The name Stoddart formation is here proposed for a succession of late-Paleozoic strata lying above the Rundle limestone in Pacific Fort St. John No. 23 gas well. This well from which the lithological description was made is located in Lsd. 3, Section 29, Township 83, Range 16, W 6th, British Columbia.

The lithological character of the formation is very diversified but it can be divided into two units. The lower one is predominantly clastic, 1,250 feet thick and consists of waxy shales, siltstones, and sandstones, together with some limestone and dolomite. Glauconite occurs sporadically throughout and one sandstone unit contains some anhydrite. The upper unit, 915 feet thick, consists mainly of gray limestone and dolomite with chert and some intercalated clastic beds. Some beds are glauconitic and one dolomite bed contains anhydrite nodules.

The Stoddart formation appears to rest conformably on the Mississippian Rundle and underlies the so-called Permo-Pennsylvanian whose age is not yet precisely known. No direct evidence of age could be deduced from the few poorly preserved fossil fragments obtained from cores.

The upper part of the Stoddart appears to be only partly present in other wells of the Peace River area and the upper contact is believed to be unconformable, and some truncation may even have taken place at the top of the section in the Fort St. John No. 23 well. The extreme variability of the lithology makes it difficult to place the unconformity accurately and increases the difficulty of correlation from one well to another.

Following the deposition of the Rundle, this part of the Peace River area appears to have experienced a long period of negative tectonic movements; marine sedimentation took place in unstable, shallow, shelf conditions which were finally terminated by uplift and consequent widespread erosion.

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