The Jarvis Creek coal field lies on the north side of the Alaska Range between latitudes 63°35' and 63°45 N., and longitudes 145°40' and 145°50 W. It is 2 to 6 miles east of the Richardson Highway. The coal field is about 16 square miles in area, the major part of which is a rolling plateau that slopes gently northward and is bounded on the east, south and west, by bluffs facing Jarvis Creek, Ruby Creek and Delta River.
The oldest rock is pre-Cambrian Birch Creek schist, which is largely quartz-sericite schist with many quartz veins, and is locally intruded by rhyolite dikes. it is overlain by the Tertiary coal-bearing formation. Quaternary deposits include gravel, till, solifluction debris, and wind-borne deposits.