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H •^>ic^

HARVARD COLLEGE
LIBRARY

LIBRARY OF THE

MINERALOGICAL
LABORATORY

UNIVERSITY MUSEUM

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DEPARTMENT OF THE UHmRlOBK^^- q^a<^i
Albdt B. Fall, Secrllav .«A\f (Li— -^A^/

J^^^

United States GsoLOGici

GaoBOB Otib SmrH, Direetor

Banetin 726

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY

(SHORT PAPSB8 kSb PRSLIMINABT REPORTS)

1921

Part n.— MINERAL FUELS

DATID WHITE Ain> M . R. GAMFBBLL
eiOLoeisTs in CHAnei

WASHINGTON

OOVBBNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1922

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^^^V.^

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CONTENTS.

^Tbe letters in parentheses preceding the titles are those used to designate the papers for

advance paMication.]

Page.

(A) The New Salem lignite field, Morton County, N. Dak., by E. T. Han-

cock (published May 6, 1921) _ 1

(B) Geology of the Cement oil field*, Caddo County, Okla., by Frank

Reeves (published August 10, 1921) 41

J. B. Reeside, jr. (published August 15, 1921) 87

(D) Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak., by C. M.

Bauer and F. A. Herald (published December 3. 1921) 109

(K) Geologic structure of parts of New Mexico, by N. H. Darton (pub-
lished March 81, 1922) 173

(F) Geologic structure and oil and gas prospects of a part of Jefferson

Ck>unty, Okla., by H. M. Robhison (published Etecember 20, 1921 )_ 277

(G) The Lacasa area, Ranger district, north-central Texas, by C. S.

Ross (published December 23, 1921) 303

Index 315

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.
Plate I. A, Level upland in vicinity of New Salem. N. Dak. • B, Valley

of Heart River In T. 138 N., R. 83 W., N. Dak 6

II. A, Large glacial boulders on upland in sec. 17, T. 138 N., R. 84
W., N. Dak. ; B, Cannonball marine member of Lance forma-
tion in bluff of Heart River, sec. 10, T. 138 N., R. 83 W.,
N. Dak 7

III. Sections showing thickness, positions, and names of lignite

beds in New Salem field, Morton County, N. Dak 14 •

IV. A, Dakota Products Co.'s mine near New Salem, N. Dak.;

B, Crown Butte, on upland in sec. 31, T. 140 N., R. 82 W.,

N.Dak 26

V. Geologic map of the New Salem lignite field, Morton County,

N.Dak 38

VI. Geologic map of Oklahoma showing oil and gas fields 42

VII. Erosion features of Cyril gypsum and Whitehorse sandstone— 48

VIII. Erosion features of Cyril gypsum and Whitehorse sandstone— 49

IX. Cross-bedding In Whitehorse sandstone 60

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IV HXUSTRATIONS.

Page.
Platb X. Plotted logs of 11 wells in Cement oil field, Caddo County,

Okla 72

XL Structural map of Cement oil field and surrounding territory,

Caddo County, Okla In pocket.

XII. Structural map of Kiowa area, Caddo County, Okla In pocket.

XIII. A, " Breaks " of the Little Missouri, looking southeast toward

the mouth of Hans Creek, N. Dak. ; B, A thick bed of lignite

in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 112

XIV. A, Badlands In sec. 26, T. 147 N., R. 93 W.. N. Dak. ; B, Bad-

lands in sec. 25, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak IIS

XV. A, Missouri River, N. Dak., as seen from the upper margin of
the badlands, looking north ; B, Valley of Moccasin Creek

near its mouth, in sec. 6, T. 147 N., R. 92 W., N. Dak 114

XVI. Stratigraphic sections In Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,

N. Dak., showing correlation of coal beds 128

XVIL Sections of lignite beds in the northern part of the Fort

Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 132

XVIII. A, Bare buttes of the Fort Union formation on the south side
of Hans Creek, N. Dak. ; B, Log concretions in Fort Union

formation ^ 140

XIX. A, Glacial boulders on the upland In T. 147 N., R. 93 W.,

N. Dak. ; B, Bed of lignite 8 feet thick in natural exposure -

in sec. 14, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak 141

XX. Sections of lignite beds in the northern part of the Fort

Berthold Indian Reservation, N. EHik 144

XXI. A, Fossil log standing nearly upright in clay shale of the

Fort Union formation ; B, Fossil stump in Fort Union for-
mation 152

XXII. A, Sage-brush flat of Hans Creek, N. Dak., and bluffs of

the Fort Union formation ; B, Rolling upland in the Fort
Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 153

XXIII. Sections of lignite beds in the southwestern part of the

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 154'

XXIV. A, Buttes in sec. 9, T. 148 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak. ; B, Buttes I

In T. 148 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak leoj

XXV. A, View up Squaw Creek, N. Dak. ; B, Bare buttes in Squaw |

Creek valley in sec. 10, T. 148 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak le^

XXVI. Sections of lignite in the southern part of the Fort Berthold

Indian Reservation, N. Dak 171

XXVII. Map of the northern part of the Fort Berthold Indian Reser-
vation, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite beds In pocket

XXVIII. Map of the southwestern part of the Fort Berthold Indian

Reservation, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite beds.In pockel
XXIX. Map of the southern part of the Fort Berthold Indian Reser-
vation, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite beds In pockel

XXX. Map of New Mexico 17

XXXI. A, Bliss sandstone, San Andres Mountains, N. Mex. ; B, Coyote

Butte, N. Mex 18

XXXII. A, Bluewater Canyon, N. Mex.; B, Inscription Rock, N.

Mex 16

XXXIII. A, Wingate sandstone at Rito, N. Mex.; B, Sandstone of

Glorieta Mesa, near La Cuesta, N. Mex X

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ILLUSTRATIONS. V

Page.

Plate XXXIV. Sandstones at Navajo Church, N. Mex 180

XXXV. A^ Navajo and Dakota sandstones at Marque, N. Mex. ;

B, Dakota sandstone at Bluewater Falls, N. Mex 196

XXXVI. A^ Dome near San Ignacio, N. Mex.; B, West front of

Sacramento Mountains, N. Mex ' 197

XXXVII. West front of Sandia Mountains at Bernalillo, N. Mex — 218
XXXVIII. Geologic map of Sandia and Manzano mountains and

Sierra de los Finos, N. Mex 218

XXXIX. A, Dakota sandstone on west slope of Gerrillos Basin,

N. Mex. ; B, West front of Chupadera Mesa, N. Mex 220

XL. Geologic map of Tularosa Basin, N. Mex 224

XLI. Pilot Knob on west sloife of San Andres Mountains, N.

Mex - 228

XLII. Geologic map of Jornada del Muerto, N. Mex 230

XLIII. Geologic map of part of Socorro County, N. Mex 234

XLIV. A. Base of Magdalena group east of Socorro, N. Mex.;
B, Upturned Magdalena beds east-northeast of So-
corro, N. Mex 286

XLV. A, Mesa del Yeso, N. Mex.; B, Sierrita Mesa, Naci-

miento uplift, N. Mex 237

XLVI. A, Pyramid Rock, N. Mex.; B, Uplift at Atarque, N.

Mex 254

XLVII. A, West slope of Zuni uplift at Nutria, N. Mex.; B,
Northwest slope of Zuni uplift east of Gallup, N.

Mex 255

XLVIIL Geologic map of parts of Valencia and Socorro counties,

N. Mex 262

XLIX. Sections across Sierra Lucero in Valencia and Socorro

counties, N. Mex • 264

L. Map showing structure of valleys . of Rio Salado and

Alamosa Creek, Socorro County, N. Mex 266

LI. Index map of Oklahoma 278

LIL Map showing the geologic structure in a part of Jeffer-
son County, Okla 284

LIII. Map showing geologic structure in Lacasa area, Tex._« 308

LIV. Selected well records in Lacasa area, Tex 314

FioxjbeI. Index map of North Dakota showing location of New Salem

lignite field 2

2. Structure section through New Salem and Sims, N. Dak 11

3. Sections showing position of lignite beds in Fort Union forma-

tion in New Salem lignite field, N. Dak 18

4. Graph showing the heating value of North Dakota lignite as

compared with other coals with which it may have to com-
pete 22

6. Generalized section of Permian " Red Beds " of Oklahoma 46

6. Rocks exposed in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla 47

7. Approximate boundary between marine and nonmarine sedi-

ments of basal Permian and upper Pennsylvanian in Kansas,
Oklahoma, and Texas — 50

8. Map showing absence of relation of ridges to structure and

other features in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla 70

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VI ILLUSTRATIONS.

FegxtbeO. Map of parts of Washington Ck)unty, Utah, and Mohave County,

Ariz 88

10. Map of the oil field near Virgin City, Utah * 94

11. Map of part of the Virgin anticline, Washington County, Utah,

showing the Harrisburg and Washington domes 100

12. Map of the Bloomington dome, Washington County, Utah 103

13. Index map showing location of Fort Berthold Indian Reserva-

tion, N. Dais IIX)

14. Diagram showing heating value of North Dakota lignite, com-

pared with that of certain subbltuminous and bituminous

coals 123

15. Sections of lignite bed C, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,

N. Dak., showing characteristics of the bed and of partings.. 126

16. Map showing the major structure of northeastern New Mexico. 180

17. Section across Colfax and Union counties, N. Mex 190

18. Section from Pedemal Mountain across Guadalupe and Quay

counties, N. Mex 195

19. Map of Esterito dome, Guadalupe County, N. Mex 196

20. Section from south end of Rocky Mountains to Cuervo Butte,

Guadalupe County, N. Mex 197

21. Generalized sections across the Rocky Mountains in New Mexico. 201

22. Sections across the plateaus of southeastern Santa Fe County,

southwestern San Miguel County, and eastern Torrance

County, N. Mex 202

28. Sections across the Sacramento Cuesta and Guadalupe Moun-
tains, N. Mex 208

24. Sketch section of anticlines and fault between Alamogordo and

High Rolls, N. Mex 209

25. Map showing relation of aniicline in Tijeras coal field, N. Mex. 218

26. Sections across the Sanida and Manzano mountains and the

Sierra de los Pinos, N. Mex 219

27. Sections across Chupadera Mesa, N. Mex 222

28. Sections across Tularosa Basin, N. Mex 225

29. Log of deep boring at Oscuro, N. Mex 228

30. Logs of two railroad wells at Carrlzozo, N. Mex 228

31. Sections across the Jornada del Muerto, N. Mex 230

32. Sections across eastern Socorro County, N. Mex 235

83. Sketch section across the Joyita Hills, Socorro County, N. Mex. 240

84. Sections across San Pedro Mountain and Nacimiento Range,

N. Mex 242

85. Map showing structure in part of Rio Arriba County, N. Mex_. 243

86. Section across the plateau in Rio Arriba County, N. Mex 245

87. Section along San Juan River, San Juan County, N. Mex 246

38. Geologic sketch map of part of McKlnley County, N. Mex 248

89. Map showing structure of part of northwestern New Mexico.. 255

40. Sections across the Zuni Mountain uplift, N. Mex 256

41. Sections across the Gallup-ZunJ Basin, N. Mex 258

42. Section across north-central Socorro County, N. Mex 267

43. Section from Mimbres Mountains eastward through Kingston

and Hillsboro, N. Mex 269

44. Sections across the Florida Mountains, Luna County, N. Mex. 271

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ILLUSTRATIONS. YIl

Fi6inB45. Section through the Snake Hills, southwest of Deming, Luna

County, N. Mex 2T2

46. Section through the Klondike Hills, Luna Ck)unty, N. Mez 273

47. S^ion across the Victorlo Mountains, south of Gage, Luna

County, N. Mex 273

48. Sketch section across the north end of the Big Hatchet Moun-

tains, Hidalgo County, N. Mex 274

49. Diagram showing principal sandstone and conglomerate beds

tliat were found serviceable in mapping the structure of a
part of Jefferson County, Okla 281

50. Key map of north-central Texas showing location of Lacasa

area 908

51. Columnar section of rocks exposed in Lacasa area, Tex 905

52. Key map of Lacasa area, Tex., showing locations of wells

whose logs are given in Plate LIV 312

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Contributions to Economic Geology, 1921.

PART IL MINERAL FUELS.

David Whttb and M. E. Campbell, Geologists in charge.

INTRODUCTION.

The Survey's " Contributions to economic geology " have been pub-
lished annually since 1902. In 1906 the increase in the number of
papers coming under this classification made it necessary to divide
the contributions into two parts, one including papers on metals and
nonmetals except fuels and the other including papers on mineral
fuels. In 1915 the year included in the title was changed from the
year in which the field work reported in these papers was done to
the year of publication, and in consequence there was no volume
entitled " Contributions to economic geology, 1914.'' The subjoined
table gives a summary of these bulletins.

United States Q^ological Survey "Contributions to economic geology.**

Date in title.

Date of

publica-

tion/ft

Bulletin
No.

DateinUtle.

Date of

publica-

tion/>

Bulletin
No.

1902

1908

1904

1906

1900^ Parti...

1907, Parti...
Partn..

1908, Part L..
Partn..

1909, Parti...
Partn..

1910, Parti...
'Partn..

19U, Parti...

' Partn..

1912, Part I...

Partn..

1908
1904
1905
1906
1907
1907
1906
1909
1909
1910
1910
1911
1911
1913
1913
1913
1914
1914

213
225
260
285
315
816
340
841
880.
881
430
481
470
471

540
541

1913, Part I..
Part II.

1915, Parti..
Part II.

1916, Parti...
Partn.

1917, Parti...
Part II.

1918, Parti...
Part II.,

1919, Parti...
Part II.

1920, Parti...
Part II.

1921, Fart I...
Part II.,

1915
1915
1916
1916
1917
1917
1918
1918
1919
1919
1920
1920
1921
1921
1922
1922

580
581
620
621
640
641
660
661
090
601
710
711
715
716
725
726

a The date given is that of tbe complete volume: beginning with Bulletin 285, the papers have bean
tesoed as advance chapters as soon as they were ready.

As a subtitle indicates, most of the papers in these volumes are
of three classes — (1) short papers describing as thoroughly as con-
ditions will permit areas or deposits on which no other report is
26801*^—22 2 IX

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X COKTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

likely to be prepared; (2) brief notes on mining districts or eco-
nomic deposits whose examination has been merely incidental to
other work; and (3) preliminary reports on economic investigations
the results of which are to be published later in more detailed form.
Although these papers set forth mainly the practical results of
economic investigations they include brief theoretical discussions and
summary statements of conclusions if these appear to require prcnnpt^
publication.

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MAY 1 1 192t

[l^UNTi?^

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Albest B. Faix, Secretary

CAMBRIipjJftrr^^XATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
MASS. **»OROB Otis Smith, Director

.<V.

♦/,

'"eralofvjt

Xi^

Bulletin 726— A

THE NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD

MORTON COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA

EUGENE T. HANCXX3K

. It21. ]

(PiRgM 1-89)

Pliblls]iedMa7 6,»21

WASHINGTON

OOVEBNHENT PRINTING OFFIOB
1921

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Albert B. Fall, Secretary

United States Geological Survey

Gborob Otis Smith, Director

BvUetiii 726— A

THE NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD

MORTON COUNTY, NORTH DAKOTA

EUGENE T. HANCOCK

ConCriliiiCknM to ecoBomlc geology, 1921, Piui n

(Piftgoo 1^9)
Pablloliod Mar •» 1*21

WASHINGTON

GOTSBNMBNT PBIKTINO OFFICE
1921

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CONTENTS.

Page.

IntrodQCtfon 1

Field work 3

Previous publications 3

Geography 4

Ck)mmercial relations 4

Surface features 5

Geology 6

Stratigraphy 5

General character of the rocks 6

Tertiary (?) system 7

Lance formation 7

Lower part of the Lance formation 7

Cannonball marine member 7

Tertiary system 10

Fort Union formation 10

Structure 11

Liwiite 12

Origin and distribution 12

Physical properties 14

Chemical propertl« 15

Comparative heating value 21

Mining 23

Description by townships 25

T. 137 N., R. 82 W 25

T. 138 N., R. 82 W 25

T. 139 N., R. 82 W 26

T. 140 X., R. 82 W 26

T. 137 N., R. 83 W 27

T. 138 N., R. 83 W 28

T. 130 N., R. 83 W 28

T. 140 N., R. 83 W 29

T. 137 N., R. 84 W 29

T. 138 N., R. 84 W 30

T. 139 N.. R. 84 W 30

T. 140 N., R. 84 W 31

T. 137 N,, R. 85 W 32

T. 138 N., R. 85 W 33

T. 139 N.. R. 85 W 34

T. 137 N., R. 86 W 36

T. 138 N., R. 86 W 37

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ILLUSTRATIONS.

Pace.
Plate I. A, Level upland In vicinity of New Salem, N. Dak. ; B, Yall^

of Heart River in T. 188 N., R. 83 W., N. Dak 6

II. A, Large glacial boulders on upland in sec. 17, T. 138 K., R. 84
W., N. Dak. ; B, Cannonball marine member of Lance forma-
tion in bluff of Heart River, sec. 10, T. 138 N., R. 83 W.,
N. Dak 7

III. Sections showing thickness, positions, and names of lignite

beds in New Salem field, Morton County, N. Dak 14

IV. A, Dakota Products Co.*s mine near New Salem, N. Dak.:

B, Crown Butte, on upland in sec. 31, T. 140 N., R. 82 W.,

N. Dak 26

y. Geologic map of the New Salem lignite field, Morton County,

N. Dak 38

FioxnuB 1. Index map of North Dakota showing location of New Salem

lignite field 2

2. Structure section through New Salem and Sims, N. Dak 11

3. Sections showing position of lignite beds in Fort Union forma-

tion in New Salem lignite field, N. Dak 13

4. Graph showing the heating value of North Dakota lignite as

compared with other coals with which it may have to com-
pete 22

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THE NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, MORTON CX)UNTY,
NORTH DAKOTA.

By Eugene T. Hancock.

INTRODUCTION,

The lignite of North Dakota is a fuel of so low a grade, at least
by comparison with the better coals of the Rocky Mountain region
and the East, that it has attracted little attention, but with the diffi-
culties of transportation that have been experienced in this country
in recent years it becomes more and more important for localities
that have undeveloped resources of even a poor quality to exploit
them sufficiently to know their quantity and quality, so that when
the need comes for utilizing the domestic supply it can be done in-
telligently and without needless waste. In order to accumulate in-
formation regarding such imdeveloped resources of mineral fuel,
the United States Geological Survey has been for a number of years
making detailed examinations of many coal fields. Much of this
work has been done primarily for the purpose of gathering data
for the separation of the land into mineral and nonmineral classes
as prescribed by the old coal-land law, but the Survey has also had
in mind the need for information by the general public regarding
the fuel resources of the country, and this need ha^ been met by the
publication of a number of papers describing certain coal fields.
The present paper is one of this character.

The New Salem lignite field lies within the great lignite region
of western North Dakota, northwestern South Dakota, and eastern
Montana, on its southeastern margin. Some of these border fields
contain less lignite than those lying in the interior portion of the
region, for the reason that as the rocks lie in a great basin dipping
dightly toward the center from all directions, the upper formations,
which carry the larger lignite beds, are present in the interior and
the lower formations, which carry thinner and more irregular beds,
are found on the margin of the basin. In the New Salem field both
groups of formations are present, and hence this field contains some
thick beds and some thin ones.

As this field is on the southeastern margin of the greater region of
lignite-bearing beds, it follows that in the areas lying farther to the

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2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

east and southeast the rocks are lower in the geologic scale and hence
lie entirely below the lignite-bearing formations, and therefore it
is useless to search for lignite in those areas.

Before 1912 the southeastern margin of the lignite field of North
Dakota was known in a general way, but no exact information re-
garding it had ever been published. In 1912 E. R. Lloyd, of the
United States Geological Survey, began the work of delimiting the
field on its southeast side, and this work was continued during the
summer of 1913. The region examined by Lloyd embraces an area

FiGUBB 1. — Index map of North Dakota showing location of New Saiem lignite fi^d.

extending from the State line northeastward to the ninth standard
parallel. It has an average width of about 4 miles and in general is
bounded on the south and east by Cannonball River. Throughout
this part of the field lignite was found to occur only locally and in
thin beds. During the autumn of 1914 the geologic mapping was
continued by the writer north of the ninth standard parallel through-
out an area of about 600 square miles, in the west-central part of
which is situated the prosperous town of New Salem. This area in-
cludes Tps. 137 to 140, Rs. 82 to 86, except 3 J townships in the north-
west comer. Owing to the prominence of this town as a shipping
point for a large agricultural community and as a center for the
distribution of lignite ^ to the surrounding country, it is considered
appropriate to refer to this area as the New Salem lignite field.
The area surveyed in 1914 and included under this name is shown
in figure 1.

•* Since tfalB report waa prepared the mine at New Salem haa been, abandoned.

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NZW SALEH IIGKITE FIELD, N. DAK. 3

FIEIiD WORK.

The field examination upon which this report is based was made in
August, September, and October, 1914, by Raymond C. Moore, Del-
bert Williams, Sidney Swanker, Frank Bunn, and the writer. The
work was done under the direct supervision of M. R. Campbell, to
whom the writer is indebted for many valuable suggestions. In-
formation was contributed by many of the residents of the field ; and
as it is impracticable to make individual mention of these courtesies,
acknowledgments can be made only in this general way.

The geologic examination was made primarily with a view of
classifying the land and of determining the amount of lignite which
it contains. An attempt was made to ascertain the extent and thick-
ness of the different lignite beds from a study of their outcrops,
supplemented by such data as could be obtained concerning lignite
encountered in sinking wells. The mapping was done with the plane
t^ible, telescopic alidade, and stadia rod. By their use the outcrop
of each lignite bed was accurately mapped wherever the bed is
exposed, but where it is concealed by the overburden, as it is almost
invariably, the outcrop was determined upon the basis of known
elevations combined with a knowledge of the structure of the bed.

The township plats of the General Land Office were used as base
maps for the field work and for the construction of Plate V. Most
of the land comers are not difficult to find, as they are on well-
established fence lines or in the public highways, many of which are
laid out on the section lines. The original locations of the comers
are generally marked by mounds and pits, covered with unusually
dense prairie grass.

The land net, on a scale of 2 inches to the mile, was transferred
to the plane-table field sheet directly from the township plats.
With the exception of the stadia traverse of the outcrops of the
lignite beds, all locations incident to the geologic mapping were
made by triangulation. The mapping was controlled horizontally
by land comers, together with conspicuous surface features care-
fully tied into section or township comers. Vertically the mapping
was controlled by elevations taken directly from the Northern Pacific
Railway profile, and the elevations were carried north and south by
means of vertical angles.

PREVIOUS PUBLICATIONS.

That portion of southwestern North Dakota including Cannonball
Kiver and its tributaries has long been known to be a part of the
great lignite region of the Dakot&s and eastern Montana. The
presence of what was supposed to be " stone coal " (lignite) was rec-
ognized in the vicinity of Mandan during the explorations by Lewis

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4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

and Clark in 1804-1806. They first noted lignite on the left bank
of the Missouri about 20 miles above the mouth of Cannonball River.'
Nearly every succeeding expedition added something of interest, but
it was not until the explorations of the geologist F. V. Hayden,
under the direction of Lieut. G. K. Warren, that any attempt was
made to prepare and guJ^Jish a geologic map of the region.'

In 1874 an expedition under the command of Gens. Custer and
Ludlow, accompanied by.N. H. Winchell, geologist, made a recon-
naissance trip to the Black Hills, crossing the Cannonball River
field on the way.*

The Geological Survey of North Dakota has published during
recent years several articles relating to the lignite fields of the State.
Th^ region including Cannonball River and its tributaries, however,
has received little attention owing to the more fully developed terri-
tory to the north and west. A. G. Leonard,^ State geologist, has
recently described several sections exposed on Cannonball and Heart
rivers in Morton County. The Cannonball member is described by
Lloyd and Hares.*

The Cannonball River lignite field, which was examined by E. R.
Lloyd' in 1912 and 1913, joins and partly overlaps the lignite field
described by A. G. Leonard.'

GEOGRAPHY.

COKMEBCIAL B£I«A.TIOK&

The main line of the Northern Pacific Railway crosses the New
Salem lignite field in an east-west direction near its central part.
Wagon roads throughout the field follow the section lines except in
the vicinity of the principal streams, where the land is so rough as to
render this impracticable. The principal towns on the Northern Pa-
cific Railway in this field are Sweetbriar, Judson, New Salem, and
Almont. Owing to the complete system of public roads, one or
another of these towns is readily accessible from almost every part
of the field. The entire field is well settled and is supplied with
adequate postal facilities.

s Lewis, Meai wether, and Clark, WSlUajn, Original journals, vol. 1, p. 200, New York,
Dodd, Mead & Co., 1904.

* Hayden, F. V., Notes explanatory of a map and section lllastratlng the geologic
stracture of the country bordering on the Missouri River from the mouth of the Platte
Riyer to Fort Benton : Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia Proc, vol. 9, pp. 109-116, 1858.

* Winchell, N. H., Report of a reconnaissance of the Black Hills of Dakota made in
the summer of 1874 by William^ LudlO^w, pp. 22 et seq., 1876.

* Leonari?,. A. G., The Cretaceous and Tertiary formations of western North Dakota
and eastern Montana: Jour. Oeology, vol. 19, pp. 507-547, 1911.

•laoyd, Bv'R., and Hares, C. J., The Cannonball marine member of the Lanoe forma-
tion of North and South Dakota and its bearing on the Lance-Laramle problem : Jour.
Geology, vol. 28, pp. 528-547, 1915.

■^'V, S. €te61. Surrey Bull. 641, pp. 243^292, 1914.

•XJ. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlaa, Bismarck folio (No. 181), 1912.

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KEW SALEM LIQNITB FIELD, N. DAK. 5

STOVACS 7EATXTBE8.

The New Salem lignite field lies in the Great Plains physiographic
province, and hence it is devoid of trees except a few along the
streams. Nearly all the drainage from this field empties into Heart
Biver and eventually reaches Missouri River near Mandan. Big
Muddy and Sweetbriar creeks are the principal affluents of Heart
Biver. All these streams and many of their smaller tributaries con-
tain either running water or water in holes throughout the year.

The field as a whole exhibits three rather distinct types of surface
features. The feature most characteristic of the region is the very
gently rolling prairie interrupted here and there by high boulder-
covered ridges and small isolated buttes. (See PL I, -4, and PI. TV,
B.) Throughout this rolling upland the highways commonly follow
the section lines, the country is rather thickly settled, and the wide
expanse of prairie land is marked by numerous broad fields of wheat,
oats, flax, rye, or barley.

The alluvium along the principal streams gives rise to a second
type of surface not wholly unlike that described above but much less
extensive. These almost flat but gently sloping valley bottoms range
from a quarter of a mile to a mile in width and contain a very pro-
ductive soiL

Upland areas thoroughly dissected into badlands by numerous
streams extend from the alluvial flats back into the country for sev-
eral miles and constitute the third type of surface features. Dis-
tricts characterized by surfaces of this type are suitable principally
for grazing.

GEOLOGY.

STUATIGBAPHT.

GENERAL CHABACTER OF THE ROCKS.

The Fort Union formation, which occurs in the lower part of the
Tertiary system, (Eocene series) and which contains most of the
valuable lignite in the Dakotas and eastern Montana, lies at the
surface throughout a little more than half of the New Salem lignite
field. It is underlain by a group of beds which are now tentatively
classified as probably of early Tertiary age and are referred to the
Lance formation. The upper 250 or 300 feet of this formation is
very different in character from the underlying beds, which are more
typical of the Lance. The underlying portion is composed of alter-
nating beds of shale and sandstone, which, when eroded, give rise to
badlands. Fossil leaves collected near the top of the lower part of
the Lance indicate that it is of fresh-water origin, and they have
been identified by F. H. Knowlton as belonging to the Fort Union
flora. The upper 250 to 300 feet of the formation, on the other hand,

24919*— 21 2

Digitized by VjOOQIC

CONTBIBUTIOIS'S TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT U.

contains the remains of a marine fauna which until recently has not
been recognized in this part of the stratigraphic section. The part
of the formation containing this f aima has been mapped separately
and is designated the Cannonball marine member of the Lance for-
mation. It forms the surface rock throughout most of the eastern
part of the field. It is reasonably certain, although there are no rock
outcrops, that lower Lance beds occur at the surface throughout the
extensive flat area on Little Heart River, in the southeastern part of
the field. A collection of fossil leaves obtained about 20 iaet above
the alluvial flat in the NE. J sec. 31, T. 138 N., R. 83 W., and deter-
mined as Fort Union species by Knowlton indicates the presence of
lower Lance beds on either side of Heart River as far north as that
place.

The Quaternary period is represented in this field for the most part
by glacial boulders and by alluvial material along the principal
streams. The stratigraphy is shown by the accompanying table.

Tertiary and Quaternary formations in New Salem lignite field, N. Dak,

System.

Series.

Formation.

Character.

Thickness
(liBet).

Quat er-
nary.

Erosional

imoonlorm-

ity.

Tertiary.

AUuvium, glacial bonlders, and till.

Eocezie.

Fort Union forma-
tion.

MasslvelLght-yellow sandstone, sandy
and clay shale, black carbonaceous
shale, and lignite.

250-^50

Tertlary(T).

£ooene(T).

Cannonball marine member, predomi-
nantly fine-grained, soft, unconsoli-

ligfat-yeUowanddarkerbands. Sub-
ordinate amount of light-yellow to
dark-yellow and gray sandstone in
lenticular beds.

aoa-aoo

UndiiTerentlated Lance, dark shale,
yellow sandstone.

400-525

Cretaceous.

Upper Cretaceous.

Fox Hills sandstone.

Not exposed.

