arals survive as boulders in the rivers and that boulder prospec ing would probably he effectlvefor a limi.ted distancefrom source. Roads in the vicinityofchetwynd, DawionCreek and Fort St. John were driven extensively. North of Fort St. John the Alaska Highway and the Liard Highway (No. 77) were checked to Coal River and the Northwest Territories border. respectively. An attempt was made tO examine as many known coal OY**ITI* "LL- : Ni occurrences as possible. as well as to prospect in obvious ,> ,..\- places adjacent to roads.Fifteen coal samples were collected, ,,I. in most cases they are extensively weathered and will proha- r 8ilmII.LI i bly only be useful for total ash and vitrinite reflectance rank Figure 4-8- I. Location of Dunvegm and Wapiti formation determinations. All coal occurrences identified in the lit,?ra- outcrops in Northwestern British Columbia. ture or found during the season are tabulated. Geo/ocqico/Fieldwork /989, Pup- IYYO-l 469 TABLE 4-8-1 LOCATION OF UPPER CRETACEOUS COAL OUTCROPS - Occurrence Formation Coal Description Description Location Reference

Lune Prairie One to four coal scams each less than 15 km southeas1 of Chetwynd: 2.2 km Present study 30 cm thick: very weathered; flat dipping. cast of the Lone PrairielTumbler Ridge road intersection on the Lone Prairie road. Moberly Lake Single seam less than 30 em thick: ver) 4 km north of Chetwynd on Highway 29: Present study weathered: flat dipping. east sidc of road. Island Lake road Single seam: 15 cm thick; near base of Off Highway 2. 30km south of Pouce Present study Wmiti. Coup< on Island Lake road I .27km north of Kirkstmaw Rivet Kiskatinaw bridge. Three coal seams from top to bottom. 50, Between Dawson Creek and Fon St. John Present study Alaska Highway 70 and 20 cm thick ~n30 cm of sand and under bridge over Kiskatinaw Rwer: nonh mudstone stratigraphy. sde. Three thin coal seams from top to bottom, 5.5 km south of bridge over Race River Present study IO, 35 and 10 em Ihtck. and 100 m east of Alaska Highway. Doig River Boulders up to 20 cm in length in river 35 km northeast of Fon St. John and Present study kd. 20 km above confluence with Bsaton River a secondary road crosscs Doig River. Lower Cache Creek One W-cm seam including 55 cm of clean 35 km north of Fon St. John on Highway Present study road Coal. 97: 7.2km on Lower Cache Creek road to mutheart. Blueberry River A few small boulders of coal in rwer bed. 55 km north of Fon St. John and 20 km Present study east of Buik. Coal River Lignite boulders in river bed: outcrop Milc 533. (Khmetre XSX) Alaska Present study approximately 10 km upriver. Basin about Highway. McConnell (18911, 5 Lm by 15 km. McLeam and Kindle (19501, Williams (19441 Wapiti Single seam at base of formation: up to South of Dawson Creek. G"lf(19811 2 m thick. Coldstream Creek Coal occurrences. no thickness specified. Southeast of East Pine on Highway 97 Selwyn (1877) between Dawson Creek and Chetwynd. South of Pine River Thin coal beds. South of Smoky River. Spieker (1921) valley Pme River canyon Four coal seamr top to bottom. 15. 20, 61 East of Chetwynd near Wanenbe Mtn. Selwyn (18771 and 70 cm thick. Pine River 61 cm coal seam. Near East Pinc on Highway 97. Williams (1934) Kiskatinaw River 51 Cm seam. 5 km above mouth of Kiskalinaw River. Williams (1934) Doig River 76 cm seam and 30 cm seam 16 km above mouth of Doig River. Williams (1934) Alaska Hlghway Thin coal seams in quarry. Mile 66 (Kilometre IOh), Alaska Hage (19441 Mile 66 Highway, quarry. Table Mtn 30 cm coal seam near base of Dunvegan. Mile 354 (Kilometre 3701, Alaska Williams (1944) Highway. 50 cm seam. 15 km upriver from Fon Liard. Hage (1945) Pretty Hill Liard River mu0 small Tertlary coal basins 20 km soulh of Watson Lake on Alaska Dowling (19151 Hlghway. Petitot River Coal in mudstone. no thickness given Near Highway 77 and B.C. border St011 i1982) Kotaneelee River 3R cm coal seam, poor quality. 20 km up the Liard River from Foll Liard. Hage (1945) 3 km above mouth of Kotaneelee River.

