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The Dunvegan formation in Pine River Canyon was described by Dawson in 1881. It was said to consist of “flaggy sandstones, often brownish grey in colour, and false-bedded or ripple-marked, greenish grey, fine-grained sandstones and black, soft argillaceous sandstones and shales holding plant impressions.... . In the valley of a small stream which cuts the bank on the south side of the canyon, not far above the river level, Mr. Selwyn, in 1875, found, in alternating strata of sandstones and shales, four thin seams of coal, which in descending order are—six inches, eight inches, two feet and eight inches thick”. The Dunvegan was also recorded by Dawson at the lower forks of Pine River, on Coal (Coldstream) Brook, and on Murray River (east branch of Pine River). In addition, fossils of the Dunvegan formation have been collected on Flat (Rhubarb) Creek.

The Dunvegan formation is exposed in the valley of Kiskatinaw River (Williams and Bocock, 1932) from its mouth to range 18.

South of Pine River Valley, Spieker (1921) recognized an upper member of the Dunvegan to which he gave the geographical name of Sukunka. It was said to comprise green shale, hardened calcareous mudstone, grey, platy, crossbedded, lenticular sandstone, with flat nodules of black shale, and some thin seams of carbonaceous material and low-grade coal.

Moberly and Peace River Valleys

In the Dunlevy-Portage Mountain map-area, the Dunvegan forma- tion is said to be best exposed on Tworidge Mountain and in Moberly River Valley. It “consists of massive, coarse- to fine-grained, buff to reddish weathering sandstones. Narrow lenses and thin beds of conglom- erate occur near the base of the formation. Higher strata consist of medium-grained, greenish weathering, micaceous sandstones, and inter- bedded greenish brown, sandy shales. Large scale crossbedding is com- mon” (Beach and Spivak, 1944).

A section of the lower part of the formation, measured by Beach and Spivak on Moberly River, near the eastern boundary of the area, is as follows:

Top of Section hieiees

Sandstone, green, shaly, fine-grained, rubbly.............-.+-- 20 Sandstone, grey, medium-grained.............eee eee eee eee 10 Sandstone, green, shaly; with interbedded sandy shale.......... 200 Simi, cancouh tenth ~o oanane cho ao uso pobooouaeeoedadDed Ao DuoUG 30 (Chyeolele sao an coun sono cAcu so sn saodnddbaobboocdusNonONGD 100 Sandstone, massive, medium-grained............6+++eeeeeeeee el Sandstone, crossbedded, fine-grained. ........---.++++eeeeeeee 70 3 Conglomerate, fossiliferous..........+++++ eee e cece eee eee eee 0-5 Sandstone, crossbedded, grey, micaceouS........-+++++++++++ 30

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Underlying beds—Cruiser formation

Unio dowlingi occurs in the lower part of the formation in this area. Beach and Spivak (1944) estimate a total thickness of more than 1,100 feet.

Far to the west, in the Foothills between Pine and Peace River Valleys, Mathews (1947) has mapped a small area of Dunvegan northeast of Mount McAllister. About 200 feet of sandstone and conglomerate are exposed. No fossils were found.