The New Salem lignite field is merely a northern extension of the
Cannonball River lignite field. In the report on that field Lloyd •
describes briefly the formations exposed from the Fox Hills sand-
stone to the White River formation. A somewhat detailed descrip-
tion of the marine member of the Lance formation and its bearing on
the Lance-Laramie problem appears in a recent paper by E. R. Lloyd
and C. J. Hares,*** and its fauna has been described by T. W. Stanton.**

" Lloyd, B. R., The Cannonball River lignite field, Morton, Adams, and Hettinger coun-
ttes, N. Dak. : U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 541, p. 243, 1914.

^Jour. Geology, vol. 23, pp. 523-547, 1916.

uThe fauna of the Cannonball marine member of the Lance formation: U. S. Qeol.
Survey Prof. Paper 128, pp. 1-66, 1920 (Prof. Paper 128-A).

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V. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE I

A. LEVEL UPLAND IN THE VICINITY OF NEW SALEM. N. DAK., LOOKING EAST.

JB. VALLEY OF HEART RIVER IN T. 138 N., R. 83 W., N. DAK.
Level upland in llic distaoce.

Digitized by^

^Google I

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL 8URVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE II

A. LARGE GLACIAL BOULDERS ON UPLAND IN SEC. 17. T. 138 N., R. 84 W., N. DAK.

B. CANNONBALL MARINE MEMBER OF LANCE FORMATION IN BLUFF OF HEART
RIVER, SEC. 10, T. 138 N., R. 83 W., N. DAK.

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IffBW SALEM LIGKITE FIELD, N. DAK. 7

TERTIAKT (?) SYSTEM.
LAHOE FORMATION.

Lower "part of the Lance formation. — The lower beds shown in the
stratigraphic section measured in sees. 25 and 36, T. 137 N., R. 84 W.,
are believed to represent a transition from the underlying fresh-
water beds into the marine member of the Lance formation. These
beds not only have a striking resemblance to the Fort Union beds, but
they contain numerous fragments of silicified wood, and one silicified
log fully 2 feet in diameter was observed. Aside from the above-
mentioned collection of leaves, which were determined by F. H.
Ejiowlton to be Fort Union species, no fossils were obtained in this
field from the lower part of the Lance formation. Fragmentary
vertebrate remains were found in this part of the Lance in the Can-
nonball Eiver field, farther south/^ abundant dinosaur and turtle
bones were found in several places in the Standing Rock Indian Res-
ervation,^* and a few collections of dinosaur bones have been made
near the mouth of Cannonball River.^*

CannonbcUl marine merriber. — ^The Cannonball marine member
comprises the upper 200 to 300 feet of the Lance formation. It is
exposed in many of the cut banks on Heart River, as shown in Plate
II, B^ and at numerous points on Sweetbriar Creek. Within the
area described in this report it has yielded the following invertebrate
fossils, identified by T. W. Stanton :

Nncula planlmarginata Meek and Hayden.

Yoldia scitula Meek and Hayden.

Leda mansfieldl Stanton.

Glycimeris subimbricata Meek and Hayden.

Trigonarca? hancocki Stanton.

Arctica ovata (Meek and Hayden).

DentaUnm paupercnlum Meek and Hayden.

Lunatia obliquata Hall and Meek.

Anchura perveta Stanton.

Pyrlfusus (Neptunella) newberryi Meek and Hayden?

FaBCiolaria? (Mesorhytls) dakotenjsls Stanton.

Tnrrlcula? contorta Meek and Hayden.

Ringicnla dubia Stanton.

Cyliclma scitula Meek and Hayden?

Lamna cuspidata Agassiz.

^ lAoyd, E. B., and Haree. C. J., op. cit, p. 528.

^ Calvert, W. R., and otliera» Geology of the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Indian
rcserratlona. North and South Dakota : U. S. Geol. Surrey Ball. 575, pp. 21-22, 1914.

<« Stanton, T. W., Washington Acad. Set. Proc., vol. 2, p. 250, 1009. Leonard, A G.,
The Cretaceoas and Tertiary formations of western North Dakota and eastern Montana:
Joar. Geology, vol. 19, p. 524, 1911.

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8 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

The following section includes the lower part of the Fort Union
formation, the Cannonball marine member of the Lance, and the
uppermost beds of the lower part of the Lance:

Section measured from the NW. i sec. 36, T. 137 N,, R. 8^ W., to the NE. i
sec, SO, T, 137 N., R. 83 W,

Fort Union formation: Ft in.

Sandstone, yellow, hard; forms "rim rock" 1

Shale, yellow, sandy 3

Shale, sandy; contains unios and gastropods 6

Sandstone, light yellow, mainly unconsolidated but

with an occasional resistant layer 27

Lignite (location 56 on accompanying map) 4 8

Sandstone, yellow, soft, unconsolidated; contains a

few layers of darker-yellow hard sandstone 16

Sandstone, yellow 6

Shale, light gray 10

Shale, dark bluish drab, sandy H

Shale, light gray, sandy, grading upward into almost

pure white shale 21

Shale, carbonaceous 9

■r Lignite, impure 8

r: Lignite 9

Shale, carbonaceous 1

Sandstone, white, hard 6

Ck)ncealed 5

114

Cannonball marine member of Lance formation:

Sandstone, light yellow, soft 3

Sandstone, white, shaly 1 6

Sandstone, brown, shaly 1 6

Sandstone, white, coarse grained, cross-bedded 2

Sandstone, soft, shaly 35

Sandstone, light gray, thin bedded i 1

Sandstone, buff, soft, shaly 27

Sandstone, light bluish gray, becoming browner near
the top; contains numerous hard yellowish-brown

sandstone concretions 32

Sandstone, hard, forming a " rim rock ** ; fossillferous ;

contains numerous dark-brown disklike concretions^ 2
Sandstone, brown, shaly, soft; contains numerous thin
bands of yellow very fine grained sandstone typical

of Cannonball marine member 32

Sandstone, yellow, hard, resistant, forming *' rim rock " 1
Sandstone, gray, with occasional yellow bands, very

fine grained, texture uniform throughout 16

Sandstone, hard, discontinuous; in places contains
almost perfectly spherical concretions ("cannon-
baUs") 1

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NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, K. DAK. 9

Pt In.
Oaxmonball marine member of Lance formation — ContinuecL
Sandstone, soft, line grained, made up of alternating

light-yellow and dark-gray to blaci^ bands; contains

a few yellowish-brown iron-stained concretions;

typical of Cannonball marine member 26

Sandstone, hard, forming a "rim rock"; contains

numerous. Iron-stained concretions 1 6

Sandstone, yellow to buff, soft 2

Sandstone, soft, fine grained ; contains yellow and dark

bands typical of Cannonball marine member 5

Sandstone, white to light yellow, hard 2

Sandstone, soft, fine grained; consists of light-yellow

bands Interlaminated with dark bands 12

203 6

Lower x)art of Lance formation :

Sandstone, very hard; in places contains numerous
concretions and fragments of slllcifled wood; a
sillcifled log 2 feet in diameter was observed at
one exposure 3

Sandstone, soft, shaly, fine grained ; made up of alter-
nating light-yellow and dark bands 22

Sandstone, white ; contains numerous concretions 2

27
Total thickness 344 10

The following section, though less detailed than the section just
given, serves to illustrate the character of the Cannonball marine
member of the Lance formation in another part of the field :

Section of the Cannonball marine member of the Lance formation, containing
possibly a part of the lower Lance, measured in a cut bank on the north sMLe
of Heart River in sec. 10, T, 1S8 N., R. 8S W,

Top of Cannonball marine member of Lance formation.

1. Partly concealed, but the few exposures indicate soft gray

sandy shale 75

2. Sandstone, brown, very hard and resistant, forming a well-

defined shelf; in places very fossiliferous, containing
marine shells 4

3. Sandstone, yellow, soft, unconsolidated l 15

4. Sandstone, fine grained, soft, unconsolidated, consisting of

yellowish-brown bands alternating with darker bands and
containing lenticular masses of sandstone. The entire
mass has a characteristic somber hue 43

5. Sandstone, similar to No. 4, but the belt is of lighter color.. 45

6. Sandstone, similar to No. 4. Part of this may be lower

Lance 115

297

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10 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

The top of the section given above marks the contact between the
Cannonball marine member of the Lance formation and the overlying
Fort Union formation.

These sections show that the Cannonball marine member is com-
posed predominantly of fine-grained soft, more or less miconsolidated
sandstone made up of light-yellow bands alternating with darker
bands and including a subordinate amount of light to dark yellow
and gray sandstone that commonly occurs in lenticular beds.

Several collections of marine invertebrate fossils were made in the
Cannonball member in the New Salem field during the season of
1914, and the species have been identified by T. W. Stanton as belong-
ing to the modified Fox Hills fauna.

TERTIARY SYSTEM.
FORT UVIOH FORMATION.

The Fort Union formation occurs at the surface throughout
the northern and western parts of the field. The upper part of
the formation as originally laid down has been removed by erosion.
The maximum thickness of the remaining part is 860 feet. The
formation consists mainly of massive light-yellow sandstone, sandy
and clay shale, black carbonaceous shale, and lignite. The lignite
beds occur throughout, but those of greatest economic importance lie
above the lower 100 feet of the formation. The sandstone in the Fort
Union is as a rule more resistant than that of the Caimonball marine
member and gives rise to a gently rolling upland, whereas the soft
unconsolidated sandstone of the underlying marine member is ex-
tensively cut by small streams, giving rise to a much more uneven
surface. The relatively resistant sandstone of the Fort Union for-
mation occurs as outliers throughout the eastern part of the field and
rises above the general surface in the form of buttes.

The age of the Fort Union is attested by six collections of fossil
leaves and 23 collections of invertebrates taken from diflFerent parts
of the field and identified as of Fort Union age. The invertebrates,
identified by T. W. Stanton, are as follows:

Unlo sp. fragments.

Corbula inactrlformis Meek and Hayden.

Vlviparus sp.

Oampeloma multUineata (Meek and Hayden).

Oampeloma sp.

Vivlparus retusus Meek and Hayden.

Vivlparus leai Meek and Hayden.

Gonlobasis nebrascensis Meek and Hayden.

Gampeloma producta White.

Unlo priscus Meek and Hayden.

Vlviparus trochiformis Meek and Hayden.

Thaumastus Umnaeformis Meek and Hayden.

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NEW SALEM UONITE FIELD, N. DAK. 11

The following fossil plants were identified by F. H. Knowlton :

Leguminosites arachloldes Lesquereux.

Platanus ep.

Sapindas ^.?

AnUla? sp.

Populus cuneata Newberry.

Populns amblyrhyncha Ward.

Glyptostrobns eiuopfteus (Brongniart) Heer.

Taxodium occldentale Newberry.

Vibumum sp.

Platanus, probably P. raynoldsil Newberry.

Sequoia nordenakioldl Heer?

Gigantic leaf, probably Ficus.

Sapindus affinis Newberry.

Sapindus grandifollolus? Ward.

Celastrinltes? sp.

STBXrCTUBE.

Throughout the greater part of the field there is a slight dip of
5 to 10 feet to the mile toward the northwest. This very low north-
westerly dip is modified, however, by numerous local irregularities

PioniOB 2. — Structure section througrlL New Salem and Sims, N. Dak., showing the Fort
Union fmmation. The numbers refer to eorrespondlng numbers on the map (PI. V).

of the strata, which become apparent only where it is possible to
traverse clearly defined beds, such as beds of lignite or sandstone or
fossil-bearing beds. In the course of the geologic mapping it became
evident that there is a very gentle syncline (see fig. 2) whose axis
trends in a northwesterly direction from the point where Big Muddy
Creek crosses the south line of the field to the northeast corner of
T. 138 N., R. 86 W. It is also evident from the elevations obtained
on definitely traced beds that there is a region of minor uplift extend-
ing from sec. 34, T. 139 N., R. 85 W., south and east to the vicinity
of the northeast comer of T. 138 N., R. 82 W. Evidence of the above-
mentioned major structural features is afforded by the observed dips,
some of which clearly indicate still other minor irregularities in the
strata. The lignite beds in T. 137 N., Rs. 83 and 84 W., dip south-
west at a rate of 5 to 8 feet to the mile. Those in T. 137 N., R. 86 W.,
dip very gently in the direction of Big Muddy Creek. There is, how-
ever, an appreciable northward dip of 2 to 3 feet in 100 feet at the

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12 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1021, PABT U.

Ramsland mine, near the north edge of sec. 6. Again, tiiie lignite
beds mapped in sees. 4, 5, and 6, T. 188 N., R. 86 W., appear to
dip southwestward at the rate of about 50 feet to the mile. In gen-
eral, the beds at the old Dakota Products Co.'s mine near New Salem
dip very gently toward the northwest, and a similar dip was observed
in the lignite beds mapped in the north row of townships in this field.
Figure 2 represents graphically the apparent syncline noted in the
lignite beds in the western part of the New Salem field. The cross
section extends from New Salem through Sims into sec. 7, T. 137 N.,
R. 86 W. The elevations and distances between the beds have been
plotted to scale. Owing to insufficiency of the data, however, it can
not be stated certainly that the correlation as indicated from New
.Salem to Sims is correct, and it is qaite possible that the bed which
crops out at Sims is bed A instead of bed B. All observed dips in the
coal beds place the axis of the syncline just north and east of Sims.
Bed E, in the New Salem section, has probably been removed by
streams or by glacial action, and glacial materials have taken its
place.

LIGNITE.

GBIGIK AND DISTBIBITTIGK.

No lignite beds were seen in the Cannonball member of the Lance
formation and only one bed in the undifferentiated portion of the
Lance formation below it in the New Salem field. The valuable beds
of lignite are confined to the upper 200 or 300 feet of the Fort Union
formation. There are few exposures of lignite, owing to the thick
mantle of soil which is almost everywhere present, and for this rea-
son it is extremely difficult to correlate lignite beds exposed at widely
separated localities.

Early in Fort Union time swamps were formed over wide areas
and large quantities of vegetal matter accumulated in them. The
accumulation of this organic material and its burial under water, out
of contact with the atmosphere, resulted in the formation of lignite.

There are only a few places in this field where erosion has been
sufficient to expose a lignite bed continuously for more than a few
hundred feet. The geologist's work in mapping the beds therefore
consists mainly of searching for the few isolated exposures, most of
which have been made by stripping, and of correlating the beds on
the basis of elevation, in conjunction with an interpretation of the
structure. In certain localities, as for example in T. 137 N., R. 86 W.,
and in the area of Fort Union rocks in T. 137 N., R. 83 W., the indi-
vidual lignite beds could be traced with little difficulty. In general,
this is equivalent to saying that wherever it was possible to determine
the stratigraphic position of a lignite bed from its relation to the

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KEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK.

base of the Fort Union, reasonably accurate correlation was possible,
but for the beds stratigraphically higher in the Fort Union, where
the mantle of soil is deep and where a knowledge of the structure
is more or less vague, the most carefully made correlations are more
or less doubtful. The exposures of lignite in the New Salem field
are believed to represent five beds. The term lignitic horizons, in
all probability, would more nearly represent the true conditions,
as the beds are known to be very lenticular. For convenience of
description, however, these beds are here referred to in ascending
order as beds A, B, C, D, and E. The approximate distance of
each bed above the base of the Fort Union formation is as follows :

1 III-

■ 1 I

3
■1 E

■ D Bl D

■ c

■
-^ 1

■ B

red

200

—100

fiMeof
rortUwoo

FiocKB 3. — 8ectl<Hi8 showing positions of lignite beds in Fort Union formation in New
Salem lignite field, N. Dak. 1, Average section for the field; 2, section measured in
air shaft of mine in sec. 7, T. 139 N., R. 85 W., 21 mllen northwest of New Salem ; 3,
section in shaft and drill hole at abandoned mine of Dakota ProducU Co., New Salem.

A, 45 feet ; B, 100 feet ; C, 155 feet ; D, 230 feet ; E, 254 feet. Figure
3 represents graphically the distances between the various beds and
shows the correlation of these beds with those exposed in a mine at
New Salem and a mine 2^ miles northwest of New Salem.

The thickness of each bed at various places is shown on Plate III,
and the location of each of the sections is shown on the accompany-
ing map (PL V.) Two lignite beds in the Fort Union formation
were mapped in T. 137 N., R. 83 W. The lower bed (bed B) occurs
about 100 feet above the base of the formatiop, and the upper one
(bed C) about 55 feet higher. Bed B was also mapped throughout
a large area west of Heart River, and a lower bed that was measured
at several places in the southwest quarter of T. 138 N., R. 85 W.,
and in sec. 4, T. 137 N., R. 85 W., was correlated with bed B. Three
24919*— 21 3

Digitized by VjOOQIC

14 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

beds were mapped in T. 137 N., R. 86 W. The lowest bed is exposed
only at location 43," in sec. 25. The next higher bed occurs at about
the horizon of bed B, and the highest bed, which is well exposed in
sec. 6, was correlated with bed E.

The exposures of lignite in the vicinity of Sims are thought to
represent two beds. The lower bed is supposed to be bed B, and the
upper one, which is about 100 feet above it, is designated bed C.

The exposures of lignite in New Salem Township and in the north-
em part of the township lying immediately south are thought to
represent three separate beds, the lower one of which is correlated
with bed C at Sims. The upper beds are 55 and 77 feet above bed C
and accordingly are designated beds D and E, respectively.

In the vicinity of Judson, in the northeastern part of the field,
exposures of lignite observed at several places about 50 feet above
the base of the Fort Union formation are believed to represent bed
A. Exposures of lignite which occur higher in the formation are
correlated upon the basis of structure and elevation with beds C, D,
and E. In addition to these beds in the Fort Union formation, there
is a lignite bed near the top of the lower undifferentiated part of the
Lance formation in which lignite is being mined at present in T.
137 N., E. 82 W. This bed is probably from 200 to 300 feet below
bed A of the Fort Union formation.

The lignite beds are considered in detail in the descriptions of
individual townships.

PHTSICAL FBOPEBTIES.

The lignite of the New Salem field is similar to that from other
parts of North Dakota. Most of the unweathered lignite has a dull
luster, and much of it a tough, woody texture. It is very dark
brown, and the powder and streak are brown to yellow. Careful
examination of the woody parts shows considerable variation in
color, luster, and texture. Dark-brown lignite having a compara-
tively dull luster contains numerous small lenses of bright black
lignite, ranging from a thin film up to layers an inch or more in
thickness. In certain places the luster is dull, the woody texture is
lacking, and the lignite contains a large percentage of noncom-
bustible material or ash.

When fresh lignite, which usually contains about 40 per cent of
moisture, is exposed to the air it loses a considerable percentage of
this moisture, shrinks, and soon breaks up into small pieces of irregu-
lar form. This tendency of lignite to fall to pieces on exposure is a
serious handicap to the development of the mining industry, be-
cause it prevents long-distance shipment in open cars. The neces-

>^ Numbers refer to corresponding numbers on the map.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

bULLfiTtK MB PLATX 10

-T. 140 N, R. 83 W.-

^ 1 . 1^%/ r«.» r». «•# WW. ^

'38 39 40 41 42 »

irtt-jFT. (M.i...,.jrr.3iN.i..v;i"'- iN-^""- in.^ft. in.

\z ^ ^^ «^U. e

EXPLANATION

ft li^niW , Bant sW* Sh«to M(

i ■ ■ H

-BED D

.65 W:

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Digitized by VjOOQIC

NBW SALEM UONITE FIELD, N. DAK. 15

sitj for paying transportation charges on its high content of water
is also a serious drawback to the development of the lignite industry.
In lignite of the best quality the weathered surfaces are black and
have a bright, vitreous luster, even though the unweathered lignite
is brown and has a dull luster. Where the woody texture is not de-
veloped the lignite weathers into thin plates or laminae, and the same
property has been observed in certain of the low-rank subbituminous
coals. The weathering of different varieties of lignite is so charac-
teristic that the examination of the weathered face of an exposed
section may afford a better conception of the variations in character
within the bed than an examination of the fresh materiaL

CHEMICAIi PBOFEBTIES.

In order to determine the chemical composition of lignite it is
necessary to take mine samples, and as lignite changes not only in
physical condition but chemically on exposure to the air, it is necessary
that these samples be as fresh as possible. Three such mine samples
were taken during the examination of the New Salem lignite field, in
accordance with the regulations of the United States Geological
Survey, which in brief are as follows : A channel is cut across a clean,
fresh face of lignite from roof to floor of the mine, all partings that
are thrown out in mining being excluded. The material thus ob-
tained is broken sufficiently fine to pass through a one-half inch
screen, and the sample is reduced by quartering to about 4 pounds.
This is placed in a galvanized can, sealed, and sent immediately to the
chemical laboratory of the Bureau of Mines at Pittsburgh, Pa., for
analysis.

The analyses of these samples are shown in the accompanying table.
With them are included for comparison the analyses of four samples
taken by E. R. Lloyd in the Cannonball Biver lignite field, of three
samples collected by A. L. Beekly in 1909 from small strip pits in the
vaUey of Cedar Ciwk in T. 129 K, E. 88 W., and of seven represen-
tative samples of lignite from producing mines in widely separated
parts of North Dakota. To these analyses are added those of two
subbituminous coals, from Montana and Wyoming, and two eastern
bituminous coals, from Ohio and Pennsylvania. These last four
coals have a market in the New Salem field, and a comparison of their
heating value with that of the local lignite is of great interest and
importance.

The accompanying table shows each analysis in four forms, marked
A,^ B, C, and D. Analysis A represents the composition of the lignite
as it is taken from the mine. This form of analysis should not be
used in comparing one coal or lignite with another, because the
amount of moisture in the sample as it is taken from the mine depends

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16 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1021, PABT n.

to a certain extent upon local conditions, and consequently analyses
of different samples of the same lignite expressed in this form may
vary widely. Analysis B represents the sample after it has been
dried at a temperature a little above the normal until its weight be-
comes constant. Analysis C represents the lignite after all the mois-
ture has been theoretically eliminated. Analysis D represents the
lignite after all moisture and ash have been theoretically removed.
Forms C and D are determined from the others by recalculation.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

NBW SALEM UQKITE FIELD, XT. DAK.

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18 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

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20 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

20083. From mine of Dakota Products Go. (location 04), half a mile north-
east of New Salem ; collected by E. T. Hancock October 23. 1914, about 2,540
feet N. 20'' W. of the mine mouth. The lignite bed is in the Fort Union forma-
tion and ranges from 4 feet 6 inches to 6 feet in thickness. At the point of
sampling the top of the bed was not exposed, and the sample included that part
of the upper bench worked, 1 foot 4 inches tlilck, and the bottom bench, 8 feet
1 inch thick.

19801. From a local mine (location 61) operated by farmers In the S. }
sec. 32, T. 138 N., R. 84 W. ; collected by E. T. Hancock September 7, 1914, at a
point about 70 feet N. 15** W. of the shaft. The lignite bed is in the Fort Union
formation and is 6 feet 8 inches thick, but only the lower 4 feet 8 inches of the
bed was sampled.

19786. From Ramfiiand open-pit mine (location 2), in the NW. i sec 6, T. 137
N., R. 86 W. ; collected by E. T. Hancock August 24, 1914. The lignite bed is
in the Fort Union formation and at the point of sampling has a thickness of 6
feet 91 inches, but only the upper 3 feet 11 inches of the top bench was sampled.

14542. From Haynes lignite bed in the Nipper & Monroe mine, 3} miles north-
east of Haynes ; collected by E. R. Lloyd July 30, 1912, in oitry about 630 feet
nearly due east of the mine mouth

14544. From Haynes lignite bed in mine of William Plnkham, about 9 miles
northeast of Haynes ; collected by E. R. Uoyd July 30, 1912, in main entry about
225 feet south of the mine mouth.

14729. From Haynes (?) lignite bed in Jones mine of J. T. Dunn, about 2
mUes west of Leith ; collected by E. R. Lloyd September 7, 1912.

17537. From Haynes (?) lignite bed in Kolbank mine of Simon Pederson,
about 1} miles southwest of Leith ; collected by E. R. Lloyd July 10, 1913.

7841. From McCord mine (strip pit), on the north side of Cedar Creek, in the
NE. i sec. 5, T. 129 N., R. 88 W., about 8 miles northeast of Morristown,
S. Dak. ; collected by A. L. Beekly in 1909.

7839 and 7842. From proeq;)ect pits on the south side of Cedar Creek, T. 129 N.,
R. 88 W. ; collected by A. li. Beekly in 1909. They are from the same bed as
sample 7481.

1935. From mine of Washburn Lignite Coal Co., Wilton, McLean County,
N. Dak. ; collected by M. R. Campbell August 3, 1905, 1,750 feet from shaft.

1971. From mine of Consolidated Coal Co. at Lehigh, Stark County, N. Dak. ;
collected by M. R. Campbell August 5, 1905, 1,900 feet from the mine mouth.

19367. From mine of United States Reclamation Service 3 miles nortHeast of
WiUiston, Williams County, N. Dak. ; collected by F. A. Herald August 16, 1911,
1,225 feet east of the mine mouth.

14485. From Harmon (?) lignite bed in Scranton mine of Charles Liddell,
Scranton, Bowman County, N. Dak. ; collected by C. J. Hares June SO, 1912,
from face of east entry, 1,000 feet from mine mouth.

33069. From Beulah mine, Beulah, Mercer County, N. Dak.; collected by
A. J. Collier October 6, 1919, in ninth entry north.

32444. From Hebron mine of Hebron Fire & Pressed Brick Co., Hebron,
Morton County, N. Dak ; collected by B. W. Dyer March 13, 1919.

31705. From Conon mine of J. F. Casteel, Burlington, Ward County, N. Dak. ;
collected by John G. Schonlng March 28, 1919.

12005. From Monarch mine of Wyoming Coal & Mining Co., Monarch, Sher-
idan County, Wyo.

29004. From mine A of Roundup Coal Mining Co., Roundup, Musselshell
County, Mont

7712. From Hocking Valley, Ohio.

23097. From East MiUsboro, Fayette County, Pa. ; a typical Pittsburgh coal.

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KBW SALEM UG^riTE FIELD, N. DAK. 21

The percentage of moisture in all lignites is very high. The per-
centage of sulphur shown in the analyses of lignites from this field is
higher than that in the lignites of some parts of the plains basins,
but it is not so high as that in coals of other regi<ms. The sulphur
occurs in the form of nodules or balls of pyrite and marcasite, which
are distributed along joints and bedding planes.

In the analyses of samples from the New Salem and Cannonball
Biver lignite fields and some of the others given in the above table
the volatile matter was determined by the ^' modified method," which
involves a preliminary heating of the lignite before it is subjected
to a temperature sufficiently high to drive off the volatile matter.
The modified method prevents the sputtering and the attendant
mechanical loss of particles of the sample which are caused in the
standard method where the higher heat is applied at once. The
loss accompanying the standard method affects chiefly the fixed car-
bon, so that when the modified method is used the determined per-
centage of that constituent is generally higher, in some analyses as
much as 20 per cent.

COXFABATTinS HBA.TINO VALUE.

Most of the users of lignite are little concerned about the per-
centage of sulphur in the lignite or even the relative amounts of
volatile matter and fixed carbon, but they are vitally interested in
the heat-producing quality of the lignite, for this determines its
value for ordinary purposes, such as heating buildings, raising steam,
and general use in manufacturing plants.

Many think it best to foster home industries even at the cost of
some sacrifice, but to most persons the deciding factor regarding a
fuel as well as any other commodity that they may be needing is
that of economy, and economy in the purchase of fuel means gen-
erally getting the fuel with the greatest heating power for the least
money. Lignite is so different from bituminous coal that most
persons are unable to make a direct comparison, but such a com-
parison is essential in order to determine which kind of coal is the
most economical to use. The ordinary analysis of a coal will not
furnish the data directly for the comparison, but the calorific de-
terminations given in the table on page 17 will enable anyone to
make a direct comparison of the various coals and lignites there
listed, and in fact their comparative values may be expressed in
dollars and cents.

Figure 4 shows graphically the heating value of certain of the
coals and lignites whose analyses are given on pages 17-19. These an-
alyses have been selected because they were made from samples that
were collected in working mines and so had suffered no deteriora-

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22 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II. .

tion from exposure to the weather. For conTenienoe in reference
these will be designated A, B, C, etc., as shown in the diagram. A
and B represent samples from the New Salem field ; C to H lignite
from adjacent fields of North Dakota; I and J subbituminous coals
from Wyoming and Montana; and K and L two well-known and
high-rank coals from the East that are frequently shipped into this
region by way of the Great Lakes. These letters are also shown in
the table of analyses.

The line marked " pure coal " shows the comparative heating value
of the several coals in nearly the pure form — that is, after the mois-
ture and ash, the ordinary impurities, have been eliminated. This
line so far as it concerns the lignite is nearly horizontal, showing
that, in their pure form the lignites differ but little in their heat-
ing value. According to this line the lignites here considered rank

15,000-

z:ir^

FiouBB 4. — Graph Bhowing the heatlncr value of North Dakota lignite as compared with
that of other coals with which it may have to complete.

as follows : A, D, F, C, B, E, G, H. In other words, the New Salem
lignite is intrinsically a little better than any other lignite here con-
sidered. The " pure coal " line ascends rapidly to the right, reach-
ing its highest point at L. This shows that the best coal here con-
sidered is the Pittsburgh coal, and that both this and the Hocking
Valley coal of Ohio are superior in heating value to the subbitumi-
nous coals of Wyoming and Montana.

The comparison just made is interesting, but it has no practical
value because it refers to pure coal and not to the coal in the con-
sumer's bin. The line marked " coal as mined " shows the compara-
tive heating value of the same group of coals in approximately the
condition in which they are consumed. This line shows much
greater variations than the " pure coal " line because it involves not
only inherent differences in the coal substance but also differences
due to the presence of ash and moisture, both of which are very
detrimental to a fuel. The lignites stand in the following order:
G, F, B, A, C, D, H, E. The Hebron mine produces the best lignite,

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NBW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 23

with Beulah a close second and Eamsland third. Here again the
subbituminous and bituminous coals stand higher than the lignites,
and the difference between them is more marked than it is on the
pure coal" line. The reason for this is mainly the fact that the
high-rank coals contain little moisture, whereas lignite is heavily
charged with moisture.

