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BEAR OREEK ANTICLINE

Bear Crdek anticline is a smal1,-. gentle fold epyessa on.
Bear Creek about 2 miles cast of mile 182.  Outcrops are in: the upper
part of the Buckinghorse formation. The extent of the structure is
not known, and as outcrops are scarce it will be difficult to map.

A few outcrops on the: creek above and below the Highway bridge at
mile 188 are suggestive of an anticline that may ee a. continuation
of Agee one on Bear Creek. "

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ECONOMIC GEOLOGY
| OIL AND cas POSSIBILITIES

The Foothills and Plains areas Porm a part of the northern
ane of promising oil territory that lies adjacent to the Rocky Mountains
and in which are located oil fields in southern Alberta and the United

. States. North of Peace River, northwest of Hudson Hope, a number of
diamond drill holes were sunk in 1921 and .1922 (Dresser, 1922) by the
British Columbia Government, mainly for geological information. In
1940 to 1942, the provincial government drilled the Commotion Creek

well (Hume, 1944, pages 50-51) on Pine River to a depth of 6,940 feet

without encountering oi1 or gas. No oil seepages were seen by the
writer, but several have been reported. Features that govern the
accumulation of oil, such as source. beds, reservoir beds, suitable
structures, and impervious cover hts are, however, known to be
So brceoneed in coe

Only the Naeenoge several . menace feet of the Palaeozoic
~ section in the mountains was studied, but the lower pert of ‘the
“friassic, the Jurassic, and the Lower Cretaceous strata all contain
marine béds that could be the source of oil or gas. The presence of
reservoir beds with sufficient porosity and permeability is important,
“but is a factor: that is difficult to evaluate without drilling. At

~ 6rosional unconformities - porous horizons are usually ‘widespread and
are, therefore, very important, especially on limestone surfaces that
have been weathered. Whether or not much porous and ‘permeable beds
are present in the Palaeozoic section cannot be stated until ait has
oaee examined in more detail. ;

Dee Medium= to fine-grained sandstone beds are ee about
500 feet from the top of the Triassic, Schooler Creek formation. On
Mount Withrow two such sandstone beds, 87 and 100 feet thick, are
separated by 280 feet of light grey limestone interbedded with cal-
careous shales and siltatones. The top of the formation is not ex-
posed on this mountain. These sandstone members are possible
reservoir beds. a)

Bullhead strata contain a large number of sandstone beds.
Where these outcrop, in the vicinity of Pink Mountain and on Sikanni
Chief River, they are indurated and have very little porosity except
“for a coarse sandstone 46 feet thick that lies 164 feet from the ‘top
of the ‘groupe The amount of induration of the rocks may, however,
detrease' away from the mountains. As these beds are known to thin
northward to the Minaker River area, it is also probable that they
- thin to the east. The sands may become finer grained to the east,
but their porosity and permeability may be as great or even greater
in that direction. These beds are, therefore, possible reservoir
“rocks. ee

The presence of structures with closure has been demon-
strated by geological mapping in this area, These structures have