The Lisburne Group and lower Paleozoic basement rocks at Mount Doonerak are in the core of a large doubly plunging anticline that is flanked by thrust faults that dip away toward the north and south.

The Carboniferous section at Mount Doonerak is more than 400 m thick. The Kayak Shale, 120 m thick, contains Tournaisian fossils in its upper beds. The basal sandstone member of the Kayak Shale is similar lithologically to the Kekiktuk Conglomerate and lies on lower Paleozoic volcanic rocks. The Wachsmuth Limestone is 111 m thick and is early to middle Visean (Meramecian) in age. The Alapah Limestone is 150 m thick and is late Visean-early Namurian (Meramecian and Chesterian) in age. The Wahoo Limestone, 40 m thick, is zone 20 (Morrowan, Pennsylvanian) in age. The upper part of the Alapah Limestone and the Wahoo Limestone lithologically resemble beds of similar age in the Romanzof Mountains and in the subsurface of northeastern Alaska.