The relative heating values are proportional to the British thermal
units in the analyses showing coal ^' as received.'' Thus, the heating
value of New Salem lignite compared with that of Pittsburgh coal
is as 6,700 is to 13,650; or, expressed in another way, if New Salem
lignite sells for $5 a ton the consumer could afford to pay $10.20
for Pittsburgh coal. If he could buy Pittsburgh coal for less than
$10.20 it would be cheaper than the lignite at $5. If New Salem
lignite costs $5 a ton the real value of the other lignites and coals
shown in the diagram is as follows:

Comparative value of certain coals.

New Salem Ugnite $5.00

Bamsland Ugnite 5. 05

Vruton lignite 4. 96

Lehigh Ugnite 4. 60

Wimston Ugnite 4. 44

Beulah Ugnite 5. 40

H^ron Ugnite 5. 45

Burlington lignite 4. 49

Sheridan subbituminous coal 7.20

RonndTip subbituminous coal 7.95

Hocking Valley bituminous coal 9. 15

Pittsburgh bituminous coal 10.20

MININO.

At the time the field work was done the only mine in operation was
that of the Dakota Products Co., at New Salem." This mine, which
is considered in the description of T. 189 N., R. 86 W., was almost a
continuous producer, while practically all the other local mines are
operated for only a short period each year and only on a very small
scale.

The Dakota Products Co.'s mine was operated almost entirely to
supply the local demand for lignite. The tonnage mined during the
fall and winter greatly exceeded that produced during the spring
and summer, but the average daily output for the year was reported
to be about 110 tons. Some of the lignite was consumed in New
Salem and some was hauled in wagons directly from the mine to the
farms of the surrounding country. A considerable quantity was also

>*This mine has since been abandoned, bat in 1919 the Consolidated Lignite ColUeries
Co. was openlnsr a new mine In sec. 7, about 3 miles northwest of New Salem.

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24 CONTRIBUTIONS TO BCONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

shipped by rail to the small towns on the Northern Pacific Railway
and from them distributed by wagons.

It has apparently been the custom throughout this field for two
or more farmers to combine and by means of plows and scrapers
remove the cover from a bed of lignite. After the covering is re-
moved the lignite is broken up by some convenient method and
shoveled directly into wagons. With very few exceptions the local
lignite mines represented on the accompanying map (PI. V) are
openings of this character. They are generally referred to as " open-
pit mines" or "strip pits," and the process of removing the over-
burden is known as " stripping." In most of them only a few hun-
dred square feet of the lignite bed has been removed, but excep-
tionally — for example, at the large open pits at locations 2, 8, 4, and
6, about ^ miles southwest of Almont — several thousand square
yards of the beds have been stripped and mined out.

The lignite beds in this field are almost without exception under-
lain by a dense bluish-gray clay shale, which is nearly impervious
to water. Such material is a very serious obstacle to open-pit mining,
for after the covering is removed and a portion of the lignite is
mined out the open pit readily fills with water. Many of the open
pits can not be drained without the expenditure of considerable
additional labor. This difficulty could be avoided by selecting for
stripping some point on a slope where the pit could be more easily
drained. Too often the place chosen for stripping is determined by
certain signs of lignite, such as black material brought up by bur-
rowing animals, without the slightest regard for the possibility of
draining the pit after it is made. Owing to a heavy rainfall early
in the season of 1914, practically all the open pits in the New Salem
field were partly filled with water, a condition which made it very
difficult in many places to measure the thickness of the lignite beds*

The ground water moves downward until it reaches the impervious
clay shale and then flows laterally, eventually reaching the surface
in the form of springs. In opening drift mines it is advantageous
to determine the local conditions of structure and then locate the
mine in such a manner that the entry will follow the gradual rise
of the beds, which in most localities is sufficient to furnish natural
drainage.

One of the most serious obstacles to underground mining in this
field is the character of the overlying shale, which is so weak that it
can not be used as a roof. It is therefore necessary in many places
to leave a portion of the lignite to form the roof, a necessity which
prevents the mining of any but the thicker beds by this method.

A general estimate of the amount of coal present in the New Salem
field may be obtained after a study of the stratigraphic sections

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SnW SAUBM UOKITB FIBLD, N. DAK. 2$

given for each township. Taking an average of the mean thick-
nesses of coal beds for each township gives 3.03 feet as a uniform
thickness for the entire field. On the assumption that 1 square mile
of lignite 1 foot thick contains 1,152,000 short tons, a thickness of 8.03
feet for the New Salem field will give it a coal content of approxi-
mately 2,068,000,000 short tons.

DESCRIPTION BY TOWNSHIPS,

The lignite beds in each township are described in order, begin*
ing with the lowest. All places where lignite beds were examined
and many places where lignite was reported to be present were ac-
curately located, and their positions are shown on the maps by loca-
tion numbers. The lignite sections measured at these points are
correspondingly numbered, and it is by means of these numbers that
reference is made from the text to the map (PL V) and to the plate
of graphic sections (PL HI).

T. 137 K., B. 82 W.

The most conspicuous topographic feature in T. 137 N., R. 82 W.,
18 the prominent ridge composed mainly of glacial boulders which
occupies a portion of sees. 13, 14, 23, and 24. ^ All the northern part
of the township is a gently rolling upland underlain by the Cannon-
ball marine member of the Lance formation. Most of the south half
is considerably lower than the northern upland and is almost flat,
and although there are no rock exposures, it is probably underlain
by the lower part of the Lance formation. Most of the drainage
from the township empties into Little Heart River. With the excep-
tion of the small boulder-covered tract mentioned above, the entire
township is well adapted to agriculture. No exposures of lignite
were ob^rved.

T. 138 K., B. 82 W.

With the exception of an area of about 10 square miles in the
southeast corner, T. 138 N., R. 82 W., drains into Heart River. The
surface of the township, except a narrow belt adjacent to Heart
"Eiver and Sweetbriar Creek, is a gently rolling prairie well suited
to agriculture. The very fertile alluvium along the principal streams
is admirably adapted to general farming, and the deeply dissected
belt adjacent to it is utilized mainly for grazing.

Nearly all of the township is occupied by the Cannonball member
of the Lance formation. The lower sandstones of the Fort Union
formation cap some of the highest buttes, which occur principally
in the southwestern and northeastern parts of the township. No
outcrops of lignite were seen, and none were reported.

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26 CONTKIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC QEOLOGY, 1921, PABT U.

T. 139 N., A. 82 W.

Heart River flows across the southeastern part of T. 139 N., R.
82 W., and receives the drainage from all except the north tier of
sections. In general the eastern and southeastern parts of the town-
ship are moderately rough, owing to the eid^ent to which the
numerous small streams have eroded the soft shale. The north-
western part, on the other hand, is a rolling prairie. The alluvial
flat along Heart River and the moderately level upland are devoted
to general farming; the rougher portions of the township are utilized
mainly for grazing. The township is crossed by the main line of
the Northern Pacific Railway, on which grain elevators have been
erected at short intervals, bringing the producers into close touch
with the markets.

The Fort Union beds have been eroded so that the underlying
marine member of the Lance formation is exposed throughout about
two-thirds of the township. The comparatively high upland in the
northwestern part is composed of the lower beds of the Fort Union
formation.

Only one bed of lignite was observed in this township. From its
position with reference to the base of the Fort Union formation it
was designated bed A. The bed was measured in an open pit at
location 29, in sec. 10, where it was found to consist of at least
two separate benches of lignite separated by 8 inches of black
carbonaceous shale. The upper bench measured 1 foot 6 inches, but
all except the upper 10 inches of the lower bench was under water
and its full thickness could not be ascertained. It was reported, how-
ever, to have a total thickness of 3 feet. What is probably the same
bed was seen in an old prospect in the SW. i sec. 15. Its position
was also indicated by a "burn" in the SW. i sec. 9, and the bed
wad measured in the road at location 28, in sec. 8, where it was
found to contain only 1 foot 5 inches of lignite. What is believed to
be the same bed is also exposed near the east line of sec. 12 of the
township immediately west. As the bed at that place appeared to
contain only 10 inches of lignite, the line of traverse was not con-
tinued west of location 28.

T. 140 N., B. 82 W.

The drainage of T. 140 K, R. 82 W., goes eastward into Missouri
River, which lies from 2 to 3 miles east of the township. Otter
Creek drains much the larger part of the township. All of the east-
ern part is underlain by the Cannonball marine member of the Lance
formation; the western part is occupied by the lower beds of the
Fort Union. The portion of the township underlain by the Lance
formation has a very uneven surface. The slopes are not steep,

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE IV

A, DAKOTA PRODUCTS CO.'S MINE NEAR NEW SALEM, N. DAK.
This mine has been abandoned.

B. CROWN BUTTE, ON UPLAND IN SKC. 31, T. 140 N., R. 82 W., N. DAK.. LOOKING

NORTHEAST.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

1 ', > J 4

Digitized by VjOOQIC

NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 27

however, so that the valleys and much of the upland are well adapted
to fanning. South of Square Butte Creek the edge of the Fort
Union formation is marked hy a rather steep escarpment, and below
the escarpment for a distance of half a mile to a mile the land is
deeply dissected. The portion of the township which is occupied
by the Fort Union formation maintains a somewhat higher altitude
and has a much more even surface than the other portion. In places
there are prominent hills or buttes, as they are called in this country,
standing distinctly above the surrounding plain. One of the best
examples is Crown Butte, shown in Plate IV, B.

A single bed of lignite was found in this township, and from its
relation to the base of the Fort Union formation it was identified as
bed A. At location 30, in the NW. J sec. 17, the bed contains 4
feet 1 inch of good lignite overlain by black carbonaceous shale and
underlain by gray clay shale. This bed does not appear to be of
much value for any considerable distance north of location 30, for
the section measured in the NE. J NW. \ sec. 9 includes only a
few thin streaks of lignite. The bed was at one time extensively
mined for local use near the southeast comer of sec. 20, but the work-
ings have been abandoned and allowed to fill with water. What was
taken to be the same bed is exposed in a spring about 600 feet east
and a little north of the southwest comer of sec. 29. The thickness
of the bed at this place is reported to be 1 foot 6 inches. No further
exposures of this bed were observed during the geologic mapping.
On Plate V the broken line in sees. 19, 30, and 31 indicates the prob-
able position of bed C, which in this township is entirely grass-
covered.

T. 137 N., B. 83 W.

The most prominent surface feature in T. 137 N., R. 83 W., is the
high drainage divide which crosses near the middle of the township
in a north-south direction. This divide is roughly coincident with
the area underlain by the rocks of the Fort Union formation. The
shale and soft sandstone of the Cannonball marine member of the
Lance formation west of the divide are deeply dissected by numerous
small streams, and in consequence the area is extremely rough and,
except for the alluvial flats along Heart River, is ill adapted to
general farming. The area occupied by the same member east of the
divide, on the other hand, slopes off gently to the lowland. It is
gently rolling, whereas the area mapped as lower Lance is almost
perfectly flat The part of the township east of the divide is well
adapted to general farming.

Two noteworthy beds of lignite are exposed in this township and
from their stratigraphic positions were designated beds B and D.
Their outcrops are shown on Plate V, and the sections measured at

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88 002!JTRIBUTION9 TO BCOS^OMIC GEOLOGY, 1981, PAET H.

sbort intervals are represented graphically on Plate III. By re^
ferring to sections 67, 68, 69, 60, 61, and 62 it will be seen tihat the
lower bed (bed B) ranges in thickness from 2 feet 2 inches to 4 feet
10 inches. The rock overlying this bed is commonly a light-colored
soft sandstone, and that underlying it is commonly a clay shale. The
upper bed (bed D) was found only at location 17, near the northwest
comer of sec 30, and at an old prospect in the SE. i sec. 20. At
location 17 the bed contains 2 feet 6 inches of lignite witii a ^inch
shale parting 6 inches from the top. At the old prospect in sec. 20
the bed contains 2 feet 6 inches of very much weathered lignite.

T. 138 K., B. 83 W.

Heart River crosses T. 188 N., R. 88 W., in a series of great mean-
ders from the SE. ^ sec. 81 to the SE. i sec. 18. The alluvial flat
in which the river flows and which ranges from a quarter to half a
mile in width (PI. I, B) includes some of the most fertile agricul-
tural land in the township. As in other parts of the field, the rich
flood plain of the river is bordered on either side by a belt of country
from half a mile to a mile in width in which numerous side streams
have deeply intrenched themselves in the soft sandy shale of the
Lance formation. This belt is better suited for grazing than for
general farming. It gradually merges into the gently rolling up-
land, which if not entirely imderlain by the Fort Union beds is char-
acterized by small isolated buttes that are merely outliers of that
formation. No lignite was seen or reported in this township.

T. 189 N., B. 83 W.

With the exception of a narrow belt along the east edge, T. 189 N.,
B. 88 W., drains iuto Sweetbriar Creek. Although this township is
traversed by a great many drainage channels, most of the valleys are
comparatively shallow, and general farming can be carried on nearly
everywhere. Sweetbriar Creek and its numerous tributaries have
gradually eroded away the overlying Fort Union beds, exposing
the underlying sandstone and sandy shale of the Lance formation
throughout most of the south half of the township. This broad
valley of erosion gradually merges into the upland occupied by the
Fort Union formation. The flatness of the upland is indicated by
the paucity of drainage channels and also by the fact that most of
the public highways follow the section lines. The small settlement
known as Sweetbriar, on the main line of the Northern Pacific Rail*
way, affords an excellent market and shipping point for the sur-
rounding region.

The only exposures of lignite seen in this township are on bed A.
at locations 26 and 27, in sec. 4. The details of the secti<ms measured

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KEW SALKM UONITE FIELD, N. DAK. 29

at these points are represented in Plate III. It is reported that a
well in the NE. i SE. ^ sec. 3 passed through 4 feet of lignite at a
depth of about 40 feet. From the elevation of the surface at that
place the lignite bed as reported is 12 f e^ lower than the lignite at
locations 26 and 27 and in aU probability represeools the same bed.

T. 140 N., B. 83 W.

A drainage divide that is not at all conspicuous as a surface feature
crosses T. 140 N., K. 88 W., from the southwest comer of sec. 6 to
the southeast corner of sec. 24. This divide separates the drainage
which flows north and east iuto Square Butte Creek from that which
flows south into Sweetbriar Creek. The only rocks exposed in this
township are those of the Fort Union formation. In contrast with
the dissected belt along Heart Biver the entire township is a gently
rolling upland prairie, suitable for general farming. It is well set-
tled, and with few exceptions the main wagon roads follow the sec-
tion lines.

Owing to the evenness of the surface it is extremely difficult to find
exposures of lignite, but measurements of a bed were obtained at
locations 88, 89, 40, 41, and 42. As shown on Plate III, the bed is
thin, not exceeding 2 feet 8 inches in thickness at any of these loca-
tions. From the elevation of the lignite at these places it is reason-
able to assume that they represent the same bed, which, upon the
basis of its stratigraphic position, is assumed to be bed C. A 4- foot
bed of lignite is exposed in an open pit at location 65, in the NE. ^
SE. i sec. 13 of the township immediately west, and in all prob-
ability represents a higher bed, but no exposures of the upper bed
were observed in this township.

T. 187 N., &. 84 W.

The drainage from the western part of T. 137 N., R. 84 W., flows
westward and empties into Beaver Creek ; that from the eastern part
flows eastward and empties into Heart River. The divide between
the two drainage systems crosses the township in a north-south direc-
tion about a mile west of its middle line. The soft sandstone and
sandy shale of the Lance formation on either side of Heart River
back for a distance of 1^ or 2 miles are deeply dissected by numerous
side streams, and in consequence this badland is used mainly for
grazing. A well-defined flood plain from a third to half a mile in
width extends along Heart River and includes some of the most
fertile land in the township. The deeply dissected belt on either
side of the river valley gradually mergesi into the gently rolling
upland, which is underlain by the lower beds of the Fort Union
formation. The lower part of the Lance formation extends up

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80 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT U.

Heart Kiver for a distance of about 4 miles and crops out in a
narrow belt between the alluvium and the upper or Cannonball
member of the Lance. The exposures of lignite in this township are
all believed to represent the same bed, which, on the basis of its
stratigraphic position, is correlated with bed B in the township
immediately east. The sections measured at locations 53, 64, 55, and
56 show a bed of lignite ranging from 2 feet 5^ inches to 6 feet 4
inches in thickness. The details of the sections are graphically repre-
sented on Plate III. A bed of lignite 80 inches thick at location 51,
in sec. 32, T. 138 N., K. 84 W., is from its elevation believed to be
the same bed.

T. 138 TSr., B. 84 W.

From the west-central part of T. 138 N., R. 84 W., the streams flow
north into Sweetbriar Creek, east into Heart Kiver, and south into
Beaver Creek. Fort Union beds crop out in about two-thirds of the
township, and that portion has a gently rolling surface well adapted
to agriculture. Some of the area underlain by the Cannonball marine
member of the Lance formation is extensively cut up by deep gullies
and is suited only for grazing. It shows in many places steep grass-
covered ridges with buttes of the Fort Union formation rising
abruptly above the general surface. A large part of the township is
covered by a mantle of glacial till with pebbles and boulders ranging
from coarse gravel to boulders the size of a small house. Certain
tracts are so thickly covered with the glacial drift as to be useless
for anything but grazing.

Only one bed of lignite of economic importance was observed in
this township. This bed ranges from 3 feet to 6 feet 8 inches in
thickness, and it is believed to be bed B, the same as the one mapped
in the township immediately south. The details of the measurements
made at locations 49, 50, 51, 52, and 63 are represented graphically
on Plate III. Where the thickness of the bed was found to be below
the classifiable limit of 28 inches it is not represented graphically.
Thus at location 70, in sec. 1, bed B measures only 2 feet 3 inches;
at location 71 it appears to be represented by two thin streaks of car-
bonaceous shale ; and at a point near the west line of sec. 15 it con-
tains only 1 foot 3 inches of lignite. A bed of lignite 1 foot 10 inches
thick was measured near the bottom of the valley in the NE. J sec. 6.
No other exposures were observed, and owing to the local north-
easterly dip it was impossible to correlate the bed with any of the
other beds mapped.

T. 189 K., B. 84 W.

In T. 139 K, R. 84 W., Sweetbriar Creek and its northern tribu-
tary have lowered their beds enough to expose the Lance formation
only in a small tract in the southeastern part of the township. A

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KEW SALBK LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 81

narrow belt along the contact between the Fort Union and the Can-
nonball member of the Lance formation is in many places very
rough, owing to the presence of numerous small gullies. The eastern
part of sec. 12, parts of sees. 35 and 36, and some other tracts are
covered with glacial boulders (PL II, -4 ) . Such tracts are iU adapted
to general farming but can be utilized to good advantage for grazing.
The flood plains along the principal streams and most of that portion
of the toTHiship which is underlain by the Fort Union formation are
well adapted to general fanning. The main line of the Northern
Pacific Railway crosses this township from east to west. The little
town of Judson, situated on the railway about a mile south of the
center of the township, affords a market and shipping point for the
crops raised in the surrounding region.

A bed of lignite was observed at location 23, in sec. 2, and at loca-
tions 19, 20, 21, and 22, in sees. 29 and 30. As shown in Plate III, the
bed at these locations contains from 1 foot 5 inches to 5 feet 8 inches
of lignite, but the thicker section is badly broken by partings. These
exposures are all believed to be on the lowest bed observed in the
field, namely, bed A.

T. 140 K., B. 84 W.

T. 140 N., R. 84 W., except a small tract in the northeastern part,
is drained by the branches of Sweetbriar Creek. The entire township
is occupied by rocks of the Fort Union formation. It comprises a
portion of the gently rolling upland prairie that forms the divide
between Sweetbriar and Square Butte creeks. The extent to which
the public highways are able to follow the section lines expresses the
evenness of the surface. The amount of land in this township at
present being farmed is indicated by the more or less uniform distri-
bution of farm houses.

The few exposures of lignite that occur in this township are be-
lieved to represent at least three different beds. The bed exposed at
location 25, in sec. 31, and at the two open pits at location 24, in sec.
34, occurs only a short distance above the base of the Fort Union for-
mation, and accordingly it is assumed to be bed A. This bed, as
shown in Plate III, is 4 feet IJ inches thick, including a parting
^ inches thick, at location 24, but at location 25 the part exposed is
only 2 feet 6 inches thick and consists of bony lignite. The 3-foot
8-inch bed of lignite exposed in the open-pit mine at location 16, in
sec 16, is believed to be bed D, whereas the 4-foot bed of lignite
exposed in the open pit at location 65, near the east line of sec. 13,
is at a position stratigraphically somewhat higher and was accord-
ingly correlated with bed E.

Lignite is said to have been foimd in several wells in this town-
ship. For example, a 4-foot bed of lignite is reported in the log of

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82 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

a well a few hundred feet southeast of the house in the SE. ^ NE. i
sec. 14, at guch a depth that its elevation is 2^47 feet, or the same as
that of the lignite at location 66. Some lignite is also reported in
the log of a well near the house in the SW. i SE. i sec. 2, at such a
depth that the elevation is 2,180 feet, but the thickness of tlie bed
could not be ascertained. Furthermore, 6 feet of lignite is reported
in the log of a well near the house in the SW. i NW. i sec. 10, at such
a depth that it would have an elevation of 2,095 feet. The elevation
of the bed in the well is so near that of the bed in the open-pit mine
in sec. 16 that it seems probable that they are the same. What
appears from its elevation to be the same bed is reported to occur at
a depth of 35 feet in a well near the house in the-NE. J SE. J sec. 12,
T. 140 N., R. 86 W. This 7-foot bed of lignite, reported to have been
** dug through," was found to have an elevation of 2,082 feet.

T. 137 N., B. 85 W.

The most conspicuous topographic feature in T. 137 N., R. 85 W.,
is the relatively high divide which separates the Big Muddy Creek
drainage system from that of Beaver Creek. Each of these streams
flows in very striking meanders, and each has a well-defined flood
plain, which includes some of the most fertile land in the township.
That of Big Muddy Creek averages about three-quarters of a mile
in width, but that of Beaver Creek has a width of less than a quarter
of a mile. Bordering the flood plain of each stream is a belt of bad-
lands which has been deeply dissected by numerous small streams
and which is better adapted for grazing than for general farming.
The badland belt gradually merges into the gently rolling upland
prairie. The Cannonball member of the Lance formation is exposed
throughout most of the south half of the township, and the Fort
Union or lignite-bearing formation occupies practically all of the
north half.

The exposures of lignite that were examined are believed to rep-
resent two separate beds, which, from their relation to the base of
the Fort Union formation, are assumed to be beds A and B. The
lower, or bed A, is of very little value, containing in the NE. J sec. 4
only 1 foot 6 inches of very poor lignite. Even for immediate local
use this bed has been abandoned. The upper bed is represented by
a number of very striking ''bums" on the west side of the ridge.
The lignite is exposed only at the side of the main road in sec. 10
(location 44), where, as shown in Plate III, it is 2 feet 10 inches
thick. Bed B in T. 137 N., R. 86 W., is represented by a thin band
of lignite from 3 to 7 inches in thickness. In order to determine the
dip of the rocks the thin lignite bed was traversed throughout that
township, as well as in sees. 19 and 30 of this township.

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NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 3$

T. 138 K.» B. 85 W.

A high ridge covered by a thick mantle of glacial boulders extenda
from north to south through T. 138 N., R. 85 W., and separates it
into two almost equal parts. A somewhat less prominent parallel
ridge lies immediately east of Beaver Creek.

This township is occupied throughout by the lignite-bearing Fort
Union formation. Exposures of lignite were observed at a number
of places, but owing to the local irregularity of structure (see p. 12)
it is extremely difficult to correlate them. According to what ap-
peared to be the most reasonable interpretation the different sections
represent beds A, B, C, and D. It is highly probable that the twa
beds exposed in sec. 4 (locations 12 and 34) are the same as the beds,
exposed in sec. 8 (locations 11 and 33), as the upper bed was traced
from one to the other area by means of a succession of "burns.''
The very appreciable dip toward the southwest may cause the lower
one of these two beds (bed C) to dip beneath the two streams and
to reappear in sec. 12, T. 138 N., R. 86 W.

Bed A is exposed at locations 31 and 82, in sec. 33 ; location 66, in
sec. 29; and location 67, in sec. 30. At location 31, as shown in Plate
III, it has a thickness of 3 feet 8 inches, and at the open-pit mine at
location 32 the principal bench of lignite measures 2 feet 4 inches,
but above it there is an 11-inch bed of lignite separated from the
main bed by 15 inches of carbonaceous shale. This bed has been
mined at one or two other places near by, but the mines were long
ago abandoned, and the old openings have caved so badly that the
bed could not be measured. Bed A is reported to have a thickness
of 4 feet on the line between sees. 28 and 33, but a measurement could
not be obtained. At location 66, in sec. 29, bed A is 2 feet 3 inches
thick, and at location 67, in the SE. i sec. 30, 1 foot 9 inches.

Bed B is more than 4 feet thick at locations 47, in sec. 28, and
48, in sec. 26, at each of which the bottom of the bed was under water
and the entire thickness could not be ascertained. At location 68„
in sec. 30, the bed measured 1 foot 9 inches, and at location 69, 1
foot 10 inches. It is apparent, therefore, that bed B in traversing
the township from sec. 21 to sec. 26 ranges in thickness from 1 foot
9 inches to 4 feet 8 inches or more.

The principal exposures of beds C and D occur in sees. 4, 6, 6, 8,,
and 18. At locations 33, 34, and 35 bed C ranges in thickness from
3 feet 6 inches to more than 5 feet. The bottom of the bed being
under water at locations 33 and 34, it was impossible to ascertain the
true thickness at either place. The variation in thickness of bed
T> from 2 feet 3 inches to 4 feet is clearly shown by sections 11, 12>
13, 46, and 46 on Plate III. The lignite beds in this vicinity are
being mined at locations 11, 12, and 13.

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34 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

In addition to the surface exposures, lignite is reported to have
been discovered in wells at several localities in this township. For
example, 2 feet of good lignite is reported in the log of a well near
location 46. According to another report 9 feet of lignite occurs at a
depth of 10 feet in the NE. J NW. J sec. 26. Its elevation is about
2,090 feet, or 24 feet below that of bed B at location 48, in sec. 26, so
that the lignite as reported may represent bed A. A lignite bed from
3 to 4 feet thick is reported to occur in the NW. J NE. J of the same
section. A 7- foot bed of lignite is said to have been found at a depth
of 85 feet in the SW. J NE. i sec. 14.

T. 139 N., B. 85 W.

The south half of T. 139 N., R. 85 W., includes a portion of the
gently rolling upland between the valley of Big Muddy Creek and
that of Sweetbriar Creek, and hence the southeast quarter of the
township drains into Sweetbriar Creek, and the southwest quarter
into the Big Muddy. The main line of the Northern Pacific Railway
crosses the township in an east- west direction a short distance south
of its middle line. New Salem, an enterprising town which is situ-
ated on the railway almost exactly in the center of the township,
affords a market and shipping point for the surrounding territory.
The south half of the township is occupied throughout by the lignite-
bearing Fort Union formation. The few exposures of lignite
observed during the geologic mapping are believed to represent only
two beds, which on the basis of their probable stratigraphic posi-
tion are assumed to be beds D and E. The lignite sections measured
on the upper bed, or bed E, which has a maximum thickness of over
5 feet, are represented graphically on Plate III under Nos. 8, 9, and
10. Location 9, near the south line of sec. 21, marks an old abandoned
mine. Considerable lignite was at one time mined here, but of late
years the drift has been allowed to become partly filled with water.
The lignite bed is overlain by 8 inches of black carbonaceous shale
beneath a bed of sandy clay. Between the roof and the water there
is 5 feet 4 inches of lignite. The extent of the lignite below the
water could not be determined, but as the water does not cover the
rails and in all probability the rails were laid on the floor of the bed
the thickness of the bed is but little more than that given above.
South of location 9 this bed is represented by a number of red
" bums " almost to the northwest comer of sec. 33. The bed appears
to get thinner toward the south, for at location 8, in sec. 83, it is
only 2 feet thick.

The lower bed (bed D) at location 14 is 22 feet lower than the
upper bed at location 8. The bed is about 5 feet thick. The details
of the measurement made are shown on Plate III. At location 15^

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NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 85

in sec. 21, the bed contains 3 feet of lignite, but the top of the bed
is not well defined owing to an admixture of sand and clay.

The section measured at location 10, in sec. 34, shows two separate
benches of lignite separated by 2^ inches of black carbonaceous shale.
For convenience of classification this bed was correlated with the
upper bed (bed E) on the west side of the divide, but owing to the
local dips observed in the township immediately south the correlation
is very uncertain.