4 70 British Columbiu Geological Survey Brunch STRATIGRAPHY ACKNOWLEDGMENTS DUNVEGANFORMATION Field and office assistance was provided Iby Hank Kucela. The author would like to thank Lloyd Gething. Corilaoe The Dunvegan Formation is of Cenomanian age; it con- Bickford and Michael Daws,nn for useful conversations. tains mainly nonmarine sands andconglomerates, but marine shales are also present.The thickness ranges from I50 to 200 REFERENCES metres.Generally the Dunveganoutcrops as lightbuff- coloured,massive, coarselycrossbedded sandstones with Dowling,D.B. (1915): CoalFields of British Columbla; some mudstone or silty zones;channels are often visible. The Geological Survey of , Memoir 309, page f9. base of the Dunvegan is usually underlain by dark marine GulfResources CanadaLtd. (1981):Wapiti Project Geolo;;i- shales of theShaftesbury or Sullyformations; the top is calReport; B.C.Minisfry of Energy, Mirle,r and overlain by the marine shales of the Kaskapau Formation. Pelt-oleum Resources, Coal Assessment Report 006$,5 Thin coal seams occur in the lower part of the formation. Hage, C.O. (1944): Geology Adjacent to ::he Alaska HiE:h- No reports of seams thicker than I metre have been found. way between Fort St. John and For). Nelson, Brit sh Columbia; Geological ,Survey ofCatrodu, Paper 44-50, WAPITIFORMATION page 22. ___ (1945): Geological Reconnaissance Along Lower In British Columbia south of Dawson Creek, the Wapiti Liard River, British Columbia, Yukon, and Northwst Formation consists of nonmarine clastic sediments, mainly Territories; Geological Survey ofCunudn,Paper 45-:!2, sandstones and siltstones. It has an estimated thickness of page 33. 400 metres and ranges in age from Late Cretaceous to Early McConnell, R.G. (1891 1: Report on an Exploration in .he Paleocene. Thebase is underlain by the Chungo sandstone of Yukon and MackenzieBasins: Geo!ogicul Survey the Puskwaskau Formation. A thin coal seam marks the base of of the Wapiti. The coal-bearing sections found in in Carmdu, Annual Report 1888, 1889. Volume IV, Fart D, 1891. the upper part of the Wapiti appear to have been eroded in British Columbia. McLearn, EH. and Kindle, E.D. (1950):Geology of North- eastern British Columbia; Geological Survey of Cm- nda, Memoir 259, page I IO. MINING HISTORY Selwyn, A.R.C. (1877): Report on Exploration in British Columbia in 1875; GeologicalSurvey of Cun,:l,in, There are no reports of commercial mining of Upper Report of Progress 187'5.76, pages 25-86. Cretaceous coals in Northeastern British Columbia. Minor Spieker,E.M.(1921):The(;eologyandOilResourcesofthe amounts of coal hwe been taken from seams in the Dunvegan Foothills South of Pexe River in Northeastern British Formation in Beatton andKiskatinaw rivers in the past. Columbia, Report on 'Oil Surveys in Peace River Dis- During construction of the Alahka Highway, lignite at Coal trict 1820 hy John A. Dresser and Edlnond M. Spit:l:er: River was used for heating camps. B.C. Depurfrnenf ofLmd.s,page 21. StottD.F.(1982):LowerCretaceousFortS,t.JohnGroupmd Upper Cretaceous DunveganFormation of Foothill:; ,md UPPER CRETACEOUS AND Plains of Alberta, British Columbia, District of Mac- YOUNGER COAL OUTCROPS kenzie and Yukon Territory; GeoloRh7al Survey ($Can- Table 4-8-1 locates and describes a11 coal occurrences uda, Bulletin 328, page 69. found during this study or mentioned in the literature. Gener- Williams,M.Y. (1934): A Summary of theMi~wral ally references to coal occurrences in the literatureare Resources of the Peace River Area of British Colurnbia; lacking in detail,some exceptionsare as follows: Gulf The Miner, Vancouvev, B.C., January 1934.

Resources Canada Ltd. 11981) provides a detailed evaluation ~ (1944):Geological Reconnai!.sance Alongthe of the resource potential of the Wapiti Formation south of Alaska Highwayfrom Fort Nelson,B.C. to W:ason Dawson Creek: McLearn and Kindle (1950) and Williams Lake, Yukon; GeoIo,piruI Survey of Canuda. Piper (1944) provide some details on the Coal River lignite basin. 44-28.

Geologirnl Fieldwork 1989, Papel- 1990-1 471 ""

NOTES