58

Hage has collected fossils characteristic of the Pardonet beds at two
localities between Mount Hage and Chicken Creek, namely, on Sikanni
Chief River 43 miles west of the lower trail crossing, and about 1 mile west
of the same crossing. No particulars of the rocks at these places have been
published.

Geologists of an oil company have collected fossils from near the top of
the Pardonet beds in Sikanni Chief River Valley, about 6 miles west of
Mount Withrow.

Prophet River Drainage Basin

The Pardonet beds are known to occur as far north as Klingzut Mount-
ain where they have been observed by Dr. 8. 5. Holland of the British
Columbia Department of Mines and by geologists of oil companies.

The Pardonet beds disappear to the north. They do not seem to be
present in the Muskwa River drainage basin and certainly do not occur in
Tetsa and Liard River Valleys. They also seem to disappear to the east,
for at least the higher parts of the Pardonet beds have not been recognized
on Pocketknife Ridge.

Age and Correlation

(See Figure 5)

Very little is yet known of the Upper Triassic series south of Pine
River Valley. Dark, fissile siltstones with Halobia outcrop near Wapiti
Lake and can be correlated with some part at least of the Pardonet beds.

Farther south, on Vine Creek, a tributary of Athabasca River in the
Rocky Mountains, Parajaz (1931) has collected Monotis cf. subcircularis
Gabb. The beds containing this species can be correlated with the highest
of the Pardonet beds.

In southern British Columbia, in the Chilko Lake area, volcanic rocks
and other beds described by Dolmage (1925) contain Triassic, probably
Upper Triassic, fossils and may in part be of the same age as the Pardonet
beds. In the Tyaughton Lake area (Cairnes, 1943) the Noel and Pioneer
formations and the Hurley group have been referred to the Triassic and the
Tyaughton group to the Upper ‘Triassic. The Tyaughton group is equiva-
lent in part at least: to the Pardonet beds. The strata with Monotis
subcircularis can be correlated directly with the highest of the Pardonet
beds; the part of the group with Cassianella and Myophoria can probably
also be correlated with some upper part of the Pardonet beds, but not
necessarily the uppermost part. The Nicola group of the Princeton map-
area (Rice, 1947) is of Upper Triassic age equivalent to the lower, if not as
well higher, Pardonet beds. The fossils collected by Crickmay (1930)
and by Duffell from the Nicola group in the Ashcroft area also suggest a
correlation with the lower part of the Pardonet beds.

In central British Columbia the Triassic part of the Takla group in the
Takla map-area (Armstrong, 1945) is probably in part equal to the Pardonet
beds. In the Pinchi Lake Mercury belt (Armstrong, 1942) the limestone
on the north shore of Pinchi Lake containing Monotis subcircularis is
equivalent to the highest of the Pardonet beds; and the argillite on Halobia
Creek may be the equivalent of some lower part of the Pardonet beds.