The mouth of the main slope (PI. IV, -4) of the Dakota Products
Go.'s mine is at location 64, about half a mile northeast of Now
Salem. The mine consists of a slope which goes down from the
surface in a direction a few degrees south of west for a distance of
nearly 200 feet. From the lower end of the slope the main haulage-
way is reported to run about N. 20° W. for a distance of 2,900 feet.
The air shaft was sunk 2,500 feet from the lower end of the slope.
Thrbu^out this dist^ance the bed has been mined out on either side
for a considerable distance back from the main haulageway. At
the time of visit, however, the mining was confined to an area
from 200 to 400 feet north and west of the air shaft* The lignite
bed where it has been mined ranges in thickness from 4 feet 6 inches
to 6 feet^ The analysis of a sample taken about 2,540 feet N. 20°
W. of the mouth of the mine is shown under laboratory No.
20083 on page 17. At the point of sampling the bed consists of
two benches separated by 4 inches of bone. The upper bench has
a thickness of over 1 foot 4 inches, and the lower bench a thick-
ness of 3 feet 1 inch. The sample represents the two benches of
lignite. The lignite at the point of sampling is underlain by gray
clay shale. The roof is reported to be very irregular, varying from
day shale to sandstone, and vice versa, in passing from one room
to another in the mine. Though a rather pronounced north to west
dip was reported for the mine in general, yet in places a local easterly
dip was observed. As a result of borings made at intervals of 250
feet the lignite bed is reported as thickening toward the northwest.
Two other lignite beds are reported to occur below the bed which
was being mined at the time of this investigation. The upper bed is
said to have a thickness of 6 feet and to lie 121 feet below the sur-
face. The lower bed is reported to have a thickness of 15 feet and to
lie at a depth of 212 feet. The lignite bed then being mined is only 16
feet lower than the bed exposed at the old mine at location 9, in sec.
21. In view of the general northerly dip in the mine and the small
difference in elevation between the two places mentioned, it is highly
probable that the beds are either the same or very near together
stratigraphically. There being no exposures of bed E north of loca-
tion 10, in sec. 84, the position of the outcrop of the bed as mapped

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36 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET II.

was determined on the assumption that the lignite bed that was being
mined is bed E.

In the autumn of 1919, according to a report by A. J. Collier, of
the United States Geological Survey, the Dakota Products Co.'s
mine had been abandoned and all equipment removed. Before the
property was abandoned, however, a shaft was sunk to a depth of
235 feet in search of beds below the one formerly mined, and a bed
of lignite is reported to have been found at the bottom of this shaft^
consisting of 7 feet of "black jack" or carbonaceous shale and
2 feet of clay overlying 9 feet of lignite. Northwest of New Salem,
in the SW. ^ sec. 7, the Consolidated Lignite Collieries Co. was
opening a mine on an 8-foot bed of clear lignite which pi^bably
can be correlated with that formerly mined near New Salem. The
following section, based on information gained in sinking an air shaft
above the 8-foot bed and a well near its outcrop, was reported by
Charles Westmark, the mine foreman :

Section of lignite beds in sec. 7, T. 139 N,, R. 85 TT., northwest of New Salem.

Sand. ^^ to-

Lignite 6

Clay 20

Lignite, bed mined 8

aay eo±

Clay and sand 170

Clay 10

Lignite, "solid coal" (bed A?) 19

Clay.

29e±

T. 137 N., B. 86 W.

T. 137 N., 86 W., occupies a portion of the divide between Big
Muddy Creek and Heart River. Most of the western part of this
township is a moderately high rolling prairie which is well settled
and adapted to general farming. Almont, a station on the main line
of the Northern Pacific Railway about three-quarters of a mile north
of the north line of the township, is accessible by means of a fairly
complete system of wagon rods and affords favorable market
facilities.

Erosion has not advanced far enough to expose the Lance forma-
tion in a very large area, so that the Fort Union or lignite-bearing
formation imderlies almost the entire township.

The best bed of lignite observed in this township is exposed in
sees. 5 and 6. From all appearances, however, the bed is lenticular.
The details of the several measurements made on the bed are repre-
sented graphically under section Nos. 1, 2, 3, and 6, of Plate III,
Location 2 marks the position of the Ramsland open-pit mine. The
lignite bed was sampled at that point, and the results of the analysis

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IJBW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. 37

are shown under laboratory No. 19786 in the table on page 17.
Where the bed was aampled It measured 6 feet 9^ inches, which
indudod a i^-inch bench of brown &ale 10 inches from the bottom.
A very pronounced northerly dip of 2 to 3 feet in 100 feet was ob-
SMired in the bed where the overburden had been removed. At loca-
tion 3, a few hundred feet to the northeast, the same bedf has a total
thickness of 6 feet 11 inches. The lower 12 inches of the bed contains
many thin streaks of impure lignite, and this is separated from the
main bed by 6 inches of sandy carbonaceous shale. The strata are
well exposed at location 1, in sec. 7, and from all appearances the 14-
iQch bed there exposed represents the bed worked in the Bamsland
mine. If it does, the bed not only thins rapidly but rises 46 feet in
passing from location 2 to location 1. The lignite bed represented
by the sections given above is correlated from its stratigraphic
position with bed E as mapped farther north and east.

Location 43, in sec. 25, marks an exposure on a lignite bed which
was correlated with bed A on account of its close proximity to the
base of the Fort Union formation. At this location the bed measures
1 foot 10| inches and has a ^-inch parting 4 inches from the top.
Bed B in this towniAip is thin and has a characteristic fossil bed
immediately above it. Although the lignite varies in thickness only
from 3 to 7 inches, the bed was traversed throughout the township
for the purpose of determining the dip of the rocka

T. 138 K., B. 86 W.

Unlike many of the other townships in this field, T. 138 N., R.
86 W., includes a large area of low valley land. The drainage either
onpties directly into Big Muddy Creek or enters it through its prin-
cipal tributary near the township line, in the SE. } sec. 35. Some
of the most fertile soil occurs on the alluvium of the principal
stream& The township is fairly well settled, and the inhabitants
have the advantage of unusual market and shipping facilities. The
main line of the Northern Pacific Railway, after leaving New Salem,
swings south arid follows the valley of Little Muddy Creek almost
to the south line of this township. It then enters the valley of Big
Muddy Creek and continues its northwesterly course. Sims, for
some time a thriving lignite-mining town and a source of supply
for the railway, is in the northern part of sec. 14. Almont, another
shipping point, is in the NW. J sec. 35. This township is occupied
throughout by the lignite-bearing Fort Union formation.

A rather valuable bed of lignite has been uncovered at locations
4 and 6, in the SE. i sec. 31. At location 4 about 10 feet of sandy
shale has been removed, exposing the bed throughout an area about
75 feet wide and 250 feet long. The basin formed by the removal
of the lignite was partly filled with water. Six feet of lignite was

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38 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, IWO., PART U.

exposed, but the amount of the bed below the water could not be
ascertained. At location 6, on the north side of the valley, the lignite
has been uncovered and mined throughout an area about 100 feet
wide and 250 feet long. At one point in the op^i pit the lignite
bed was found to have a thickness of 9 feet 4 inches. These two sec-
tions are represented on Plate III. This same bed was measured at
locations 1, 2, and 3, in sees. 6 and 7, T. 187 N., R. 86 W., and is de-
scribed in the section on that township. The " bums " shown in sees.
29, 30, 32, and 33 of this township are believed to represent this same
bed of lignite burned on the outcrop.

The principal commercial development of lignite in the township
is in the vicinity of Sims. For a time considerable lignite was mined
at Sims by the Northern Pacific Railway Co., but of late years the
supply of higher-grade coals farther west has caused the abandon-
ment of the lignite as a fuel, so at present most of the old openings
are badly caved and partly filled with water. The correlation of the
lignite beds in the vicinity of Sims with those of the township to the
east is very difficult, owing to the lack of exposures and the rather un-
usual dips observed in sees. 4, 5, 6, and 8 of that township. It seems
probable, however, that the lignite bed exposed at location 18, in sec.
23, and also at the two old mine openings on the opposite side of the
valley is bed B. This bed, as shown on Plate III, consists of two
benches, an upper bench containing 2 feet 4 inches and a lower bench
containing 3 feet 5 inches of lignite, but both benches are broken by
shale partings so that they are not particularly promising. It was
impossible to measure the bed at either of the old mine openings east
of location 18. It is reported, however, that in the process of mining
a 4-foot bed of lignite was cut some distance above the mined bed.
The log of a deep well drilled at Sims,^^ as given from memory by the
driller, shows three " coal " beds having thicknesses of 8 feet, 6 feet,
and 5 feet, respectively, within a depth of 130 feet. It also shows
a 6-foot bed at a depth of 330 feet and a 6- foot bed at a depth of 710
feet. The writer is not inclined to place much dependence on such a
well log, for two reasons — the log was reported from memory, and it
is difficult, in a well boring, to distinguish between good lignite and
impure lignite or even black carbonaceous shale. As the lignite
beds in this field are very lenticular, it may be that there is at
Sims an unusual development of lignite near the base of the Fort
Union formation. However, as there is some doubt regarding the
dips, the lignite bed at location 18, in sec. 23, might represent either
bed A, B, or C. It is suggested that the reported 6-foot bed of lig-
nite at a depth of 330 feet may be in the lower Lance, at or near the

^^Darton, N. H., Preliminary report on artesian water In a portion ot the DalEOtas:
V. S. Geol. Survey Seventeenth Ann. Rept., pt. 2, pp. 662-069, 1896.

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TON COUNTY
OF MEASUBED i

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NEW SALEM LIGNITE FIELD, N. DAK. * 39

horizon of the lignite mined on Little Heart River in T. 137 N., R,
81 W., south of Mandan."

A lignite bed believed to be bed C was measured at the old mine
at location 36, in sec. 12, where it consists of three separate benches^
as shown in Plate III. Near the northeast comer of sec. 11, how-
ever, the same bed contains only 1 foot 5 inches of good lignite
overlain by 7 inches of lignitic shale and underlain by gray clay
shale. What appeared to be the same bed was noted at location 37^
in sec. 3, and found, as shown on Plate III, to contain 3 feet 1 inch
of good lignite.

Lignite was noted at other places in the township, but generally
the beds are thin and do not promise to be of much value. An 18-
inch bed of lignite caps the small hill in the SW. J NW. J sec. 33.
Two thin beds of lignite were measured in the buttes at locations
6 and 7, in the NW. J sec 22. At location 6 the beds are separated
by an interval of 21 feet and the lower bed measures 2 feet 3 inches
and the upper 1 foot 4 inches. At location 7 the lower bed contains
2 feet 1 inch of lignite, but the upper bed has thickened to 3 feet
6 inches. The log of a well near the house in the NW. J NW. J
sec. 22 reports 3 feet of lignite. The 19 inches of lignite exposed
on the north slope in the SE. J sec. 9 in all probability represents
one of the beds noted above. A prominent "bum" about 45 feet
stratigraphically below this bed seems to occur at about the same
horizon as an 18-inch bed of lignite measured in the east bank of the
creek in the SW. i NW. i sec. 4.

» Leonard, A. G., U. S. Oeol. Survey Geol. Atias, Bismarck folio (No. 181), p. 6. 1012.

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

AisERT B. Fall, Secratary

United States Geological Survey
George Otis Smith, Director

Bulletin 726— B

GEOLOGY OF THE CEMENT OIL FIELD
CADDO COUNTY, OKLAHOMA

FRANK REEVES

Prepared in oooperation with the Office of Indian Aifain

CoBtribntloiis te eeonomic ceolesy, 192f , Part II

(Patfes 41.«6)

PubUahed Augnat 10, 1921

WASHINGTON

GOVBKNMBNT PRINTING OFFICE
1921

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CONTENTS.

Page.

Introductioi] 41

Geography , 42

General features '. 42

Topography of Kiowa area 43

Topography of Cement area 43

Drainage 44

Soil 44

Climate ■, 44

Settlements ^ ' 44

Roads 45

Geologic history of the region ^_^ 45

Stratigraphy 45

Exposed rocks -^ 47

General description .___ 47

Greer formation ' 48

Cyril gypsum member 48

Woodward formation 1 51

Whltehorse sandstone member 51

Occurrence and general character ■ 51

Thickness 51

Cross:bedding 52

Material and color 54

Changes in appearance of Whltehorse sandstone in

Cement anticlinal area 54

Unexposed rocks 56

Base of the Permian 57

Origin of Permian ** Red Beds " ^ 58

Origin of cross-bedding of Whltehorse sandstone 59

Structure 61

Relation of structure to the accumulation of oil 61

Key rocks 62

Structure of Cement area ^. 63

Cement anticline 63

Cyril syncline 65

Cobb syncline 66

Structure of the Kiowa area 68

Relation of structure to topography 60

Development of Cement oil field 71

History of development 71

Oil sands , 71

Caddo oil sand 72

Fortuna oil sand , , 72

Prosperity oil sand 72

Discovery of new sands 72

Production of wells 73

Extent of the field 1 73

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IV CONTENTS.

Development of Cement oil field — Continued. Pctge.

Grade of oil > 74

Recommendations as to future development " 75

Possibility of finding oil outside of the Cement field 76

1 Well tables 77

ILLUSTRATION

Pagu

PiATE VI. Geologic map of Oklahoma showing oil and gas fields 42

VII. Erosion features of Cyril gypsum and Whitehorse sandstone- 48
VIII. Erosion features of Cyril gypsum and Whitehorse sandstone. 49

IX. Cross-bedding in Whitehorse sandstone 60

X. Plotted logs of 11 wells in Cement oil field, Caddo County,

Okla 72

XI. Structural map of Cement oil field and surrounding terri-
tory, Caddo County, Okla In pocket.

XII. Structural map of Kiowa area, Caddo County, Okla In pocket.

FioUBE 5. Generalized section of Permian " Red Beds " of Oklahoma 46

6. Rocks exposed in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla 47

7. Approximate boundary between marine and nonmarine sedi-

ments of basal Permian and upper Pennsylvanian in Kansas,

Oklahoma, and Texas 59

8b Map showing absence of relation of ridges to structure and

other features in Cement oil field, Caddo CQunty, Okla * 70

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GEOLOGY OF THE CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY,

OKLAHOMA.

By Frank Reeves.

INTRODUCTION.

The area discussed in this report is in Caddo County, in the south-
western part of Oklahoma, in the drainage basin of Washita River,
north of the Wichita Mountains. It comprises Tps. 7 and 8 N., Rs.
11 and 12 W., and Tps. 6 and 6 N., Rs. 9 and 10 W. Its location with
reference to the producing fields of Oklahoma and to districts in the
State that have been described in reports of the United States Geo-
logical Survey dealing with oil and gas is shown on Plate VI.

It has long been believed that the region of tilted strata which
borders the Wichita Mountains should contain local anticlines favor-
able for the accumulation of oil and gas. The pronounced anticline
at Cement and anticlinal folds at Lawton and to the south in Cotton
County support this belief. The production of oil at Cement proves
not only that the structure at that locality is of the type favorable
for oil accumulation but that there are adequate reservoir beds and
a source of petroleum. It therefore seemed important that a portion
of the region north of the Wichita Mountains should be mapped to
determine the possibility of working out the geologic structure of the
whole region and incidentally to determine the presence or absence of
favorable anticlinal structure in the area examined.

A further reason for the work was the fact that much of the land
in Caddo and Kiowa counties is owned by the Kiowa, Wichita, Caddo,
and Apache Indians. Many tracts of the Indian lands are leased to
oil companies every year, and it appeared highly desirable that geo-
logic reports should be made available covering areas in which par-
ticular interest had been shown, in order that both prospective lessees
and the Office of Indian Affairs, which administers the Indian lands,
might form some idea of the true value of oil rights.

The field work that yielded the results incorporated in this bulle-
tin was done by the writer, assisted by instrument men Edward F.
Shea and Bruce White, during the five months beginning October,
1919. Mr. White also aided materially in the compilation of the re-
port. The field work was done by plane-table methods. Locations
and elevations were determined by direct or trigonometric leveling
controlled by a system of triangulation.

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42 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — PART U.

As about half of the land examined belongs to the Indian tribes
mentioned, financial cooperation was furnished by the Office of In-
dian Affairs.

For convenience in reference the northwest block of four townships
is spoken of collectively as the Kiowa area, and the southeast block
as the Cement area. T. 8 N., R. 12 W., is North Cobb Township ; T.
7 N., R. 12 W., South Cobb; T. 8 N., R. 11 W., Grand .View ; T. 7 N.,
R. 11 W., West McKinley; T. 6 N., R. 10 W., Tonkawa; T. 5 N.,
R. 10 W., Doyle; T. 6 N., R. 9 W., North Cement; and T. 6 N., R. 9
W., South Cement. These townships are shown on figure 8 (p. 70).

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS.

The writer wishes to express his appreciation of the courtesy shown
and the aid given to him and his assistants in the progress of the field
work by the farmers, oil men, and other inhabitants of the area.
Thanks are due to Mr. C. V. Stinchecum, superintendent of the Kiowa
Indian Agency at Anadarko, for cooperation and facilities furnished
for the progress of the field work. The writer is also indebted to
Mr. P. V. Roundy for examining the drill samples for paleontologic
evidence of the age of the formations in which the oil sands occur;
to Mr. R. C. Wells for his chemical study of the materials in the
various colored phases .of the Whitehorse sandstone, and to Mr.
K. C. Heald, Mr. David White, and especially Mr. M. I. Goldman
for the aid they furnished by suggestions and discussions with the
writer of the geologic problems encountered.

GEOGRAPHY.

General features. — The area lies about 15 miles northeast of the
Wichita Mountains, in the Permian " Red Beds " plain, which encir-
cles the Wichita uplift and out of which the mountains rise " like
islands in a sea." This plain in the area mapped has a relief of
nearly 500 feet, for the highest point, on the top of the west end
of the Keeche Hills, is 1,666 feet above sea level, and the lowest, the
bed of Washita River where it flows out of the area, is but 1,170 feet
above sea level.

The topographic features of the entire area can be classified in
three groups — plain, sand hills, and valley bottoms.

The plain is a rolling treeless prairie deeply dissected by streams.
It is underlain by a deposit of gypsum and in some places by
limestone. The resistance of these beds to erosional forces has pre-
served the plain. The weathering of a higher gypsum bed has
produced some prominent ridges on the surface of the plain. Along
its borders and the stream courses the basal gypsum bed forms pre-
cipitous bluffs and rounded moundlike hills.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA- 43

The sand hills occur where the plain has been destroyed by erosion.
Their uneven, heavily wooded surface is underlain by soft red sand-
stone, which is usually covered with a soil formed of wind-blown
sand. In many localities this sand in the past has Been piled into
dunes, but the movement of most of these dunes has now been ar-
rested by vegetation.

The valley type of topography occurs where the major streams have
formed flood plains. To this type belong the broad, level valleys of
the Washita and Little Washita and those along the lower courses of
some of the larger tributaries.

Topography of Kiowa arecu, — ^The plain surface forms upland slopes
in Grand View Township and the southern half of West McKinley
Township. These areas adjoin the broad valley of Washita. River and
are so deeply dissected by streams that they assume the appearance
of a high plateau country. To the west, in North Cobb and South
Cobb townships, there are a few outlying ridges that represent Rem-
nants of the plain. The rest of the area, with the exception of the
present valley of the Washita and the level land in the central pai;J
of North Cobb Township that marks an old flood plain of the river,
is covered with sand dunes formed in the past when the rainfall was
liflfhter than at present. These dunes are now covered with vegeta-
tion. In North Cobb Township "blow-outs" have been formed
where the wind has hollowed out the centers of dunes, whose tops
have become barren of vegetation. A good example of these blow-
outs, in sec. 7, has a diameter of 250 feet at the rim and a depth of
45 feet.

Topography of Cement area. — ^The most prominent topographic
features of the Cement area are the Keeche Hills, in the northern
part of South Cement Township and the southeastern part of Ton-
ka wa Township. These hills consist of a series of barren rock ridges
and isolated flat-topped buttes which rise from 100 to 200 feet
above the crest of a high divide, formed as a result of the arching of
the plain surface^ and are the most prominent landscape feature of
the region, resembling in appearance the Wichita Mountains, al-
though on a much smaller scale. In fact, with the exception of the
Wichita uplift there is no topographic feature in southwestern Okla-
homa to compare with them. The divide on which they are situa-
ated continues northwestward through the southern part of Tonkawa
Township. The south flank of the divide slopes rather steeply to
Little Washita Kiver, on the south side of which there is a second
le^ prominent ridge. Southeast of South Cement Township this
sloping plain is replaced by sand hills. North of the divide the old
plain surface has been largely removed, leaving only a few scattered
ridges and outliers, and the area that it once covered now shows the

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44 COKTBIBUnONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT H.

sand-hill type of topography. The slope on the north side of the
divide continues to the valley of Washita River.

Drainage. — -Washita River, which flows eastward across the Kiowa
area, receives the drainage of the area mapped with the exception
of the southwestern part of Doyle Township, which drains into
Red River by way of Cache Creek. The valley of the Washita is
1 mile to 2 miles wide and contains a series of lakes that mark former
positions of the meandering stream. About 16 feet above the present
flood plain there is a broad terrace, which represents an earlier flood
plain. At higher levels there are remnants of other terraces, whose
surfaces are covered by beds of gravel composed of pebbles derived
from igneous rocks. The river follows a very sinuous course and has
formed great meanders, which are being intrenched owing either
to an elevation or tilting of the region or else to an increase in
volume of water in comparatively recent geologic time. The sec-
ondary streams that drain the area have numerous tributaries and
deep, narrow canyons in the upland plain and few tributaries and
broad valleys in the sand hilla Some of the major secondary streams
flow in synclines, their position and direction of flow being deter-
mined by the geologic structure of the region. Among these are
Cobb Creek, Deep Creek, and Little Washita River.

Soil. — ^The soil of the region outside of the area of wind-blown
sand ranges from a heavy black loamy clay to a bright-red loam
which makes good pasture land or fertile soil for agricultural crops.
This area is not wooded, except along the banks and valleys of
streams, where there are cottonwood, elm, post oak, bur oak, cedar,
locust, box elder, walnut, and a few pecan trees. In the area of
wind-blown sand the soil for a considerable depth is very sandy
and fairly fertile. Except where the woods have been cleared off
these sandy areas are commonly covered with a scrubby growth of
blackjack oak. The principal crops are cotton, maize, wheat, corn,
kafir com, broom corn, and cane.

Clvmate. — ^The climate is mild and dry. The wiijters are moderate,
with occasional light snowstorms and cold periods produced by cold
north winds. The summers are very hot, but the heat is usually
tempered by brisk winds. The annual rainfall, which averages
about 35 inches, is extremely irregular. During some summers there
is so little precipitation that nearly all vegetation dies. During
summers of sufficient rainfall, large agricultural crops and abundant
fruit and vegetables are raised.

Settlements. — ^There are four small villages in the area mapped.
Cement has a population of 2,000, Fort Cobb 1,000, Cyril 600, and
Washita 100. The rural districts are rather thickly settled, with, a
house on nearly every quarter section. The inhabitants are whites,
Indians (Kiowa, Wichita, Caddo, and Apache), negroes, and Mexi-
cans.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 45

Roads. — County roads extend along most of the section lines and
are fairly good, except the valley roads, which become almost im-
passable during rainy periods. The St. Louis-San Francisco and
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific railroads cross the area.

OBOLOOIC HISTORY OF THE REGION.

The area mapped lies on the border of the Wichita Mountain up-
lift, and its geologic history is closely associated with that of the
mountain region. According to Taff,* these mountains were produced
by intensive folding of igneous and sedimentary rocks by forces that
acted from the northeast and southwest and that produced folds
trending northwest. This folding occurred in two periods — ^the first
at the end of Mississippian time and the second at the end of Pennsyl-
vanian time. Each uplift was followed by periods of erosion, so
that at present the mountains consist of a central elevated mass of
igneous rocks, with steeply inclined Cambrian and Ordovician lime-
stones forming minor parallel ridges along the sides. At the base
of the mountains the almost horizontal Permian " Red Beds " overlie
these older rocks, and it is therefore impossible to determine to what
extent the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian rocks were removed by
erosion before the "Red Beds" were deposited, but it is probable
that the unconformity at the base of the Permian, though represent-
ing the removal of thousands of feet of strata in the central part of
the uplift, is not continuous many miles away from this area. The
unconformity at the base of the Pennsylvanian, however, is of wide
extent. Since Pennsylvanian time there has been some folding along
the former lines of uplift, which has bent the Permian strata into a
low arch in the r^on between the Wichita and Arbuckle mountains
and has also produced folding parallel to the mountains in the area
mapped. The latter folding, as is set forth on page 50, probably was
initiated at the beginning of Greer time and possibly renewed in a
late geologic period, as indicated by the rejuvenation of the streams
and the arching of the old plain surface.

STRATIGRAPHY.

The surface rocks of the Cement field and about 1,500 feet of the
underlying beds are regarded by the writer as of Permian age. They
consist of red and blue shales, red and gray sandstone, gypsum, and
limestone. The classification of the Permian in Oklahoma shown in
figure 5 was made by Gould.*

* Taff, J. A., Preliminary report on the geology of the Arbuckle and Wichita mouQtalns :
C. 8. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 31, 1904.

'Gould, C. N., Geology and water reaourcea of Oklahoma: XJ« 8« Qegli (Mirre/ Water?
Supply Paper 148, p. 40, 1906.

aOSOO'— 21 2

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — PART 11.

Tertiary

Quartarmaator 80(K

Woodwanl42y

Magrnim (dolomite) ^

CoUincaworth (gypaiim) .... ^

Cedar Top (Kypaum) <

Hayataek (cypeam) <

Kiaer (sypauin)

Chanay (Bypaum)

Day Creek (dolomite) .

Whiteboree (■andatoaa).

Doc Creek ahalaa.

Sbimer (sypaum)

Medicine Lodce (sypaom) . . (
Pei)Buaon (sypaum) <

Enid l,BOfy (

Fiouu 5. — Generalised section of Permian " Red Beds " of Oklahoma. After Gonld.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 47

EXPOSED BOOKS.

GENERAL DESCRIPTION. *

The rocks that crop out in the Cement field belong to the Greer
and Woodward formations and consist of the Whitehorse sandstone
member of the Woodward formation, overlain by a thin limestone, 1
foot thick, representing the Day Creek dolomite member of the
Woodward, which lies beneath a gypsum bed (Cyril gypsum,) that
belongs to the Greer formation (fig. 6, A). Clapp^ in a recent
publication on the geology of the Cement field has made a different
interpretation of the stratigraphy of the area (fig. 6, B), placing
the gj-psum deposit, which he named the Cyril gypsum, in the Blaine
formation and the sandstone underlying it in the Enid formation.
This sandstone, with the overlying gypsum, forms a continuous out-
crop across the area mapped and connects with the red bluffs along

Greer fonnation

Woodward
formation

Cyril gypsum
member

Whitehorse
sandstone member

Blaine formation

Enid formation

Whitehorse
sandstone
Cyril gypsum

Red and gray
sandstone

Vertical scale
9 ... .250 sp oFeet

Figure 6. — ^Bocks exposed in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla. A, Interpretation of
strati^aphy outlinrd in this report ; B, interpretation given by F. G. Clapp.

Washita River between Chickasha, Anadarko, and Mountain View.
The Oklahoma Geological Survey correlates this sandstone with the
Whitehorse sandstone member of the Woodward formation/ The
Cyril gypsum, which overlies this sandstone in an almost continuous
outcrop, has been traced northwestward to the gypsum hills of west-
em Washita County, which, according to the Oklahoma Geological
Survey, belong to the Greer formation.'* In the northern part of
the area mapped the lower bed of the Cyril gypsum is underlain by
a thin limestone that has been traced northward and correlated with
the Day Creek dolomite member of the Woodward formation in the
northern part of Caddo County, where it caps a number of promit
nent buttes formed by a sandstone which Cragin ® identified as the
^^Tiitehorse sandstone.

* Clapp, F. G., Geology of Cement oil field ; Am. Inst. Mln. and Met. Eng. Bull. 158, soc.
n, pp. »~4, 1020.

*Aarln, Fritz, Geology of the "Red Beds" of Okiahoma : Oklahoma Geol. Survey Bull.
30. p. 28, 1917.
'Idem, p. 30.

• Oagin, F. W. T., The Permian system of Kansas : Colorado Coll. Studies, vol. 6, p. 4,

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48 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART II.

Considering the great thickness of the Whitehorse sandstone and
the fact that its outcrop has been mapped across the eight townships,
the writer is certain that he has made no mistake in correlating the
sandstone of the Cement section with the sandstones to thp northwest
which have been classified by previous writers as the Whitehorse
sandstone.

GREER FORMATION.
OTRIL OYFSXrM

Only the basal part of the Greer formation is present in this area,
where it is represented by the Cyril gypsum member.

The name Cyril was first applied to this gypsum by F. G. Clapp.^
In some parts of the area the Cyril member consists wholly of gyp-
sum; in others it consists of two beds of gypsum separated by 15
to 20 feet of gypsiferous sandy shale. The upper gypsum bed has
been eroded away except along the water divides, and here its top
has been removed and the whole weathered into prominent ridges
such as those seen south and west of the Keeche Hills ; in sees. 32 and
33, West McKinley Township ; sees. 8 and 9, Grand View Township ;
a.nd sec. 13, T. 8 N., R. 13 W. (west of North Cobb). (See Pis. VII,
VIII.) With the exception of some of the Keeche Hills the highest
land in the region is formed by this bed. Its greatest thickness in
the area is in sec. 32, Tonkawa Township, where it measures 85 feet.
It consists of a massive bed of pink to white crystalline gypsum with
scattered lentils of gray sandstone. As a key rock this upper bed is
of almost no value, for the top has been removed by erosion and the
base is generally not exposed except where the bed caps the buttes
in the east end of the Keeche Hills. (See PL VIII, B.) There it
rests directly on the Whitehorse sandstone, owing to an erosional un-
conformity, and has been altered to a limestone by the action of
ascending ground waters.

The lower gypsum bed is 16 to 20 feet below the upper gypsum
bed, being separated from it by gypsiferous shales. This lower bed
supports the greater portion of the plain and forms the flat-topped
surfaces on which, in scattered outliers, occur the ridges and hills of
the upper gypsum bed. Its thickness ranges from 1 foot to 40 feet
and increases toward the synclinal areas described under " Structure."
In material it resembles the upper gypsum bed, except that in certain
localities it is laminated and has the appearance of thin-bedded lime-
stone. Its resistance to weathering and its position above the friable
red Whitehorse sandstone result in the formation of prominent pre-
cipitous bluffs and canyon walls where it has been cut by running
streams. Here and there the Whitehorse sandstone weathers out

»0p. dt., pp. 3-5.

