Stratigraphic and Depositional Relationships between the Bluesky Marker Unit, Gething Marine Tongue, and Upper Coal Measures of the Gething Formation

• Main Author: A. Legun
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1984
• Subjects: Bluesky; Burnt River; Canada; Duff; Peace River
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.176.5116; http://www.empr.gov.bc.ca/Mining/Geoscience/PublicationsCatalogue/Fieldwork/Documents/1983/16_legun_p117-122.pdf

A recent correlation of Lower Cretaceous coal measures in the Peace River coalfields (Duff and CNilchrist, 1981) documented the presence of a major marine tongue in the Gething Formation south of Sukunka River (Figs. 45 and 46). This tongue divides the Gething Formation into upper;and lower coal-bearing sequences. Prominent coals in the upper sequence include the Bird, Skeeter, and Chamberlain seam of BP Exploration (Canada) Limited's Sukunka property. Deposits of the marine tongue thin to the southeast and thicken to the northwest. They consist of an upward coarsening sequence of intcrbedded siltstones and sandstones that is free of coal: they commonly contain the marine bivalve Enrolium irenense. 13eposits 'shale out ' to the northwest into the Moosebar Formation, while becoming sandy and even pebbly to the southeast where they thin. To the northwest coal drill-hole data from BP's Sukurlka and Teck Corporation's Burnt River East properties indicate that the Bird, Skeeter, and Chamberlain seams pinch out (in that order) and are replaced by marine sandstone and siltstone. Similarly, gamma and density logs from petroleum and gas wells show that the upward coarsening sequence of the marine tongue persis1.s to the northwest but loses coal 'density kicks ' at the top (for example, see Quasar et al O8:tco. 6200 ' to 6600 ' in Duff and Gilchrist, 1981). The presence or absence of coal may be used as a measure of the areal limit of the upper coal-bearing