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f)^ ./. T/TO .YTr'TO'> n(](]/'^ .nrn'T .Tin Tr''i/:r^

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE VIH

B.
EROSION FEATURES OF CYRIL GYPSUM AND WHITEHORSE SANDSTONE.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 49

from under it, leaving overhanging cliffs. Streams in many places
have eroded channels under it, producing caves and natural bridges.
(See PL VIII, A.) The outcrop of the bed is irregular and is locally
concealed entirely by sand. The best exposures are those facing the
southwest, owing to the uncovering action of the strong south-
westerly winds which blow almost continuously during February and
March. The land is covered in the fall and winter by a thick growth
of broom weed, which is absent on the soil derived from the under-
lying Whitehorse sandstone, except in localities where this sandstone
is gypsiferous.

The lower gypsum bed underlies about half of the Cement area and
about one-quarter of the Kiowa area. In South Cement and Doyle
townships it is prominently exposed, overlying the Whitehorse sand-
stone along streams. It also forms a continuous outcrop in the south-
em part of Tonkawa Township and scattered outliers in North Ce-
ment Township. In the Kiowa area a considerable portion of West
McKinley Township is underlain by the same gypsum bed.

To the north and west, in Grand View, South Cobb, and Iforth
Cobb townships, the lower gypsum bed is absent, but the underlying
thin limestone which caps the Whitehorse sandstone is present. This
stratum is about a foot thick. On fresh fracture it varies in color
from pink to black, the latter color being due to the presence of
manganese dioxide. As a rule it is thinly laminated, and in places
the lamination planes are folded, so that the rock has the appearance
of fossil wood. The limestone weathers into thin platy fragments
and forms at its outcrop a slight topographic bench. About 15 feet
above this limestone, in the townships above mentioned, there are
a few scattered outliers of the upper gypsum bed, the interval being
occupied by gypsiferous sandstone and red shale. To the south the
limestone is continuous, appearing as a thin band of calcareous ma-
terial forming a sharp contact with the overlying gypsum and the
underlying Whitehorse sandstone. Though of about the same thick-
ness and chemical composition as in the areas where it is not over-
lain by the gypsum, it is usually softer and less commonly laminated
and has a green or blue color, in places mottled black by the presence
of dendritic crystals of manganese dioxide. This limestone stratum
was traced north of the area and correlated with the Day Creek
dolomite where it caps the Caddo County Buttes, southwest of
Bridgeport. These buttes are haystack-like hills which have been
eroded out of the Whitehorse sandstone. The lower gypsum bed is
not seen overlying this limestone north of Washita River; in fact,
south of the river, in the area mapped, its occurrence is confined to
synclines. Up the flanks of the synclines it thins and gradually
disappears.

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50 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART n.

In the Cement area the limestone is present up the flanks of the
anticline, but in the two dome areas on the crest of the anticline it and
the shales lying between the upper and lower gypsum are absent,
and the Whitehorse sandstone buttes are capped with a thick, massive
bed of gypsum which apparently is the upper bed of the Cyril gyp-
sum. The contact between the two beds here is irregular and forms
dips discordant to the apparent structural dips of the strata. Thus it
appears that there is an unconformity here. This unconformity,
together with the thinning and disappearance of the lower gypsum,
suggests that in early Greer or late Woodward time the earth
movements that resulted in the change in deposition of sand to gyp-
sum produced some folding of the strata along the lines represented
by the present structure of the region, with the formation of an in-
land basin. In the first stage of evaporation of the water in this
basin carbonates were precipitated, forming the limestone bed be-
neath the Cyril gypsum. As folding and evaporation continued
the water receded from the area of uplift marked by the Cement
anticline, and, as a result, on the crests of the domes there was
emergence and probably erosion. Along the flanks of the folds
only limestone was deposited, indicating that the water withdrew
from these areas before concentration had gone far enough for more
than the precipitation of calcium carbonate from the water, while
in the synclinal areas gypsum was deposited in increasing thick-
ness as the water receded and occupied lower and lower levels in the
central parts of the basin. Thus in the Cyril and Cobb synclines the
lower gypsum bed attains a thickness of 35 and 20 feet, respectively,
but gradually thins up the flanks of the folds. This thinning is
uniform and conforms relatively in amount to the dip of the rocks.

The unconformity outlined above, though apparently of local ex-
tent, probably ocx^urs in other regions where there have been crustal
movements contemporaneous with those which produced the Cement
fold. Beede*' reports a pronounced unconformity in Coke County,
Tex., occurring at the base of the beds which he calls the San Angelo
formation and correlates with the lowest part of the Double Moun-
tain formation of the Texas Permian. The San Angelo formation of
Beede underlies a series of shales and gypsum beds which Wrather ®
correlates with the (Jreer formation of Oklahoma. Beede conse-
quently refers the unconformity to the base of the Whitehorse sand-
stone.

"Beede, J. W., Texas Univ. Bull. 1847, 1918.

•Wrather, W. K.. Notes on the Texas Permian: Southwestern Assoc. Petr. Geologists
Bull. 1, p. lo:?, 1917.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 51

WOODWARD FORMATION.

The only members of the Woodward formation exposed in the
Cement area are the Whitehorse sandstone and the equivalent of
the Day Creek dolomite member, represented by the thin limestone
that miderlies the lower bed of the Cyril gypsum.

WHITEHORSE SAVDSTONE MEMBER.
OCCUKKENGE AND GENERAL CHABACTEB.

Except in the extreme southwest corner of South Cobb Township,
the only rock below the Cyril gy-psum that crops out in the area
mapped is the Whitehorse sandstone. Except in the Cement uplift
(fig. 8, p. 70) this rock is a friable reddish-brown cross-bedded to
regular-bedded sandstone which weathers rapidly, producing a thick
soil of sand that is blown about by the wind and in some localities
piled up into sand dunes. Streams cut deep gorges in the sandstone,
exposing it in the walls of narrow canyons. (See PI. VII, A.) In
places where it is capped by the Cyril gypsum or by an indurated
layer of the sandstone itself, its outcrops form vertical bluffs
along the edge of the upland plains of the region. The wind exposes
it along the west sides of prominent ridges and erodes it into small
conical mounds and barren slopes. The red color of these outcrops
along the bluffs of Washita River and the valleys of many of its
tributaries, such as Deep Creek, Stockt6n Canyon, Rock Creek, Ton-
kawa Creek, and the headwaters of Little Washita River, is a strik-
ing feature of the landscape. This same sandstone forms the famous
Caddo County Buttes, in the northern part of Caddo County.

THICKNESS.

The thickness of the Whitehorse sandstone in the Kiowa area is
not determinable. About 200 feet of it is exposed along the valley
of Washita River near Fort Cobb, and there is nothing in the char-
acter of the lowest exposed sandstone to indicate that it lies at or
near the base of the Whitehorse. The log of a well drilled in sec. 21,
Grandview Township, shows 360 feet of " sandrock," but it is doubt-
ful whether the Whitehorse sandstone is so thick. The logs of wells
in the Cement area indicate that its thickness there is about 250 feet.
At the base of the Whitehorse sandstone cliff which forms the river
bluffs 1 mile north of the northeast comer of Tonkawa Township
there occurs a 2- foot bed of white gypsum underlain by red gypsifer-
ous shales. The interval between this gypsum bed, which apparently
marks the base of the Whitehorse sandstone, and the top of the sand-
stone is 230 feet. This is probably the average thickness of the
Whitehorse in the region. Toward the southern part of the area

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52 coNtiaBuTio:N& a?o fioONOMic geology, i9fii — pam n.

mapped this sandstone thins rapidly or else shales replace its basal
part, for in secg. 31 and 32, South Cobb Township, there are outcrops
of red and green shales at a distance of about 100 feet below the top
of the Whitehorse sandstone. However, as the upper portion of the
sandstone becomes argillaceous toward the southwest in both the
Kiowa and Cement areas, it is probable that the shales mentioned are
a change in f acies of the Whitehorse sandstone. These shales and the
underlying Dog Creek shale constitute most of the outcropping rocks
between the area mapped and the limestone hills bordering the
Wichita Mountains and form the floor of the topographic basin
which lies to the southwest of the ridge produced by the escarpment
of the upper part of the Whitehorse sandstone and the overlying
gypsum bed.

CBOSS-BEDDING.

The bedding of the Whitehorse sandstone varies laterally and
vertically from regular bedding to very pronounced cross-bedding.
In a typical exposure of 100 feet of the sandstone there may be
one or more layers of cross-bedded material, the remainder being
regularly bedded. The regularly bedded portion usually has con-
spicuous bedding planes and consists of beds ranging from 1 to 30
feet in thickness and averaging about 10 feet. The thickness of
the cross-bedded members ranges from 5 to 40 feet, and that of the
oblique layers ranges from a fraction of an inch to 1 or 2 feet. On
the truncated edges of these layers rests the overlying horizontal
bed, producing the appearance of an unconformity. (See PI. IX, A.)
In some sections this condition is repeated two or three times, and
in others at the same stratigraphic position the entire sandstone is
horizontally bedded. In fact, none of the cross-bedded layers are
continuous for more than a few thousand feet, and most of them
probably extend only a few hundred feet. It is difficult to determine
to what extent a cross-bedded layer is developed, for as a rule the
outcrops are not continuous. Usually each outcrop shows different
conditions of bedding from the others, even though it represents the
same horizon of the sandstone. '

The dips of the oblique laminae in cross-bedded layers are pro-
nounced and resemble structural dips, for which they are sometimes
taken by oil men. Of course these dips have no relation to structure,
for they are not the result of folding of the rocks but are due to the
manner of deposition, as is pointed out on page 59. Keference to
Plate IX will clearly demonstrate that these dips are not structural
dips. In Plate IX, 4, the dip of the cross-bedded laminae is 28° in a
direction 35* west of south. This is equivalent to a dip of 2,800 feet
to the mile, while the true dip of the rocks is about that of the flat-
lying bed shown in the photograph, or about 50 feet to the mile, and

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CEMENT OIL. FIELD, CADDO COUNtY, OKLA. 53

in a direction 60° east of south, or about at right angles to the croes-
bedding dips. In Plate IX, fi, the dip of the cross-bedding is to the
sonthwest at the rate of 3,050 feet to the mile, while the true dip as
represented by the overlying gypsum bed is to the northeast at the
rate of 40 feet to the mile. Plate IX, C, shows that the cross-bedding
dips may incline in many directions in the same bed. Structural dips,
in contrast to these, are parallel. In this region the strata dip so
gently that it is difficult to detect the dips without instrumental work,
but the cross-bedding dips are so steep as to be easily discernible.
The cross-bedding dips may also be distinguished from the structural
dips by noting the discordance between the inclination of the steeply
dipping layers and that of contiguous beds. As shown in Plate
IX, A J there is even a pronounced difference in inclination between
beds that are in contact. A consideration of the dips of the cross-
bedding, though of no value in determining the structure and oil possi-
bilities of an area, gives valuable data from which to determine the
origin of the sandstone, and to this end these dips will be considered
further.

A regular and irregular type of cross-bedding in the Whitehorse
sandstone can be distinguished. Typical examples of each of these
are shown in Plate IX, the regular type in view:s A "and B and the
irregular type in C.

In the regular type of cross-bedding the oblique lamination planes
are plane surfaces, and the dips at any one outcrop are all in one
direction and all of approximately the same amount. The direptions
of these dips vary in different outcrops, but in the whole area mapped
they are southward, with a range of 46° to the east or the west of
south but usually a few degrees west of south. The. angles of these
dips range from 10° to 30° ; as a rule they are more than 20°. In
the outcrop shown in Plate IX, 5, the oblique laminaticm planes,
which extend across a bed 40 feet thick, dip 30°. Only about 20 feet
of the outcrop of this bed is exposed, so the total lateral extent of
this cross-bedding is not known, but it is at least 20 feet. In the
cross-bedded material shown in Plate IX, A^ the dip is 28° and the
bed is about 15 feet thick. The outcrop extends across a belt 300
feet wide and for a distance of 600 feet in the direction 9f the strike
of the oblique laminae. Across this entire outcrop the strikes of these
lamination planes are parallel and form straight lines. The hori-
zontal length of the bed, measured at right angles to the strike, is at
least 200 feet ana probably much more. In another outcrop a cross-
bedded layer 15 feet thick shows a length of 2,000 feet. Toward the
base of a cross-bedded stratum the dip of the oblique laminae de-
creases and the layers thin and merge into the underlying horizontally
bedded layers.

26800*— 21 8

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64 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT H.

In the irregular type of cross-bedding the layers dip in every
direction at angles ranging from a few degrees to 15° but rarely more
than 10°. They comprise concentric and nonparallel layers, which
are commonly less than an inch thick. The vertical extent of such
cross-bedded material is usually less than 20 feet and its length not
more than a few himdred feet. This type of cross-bedding is about
as common as the regular type, and the two are found throughout the
thickness of the Whitehorse sandstone. The origin of this type of
cross-bedding is discussed on pages 59-61.

MATERIAL AND COLOB.

The homogeneous character of the Whitehorse sandstone is shown
by the microscope to be due to a uniformity in the size of the grains
of silica, the almost total absence of cementing materials, and the
presence of a pigment of ferric oxide, which occurs as films and stains
on the surfaces of tjie sand grains. Most of the grains are partly
roimded, and their surfaces are smooth and glazed, probably as a
result of wind action. The grains average 0.15 millimeter in diame-
ter but range from 0.1 to 0.3 millimeter. The coloring material is
apparently of secondary origin. It was probably added by ground
waters and makes up about 1 per cent of the total material of the
sand. It is evident that the coloring matter was not present ia
the grains before or during the deposition of the beds. Had it
been there originally, it would apparently have been worn off by the
rubbing induced by wind and water action, for the degree to which
the materials have been sorted and the uniformity in the size of the
grains indicate that they have been carried long distances and worked
and reworked by water and wind. Apparently this sorting was so
thorough that little more in this direction can be accomplished, for
the sand grains in all types of bedding are very similar in shape and
size.

CHANGES IN APPEARANCE OF WHITEHOBSE SANDSTONE IN CEMEUt ANTICLINAL AREA.

Toward the axis of the Cement anticline the brownish-red color of
the Whitehorse sandstone that prevails in the rest of the area mapped
changes abruptly to pink, white, and yellow. This change takes
place about two-thirds the distance up the flanks of the anticline.
The line marking the change, as shown in figure 8, closely parallels
the structure contours, and the area inclosed by this line includes
about twice the area of the closure of the fold. On the north and
west flank of the anticline the color changes first from brownish red
to pinkish white and then to yellow. On the south and east flank
of the anticline the change is abrupt from brownish red to light
yellow. The change can be seen along courses of streams in ^ecs.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 55

22 and 23, South Cement Township. A boundary line marking the
change of color in a single outcrop is irregular in direction, at some
places following stratification planes and at others cutting across
the beds. This yellow color is continuous over the whole area of
uplift except in the Keeche Hill buttes. In these buttes, which are on
the highest part of the uplift, the Whitehorse sandstone is a hard
gray calcareous rock, quite dissimilar in appearance to the soft yellow
sandstone of other parts of the anticline and to the friable reddish-
brown sandstone that occurs in areas outside of the uplift. The
dissimilarity is so great that a few geologists have thoughj that the
two sandstones belong to different formations or else that the change
in color and composition was due to a change in the conditions of
deposition. That the sandstone on the crest of the anticline and in
these buttes is actually the Whitehorse is proved by outliers of the
Cyril gypsimi overlying it in some localities; by the structure indi-
cated by well logs, which show that the dips are of a nature to carry
the gypsum bed over the hills where it is now absent as a result of
erosion ; and by the fact that a microscopic examination of the sand-
stone shows that the sand grains are similar to those of the Wliite-
horse in other areas, the difference in appearance of the rock being
due to the deposition of carbonates in its pore spaces, which outside
of the area of uplift contain but little cementing material. That the
change in the appearance of the sandstone is secondary and not the
result of change in the conditions of deposition is indicated by the
fact that it is limited to the area of uplift.

Apparently the alteration was induced by the folding of the rocks,
and the agent that effected it was ground water. As the changes in
color are due chiefly to addition of materials to the sandstone rather
than subtraction, it is probable that the waters depositing these mate-
rials were ascending and not descending waters, for descending
waters would have a leaching rather than a cementing effect on rocks
lying near the surface, and besides there is no apparent reason why
if a change of color were produced by descending waters in the anti-
clinal area a like change would not be produced in other areas, not
anticlinal, which had a similar topographic relief, and there are in
this region such areas in which no color change is present in the
Whitehorse sandstone. On the other hand^ ascending waters often
effect near the surface a cementation of the rocks through which
they pass. Such waters may be inferred to have been present as a
result of the compression Of the materials incident to the folding of
the strata, the upward flow being confined to the area of greatest def-
ormation — ^liere the crest of the anticline — where fissures, joints, and
fault planes would furnish channels along which the waters could
move with comparative ease. These waters were probably rich in

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56 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART H.

carbonate solutions for, as Rogers ^® points out, such solutions are
characteristic of oil-field waters, and as these waters approached the
surface a decrease of pressure and lowering of temperature would
occur, with the result that carbonates would be deposited in the open-
textured Whitehorse sandstone. Additional evidence of these ascend-
ing waters is seen in the cementation of the strata for considerable
depths in the dome areas, where the drillers report that for several
hundred feet the strata are much harder than elsewhere, and in the
alteration of the upper Cyril gypsum bed in the same areas to a
crystalline limestone, with the development of large crystals of cal-
cite and aragonite.

With the 'gray color of the Whitehorse sandstone reasonably well
explained, it is logical to infer that the ascending waters produced
the other color changes, tliough the manner in which they effected
these changes is not clear. The yellow phase may be due to the hy-
dration of the red ferric oxide, and the pinkish-white color to the
efflorescence of gj-psum. They may, however^ be due to the variation
in the size of the color pigments, for Weiser *^ shows that the differ-
ent colors of hydrous ferric oxide may be due to the variation in size
of the colloidal particles.

Another tentative explanation for the upward movement of the
water, offered by K. C. Heald, is as follows :

Buried peaks of hard rock may exist at no great depth beneath the domed
areas, with large raUeys filled with soft sediments on either side. The soft
beds would tend to settle or slump toward the basins, and those over the basins
would also lose more volume by compacting than those over the peaks. Thk<
would result in the formation of sharp domes over the buried hills or peal^,
while extensive shear zones, developed through the slumping or settling of the
beds in the marginal areas, would furnish ideal channels for the upward
migration of the water, oil, and gas that were being squeezed out by the con-
solidation or ** packing " of the beds, or that might escape from the unsealed
edges of i)etroliferous formations unconforraably below the barren capping of
shales and sandstones. This would be particularly probable if the buried hiUs
were anticlinal in structure. The migrating oil and gas would probably be
arresteil in porous beds before they had completed more than a fraction of the
journey to the surface, but the water, with its greater facility for traversing
o|)enings of minute size, would continue to the surface, urged on by the pressure
resulting from the compacting or squeezing of the beds.

UNEXPOSED BOCKS.

Beneath the Whitehorse sandstone, which is the lowest exppsed rock
in most of the area mapped, wells drilled in the Cement oil field (see
PI. X) have penetrated a total thickness of 3,640 feet of alternating

»» RoffprH, O. S.. The 8unset-Mi<hvay oil field, Calif., Part II : I'. 8. Geol. Survey Prof.
Paper 117, p. 27, 1019.

»» Weiwr, II. B., Hydrous ferric oxide : Jour. Phys. Cbem., vol, 24, No. 4, pp. 277-328,
1020.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

beds of red and blue shale, sandstone, and limestone, of which blue
shale forms an average of 41 per cent, red shale 31 per cent, sandstone
25 per cent, and limestone 3 per cent. These strata may be classified
into four groups — a sandstone group, a red-shale group, an oil-sand
group, and a lime-shale group. The percentages of the different
rocks in each group are shown in the following table. The sandstone
group forms approximately the first 900 feet of strata and is com-
posed of upper and lower sandstones, separated by several l)eds
of blue and red shale. The upper sandstone is the Whitehorse, and
the lower probably belongs to the Blaine formation. The shales are
apparently the Dog Creek shale member of the Woodward formation.
The red-shale group comprises 600 feet of strata underlying the
sandstone group and consists almost entirely of shales, two-thirds of
which are red, but contains also a few lenticular sandstones. This
group probably belongs to the Enid formation. Below the last thick
bed of red shale there is about 900 feet of alternating red and blue
shales and shaly sandstones and brown and gray lenticular sand-
stones. These sandstones form the oil sands of the Cement field.
The rocks below this group have been penetrated by only three wells.
They appear to be chiefly blue and red calcareous shales.

Percentaget of different rook9 in different ffroupi of itrata penetrated by wetti
in the Cement oU fields Oklahoma.

Group.

Thick-
nan
(fert).

Band-
stone.

Shale,
blue.'

^•'

Lime-
Stone.

BftndBton^

900
600
900
800

44.9
6.9

18.9
2.4

87.8
88.0
43.8
63.9

ia9
«ao

83.8
80l8

0.9

Rfdiihale r

1. 1

mimnd r - -

TJiim ahy|ft -

2.9

BASE OF THE PEBMIAIT.

The thickness of the Permian in the Cemenfr field is estimated by
different geologists at 800 to 2,700 feet. Drill samples were collected
from a number of wells and examined for fossils by P. V. Roundy,
but only a few Foraminifera and sponge spicules were noted, and
these were types that have so wide a geologic range that they were
of no use in determining the age of the strata. An attempt was made
to trace the formations eastward to the outcrop of the Pennsylvanian
fonnation in northern Garvin County by the use of well logs. How-
ever, few wells have been drilled in the intervening area, and the
correlation is only tentative. The conclusion based on this correla-
tion is that the top of the Pennsylvanian is at a depth of about 1,500
feet, at the base of the red-shale group.

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58 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT 11.

OBIGIK OF FEBMIAN << BED BED&"

There has been considerable discussion as to the manner of depo-
sition and climatic conditions under which the Permian " Red Beds "
of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas were deposited. Many geologists,
among them Cope, Beede, and Wegemann, have considered that they
represent sediments derived from the Arbuckle-Wichita mountain
uplift and deposited in shallow terrestrial water or on tidal flats
of deltas, but in view of the high degree of sorting and the fineness
of the Whitehorse sandstone, which shows no change in the charac-
ter of material up to its last outcrop 10 miles from the crest of the
mountains, and tlie fact that the direction of the regular type of the
cross-bedding indicates that the currents which produced it were
not from the Wichita Mountains but from the north, it seems im-
probable that the Whitehorse sandstone or any of the Permian to
the north of the mountains, except local talus slopes and conglomer-
ates directly adjacent to the mountains, had such an origin. On the
other hand, it seems reasonable to consider the whole of the later
Carboniferous as a delta deposit which was built up eastward in the
Pennsylvanian and Permian seas over approximately what is now
western and central Oklahoma. The rivers that rose in late Car-
boniferous time from land masses in the region now occupied by the
Rocky Mountains deposited over the flood plains of the subaerial por^
tion of this delta the continental sediments that make up the '^ Red
Beds," while in the sea to the north, east, and south the marine sedi-
ments into which the "Red Beds" merge were being laid down.
Thus, to the south the nonmarine deposits of the Wichita formation
are replaced by marine deposits south of Salt Fork River in Texas.
To the north the continental " Red Beds " of the Permian grade into
the marine sediments of the Sumner and Chase groups of Kansas,
and to the east the upper Pennsylvanian "Red Beds" merge into gray
and blue marine sediments, the marine Permian in that direction
having been removed by erosion.

The line marking the boundary between the marine and non-
marine facies of the basal Permian and upper Pennsylvanian (see
fig. 7) forms a broad curve to the east across central Oklahoma,
which suggests that the delta was built outward into a sea in this
direction and that its shore line in early Permian time conformed
approximately to the line indicated. During the growth of the delta
there would be a shifting of the strand line, bringing about an inter-
calation of marine and nonmarine sediments. In some of the lagoons
in the subaerial portions of the delta swamp deposits would be
formed, while in others gypsum would be deposited. Parts of tho
flood plain would be alternately flooded and exposed to the action of
the wind. Thus, in a general way, all the conditions of sedimenta-
tion represented in the Permian strata wotdd have been developed.

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CEMENT OIL. FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 59

OBIGIir OF CBOSS-BEBDING OF WHITEHOBSE SANDSTONE.

Considering the possibility of the delta origin of the Permian " Red
Beds," it is thought that the conditions of deposition producing the
types of bedding of the Whitehorse sandstone could have been brought
about if to the south of the area under discussion the delta was built
out into an inland body of water instead of into an open sea. The

EXPLANATION

Pr^Carboniferoue

^ iMisaipplan
tdnennsyWanicn

Rermian

R9at-Permian

PiGDUB 7. — Approximate boundary between marine and nonmarine sediments of basal
Permian and upper Pennsylvania n In Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas.

regular type of cross-bedding described on page 52 and shown on
Plate IX, A and B^ apparently was formed in a standing body of
water, for it is inconceivable that cross-bedding with f oreset slopes
80 long, dipping at angles so high and so uniformly in one direction,
could have been formed in stream channels or on the flood plain of a
river. That this type of cross-bedding is not that of the f oreset beds
of a marine delta is indicated by the facts that these beds are not
continuous horizontally for more than a few himdred feet and that

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60 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART 11.

they are confined to no definite bed but may occur at several horizons
in a single outcrop lying between horizontally bedded strata. Such
delta foreset beds indicate a fluctuation in the level of the body of
water that received the sediments. As Grabau ^* points out, such a
fluctuation could scarcely occur on a subsiding seacoast like those
on which most deltas are formed, but it could readily occur on an
inland body of water as a result of slight climatic changes. If such
a body of water had been present along the southern edge of the delta
the various types of bedding noted in the Whitehorse sandstone
would have been developed, the cross-bedding of the regular type
being formed by streams depositing their load of silt as foreset beds
as they flowed into this body of water and the cross-bedding of the
irregular type being produced by the wind drifting the material
about on the subaerial portion of the delta. The horizontally bedded
strata were probably deposited when the body of water due to floods
or a decrease in evaporation advanced over the 'flood-plain flats.
That such a body of water existed is not only suggested by the
types of cross-bedding, but it is indicated by the fact that toward
the south the Whitehorse sandstone becomes argillaceous and can-
tains considerable gypsum as cementing material, whereas toward
the north it is a quartz sand containing but little gypsum as
cement. Such a body of water could have b€^n formed as a
result of movements along the Arbuckle- Wichita uplift that pro-
duced a narrow bay along the northeast flank of the mountains.
This bay may have been cut off by the delta river throwing a barrier
across its outlet, in about the same way that the Colorado has cut
off the upper part of the Gulf of California. This body of water
may have been the source of the gj^psum beds which were laid down
at the end of Whjtehorse time over wide areas in western Oklahoma.
The absence of any evidence of vegetation in the Whitehorse sand-
stone, together with the aridity suggested by the deposition of
gypsum at the beginning and end of the Whitehorse epoch and the
occurrence of eolian cross-bedding, suggests that the flood plain
of the delta in the area under discussion lay in an arid belt. The
fact that the Whitehorse sandstone contains no alluvium, such as
is usually characteristic of flood-plain deposits, and the well-sorted,
glazed, and rounded character of the sand grains indicate that the
material had been worked over by winds, which apparently re-
moved the finer argillaceous material,' drifting it probably toward
the northeast, in the same direction that the present 'southeasterly
winds carry the flood-plain material of the rivers of the area. This
aridity may have been a widespread climatic condition during
Permian time, or it may have prevailed only in a local belt, owing

^ Grabau, A. W., Prtnciples of Ktratlgraphy. p. 702, 1913.

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( /)

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SUBVBT

BULLETIN 726 PLATE IX

CROSS-BEDDING IN WHITEHORSE SANDSTONE.

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19 .AJ>io jYTZ^Joo oadAo /uaiii jio xzaMao

-7'

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKIA. 61

to the fact that the flood plain here lay to the leeward side of the
Wichita Mountains and another mountain mass which probably ex-
isted at that time in the present Rocky Mountain region. This region
is now more arid than surrounding regions. Similar conditions of sand
deposition over a flood plain are exemplified at the present time by
the desert flood-plain area of the Nile.

Evidence of stream channeling, which would be expected to occur
in the Whitehorse sandstone if it had the origin above outlined, was
not observed in this area, but it is thought that only the minor delta
distributaries of the delta river flowed across the area. Probably not
one of the minor streams would hold to one course long enough to
leave much evidence of its position. The main delta river is thought
to have lain to the north, probably in the present central part of
Oklahoma, and to have flowed eastward or southeastward into the
open sea. Dr. C. N. Gould called the writer's attention to a stream
channel which lies a few miles northeast of the area studied. This
channel can be traced 30 miles or more in a^ southeasterly direction
from a point 3 miles northwest of Verden, in Caddo County. It is
marked by a bed of hard, coarse-grained lenticular sandstone con-
taining marine fossils, which fills the old channel and weathers into
a series of ridges that extends across the country, marking plainly
the course of the ancient stream. (See PL VII, B^ p. 51.) The
greatest thickness of the sandstone is about 10 feet, and its greatest
width about 1,000 feet, indicating the approximate cross section of the
lower part of the stream. Apparently the stream meandered but
slightly. In the 26 miles that this channel was traced it showed but
the slightest variation from a direction of S. 46° E. The chaimel
was apparently formed early in Whitehorse time," as it is confined
to a horizon approximately 200 feet below the top of the White-
horse sandstone. The channel sandstone is cross-bedded, with dips to
the northwest, and is very dissimilar in texture to the fine-grained
Whitehorse sandstone at this horizon, which, where cross-bedded,
has dips in the opposite direction. The presence of small marine
shells and the apparent " upstream " cross-bedding suggest that a
strong tidal current flowed up this stream from the sea.

structure;

KBXATION or STBUCTUBE TO THE ACCTTHnjLATION OF OIL.

I The Cement field offers an ideal illustration demonstrating so
definitely and clearly that geologic structure plays a part in the
accumulation of oU that even those who have no knowledge of the
meaning of geologic structure or who do not believe that it is a
factor in the acciunulation of oil can not fail to recognize the fact.
26800"— 21 4

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62 CONTRIBXmOKS TO BOOHOMIO GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART U.

Geologic structure is a tenn used to describe the attitude of rock
layers of the earth's crust that have b€»n folded or otherwise moved
from the horizontal or nearly horizontal position in which they were
deposited. Folding of rock beds is almost universal. In some
regions the rocks are bent steeply upward into high arches .that may
produce mountains or other prominent topographic forms. In many
regions, however, among them the area described in this report, the
folding is very gentle, the strata being thrown into a series of mild
upward and downward flexures. These upward folds are called
Anticlines or domes, and the downward folds synclines. If the rocks
in beds so folded are sedimentary — ^that is, if they originated from
muds, sands, slimes, and other loose materials carried by wind, water,
and other surface agencies — and if they contain buried organic
matter, remains of plants and animals that lived during the period in
which the beds were being deposited, and also include porous rocks
such as sandstones lying between compact-textured rocks such as
shales, then the conditions are present for the acci^unulation of the
hydrocarbon known as petrolemn. Under such conditions the organic
matter buried in the rock may be converted into petroleum during
the geologic ages that follow the deposition, and, thirough the forces
of capillary action and the c<msolidation of the sediments, as the
writer believes, this petroleum is forced out of tlK^ shales into the
porous sandstones. If these sandstones contain water^ these liquid
hydix)carbons ultimately, through forces that are not perfectly under-
stood, reach the top or a position high on the flanks of the folds, and
there they remain under pressure developed mainly by the expan-
sive force of the gas generated in the petroleum itself. This bri^y
explains why oil 'is usually found in anticlines. ,

KEY BOCKa

It is apparent that the folding of the rocks is but one of several
factors affecting accumulation, but without folding the oil present
in the strata will usually not be segregated into pools of sufficient
size to repay the cost of drilling to obtain it, though shows of oil may
be widely encountered. Folding, of course, will not effect accumula-
tion unless the other factors are present; hence not every anticline
yields oil. An important part of the work of the oil geologist, there-
fore, is the determination of the structure, for from his knowledge of
the rocks that underlie the surface in an area, obtained from a study
of their outcrops in adjoining regions or from the study of well
logs, he knows whether they are by nature of material favorable for
the accumulation of petroleum. In order to determine the structure
he must ascertain the dips of the beds over a;„i|Misiderable area.
Where the rocks are sharply folded these dips ca|^ be determined

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CEMENT OIL, FIELD, CADDO COTJKTY, OKLA. 68

simply by a clinometer, which worics on the principle of a plumb bob
and shows the amount by which the dip of the rocks differs from the
vertical or horizontal. • However, where the beds are gently folded,
as in most parts of the Mid-Ck>ntinent field, the attitude of the rocks
is ascertained by determining a great number of elevations on one
or more persistent beds that can be identified and traced over the area,
(rood beds for this purpose are thin limestones or hard sandstones or
beds of coal or gypsum. A stratum used in this way is called a key
rock. The elevations taken on these key rocks are all reduced to terms
of the elevation of one datum plane, by adding or subtracting from
each elevation determined the vertical distance that the bed on which
it was taken lies above or below the selected datum plane. When the
elevations have all been thus reduced points that show the same eleva-
tion are connected by lines called contour lines. These lines show the
direction along which the strata lie horizontal. Such a direction
is known as the strike of the rocks. The dip is at right angles to these
lines and in the direction of the slope of the strata. In the structure
maps (Pis. XI, XII) the contour lines are drawn to show every in-
crease of 10 feet in elevation. In the area represented between any
two adjacent lines the strata therefore dip 10 feet. The lines are
most closely spaced where they represent areas in which the dip is

In the area under discussion the top of the Whitehorse sandstone
was used as a key horizon. But as the top of this sandstone could be
identified only where it was capped by the overlying limestone and
gypsum beds, and as these beds were widely eroded it was necessary
to project the structure contours in places over wide areas. In such
areas dips were determined by plotting elevations on a large scale on
stratification planes of the Whitehorse sandstone, care being taken
to use only planes between beds that were horizontally bedded.

STKUCTUBE OF THE CEMENT ABl^^
CEMENT ANTICLINE.

The major structural features of the Cement oil field and the area
of four townships in which it lies (see PI. XI) consist of two
prominent synclinal folds separated by the Cement anticline, whose
axis extends N. 70° W. along the northern part of South Cement
Township and the southern parts of North Cement and Tonkawa
townships. The arch of the fold parallels the Wichita Mountain fold-
ing and conforms closely to the Keeche Hills water divide. (See
PI. XI, in pocket.) The area of closure, which is marked by the 1,460-
foot contour line, is about 11 miles long and 2 miles wide, covering
approximately 23 square miles. The amount of closure of the anti-

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64 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART U.

cline, independent of the two domes occurring along its axis, is 6&
feet, the highest contour on the anticline being the 1,510-foot contour.

The two domes, representing separate areas of intensive folding
along the axis of the anticline, lie about 4i miles apart. The eastern
dome, here called the Cement dome, as it centers 1 mile east of
Cement, has a length of 3 miles and a width of IJ miles. The
closure represented by this dome, considered as a separate feature^
is 60 feet, and that of this part of the entire fold 120 feet. The dip
of the strata in every direction from the crest of the dome is about
100 feet to the mile. The structure of this dome is based on eleva-
tions on the Prosperity oil sand and on the top of the Whitehorse
sandstone on hills that are capped by gypsum. The interval be-
tween those two strata is estimated at 2,460 feet. The structure of
the dome as represented may be found to vary slightly from the true
structure when more wells, are drilled in the area, for erosion has.
removed the top of the Whitehorse sandstone, leaving only scattered
outliers covered by the gypsiun, which in places may rest unconf orm-
ably on the sandstone, and consequently the outcrops and the well logs,
now available furnish so few points for the determination of eleva-
tions that it is impossible to be as certain of the structure in the areas
covered by these domes as in adjoining areas. Because of the
unconformity previously discussed, some of the dips measured on.
the contact between gypsum and sandstone may not be structural
dips. On Cedar Top, a high butte in the northeastern part of sec.
10, South Cement Township, the base of the gypsum bed outlier,
which is 400 feet long and 100 feet wide, has a dip of 3^^ S. 20^ E.
On a second and smaller outlier of the same bed on the water-tank
hill, in sec. 2, the dip is even greater than this and in about the same
direction. The same bed caps the hill at the eastern edge of Cement,,
where in 1,200 feet it has a dip to the southeast of only 10 feet.

The center of the western dome, which may be called the Keeche
dome, lies just southeast of the center of sec. 36, Tonkawa Township,
about 4^ miles west of the Cement dome. The area of uplift of this
dome is smaller than that of the Cement dome, being 1^ miles long
and three-quarters of a mile wide, but the fold is more intense. The
closure of the dome itself is 140 feet, and the total closure of this part
of the anticline is 200 feet. • The strata dip at the rate of 420 feet to
the mile on the northern flank of the dome and about 360 feet to the
mile on the southern flank, showing structural dips probably steeper
than are found in the surface rocks of any other oil field of Okla-
homa. There is some question as to the amount of folding of the
center of this dome, for here, as in the Cement dome, the Cyril
gypsum is absent except for what appears to be a small reJhnant
up the western slope of the high ridge that lies along the axis of

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 65

this dome, and where the gypsum is absent it is impossible to recog-
nize the top of the Whitehorse sandstone. This small gypsum bed,
though quite unlike the Cyril gypsum outside of the' dome areas,
is similar in appearance to thfe gypsum on the buttes on the Cement
dome and may logically be assumed to be the same bed. With the
exception of this small outlier, the rest of the ridge is composed
of the hard gray calcareous phase of the Whitehorse sandstone,
the change in the appearance of the sandstone and the Cyril gyp-
sum l^eing due chiefly to the action of ground water, as explained
on page 54. The position of the center of the fold and the highest
contour are based on the elevation of the highest part of this high
ridge, the surface rocks here being considered the top of the White-
horse sandstone. If this correlation is erroneous the folding is even
more pronounced than has been represented. The structure of the
rest of the dome has been determined from the available well logs.

The axis of the Cement anticline extends about 4 miles northwest
of the Keeche dome and about 3 miles east of the crest of the Cement
dome. At each end the anticline is terminated by a syncline. On the
flanks of the Cement anticline the rocks dip to synclinal basins at a
rate that averages 60 feet to the mile, but decreases toward the syn-
clinal areas. The axis of the syncline on the northern flank, here
called the Cobb syncline, lie^ 2 miles from the center of the Cement
dome and 8 miles from the Keeche dome ; the difference in the eleva-
tion of the top of the Whitehorse sandstone on the crests of the domes
and in the bottom of the syncline is 140 and 260 feet, respectively.
The axis of the Cyril syncline, on the southern flank, lies 4^ miles
down the dip from both the Cement and Keeche domes, and the dif-
ferences in elevation of the top of the Whitehorse sandstone are 250
and 340 feet, respectively. The strata thus dip 100 feet lower on the
southern flank than on the northern, and the Keeche dome is struc-
turally 80 feet higher than the Cement dome.

CYRIL SYNCLINE. ,

The Cyril syncline, so named by F. G. Clapp, consists of a broad
c-entral basin, the center of which lies about 2 miles west of Cyril.
Across this area the axis of the syncline curves to the east and north-
west (See fig. 8.) On the northwest the syncline terminates where
it cuts off the Cement anticline. On the east the synclinal basin
probably extends for several miles beyond the area mapped. North-
ward from the center of the syncline the strata rise just enough to
expose the gypsum-capped top of the Whitehorse sandstone along
the sides of the streams to their heads in the Keeche Hills. To the
south and west, in Doyle Township, up the flanks of the syncline, the
Cyril gypsum rises at the rate of 40 feet to the mile and is exposed

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66 CONTBIBTjnONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PAET n.

along tho sides of the streams that flow into the Little Washita, in
some places only a few feet above the stream beds for long dis-
tances. About 2 miles south of the Little Washita the lower gypsum
bed crops out continuously along the western and southwestern parts
of Doyle Township. This outcrop forms a ridge which some geolo-
gists have believed to indicate the presence of an anticlinal fold.
However, elevations on the base of the gypsum bed on the west side
of the divide and across the divide where it has been dissected by
stream channels, which expose the contact between the Whitehorse
sandstone and the gypsum bed, prove that the dips are all to the
northeast and hence that no anticline is present. In the township
south of Doyle the gypsum bed rises toward the south and forms a
continuous outcrop at the base of a prominent high ridge just east of
Fletcher. Thus this ridge is not due to an anticlinal uplift but is an
escarpment of the gypsum bed. It is very probable that the rocks
south and southwest of the Cyril syncline rise continuously out of
this basin to the Wichita Mountain uplift. Across the township
lying between Doyle and the northeastward-dipping Cambrian and
Ordovician limestone along the northeast side of the Wichita Moun-
tains the outcropping strata probably belong principally to the
Woodward formation, being mostly shales which have weathered
into a low-lying plain. These shales include no beds from which the
structure of the area can be definitely determined. A sandstone that
crops out in the village of Apache was traced for 8 or 4 miles to the
southeast. This sandstone dips to the northeast, and it is very prob-
able that there is a continuous dip of the Permian rocks away from
the mountains to the Cyril and Cobb synclines.

COBB SYNCLINE.

From 2 to 3 miles north of the Cement anticline lies a synclinal
basin whose axis, beginning near the southeast comer of North
Cement Township, extends northwestward to the northwest corner of
Tonka wa Township and thence northwestward diagonally across the
whole of the Kiowa area, forming one continuous synclinal fold. In
the Cement area this synclinal fold is to be considered as a shalloiv
basin ending near the southeast corner of North Cement Township
and deepening toward the northwest The strata rise rather steeply
up the southern flank, but on the northern flank the dip is only 20
to 30 feet to the mile. The outcrops of the Whitehorse sandstone
capped by gj^psum are few in Tonkawa and North Cement townships,
and hence the exact form of the Cobb syncline in these townships can
not be determined with as much certainty as that of its central por-
tion in West McKinley Township. There is, however, an almost con-
tinuous outcrop of the key rock along ridges running northward along

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA. 67

the east and west sides of Tonkawa Township, which gives a line of
elevations across thesyncline at about right angles to the strike. The
la^ outcrop of the top of the Whitehorse sandstone up the northern
flank of the syncline is on the top of a hill 1,800 feet west of the north-
east comer of Tonkawa Township. The elevation of the key rock
here shows a rise of the strata to the northeast. The continuation of
this northeastward rise is shown by the southwesterly dips of a 25-
foot massive layer of the Whitehorse sandstone and a 2-foot gypsum
bed, occurring respectively at the top and base of the bluffs along the
river valley southeast of Anadarko. The gypsum bed lies 230 feet
below the top of the Whitehorse sandstone and can be traced along
the ridge extending out in the valley of the Washita on the east side
of the series of lakes through which Tonkawa Creek flows. The dip
of the gypsimi bed here makes it possible to determine the position
and direction of the contour lines, and as the region as a whole is
characterized by straight contours, it is permissible to project the
structure across broad areas in which there are no outcrops. It is
therefore considered that the structure as mapped for the northern
part of Tonkawa Township and the most of the township north of it
is correctly indicated on the map, in spite of the absence of many
points of control. These conditions exist in North Cement Township,
tiiough in that area there are fewer outcrops than in Tonkawa. The
axis of the syncline shown on the structure map was located by pro-
jecting an even curve through three points where its position was
definitely determined. These points are in sees 6 and 14, Tonkawa
Township, and sec 27, North Cement Township. The determinations
in sees. 6 and 14 were made by running a line of levels along the base
of the Cyril gypsum, which occurs in a continuous outcrop across the
bottom of the syncline. In sec. 27, North Cement Township, the axis
cuts across the northernmost two outliers of the Cyril gypsum north-
east of the Keeche Hills. The dip on the northeast flank of the
syncline can not be accurately determined here, but the fact thnt the
strata rise toward the northeast at this point is shown by a slight but
definite dip to the south in the gypsum that caps the outlier in sec. 27
and by the fact that no gypsum appears on the hills to the north,
which are high enough to be capped with this bed if it did not rise
toward the north.

Some of the geologists who have examined this area believe that
the gypsum is present under the sand hills to the north, concealed by
the sand, instead of having been stripped off as postulated by the
writer. The work done in other parts of the area refutes this belief,
for throughout the eight townships mapped not a hill or a ridge
underlain by the gypsum fails to show some outcrop of this character-
istic bed, particularly on southwesterly exposures. The existence of
a large areii of drifted sand is itself evidenoe that the surface is under-

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Google

68 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — PART II.

lain by the Whitehorse sandstone and not by the gypsum, for where
the gypsum is present the soil is less sandy and the surface does not
become sand covered.

Additional evidence of the southwesterly dip of the rocks is found
in the dip of the stratification planes of the Whitehorse sandstone in
sec. 11, North Cement Township, and also by the outcrops of the
gypsum bed that underlies the Whitehorse sandstone a few miles
north and east of Cement. That the axis of the syncline swings to
the southwest and cuts off the Cement anticline is indicated by the
dip of hard ledges in the Whitehorse sandstone in sec. 1, South
Cement Township, and sec. 7 of the township to the east. The data
that permitted the determination of the position of this syncline are
set forth above in some detail, because the statement has been made
by several observers that the dips on the flank of the Cement anti-
cline continue several miles to the northeast. The erroneous impres-
sion on which this statement is "based seems to be due to confusion of
the Cyril gypsum with a bed of gypsum that crops out between
Chickasha and Ninnekah and that actually lies about 230 feet below
the Cyril gypsum.

STBUCTUBE 07 THE KIOWA ABEA.

The chief feature of the structure of the Kiowa area (see PL
XII, in pocket) is the Cobb syncline, whose axis extends diagonally
across the whole area. The lowest point of the syncline lies in the
southern part of West McKinley Township. Away from this
low point the rocks rise in every direction — gently along the
synclinal axis and more steeply up the flanks of the S3mcline. To
the northeast the rise is at first only about 20 feet to the mile, but
farther north, in Grand View Township, the dip increases to
alm6st 40 feet to the mile. In the northwestern part of this township
there is a slight buckjing or arching of the strata, which may repre-
sent the nose of an anticline lying to the north. However, the out-
crops of the key rocks are so few that the character of this possibly
anticlinal fold can not be determined with absolute certainty. A
minor synclinal fold, which runs northward across the center of the
township, appears to be the only definite fold in the whole area
mapped that does not parallel the structural trend of the region.
The Cobb syncline apparently continues through North and South
Cobb townships. Over much of this area there are no outcrops of
the gypsum bed, but as the structure of the region as a whole is
marked by uniformity of strike, it is thought that the structure as
shown by broken lines on the map is very close to the true structure.
Fortunately there are some points of control that justify drawing
the contour lines northwest of the main areas of outcrops in Grand
View Township and in the eastern part of South Cobb Township.

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COXTNTY, OKLA. 69

In sec. 84, North Cobb Township, there is a small outlier of gyp-
sum. This, taken together with the outcrop in the northern and west-
em parts of the township, supported by a few dips determined on
stratigraphic planes of the Whitehorse sandstone in the western part
of South Cobb Township, makes it possible to determine with a con-
siderable degree of certainty the structure of an area which is almost
entirely covered with wind-blown sand. If this area were studied
alone, its structure could not be determined at all. The northwest-
ward extension of the synclinal axis is suggested by the fact that its
projected axis conforms in position and direction with Cobb Creek,
which, from a consideration of its character and similarity to other
synclinal creeks of the region, is apparently a synclinal stream. West
of North Cobb Township there is a broad belt covered by the Cyril
gypsum, which dips to the northeast across the first township, beyond
which no observations were made. The 1,560- foot contour is a pro-
jection of the strike of the Cyril gypsum from a point where its base
has this elevation, 6 miles west and 1 mile south from the northwest
comer of NQrth Cobb Township.

The Cyril gypsum can be traced southward irqm the center of the
Cobb syncline up the dip to the top of the ridge that forms a con-
tinuation of the Keeche Hills water divide. To the southwest of
this ridge the country is a low-lying plain in which all the surface
strata are red and green shales, and in this area the dips of the rocks
can not be determined. The ridge, being a continuation of the Keeche
Hills water divide, is regarded by some oil men as a continuation of
the Cement anticline. This belief is in error, for the Cyril syncline
cuts off the fold in the western part of Tonkawa Township. That
another fold is not developed farther west at the position of this
ridge is proved by the fact that to the southwest the surface forma-
tions are the shales that form the base of the Whitehorse sandstone.
If the ridge were an anticline, then the strata would dip to the south-
west and the surface would be underlain by the upper part of the
Whitehorse sandstone and the overlying Cyril gypsum. Again, this
area is obviously a part of the structural belt which, to the southeast
and northwest, is known to dip northeast. Hence the ridge is to be
interpreted as an escarpment produced by the outcropping gypsum
beds.

RELATION OX* STBTTCTTTBE TO TOPOGRAPHY.

As the "plain" surface forming' the flat-lying upland of this
region owes its presence to the underlying gypsum bed (see p. 42),
the folding of this gypsum bed is reflected in the general slope of the
f^ountry which it underlies, although the minor topographic features
of course have no relation to structure, being determined by

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70 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART H.

streams or wind erosion. Thus, in the Cement area the position
of the Cement anticline is marked by a high divide and that of the
^nclinal basin to the south by relatively low country, because the
Cyril gypsum is the surface formation in both focalities. In the
Kiowa area the general slope of the country underlain by the Cyril
gypsum or the Day Creek dolomite conforms to the dip of the strata.
However, this does not mean that all ridges and all. slopes in this
region are due to the structure, as many oil men have come to

^*5?*SRSt water divioe

Line showing change in color of
hitehorse sarMstone

Whit(
• Synclinal axis
-Anticlinal axis
Location
^ Dry hole

•f Dry hole with showfoToil
• Oil well
#Gs»well

FiouBB 8. — ^Map showing absence of relation of ridges to structure and other features In
the Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla.

think. In fact, the relation between the Keeche Hills and the Ce-
ment anticline is to be regarded as unusual and due to the for-
tuitous combination of a number of circumstances. In the coun-
try outside of the Keeche Hills the only topographic features
related to the structure are the regional slopes of the upland areas
underlain by tne gypsum. These slopes are so mild and irregular
that they are scarcely determinable except when the landscape as a.
whole is considered. All the ridges and valleys on such slopes are
due to the erosive action of the wind and streams and have no rela-

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OBMBNT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUlirrY, OKLA. 71

tion to structure. Such topographic features include many of the
prominent ridges that lie between streams flowing in the same direc-
tion. The land slopes that are not underlain by the Cyril gypsum
do not owe their direction of slope to the dip of the underlying rocks.
These include the broad valley slopes of the rivers and the steeper
slopes of the prominent escarpment ridges produced by the outcrops
of the Cyril gypsum, as, for example, the ridges in the western
part of Grand View Township and the eastern part of South Cobb
Township, the water divide 1 mile south of West McKinley Town-
ship, and the ridge in the western part of Doyle Township, which
extends southeastward into the township south of Doyle. Such a
ridge can be readily distinguished from an anticlinal ridge, like the
Keeche Hills, by the presence of the gypsum on one slope and its
absence on the other. The lack of relation between these ridges and
the structure of the region is shown in figure 8.

BBVELiOPMBNT OF CEMENT OIL FIELD.
HISTOBY OF DEVELOPMENT.

Operations for the development of oil and gas in this region began
in 1916, near the present Cement field, with the drilling of a shallow
well on the Funk farm, 3 miles east of Cement (No. 72, Pi. XI),
in which, at a depth of 1,415 feet, half a million cubic feet of gas
was encoimtered. Active drilling in the area was started by the
completion in 1917 of the Kunsemuller well, in sec. 32, North
Cement Township, by the Oklahoma Star Oil Co. This well encoun-
tered sufficient oil at a depth of about 1,700 feet to encourage further
drilling, and as a result the Fortuna Oil Co., during the same year,
drilled a well in sec. 31, North Cement Township (No. 20, PI. XI).
This well found gas and gave an initial production of 35,000,000
cubic feet from a sand 2,340 feet deep. In 1918 wells yielding oil
from depths of about 2,300 feet in sufficient quantities to prove that
a commercial oil field had been found were completed in both the
eastern and western parts of the field. Since then development
work has continued, and at the time of writing (Mar. 1, 1920) there
are 26 completed weUs in the field and 36 wells being drilled. Of the
completed wells, 20 are oil wells, 4 are gas wells, and 2 are abandoned
holes. Of the wells now being drilled, three have gone through the
present producing sands without finding oil. These wells will be

drilled deeper.

OIL SANDS.

The oil produced so far in this field has come from a series of
Aales and sandstones (the oil-sand group in the table on p. 67),
which underlies the surface at depths of 1,500 to 2,400 feet. Good
showings of oil are encountered in many of the sandstones of this
?roup, but at present the production is confined chiefly to three sands.

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72 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART H.

Caddo oH sand, — ^The highest producing sand, known as the Caddo
or 1,800- foot sand, yielded oil in paying quantities for the first time
in the Roe well No. 2 of the Caddo Petroleum Co., in the west end
of the field (No. 12, PL XI). Although this well is the best pro-
ducer in the field, offsetting wells have obtained but little more than
a show from this sand, and so far this well and the Foster Oil Co.'s
Gingrich well No. 2 (No. 39, PI. XI) are the only wells producing
from it. The logs of most wells in the west end of the field, how-
ever, record a sand that gives a show of oil at this horizon, so it may
prove to be a more persistent producing sand »than past development
would indicate. This would not be surprising, as many wells were
drilled through it with a rotary drill. The Caddo sand is from 20
to 40 feet thick. It is a quartz sand in which the grains are of various
shapes and sizes, but in general partly rounded and from 0.1 to 0.3
millimeter in diameter. Above tjie sand are a series of soft brown
shales and water-bearing sandstones. The Caddo sand is about
1,890 feet below the top of the Whitehorse sandstone.

Fortunu oil sand. — At about 500 feet below the Caddo sand occurs
the Fortuna or 2,300-foot sand, which is the chief oil producer in
the west end of the field. This sand was tested for the first time by
the Fortuna Oil Co.'s well in the southwest corner of sec. 31, North
Cement Township (No. 20, PI. XI). In thickness it ranges from a
few feet to 50 feet. It becomes shaly toward the east and is not a
producer in the east end of the field, unless the gas sand there, 60
feet above the oil sand, is to be considered the Fortuna sand. The
interval between the top of the Whitehorse sandstone and the For-
tuna sand is about 2,385 feet, though owing to the inclination of the
strata the logs of wells drilled in the Keeche dome record about 2,400
feet of intervening strata.

Prosperity oil sand. — About 80 feet below the horizon of the For-
tuna sand and 2,465 feet below the top of the Whitehorse sandstone
is a third oil sand, here called the Prosperity sand, because oil was
first obtained from it in the Prosperity Oil Co.'s well <m the Cutshall
farm, in sec. 5, South Cement Township (No. 43, PL XI). In this
well the producing sand is about 100 feet below what is apparently
the Fortuna sand, which is here but 2,335 feet below the top of the
Whitehorse sandstone, showing a slight decrease in the thickness of
the rocks to the southeast. This sand is the chief producing bed in
the east end of the field and probably is the deepest sand from which
oil is obtained in the Fortuna Oil Co.'s Gregory well, in the west end
of the field (No. 20, PI. XI). The Prosperity sand is a brownish
fine-grained quartz sand, in which the grains are rounded, of uniform
size, and about 0.1 millimeter in diameter.

Discovery of new sands. — It is quite probable that some of the
other sandstones of this group may prove productive if they are

Digitized by VjOOQIC

V. 8. QBOLOOIOAL SUBTIT

WEa WEaWELL WELL WELL WELL

NoS Nail Nal2 Nq20 No38 Na42

M^W

o-ori

G-Qas

W.-Water
s-Showof oil
g-Showofgas

Sand ShaJe,blue Shale, red |

brown

PLOTTED LOGS OF 11 WELLS l\

Digitized by VjOOQIC

CEMENT OIL FIELD, GADIX) COUNTY, OKLA. 78

properly tested. There has been considerable conjecture as to the
possibility of finding oil at greater depths in the Cement field. Ap-
parently this is a possibility, for the oil now obtained probably comes
from the top of the Pennsylvanian, and there are prolific oil-bearing
sands in the middle and lower part of the Pennsylvanian in Okla-
homa and northern Texas. At just what depth deeper oil sands may
be encountered it is impossible to determine, but probably they lie
at least 800 feet beneath the Prosperity sand, for the deep test in the
area and ^he wells drilled in adjoining counties show several hundred
feet of blue and red calcareous shale beneath the oil-sand group.
Below these shales sandstones were encountered in the Cothlin
and Kunsemuller wells (Nos. 5 and 23, PI. XI) at depths of 3,520
and 3,440 feet, respectively. In the Cothlin well the sandstone is
water bearing. In the Kunsemuller well only the top was penetrated,
so what it will yield is not yet known. Below these depths sandstones
will probably be encountered every hundred feet or so, and in some
of them oil may be found, but the chances for finding it are best in
the dome areas, for the sandstones , showed large amounts of salt
water in all wells that penetrated them in adjacent counties, indi-
cating the necessity of drilling as far as possible up the slopes of the
anticline.

PRODUCTION OF WELLS.

The present production of the 20 oil wells of this field is approxi-
mately 1,200 barrels a day. About 300 barrels of this is taken by
the C3nnl Refining Co., and the remainder is either stored in the
field or piped to the Cement loading station.

The oil wells show an average initial daily production of about
100 barrels. The largest well brought in so far is a 300-barrel well.
The low initial production is offset by the slow decline of the wells,
as noted on the well table on page 77. The rate of decrease from the
mitial production averages about 2 per cent a month, which indicates
that the wells will have a life of six or eight years at least. The gas
wells, however, show a rapid decrease, their initial production of sev-
eral million cubic feet a day being reduced to less than half a million
feet in a few months, and in the Calla Belle No. 2, east of Cement
(No. 55, PI. XI), the production decreased to this amount in a few

days.

EXTENT OF THE FIELD.

It is difficult, considering the present progress of the development
of the field and the apparent lenticularity of the oil sands, to make
any definite estimate as to the probable extent of the Cement field.
However, it appears very likely that the area of production will be
limited to the area of closure, or the territory lying within the
1,460-foot contour line, and it is obvious that all of this area will
not produce oil, for of the 29 wells drilled inside this area through

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART H.

the oil-sand group only 20 are producing oil, 4 are producing gas,
and the remainder are nonproductive. Even if 3 of the gas wells
are considered potential oil: wells, only about 76 per cent of the wells
drilled through the horizon of the producing sands yield oil, and if
it is granted that this percentage will not decrease, which is doubtful,
considering the fact that drilling has progressed around producing
wells rather than around dry holes, it is possible that of the 22 square
miles lying within the area of closure 16 square miles, or, say, 10,000
acres, will prove productive of oil. But the probabilities are that not
half of this area will be productive.

GBABE OF OIL.

The oil from the different wells is very similar in appearance, and
apparently its quality is comparatively uniform. The color by re-
flected light is black. The gravity of three samples, two of which
were analyzed by George Steiger in the laboratory of the United
States Geological Survey and the third by E. W. Dean, of the Bureau
of Mines, ranged between 0.84 and 0.85 (37° and 34.7° Baume). The
analyses are given below :

Analyses of oil samples from Cement field, Caddo County, Okla.
[Results of open-columii distillation at atmoBpheric pressure.]

NIlM well No. 1, Ftortan« Oil Co.

[Specific gravity of crude oil, 0.840.]

Temperature ("C.).

Percentaice by
weijrht.

Specific

gravity

Frac-
tion.

Total.

25* C.
25* C.

43 to 100

2.8
2.5
3.5
4.4

4.2
5.2
12.5
17.8
36.8
7.6
2.8

2.8

6.3

13.2

17.4

22.6

35.1

58.9

89.7

97.2

100.0

0.7O4

100tol25

.730

125 to 150

.746

150tol7a

763

176 to 200 .«.

.775

200to22<'>

-778

225 to 250

. 905

250to275 .

. K28

Above 275

. 829

Besidue

Lobs

loao

Roe weU No. t, Caddo Petrolenm Co.

[Specific gravity of crude oil, 0.849.]

68 to 100

3.7
1.3
2.7
6.5
5.9
9.5
7.3
6.8
44.8
6.3
5.2

3.7
5.0
7.7
14.2

2ai

29.6
36.9
43.7

as. 5

94.8
100.0

0. 71«

100 to 125 .

-745

126 to 150

. 751

150 to 180 ..

-7^4

180 to 200

- 778

200 to 225

-7Q3

225to250

- 810

250 to 275

- 5*24

Above 276

. S3a

Residue

Loss....

100.0

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

Analyses of ail samples from Cement field, Caddo County, Okla. — Continued.

Paakwne well No. 1.

[Specific gravity at 15" C, 0.850 (34.7* Baum^).]

AJr distillation, with (raction-
736 mm.)

Vacuum dMUlation, without
column. ( Pressure 40 mm.)

Temperature (•C.).

Feroentage b7
volume.

Specific
gravity.

Percentage by
volume.

Specific
gravity.

Fraction.

Total.

Fraction.

Total.

Up to 50

1.0
2.6
4.6
5.0
6.1
5.8
6.8
7.7
7.0
8.3

1.5
4.1
&7
13.7
19.8
25.6
32.2
39.9
46.9
55.2

50to75

a 715

75 to 100

v.'.'.v.v.'.y.v ''.'"'

100tol35

.750
.765
.778
.785
.800
.815
.827
.840

12Stol50

150tol75

a4
1.0
3.6
5.9
5.6
4.2

55.6
56.6
60.2
66.1
71.7
75.9

175toaOO

0.855

300 to 225

235 to 250

.869

2S0to275

.871

375 to 300

.879

RlKT{<)|]f^

.""1

BECOmCENBATIONS AS TO FUTUBE DEVELOPMENT.

It is obvious that in the further development of the Cement field
the best policy is to drill outward from the producing wells in loca-
tions at least 600 feet apart or at least to confine new developments
to the two domes — ^that is, to areas within the 1,520-foot contour line
or in the structural belt lying between the 1,520 and 1,460 foot con-
tours. The area outside of this belt is likely to be nonproductive
territory and should be drilled only after development has proved
the existence of oil inside the belt. If the producing area is extended
by drilling adjacent to the wells that now yield oil or gas, a dry hole
or a small producing well may define the edge of the field, espe-
cially if open-textured sands or large volumes of salt water are
encountered. On the other hand, dry holes, drilled at random along
the flanks of the anticlines in the eariier development of the field,
will be much less indicative, of the limits of the field. The tendency
will be to consider the territory for some distance around such holes
of small value, whereas it is entirely possible that an isolated hole
thus drilled at random is in reality on the very edge of a producing
area. In many of the oil fields of the country this possibility is illus-
trated. For example, one of the offsets to the discovery well in the
Healdton field was dry, and an offset to the discovery well in the
Ranger field produced only relatively small quantities of petroleum.
Almost every oil field of importance has within its limits some dry
holes, and along some parts of its margins the line of demarcation
Ijetween productive and barren area is very sharply drawn.

It is also a questionable policy to drill wells to the producing sands
in the areas at the centers of the domes, for the oil sands in those

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76 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT H.

areas probably contain gas, the expansive force of which, if it were
left in the sand, would tend to force the oil out of the sand into the
oil wells and thereby make it possible to recover a greater propor-
tion of the oil. Unfortunately, however, under the present competi-
tive system of developing oil fields, the laws governing development
are based on a consideration of property rights rather than of
natural laws, and consequently there is not on? .^ waste of capital
and materials but a waste of the oil itself.

POSSIBILITY OF FINDING OIL OUTSIDE OF THE CEMENT FIELD.

The observed relations of structure and oil accumulations in the
Cement field indicate that there is slight possibility of oil being found
anywhere in the area mapped- outside of this field, which will prob-
ably not extend beyond the area included within the 1,460-foot con-
tour line and hence will be confined to a narrow strip not more than
2 miles wide in its broadest part and extending 7 miles northwest and
6 miles southeast of Cement. Small showings may be encountered
in wells drilled outside of this area, but it is doubtful if such showings
will indicate the presence of a commercial pool near by. Pockets of
oil and gas may be discovered where small amounts of these materials
have been trapped in porous lenses of sandstone by circulating ground
waters, but the chances of finding such lenses are small, and their com-
mercial value is not, as a rule, equivalent to the cost of drilling more
than a very small number of wells. The slight buckling of the strata
in the northwest corner of Grand View Township probably does not
represent sufficient folding to eflPect the segregation of a pool, but
there is a bare possibility that it marks the south end of an anticline
lying to the north. As discussed on page 69, it appears- very unlikely
that the ridge south of West McKinley and South Cobb townships is
underlain by an anticline, and hence oil may not be expected to be
found in either the Humble well or the Simons well (Nos. 3 and 1 in
the following table).

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

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Digitized by VjOOQIC

CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — PART II
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Digitized by VjOOQIC

CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

• WCOro • CO CO CO CO CQ CO 'M 'to • ■^ • • • W CO 00 CO

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80 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PART II.

Driller's logs of wells in Cement oU fields Caddo County, Okia,
Dftw-B«ll Dcrelopaieiit Co., mc» 21, Grand View Towniiap.

[No. 2. PI. XII. Nonproducer.]

Feet.

Surface clay 0- 12

Rock sand 12- 365

Soft water sand 365- 375

Red gumbo 375- 380

ISandrock 380- 396

Red bed 39^- 428

Brown shale 428- 456

Glp 456^ 461

Red joint clay 461- 476

Red gumbo 47^ 482

Brown shale 482- 510

Gumbo and gip 510- 520

Brown shale 520- 565

Gumbo and glp 565- 578

Hard brown shale-__^ 578- 610

Red bed 610- 620

Gray lime 620- 628

Brown shale 628- 678

Gip 678- 682

Broken lime 682- 694

Hard lime 604- 702

Brown shale and gip 702- 722

Joint clay, 722- 804

Hard lime shell 804- 806

Hard brown shale 806- 810

Joint clay, red 810- 840

Sandy shale 840- 930

Joint clay 930- 990

Sandy shale 990-1, 105

IJmerock 1, 105-1, 113

Red gumbo 1,113-1,140

Sandy shale 1.14^-1,170

Red bed 1, 170-1, 194

Hard Ume shell 1, 194-1, 196

Red bed 1,196-1,236

Gumbo and gip 1, 236-1, 254

Red bed

Limerock

Brown shale

Red clay

Red sandy shale

Red bed and glp

Red sandy shale

Red bed and shale

Hard limerock

Red bed and shale

Brown shale; showing of

oil

Red clay

Brown shale

Red bed or clay

Shale and gip ^^_

Red clay

Shale and boulders

Red clay

Shale and glp

Red clay

Hard lime shell

Red bed or clay

Shale and glp

Red bed and clay

Broken lime

Brown shale; showing of

oil (best show)

Red bed or clay

Brown shale

Red bed or clay

Hard shale —

Red clay

Red clay ; showing of gip.
Red gumbo

Feet.
1, 254-1, 290
1, 290-1, 298
1, 298-1, 350
1,350-1,380
1, 380-1, 470
1, 470-1, 500
1, 500-1. 570
1, 570-1, 620
1, 620-1, 634
1. 634-1. 646

1, 646-1. 650
1,050-1.670
1, 670-1, 695
1,695-1,750
1, 750-1, 810
1,810-1,872
1,872-1,896
1, 890-1, 960
1, 960-2. 010
2,010-2,025
2,025-2,030
2, 030-2. 090
2,090-2,124
2, 124-2, 160
2, 160-2, 170

2, 170-2, 195
2, 195-2, 230
2, 230-2, 270
2. 270-2, 310
2, 310-2, 320
2, 320-2, 376
2, 376-2, 430
2, 430-2, 505

Cothlln well No. 19, Fortana OU Co., northwest comer SE. i tec. S5, Tonkawa Townsliip

[No. 5, PI. XI. Co^nmenced Judc 15, 1018. Nonproducer.]

Feet

Red sand ^ 25- 75

Sand; water 75- '95

Sand 95- 150

Lime 150- 190

Sand 190- 215

Red shale 216- 225

Shale 225- 235

lime 235- 305

Feet.

Hard lime 305- 307

Lime 307- 335

Red shale 335- 343

Lime 343- 37T

377- 440

440- 445

445- 50H

— - 508- 525

Blue shale-
Lime

Blue shale.
Sand

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COXTNTY, OKLA.

Driller's logs of weUs in Cement oU field, Caddo County, Okla, — Continaed.
C«tUiB w«n New 19, Fniua OU C%^ nortiiwMt eonwr SE. I mc U, Tonkawa Toinuliip — Con.

Feet

Blue rtiale 525- 570

Sand 570- 616

Lime 616- 620

Sand and Iron ; water 620- 660

Blue shale 660- 695

Lime : 6»5- 720

Hardlime»_ 720- 725

Blue slate 1 725- 735

Hard Ume 735- 745

Blue slate 745- 750

Sand; water 750- 760

Ume 760- 765

Blue shale 765- 770

Ume 770- 780

Sand; water 780- 800

Blue slate 800- 810

Sandy lime 810- 820

Blue slate 820- 850

Sandy lime 850- 870

Blue slate 870- 967

Brown shale 967-1, 010

Blue slate 1. 010-1, 025

Ume 1, 025-1, 031

Blue slate 1. 031-1, 150

Brown shale 1,150-1,320

Blue slate 1,320-1,360

Red rock 1,360-1,527

Sand; oil 1,527-1,530

Brown shale and shells 1, 530-1, 550

Blue slate 1,550-1,557

Sand; gas 1,557-1,566

Brown shale 1, 566-1, 576

Sand shells 1, 576-1. 580

Blue slate 1, 580-1, 590

Red beds 1,590-1,600

Blue slate 1,600-1,620

Sand ; water 1, 620-1, 630

Blue slate 1,630-1,675

.^and; gas 1,675-1,695

Blue slate 1,695-1,830

Sand shell 1,830-1,833

Red beds 1,833-1,870

Blue slate, sandy 1,870-1,915

Red beds 1,915-1,930

Blue slate 1,930-1,945

Red beds : 1,945-1,9^5

Blue slate 1,965-1,985

Red beds .___ 1,985-2.000

Blue slate 2,000-2,005

Soft sand ; show of gas__ 2, 005-2, Oil

Feet.

Blue slate and oil 2, 011-2, 025

Red beds 2,025-2,040

Blue slate 2,040-2.050

Lime shell 2, 05O-2, 053

Blue slate 2,053-2,063

Ume shell 2, 063-2, 065

Red beds 2,065-2,100

Black shale 2, 100-2, 110

Red beds 2, 110-2, 120

Blue shale 2, 120-2, 133

Sand; oil and gas 2,133-2,137

Red rock 2, 137-2, 140

Sand 2, 140-2, 145

Blue shale 2, 145-2, 174

Sand ; gas 2, 174^2, 180

Red beds 2,180-2,210

Blue shale 2,210-2,230

Red beds 2,230-2,234

Blue shale 2,234-2,245

Red beds 2,245-2,260

Brown shale 2,260-2,290

Lime 2,290-2,293

Blue shale^-l 2, 293-2, 308

Shale 2,30S-2,318

Sand 2, 31S-2, 322

Blue shale 2, 322-2, 327

Shale 2, 327-2, 375

Red rock 2,375-2,390

Blue shale 2,390-2,458

Sand lime; water 2.458-2.472

Blue shale 2, 472-2, 545

Lime 2,545-2,550

Blue shale 2,550-2,625

Brown shale 2,625-2,636

Blue shale 2, 635-2, 690

iBrown shale 2, 690-2, 733

Black lime 2,733-2,735

Lime 2, 735-2, 745

Blue shale 2,745-2,760

Red rock 2, 760-2, 775

Blue shale 2,775-2,790

Red rock 1 2, 790-2, 825

Blue shale 2, 825-2, 835

Red rock 2, 8.S5-2, 850

Blue shale 2, 850-2, 890

Brown shale 2, 890-2, 900

Blue shale 2,900-2,010

Blue sandy shale ; gas 2, 910-2, 915

Blue shale 2,915-2,925

Red rock 2,925-2,945

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CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT H.

Driller's logs of wells in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla. — Continued.
Cothlin well No. 19. Fortnna OU Co.. northwest eorner SB. k soe. Sfi, TvnkAwa Township — Cod.

Feet.

Blue shale 2, 945-2, 980

Brown shale 2,980-^,990

Blue shale 2,990-3,005

Blue shale and shells 3,005-3,010

Bed rock 3,010-3.020

Blue shale 3,020-3,035

Bed rock 3,035-3,040,

Blue shale 3,040-3,050

Blue shale and shells 3, 050-3. 070

Brown shale 3,070-3,075

Blue shale and shells 3,075-3,115

Brown shale 3,115-3,182

Blue shale 3, 182-^, 187

Brown shale 3,187-3,190

Blue shale and shells 3, 190-3, 217

Sand ; showing of oil 3, 217-3, 225

Blue shale 3.225-3,235

iirown shale -_ 3, 235-3, 255

r.lue shale end lime 3, 255-3, 260

Lime 3, 260-3, 270

Brown shale 3, 270-3, 275

Feet.

Blue shale and shells 3, 275-3, 280

Brown shale 3,280-3,285

Sandy brown shale 3,285-3,315

Brown shale 3.315-3.330

Brown sandy shale 3,330-3,360

Blue sandy shale- 3,360-3,365

Lime 3.365-3,380

Blue sandy shale :_- 3.380-3,400

Blue shale 3, 400-3, 510

Blue sandy lime 3,510-3,520

•Sand; water 3,520-3,550

Sand .3, 550-3, 560

Sandy lime 3,560-3,570

Sand ; showing; of gas 3, 570-3, 572

Blue shale 3,572-3.590

Lime 3, 590-3, 595

Brown shale 3,595-3,600

Lime shell 3,600-3,603

Blue shalo 3,60r.-3,620

Lime shell 3,620-3.625

Biiie shale 3,625-3, (HO

Casing record: 20-lnch, 160 feet; 15i-inch, 504 feet; 12i-inch, l,or>7 f«M?t ; lO-inch.
1,784 feet ; Si-lnch, 2,445 feet ; 6|-inch, 3,206 feet ; 5ft-iiich, 3,535 feet.

Davis well No. 1, Keeche Oil & Gas Co.. sec. 1, Doyle Township.

[No. ."^O, PI. XI. Completed May 14, 1919; initial production, 175 barrels a day.]

Sand

Sand and mud

Clay

Sandrock

Clay-

Sandrock

Shale

Sandrock

Hard shale

Sand

Shale

Pack sand

Shale

Sand and pyrites

Shale and boulders — 1 —

Sandrock

Sand and shale

Hard sand and pyrites___

Oumbo and pyrites

Blue mud

Sand and pyrites

Red and blue mud

Feet.

0- 60

60- 131

131- 142

142- 147

147- 154

154- 219

219- 227

227- 231

231- 238

238- 308

308- 318

318- 420

420- 430

430- 531

531- 552

552- 561

.lOl- 590

590- 887

887- 903

903- 951

951- 907
907-1, 172

Feet,

Sandrock 1,172-1,175

Gumbo 1,175-1, IS,"'^

Sand and shale 1,185-1,278

Sandrock 1,278-1, 310

Shale 1,310-1, 3:V\

Sandrock 1,333-1,343

Shale 1,343-1. .V)2

Gumbo 1 1,552-1. .-82

Sand and shale 1,582-1, 010

Packe<l sand 1,610-1, as,3

(Jumbo 1,683-1, 7(>4

Sand 1,704-1.722

Shale 1,722-1, 795

Gumbo ^ 1,795-1, 813

Sand, soft___ 1,813-1, 830

Shale l,aS(>-l,862

Sand 1,862-1, 870

Shale and sand _ 1, 870-2. 07-"^

Sandrock . 2,075-2, OGS

Shale and boulder 2, 086-2, 172

I.ime and sand ; oil 2, 172-2, 190

Gumbo 2,190-2, 212

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OEMEI!rr OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

DriUer^s log^ of toella in Cement oil fieldj Caddo County, Okla. — Continued.
D»Tte well N«w 1, KMdw Oil A Gm Co^ mc 1, Dojl» Tnmshlp— Continued.

Feet.

Shale and lime shells 2, 21^2, 246

Red shale 2,246-2,267

Rock 2, 267-2, 268

Red rock 2. 268-2, 288

lime 2,288-2,290

Feet.

Red rock 2. 290-2, 317

Lime 2, 317-2,320

Red rock 2,320-2,324

Sand; oil [Fort una sand]. 2,324-2,354

Pmakvne well No. 1, Gladstone Oil Co., sec 3, Soath Cement Township.
[No, 48, PI. XI. Completed In August, 1019 ; initial production, 150 barrels a day.]

Feet

.Soil O- 5

Quicksand 5- 37

Kock 37- 44

Hard red shale 44r^ 78

Sand and shale 7&- 92

Hard re<i sand 92- 146

Hard blue shale 146- 265

Hard rock, granite 265- 269

Hard blue shale and rock_ 269- 301

Hard rock 301- 304

Blue shale 30^ 406

Blue limerock 406- 408

Blue shale 408- 472

Umerock 472- 475

Hard blue shale 475- 600

Blue shale 600^ 620

White lime ,— 620- 635

Hard blue and

pyrites 635- 684

Hard blue sandy shale

and pyrites. 684- 696

Hard blue shale and

pyrites 696- 751

Sand rock and pyrites 751- 763

Hard blue shale 763- 786

Hard and soft blue shale- 786- 806

Hard blue shale 806- 821

Hard shale and pack

sand 1. 821- 855

Hard and soft blue shale_ SS.")- 865

Small showing of gas 865- 910

Soft red and blue shale__ 910- 971
Hard and soft red and

blue shale 971-1,080

Hard blue shale 1,080-1,173

Hard red and blue shale. 1, 173-1, 325

Hard blue shale 1. 325-1, 340

Oil showing 1,340-1.375

Hard sand and shale 1,375-1,441

Feet.

Blue shale 1,441-1,469

Red and blue shale,

tough 1,469-1,570

Very hard red sand 1,570-1,587

Red shale, hard and

tough 1. 587-1, 620

Blue shale, hard and soft_ 1, 6J0-1. 643
Hard sandy shale rind

lime; gas showing 1,643-1,064

Hard red and blue shale_ 1, 664-1, 677
Hard blue shale and saiid_ 1, 677-1, 700

Pack sand 1,700-1,734

Flard blue shale and sand. 1 , 734-1 , 820

r.ime 1, 820-1, 823

Hard blue shale and

pyrites 1. 823-1, 837

Brown gumbo 1,837-1,842

Sandy blue shale 1, 842-1, 846

Hard rock 1,846-1,848

Blue shale and pyrites 1, 848-1, 859

Blue shale and lime 1, 859-1, 894

Blue rock 1,894-1,898

Shale and gumbo 1,898-1,015

SheU rock 1,915-1.918

Shale and gumbol 1,918-1,922

Sandrock 1, 922-1, 930

Blue shale 1,930-1,975

Sandy shale 1,975-1,995

Soft shale 1,995-2,028

Hard shale 2,028-2,040

Blue shale 2, 040-2,060

Blue and re<l shale and

sand 2. 000-2, 092

'Hard blue shale and

brown sand 2,092-2,100

Blue shale 2,106-2,151

Red and blue shale and

sand 2, 151-2, 196

Tough red shale 2,196-2,219

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84 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921 — ^PABT H.

Driller's logs of welXs in Cement oU fields Caddo County, Okla. — Continned-
Pmufcvne well No. 1, Glmdstmie Ofl Co., bm. S, Smith OemMit TDWiudilp — Contlnaed.

Feet.

Hard blue shale 2,219-2,233

Sandy shale; showing of

oil and gas 2,233-2,244

Hard sand; showing of

oil and gas 2,244r-2,255

Red sandy shale 2, 255-2, 261

Feet.
Red and blue shale and

sand 2, 261-2. 299

Blue shale and sand 2, 299-2, 367

'Hard sand; oil and gas

[Prosperity sand] 2.367-2,400

HMdland weU New 1. McKinley Oil & DriUinv Co^ mc. 11, Soatli Cement Tvmulilp.

[No. 68, PL XI.]

Hard sand

Hard shell

Soft shell

Hard shell

Soft sand

Hard shell

Water sand

Shell ; set 12i-lnch casing

at 103 feet

Limestone

Water sand

Hard shell

Water sand

Hard shell

Sandy shale

Hard shell

Soft shale

Shell

Blue shale

Hard shell

Hard rock

Blue shale

Hard shell

Hard shale

Feet.

0-
55-
67-
70-
76-
80-
88-

217-
231-

Shale with thin shells

Blue shale

Pyrites of iron

Blue shale

Hard and rough_«

Blue shale

Shell

Blue shale

Brown shale and shells-
Soft blue shale

Shell

Soft brown shale

Sandrock

Hard shell

Hard shale

65
67
70
76
80
88
98

98- 103

103- 115

115- 125

125- 140

140- 142

142- 146

146- 176

176- 190

190- 197

197- 200

200- 210

210- 217

231
281

281- 283

283- 310

310- 398

398- 485

485- 497

497- 503

503- 507

507- 515

515- 517

517- 525

525- 590

590- 610

610- 612

612- 667

667- 700

700- 707

707- 730

Brown shale

Hard shale -

Brown shale

Hard shale

Brown shale

Hard shell

Blue shale

Red shale 1.

Blue shale 1.

Red shale . — 1,

Brown shale 1,"

Red shale 1,

'Sandrock 1,

Hard blue shale 1,

Shell 1,

Hard blue shale 1,

Gray shale 1,

Red shale 1,

Shell 1,

Blue shale 1.

Blue rock 1,

Blue shale 1,

Shell 1,

Blue rock 1,

Blue shale 1,

Shell 1,

Blue shale 1,

Shell 1,

Rock 1,

Slate and rock 1,

Blue rock 1,

Hard blue shale 1,

Lime 1,

Red shale 1,

Gray shale 1,

Gumbo 1,

Gray shale 1,

Gumbo 1,

Blue shale 1,

Feet.
730- 738
738- 748 I
748- 758
758- 784
784- 792
792- 812
81^1,000
000-1,050
050-1,100
100-1,285
285-1, 325
325-1, 331
331-1,350
350-1,402
402-1,404
404-1,430
430-1,440 I
440-1,489 I
489-1,490 i
490-1,497
497-1,509
509-1,523 I
523-1,525
525-1,545
545-1,551
551-1, 553
553-1.557
557-1, 560
560-1, 580
580-1, 594
594-1.600
600-1,680
689-1, 691
691-1. 705
705-1, 730
730-1, 735
735-1, 782
782-1,815
815-1, 835

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CEMENT OIL FIELD, CADDO COUNTY, OKLA.

Driller's log^ of wellB in Cement oil field, Caddo County, Okla. — Continued.
HMilaad w«ll K«w 1. McKlider OQ ft DrilUiv Co., lee. 11. Smith Cement Township — Con.

FGCt

Gumbo 1, 835-1, 840

Blue shale 1, 840-1, 881

Blue gumbo 1, 881-1, 885

Shell 1, 885-1, 891

Red gumbo 1, 891-1, 942

Blue shale 1,942-1,948

Gumbo 1,948-2,030

Blue shale 2,030-2,070

Gumbo 2,070-2,075

Blue shale 2,075-2,120

Feet.

Shell 2,120-2,134

Blue shale 2, 184-2, 146

Red gumbo 2,146-2,170

Blue shale - 2, 170-2, 212

Shell 2, 212-2, 213

Red gumbo 2, 213-2, 235

Blue shale; setting 8^-

inch casing at 2,321

feet 2,235-2,321

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Digitized

by Google i

Digitized by VjOOQIC

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Albert B. Fall, Secretary

United States GEOLoarcAL Subvby

Gborob Otis Smttb, Director

BaUetin 726— C

OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON
COUNTY, UTAH

HARYEY BASSLER

AND

JOHN B. REESIDE, Jb.

OMrtribatlMs to Mononle gMloty. IMl. Put H

(PaiMS7.M7)

IAvfastl5,lt21

WASHINGTON

QOTBBNMBNT PBINTINO OFFIOB
1921

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CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction 87

Geology 89

Stratigraphy 89

Structure 93

Oil prospects in the district east of the Hurricane fault 93

Field near Virgin City 93

Other favorable localities 97

Higher oil sand 98

Prospects for future production 98

Oil prospects in the district west of the Hurricane fault 99

Virgin anticline 99

Harrisburg dome 99

Washington dome 101

Bloomington dome 102

Fictitious " Kingman dome " 103

Other anticlines. 103

Evidences of oil , 104

Ground water - 105

Prospects of commercial production 105

Difficulties of prospecting 106

Recommendations for drilling 106

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page-
Figure 9. Map of parts of Washington County, Utah, and Mohave County,

Ariz 88

10. Map of the oil field near Virgin City, Utah 94

11. Map of part of the Virgin anticline, Washington County, Utah,

showing the Hairisbui^ and Washington domes 100

12. Map of the Bloomington dome, Washington County, Utah 103

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH.

By Habyet Bassleb and John B. Reeside, Jr.

INTRODUCTION.

Washington County is the extreme southwestern county of Utah.
It is reached most easily by autostage from stations on the Los
Angeles & Salt Lake Railroad. Most of the traffic of the county
passes through Lund by way of Cedar City, a distance of 90 miles
from St. George, the county seat; part of it passes through Modena
by way of Enterprise, a distance of 60 miles but at present a more
difficult route. An automobile route, the Arrowhead Trail, con-
necting Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, crosses the central part of
the county. From this route spiur highways reach the main towns
and Zion Canyon National Park, in the eastern part of the county.
Except on these main roads automobile traffic is somewhat haz-
ardous — ^indeed, for the greater part impracticable. (See fig. 9.)

The region is drained by Virgin River, one of the lai^er tributaries
of the Colorado, and might be considered the northern extension of
the Grand Canyon district. Erosion has produced a topography
of marked relief, and over much of the area rock exposures, which
are common in the steep slopes and canyon walls and along the
ridges, make it relatively easy to observe stratigraphic and structural
details.

The climate is arid, and farming, except on the upland plateaus,
is practicable only where streams supply water for irrigation. Such
streams are absent south of Virgin River and are not numerous
north of it, there being only five of six of any importance. The
climate makes it possible in these favored localities to produce many
varieties of fruit and other products, some of them semitropical,
upon which the population of the region now depends lai^ely for its
support. Sheep and cattle raising is an important industry, the
high plateaus and mountain pastures being occupied for this purpose
in the smnmer and the lowlands in the winter.

St. George is the chief town and county seat. It has a population
of 2,215 (1920), with the usual complement of stores, banks, and other
enterprises necessary for the trading center of an agricultiural region.
Other towns are scattered along Virgin River and its principal tribu-

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88 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921; PART II.

taries. Leeds, 15 miles east of St. George, was formerly the center
of a prosperous silver-mining district, but the industry has been idle
since the late nineties.

Exploratory drilling for oil has not been extensive in Washington
County. Drilling near Virgin City resulted in several small wells as
early as 1907. About 16 test wells were then sunk, most of them

r.»i s. T.4a s

grouped near Virgin City but some a considerable distance away. No
further exploration was made for 10 years, when some of the old weUs
near Virgin City were cleaned out and several new wells were drilled.
In 1919 a well was started on the Harrisbuig dome and has reached
a depth of 2,200 feet (September, 1920).

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COTTNTY, UTAH. 80

The writers spent part of the autumn of 1919 examining the region
in reconnaissance. Some detailed work was done near Virgin City
and on the three domes of the Virgin anticline, hut much of the work
was rapid, without a satisfactory hase map, and accordingly lacks
detail. Much assistance was given hy several residents, for which
the writers take this opportunity of expressing their thanks.

GBOLOaY.

STBATIGBAFHY.

The rocks of the region range in age from Mississippian to Tertiary,
but those of greatest importance as possible soiurces of oil are the
older rocks, beneath what is known as the Shinarump conglomerate —
the relatively thin but resistant and sharply marked brown sand-
stone, bearing pebbles and many petrified logs, that forms an easily
recognized and persistent cliff-making stratum over a large stretch of
country. These older rocks are included in the Moenkopi formation,
the Kaibab limestone, and a sandstone formation which represents
the Coconino sandstone and Supai formation of the Grand Canyon
area. The Moenkopi formation, of red sandstone, shale, and gypsum,
with yellow earthy limestone in the lower part and a discontinuous
conglomeratic limestone member at the base, was long believed to
be of Permian age but is now considered Lower Triassic. It is from
1,800 to 2,000 feet thick in this region. The Kaibab limestone is
at most points not a pure limestone formation but consists of two
layers of very hard cherty gray limestone separated by softer shale,
gypsum, and thin dark limestone. At many points the lower hard
limestone is underlain by soft material similar to that above, and
locally there is above the upper hard limestone a variable series of
limestone, gypsum, and shale. The divisions vary much in thickness
at different localities and may include beds at somewhat different
horizons in the formation at different places. The entire formation
ranges from 950 to 1,100 feet in thickness. In the past it has been
considered of Pennsylvanian age, but it is now believed by many
geologists to be Permian and is so classified by the United States
Geological Survey.

Beneath the Kaibab limestone is a massive yellow and red sand-
stone containing, in the wSt. George district, very few soft or shaly
layers and attaining 1,500 feet in thickness. Farther east it contains
a larger proportion of shaly layers. In the Grand Canyon the Kaibab
limestone is underlain by the Coconino sandstone, a light-colored
massive formation 300 feet thick, of Permian ( ?) age, which rests on
the Supai formation, a succession of red sandstone and shale about
1,200 feet thick, of Pennsylvanian (?) age. In the general region of
St. George the rocks underlying the Kaibab do not possess the precise

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do CONTRIBtTTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

characteristic features of the Coconino and Supai of the Grand Can-
yon, but examination of a series of stratigraphic sections at intervals
between these regions has revealed a gradual northwestward thinning
of the typical Coconino until its identity is finally lost in the top of
the sandstone beneath the Eaibab limestone. This sandstone in the
same direction becomes increasingly more sandy and less red until in
the Beaver Dam Mountains, west of St. George, there is no longer any
really red material nor any shale throughout its thickness of more
than 1,400 feet. In Virgin Canyon a dense gray siliceous limestone
lies beneath the sandstone and is probably equivalent to the Redwall
limestone of the Grand Canyon, which is in part Pennsylvanian
and in part Mississippian.

Composite section for the region east of the Hurricane fault scarp.
Smith's Mem. 8 mllM Borth of VIrglii Qtj, Utah.

Shinanunp conglomerate (Triassic) : • Feet.

Sandstone, gray, platy, with a few pebblee 20

Shale, gray to green, with some fossil wood 20

Sandstone, coarse, gray-white on fresh surface, limonitic
brown on weathered surface; locally filled with small black
blobs of wad in appearance suggestive of specks of petro-
leum; contains lenses of pebbles of chert, variously colored,
quartz, silicified wood, and igneous rock. Base is irregular.
Unit contains abimdance of fossil logs, mostly silidfied
though in part replaced by copper minerals and rarely by
pockets of lignite 75

115

Unconformity.

Moenkopi formation (Lower Triassic):

Sandstone, soft, and shale, brick-red to very deep red, with

gypsum and a little lighter-colored shale 405

Shnabkaib shale member:* Shale, sandy, and sandstone, soft,
fine grained, creamy white, with some pinkish layers and

gypsum 360

Sandstone and shale, brick-red, with some reddish gypsum
and light bluish-gray gypsum ; lighter colored than the upper

red beds 400

Virgin limestone member:'

Limestone, yellow, earthy, fossiliferous 5

Shale, yellow and red .' 25

1 Named for the striklag isolated mesa 2 miles southwest of the town of Washington, on the northwest
flank of the Washington dome. This memberis more fully described in a forthcoming report on thestratl^
raphy of the region, by the authors of this report, which wHl form one of the chapters of Professional
Paper 129.

iThe Virgin limestone member, Rock Canyon conglomeratic member, and Harrisburg gypaUlerous
member are new names, used for the first time in this report, but the members are more fully described in
a forthcoming report on the stratigraphy of the region, by the authors of this report, which will form one of
the chapters of Professional Paper 129. The Virgin limestone member is named for Virgin City, where the
limestone is well exposed; the Rock Canyon member is named for Rock Canyon, fi mUes north of Antelope
Spring, Ariz.; and the Harrisburg member is named for its occurrence in the Harrisburg dome, 8 miles
east of St. George.

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 91

Moenkopi formation (Lower Triasedc)— Continued. F^t.

Virginia limestone member — Continued.

Limestone, yellow, earthy, fossiliferous 5

Shale, yellow, calcareous 25

Limestone, fairly massive, yellow, earthy, fossiliferous 20

Sandstone and shale, brick-red, with gypsum 360

Rock Canyon conglomeratic member:^ Irregular complex of
limestone, limestone and chert conglomerate, shale, and
gypsmn. Absent locally 170

1, 775
Unconformity.

Hvrrlcaiie flmlt scarp. 6 miles sooth of Hvrriouie, Utah.

Kaibab limestone (Permian):

Harrisburg gypsiferous member ^ (may include some beds of
basal part of Moenkopi formation): Limestone, gray, thin
bedded, some of it containing many small angular frag-
ments of chert; and shale, gray or yellow 160

Limestone, massive, gray, with much brown chert; fossils
abundant in chert; forms upper cliff 260

Shale, soft sandstone, and gyx)sum, the whole forming a gray
slope 200

Limestone, gray, massive, with much brown chert; light col-
ored on fresh surface; contains softer shaly layers near mid-
dle of unit; forms lower cli£f 230

limestQne, sandy, cream-colored, and also thin bedded; dark
drab; gypsum, white to gray; forms slope 80

930

Black Rock Canyon, Aria., 18 nOeo south of Honlcano. Utah.

Coconino sandstone (Permian?) and Supai formation (Pennsyl-
vanian?):

Sandstone, medium grained, gray-white on fresh surface,
yellow-brown on weathered surface, medium-bedded, cross-
bedded 200

Sandstone, like unit above but in thinner beds separated by
softer brick-red sandstone 490

Sandstone, medium grained, cross-bedded, gray-white on
fresh surface, yellow-brown on weathered surface, relatively
thin bedded and forming a bench 155

Sandstone, like the unit next above but practically in one
bed and forming a sheer wall ; exposed 380

1,225

> Se^ footnote 2 on page 90.

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92 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT It.

Compasiu uetionfor the region near St, Oeorge, Utah.
Hatflabaic dome, 8 nOea ewrt of St. GeorgA.

Feet.
Shinarump conglomerate (Triassic) lOOdb

Unconfonnity.

Moenkopi formation (Lower Triasdc):

Shale and sandstone, brick-red ; upper part very dark 320

Sandstone, yellow, medium grained ; massive in upper part. 75

Shale, red, with some sandstone and gypsum 80

Shna]3kaib shale member: Shale, sandy, white to light gray,

with gypsum and some pink shale 630

Shale, red, sandy, with gypsum 435

Virgin limestone member: Limestone, earthy, greenish
yellow, in three thin bands separated by greenish-yellow

and reddish-brown shale 100

Shale, red, some of it sandy, with gypsum and a little bluish

gypsifesous shale 275

Shale, yellow, gypsiferous 60

Rock Canyon conglomeratic member absent at this local-
ity, though present elsewhere in the region.

2,035

Unconformity.

Eaibab limestone (Permian):

Harrisburg gypsiferous member: Limestone, light gray,
blue-gray, yellow, and reddish, some of it with very
characteristic white chert with platy fracture; shale, red
and yellow, gypsiferous; gypsum 137

Narrows of VIrflii Rlror, below Bloomliiftoii, Utah.

Limestone, thin bedded, gray, with some small chert frag-
ments; may duplicate some of Harrisbuig member
described above 70

Limestone, massive, uniform, fine grained, gray on fresh
surface, brownish on weathered surface; filled with layers
and nodules of brown chert 276

Breccia of limestone and chert in a limy matrix; whole
mass weathers to a yellow-brown color. This unit with
unit above forms a cliff 110

Gypsum, red shale, breccia of limestone and chert, and
gray shale, forming a slope 80

Limestone, very massive, gray to light gray on weathered
surface, cherty; forms cliff 220

Soft sandstone, yellow, gypsiferous; limestone, thin bedded
and arenaceous; forms slope 65

957

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Feet.
Goconino eandBtone (Pennian?) and Supai formation (Pennsyl-
vanian):
Coconinb Band8tone(?): Sandstone, cross-bedded, buff,
coarse, above; sandstone, white on iresli surface, dark
gray on weathered sur&tce, cross-bedded, in middle; sand-
stone, white to cream-colored, earthy, below 45

Snpai foimation(?): Sandstone, medium-grained, cross-
bedded, exceedingly massive. Lower part yellow and
brown with a little irregular red staining; middle part
similar but with much red staining and a few thin soft
red sandstones; upper part at some {daces a uniform red
but usually a clean yellow-brown. The unit is practically
one continuous bed and can not be divided into definite

subunitB 1,490

Redwall limestone (Pennsylvanian and Mississippian):

limestone, siliceous, with some sandstone; mostly heavy
bedded; light gray on fresh surface, red-brown to dark
gray on weathered surface; exposed 500

STBtJCTUBB.

The region may be considered structurally as two districts separated
by the Hurricane fault, which runs north and south on a line 15 miles
east of St. George. East of the fault the rocks are relatively little
disturbed. Some smaller faults and some low anticlines are present,
but as a whole the district is one of low monoclinal dips without any
large modifications. This structure is expressed topographically by
flat-topped mesas and level benches of hard strata with intervening
slopes of soft materials. West of the Hurricane fault folds and
smaller faults of various sizes have so greatly changed the original
attitude of the rocks that the district is structurally complex in com-
parison with that east of the fault. A north-south fault of consider-
able size lies along the east side of Heber Valley, 10 miles west of
St. George. Another 10 to 20 miles south of St. George, east of
Wolf Hole Mountain, may be a northward extension of the Grand
Wash fault of the earlier geologists, but it has not yet been traced
more than a short distance.

Olli PROSPECTS IN THE DISTRICT EAST OF THE
HURRICANE FAUIiT,

FIEIiD NEAR VntGIN CITY.

Oil was discovered in 1907 at a point 2 miles northeast of Virgin
City, in sec. 13, T. 41 S., R, 12 W., and for a short time exploration
Tras very active. About 15 wells were drilled, most of them grouped
around Vii^in City but a few at some distance from it. According
to the best information now available most of these wells were
failures, making only small or no showings of oil and gas; one in
44209*»--21— Bull. 726o 2

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94 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

Virgin City is said to have produced enough gas to make a flame
several feet long from a 2-inch pipe; one well (No. 9, fig. 10) pro-
duced some oil; and three wells, the present producers, came in witli
production stated variously as high as 36 barrels a day but probably
in reality not more than half that.

FiouBK 10.~Map of the oil field near Virgin City, Utah.

There was no market for the oil at the time of discovery except as
fuel for further drilling, and as the financial panic of 1907 cut down
the capital necessary for such exploratory work all activity ceased
abruptly.

" Nothing more was done in the field imtil 1918, when the three pro-
ducing wells were cleaned out and shot, pumping was started, and a

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 95

small local refinery was built. A new well was drilled near the old
wells and has a production of 4 or 5 barrels a day; a second hole put
down on the north bank of Virgin River, about a mile south of the
first one, proved to be dry. The total production from the four wells,
which are imcased holes 550 to 600 feet deep, is about 20 barrels a
day (September, 1920). The bulk of this amoimt is coming from
one well, the other wells pumping much more water than oil. The
refinery will handle 800 gallons of crude oil per 8-hour shift, and the
products find a ready local market.

The oil is reported to range in gravity from 25*^ to 35° Baum6, to
have a parafl^ base that includes some asphalt, and to contain some
sulphur. It is dark brown and very fluid. There has been Uttle gas
in the wells, but the amount is increasing as pumping continues.

The oil comes from a 1-foot bed of limestone which is at the top
of the basal Rock Canyon conglomeratic member of the Moenkopi.
The wells appear to have met no oil until they pierced this layer' and
to have obtained no increase from lower beds. This bed is easily
found on the outcrop west of Virgin City, and at some points oil and
sulphur water are seeping from it, notably at one locality a mile west
of Virgin City. The associated limestone contains many cavities,
due to the removal of fossils by solution, which are filled with a very
fluid oil, though none is apparent in the mass of the rock. Likewise
certain sandstone layers in the red beds of the Moenkopi above the
limestone contain enough oil to form when fragments are heated in a
glass tube a brown ring of oil on the cold part of the tube.

The original soiurce of the oil has not been determined. No car-
bonaceous matter is apparent anywhere near the oil sand, either
in the red beds above it or in the limestone beneath. Over a distance
of perhaps 25 miles there is evidence locally of oil in the basal Moen-
kopi without any apparent carbonaceous matter in either the over-
lying or imderlying rock. At this horizon some miles northeast of
Toquerville there are in the limestone many fossil cavities filled with
oil. This is true also at the places west of Virgin City mentioned
above and at other localities 5 or 6 miles south of Virgin City. At
the localities on Rock Canyon and 2. miles southwest of Black Rock
Canyon, described on pages 104-105, the basal Moenkopi contains much
asphaltic material. In the absence of any other probable source of
the oil, the layers of abundantly fossiliferous limestone seem to be
the most probable place of origin. However, the higher oil-bearing
layer described on page 98 is separated by thick intervals of rock
from any known fossiliferous beds.

The accumulation of oil may be due to various causes. In many
fields an anticlinal fold is the governing factor, the oil accumulating
in the higher parts of the fold if water is abundant in the sands, on
the flanks if water is not abundant, and in the intervening synclines

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96 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.

if the rocks are dry. In other fields the oil accumulates in a rock
terrace formed by a stepUke wrinkle in an inclined layer. The dip is
low on the terrace but steeper toward the terrace on the high side and
away from it on the lower side. In some fields an inclined oil-bearing
layer is sealed by faulting or by overlap at its upper end by imper-
vious rocks, so that oil can accumulate just beneath the seal. Some
oil reservoirs are merely porous pockets in rock that is elsewhere
relatively. impervious, as, for example, sandstone lenses in a shale.
Or the rock may be more porous at some places than at others, per-
mitting a greater oil content locally because there is more space for
it. In some regions oil accumulates in the favorable places which
are nearer the source of the oil and is absent from places that are
equally favorable except that they are farther away. For example,
in some large structural basins that contain folds at different distances
from the basin rim oil moving up from the central part of the basin
acctimulates in the folds that Ue nearer the center of the basin rather
than in those that lie farther out.

The accumulation of oil in the field near Virgin City has been at-
tributed previously either to the probable presence of permeable
sandstone lenses in impervious shale or to chance variations in the
porosity of a sandstone layer — causes neither of which is determinable
from the surface. However, there is a much more probable cause of
accumulation in the structure of the field. The rocks of this field
dip to the northeast at an average angle of not more than 2^, though
the dip is not uniform but is modified by steepenings where it may
rise to 5° or 6*^ and by flattenings where the rocks are nearly level.
The contour lines on figure 10 show the form of the surface of the oil
sand, as nearly as it may be determined from the surface. Contour
lines that are close together indicate that this surface is relatively
steep; lines that are widely separated indicate that it is relatively
flat. The producing wells, Nos. 1 to 4 of the map, in the SW. ^ sec.
13, are clearly situated on a flat area. Well No. 5, in the NW. ^ sec.
24, knowh to have been a failure, lies at the foot of an area of relatively
high dip. Well No. 6, in the SW. { sec. 23, known to have been a
failure, seems to lie on a flkt area, though near the higher edge.
Well No. 9, in the NW. i sec. 23, reported to have been a small pro-
ducer, lies apparently on a flat. Well No. 11, in the SW. i sec. 22,
a gas well in Virgin City, may lie on a flat, though the contour lines
for the area near it are based on insuflBcient data. The information
now available, though it is not very reliable, seems to indicate that
wells Nos. 7 and 8, in sec. 12; No. 10, in the NW. i sec. 14; No. 12,
near the west quarter comer of sec. 22; No. 13, near the west quarter
comer of sec. 13; and No. 14, in the SW. i sec. 26, were all failures.
It seems most probable on the evidence here presented that terrAces,
or areas of low dip, are favorable to the accmnulation of oil in this

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 97

field and that the steep slopes are xinfayorable. To what extent; in

addition^ variations in porosity of the sand are a factor it is difficult

to say, though they are probably of minor importance. There are

no anticlines, faults, or other features closely enough associated with

the producing field to offer an explanation for the accumulation of

oil, so that the only likely factor left is that of accumulation on a

terrace.

OTHER FAVORABLE LOCAUTIES.

If the view above set forth is correct, there are several untested
localities near Virgin City that are structurally as favorable at least
as the small area from which oil is now obtained, and the producing
wells are sufficiently close to these terraces to justify the recommen-
dation that other localities where the structure is similar be tested.
Approximate locations for such tests are the northwest comer of the
NW. i SW. i sec. 23, T. 41 S., R. 12 W; the center of the NW. i SW. i
sec. 23, T. 41 S., R. 12 W.; the center of the NE. i NW. i sec. 26, T.
41 S., R. 12 W.; the center of the SE. i NW. i sec. 26, T. 41 S., R. 12
W.; and the SE. i SE. i sec. 27, T. 41 S., R. 12 W.

If drilling at these places gives favorable results, a still more pro-
nounced flattening in the W. i sec. 27, T. 41 S., R. 12 W., should
be tested, though it lies so close to the outcrop of the oil-bearing
beds that seepage at the outcrop may have allowed any oil present to
escape, and it may not prove any better than the other locations.
On the other hand, several fields lately brought in, such as the Upton-
Thornton and Osage fields of Wyoming, produce from sands whose
outcrop lies very close to the wells, and it is possible that a similar
condition exists here.

A relatively pronoimced structural terrace is visible on Virgin
River 1 mile west of Grafton and 6 miles east of Virgin City, in
sees. 5, 6, and 7, T. 42 S., R. 11 W. Old Grafton Wash cuts through
it. The surface rock is the middle red-bed member of the Moenkopi
formation- The fold trends northeast and southwest from the river.
The dip on the southeast side is 6° to 8° SE., and the northwest side
is flat or even slightly reversed. Farther northwest the low regional
dip of about 2° SE. again prevails. This terrace is a dupUcate on a
somewhat larger scale and with more pronounced features of those
near Virgin City. Under it the horizon of the producing sand at
Virgin City lies at a depth of 800 to 900 feet. The locality where this
terrace crosses San Juan River is only a mile west of the fault that
passes in a north-south direction through Grafton. (See fig. 9.)
Though toward the south the terrace diverges from the fault, the
eflFect of the fault would be to cut down the area of rock that might
contribute to a possible accumulation of oil on the terrace. A short
distance north of San Juan River the fold passes under basalt and
can not be traced farther, though it can not extend far before meeting

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98 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.

the fault. South of the river its full extent is not known, but it can
be seen for several miles at least. The large size and apparent great
extent of this fold in comparison with that producing at Virgin City-
make it worth a test.

Several miles east of Antelope Spring, Ariz., and about 20 miles
south of Virgin City, where the general dip is l°-2° NE., a reversed
dip of l°-3° W. in the Virgin limestone member of the Moenkopi
formation betrays the presence of a low anticline whose axis extends
apparently in a north-south direction. A reversed dip of 3*^ observed
about 7 miles southeast of Antelope Spring probably indicates a south-
ward extension of the axis to that locality. Little is known of the ex-
tent and character of this fold, as no study was made to determine its
]K)ssibilities or select drill sites, but it is believed that its axis passes
approximately through what would be sec. 19, T. 44 S., R. 12 W., if
the Utah land subdivisions were extended into Arizona. The depth on
this fold to the horizon of the sand that is productive at Virgin City
should be 300 to 400 feet. A well drilled in 1907 about 4 miles east
of Antelope Spring does not he near enough to test this anticline,
though it is said that gas was struck in the well.

HIGHER OIL SAND.

Another possible oU-bearing bed is in the upper part of the Moen-
kopi formation, in the midst of red beds, about 1,000 feet above the
oil-yielding bed of the Virgin River field. This oil-bearing zone was
noted on Dry Creek, 3 miles north of the Dixie Co.'s wells, where a
6-foot layer of brown sandy shale that smells strongly of oil when
broken is overlain by 4 feet of contorted oil-stained shale containing
nodules of gypsum. About 2 feet higher a 6-inch layer of shale and
gypsum is crossed by stringers of pure black asphalt a quarter of an
inch to an inch thick. Nothing was observed that would suggest
the source of this oil and asphaltic matter. No carbonaceous mate-
rial or fossils were seen in any of the beds above it up to the Shina-
rump conglomerate, and no carbonaceous matter or fossils occur
between it and the Virgin limestone member. The containing beds
themselves seem to include nothing that could have furnished oil.
Where the structure is favorable and these beds lie 200 feet or more
below the surface, they may be of greater value than the lower pro-
ducing beds of the Virgin River field. Furthermore, wells sunk in
such locations may reach down to the lower beds. No searchwas
made by the writers to locate folds in the beds above this higher zone
of oil-bearing rock, nor was it traced farther than the canyon of Dry

Creek.

PROSPECTS FOB FXJTTTIIB PBODXJOTION.

The present Viigin City field appears to be of value for supplying
local demand. The thinness of the oil '^sand" seems to preclude the

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 99

possibility of production adequate to repay the expenses of dis-
tributing the oil to refineries outside the field. However, at some
distance from Virgin City the oil-bearing beds may thicken so much
that they will furnish an adequate reservoir for greater accumulations
of oil. Therefore any pronounced antichnal fold that may be detected
in the beds of the Moenkopi formation in this general region should
be prospected to test this possibiUty.

OIL. PROSPECTS IN THE DISTRICT WEST OF THE
HURRICANE FAULT.

The most prominent structural feature of the district west of the
Hurricane fault is the Virgin anticline, with its three superimposed
domes — the Harrisburg dome, the Washington dome, and the Bloom-
ington dome. Minor anticlines were noted at several localities.

YIBQm ANTICLINE.

The axis of the Virgin anticline trends southwestward through
Tps. 41 and 42 S., R. 14 W., and T. 43 S., R. 15 W. Over most of
its length this anticline exposes the red rocks of the Moenkopi for-
mation, but at three places, where it has been affected by cross folds,
it brings up the Kaibab limestone. These cross folds form well-
defined domes, called the Harrisbui^, Washington, and Blooming-
ton domes. The Harrisburg dome lies in sees. 8, 9, 16, and 17, T.
42 S., R. 14 W., about 3 miles east of the town of Washington. The
Washington dome lies in sees. 30 and 31, T. 42 S., R. 14 W., and
sees. 25 and 26, T. 42 S., R. 15 W., several miles southwest of the
Harrisburg dome and southeast of the town of Washington. The
Bloomington dome lies in sees. 8, 9, 17, 18, and 19, T. 43 S., R. 15 W.,
6 miles southwest of the Washington dome and 5 miles south of the
town of St. George. These three domes oflFer the most promising
locations for the accimiulation of oil if any is present in the anticline,
and more time was spent in studying them. They are therefore
described in some detail below, and the maps (figs. 11 and 12) show
more detail than was procured regarding the other folds of the region.

Harrisburg dome. — ^The Harrisburg dome lies in sees. 8, 9, 16, and
17, T. 42 S., R. 14 W., just north of the place where Virgin River
crosses the anticline, about 8 miles northeast of St. George and
3 miles east of Washington. An almost completely encircling
outcrop of the Virgin limestone low in the Moenkopi formation and
tlie high core of Kaibab limestone rising out of the red shales and
sandstones mark it oflF, even to the layman's eye. The oil-bearing
zone of Virgin City is not present over the crest of the dome and
appears to be lacking also on the flanks. The dips are high, from
40^ to 65°, and the folding is close — so close, in fact, that on the
southeast flank a hinge fault has been formed on a line running 500

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100 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOIiOGY, 1921, PART H.

to 800 feet from the axis and parallel to it. (A hinge fault is a fault
or crack starting in unbroken rock and gradually separating the
broken ends of a given stratum farther and farther as it recedes

EXPLANATION

Boundarwe of alluvium
and recent sand

Boundaries of rock
for

1' Base dc Virgin limestone
member or Moenkopi
formation

J Escarpment of Shinarump'
' conglomerate

R.KW.

He Shmarump conglotTieraba
Hm Moenkop' ^wrmation
Ck Kaibab limestone

EXPLANATION

(CONTINUKOj

AxisoTanticlifM

^^^ -'^>-

Structure contours on top
of Coconitx) sandatone
Interval 200 faat.datum
apbitnify

Dip and strike of racKe

Fault
u, upthrow
D, downthrow

FiouBE 11.— Map of part of the Virgin anticline, Washington County, Utah, showing the Harrisbuigand

Washington domes.

from the unbroken part, somewhat as the two blades of an open
pair of shears separate progressively outward from the pivot.)
This fault begins near the north end of the dome, and the displace-

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OIL PROSPJECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 101

ment increases southward until the rocks on the east are raised
a distance of perhaps 500 feet at the southernmost exposure. The
Kaibab limestone is only slightly eroded at the top of the dome,
and practically its entire thickness must be pierced to reach the
sandstone. As the thickness is over 900 feet in the Hurricane cliBF, to
the east; and in Vii^in Canyon^ to the west, it is likely that 950 feet
is not an excessive estimate of the thickness under the dome. Reports
of the rocks passed through in drilling the well on this dome seem
to indicate that they included a little more than 1,000 feet of Kaibab
strata. This larger figure may be due to a thickening along the
crest of the fold produced during the folding.

This well, the only well now being drilled in the region, is near
the northwest comer of sec. 16 and is close to the highest point
structurally on the Harrisburg dome. It lies practically on the
axis and is an adequate test of the upper part of the dome. At
present (September, 1920) the well is reported to have reached a
depth of 2,200 feet and therefore to have pierced the Eaibab lime-
stone and most of the underlying sandstone. It is proposed to
continue the weU to a greater depth, but the prospect of success at
lower horizons is very small. A light showing of oil was reported at
approximately the horizon of the top of the sandstone, and water
was foimd at several other horizons.

Wdshington dome. — ^The Washington dome lies across Virgin
River from the Harrisburg dome, in sees. 30 and 31, T. 42 S., R. 14 W.,
and sees. 25 and 26, T. 42 S., R. 15 W. It is separated from the
Harrisburg dome by an area where bedrock is concealed by river
silt, gravels, and blown sand, but there is ample field evidence that
the two domes are distinct. South of the river some evidence of
faulting is shown by small outcrops of much disturbed Kaibab and
Moenkopi rocks piercing this mantle, but this faulting is on a small
scale and does not affect the dome itself. The dome shows topo-
graphically in the high core of Kaibab limestone rising from the
softer and more eroded red rocks of the Moenkopi formation. The
Virgin limestone member of the Moenkopi formation is exposed
locally but is mostly buried under blown sand. The oil-bearing
bed of the Virgin City field is not present over the crest of the dome
and where present on the flanks shows no indication of oil. The
best chance of finding oil in this dome is in the sandstone that repre-
sents the Coconino and Supai formations. The Kaibab limestone
is not deeply eroded on the crest of the fold, and any well would
have to pierce most of that formation to reach the sandstone beneath,
the thickness being the same as imder the Harrisburg dome — that is,
900 to 1,000 feet of Kaibab limestone must be penetrated. The
Washington dome is unsymmetrical. The dips on the west side
are from 40° to 60° or more, and those on the east side are com-

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102 CONTRIBUTIONS TO BOONOMIO GEOLOGY, 1021, PART H.

monly around 20°; the axis therefore lies much closer to the west
side. Near the south end of the dome a fault of the same type as
that in the Harrisburg dome cuts the southeast flank, but it seems
to be of lesser extent, though the displacement reaches 700 or 800
feet at its visible maximum. This fault is exposed for a distance of
three-quarters of a mile and passes under cover at each end of the
exposure. The structurally highest part of the dome lies at the
surface m the NW. i SW.*^ i sec. 30, T. 42 S., R. 14 W., and the
SE. i SE. i sec. 26, T. 42 S., R. 15 W., but owing to the unsymmetrical
form any drilling to test the crest should be shifted 300 to 400 feet to
the east, as in such folds the axis does not lie in depth immediately
beneath its position at the surface.

Several minor domes occur near the Washington dome. One of
them lies north of the south end, near the center of sec. 25, T. 42 S.,
R. 15 W., and is cut by a small fault on the west side. Another lies
south of the south end of the Washington dome, near the west side
of sec. 36, T. 42 S., R. 15 W. A more pronounced minor dome is'
that in sec. 1, T. 43 S., R. 16 W., known locally as the Pimchbowl
dome. It is a true dome, though much smaller than the three main
domes. These minor domes are all in the Moenkopi formation and
are shown clearly by the attitude of the light-colored Virgin limestone
member in the midst of the darker-colored red beds. In all these
smaller domes the horizon of the oil sand of the Virgin City field,
judged by the outcrops on the main dome, is either absent or is
barren of oil if present. The depth to the Coconino-Supai sandstone
is about 1,400 feet in each of the domes. These smaller domes are
less favorable locations for drilUng than the larger ones, which
should be tested first.

Bhomington dome. — The Bloomington dome, which is larger than
the other two chief domes, extends through sees. 8, 9, 17, 18, and 19,
T. 43 S., R. 16 W., about 5 miles south of St. George. (See fig. 12.)
It is clearly defined by the encircling Virgin limestone member of the
Moenkopi and the high core of Kaibab limestone. The oil-bearing
bed of the Virgin City field is not present over the crest of the dome
and contains no oil where present on the flanks. The best chance
of finding oil is in the Coconino-Supai sandstone. like the Wash-
iogton dome, this dome is unsymmetrical, the western flank dipping
40° to 70° and the eastern flwik less than 20°. On it are imposed
several distinct high areas, so that it is really a close group of domes.
The lai^est, areally, of these subordinate domes is at the south
end of the main dome, its crest lying in the NE. i NW. i and NW. }
NE. i sec. 19. It is broader and more nearly symmetrical than
the others. The oldest rock exposed is practically the top of the
Kaibab limestone, and 900 to 1,000 feet of rock must be penetrated
to reach the sandstone. The next largest crest is that in the SE. \

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OIL PBOSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH,

103

S£. { sec. 8. It brings to the surface the top of the upper hard
limestone of the Kaibab, and therefore a shallower well, about 800
feet deep, would reach the sandstone. It is smaller than the southern
minor dome. Between these two is a smaller and lower high area,
on the line between the NE. { and the NW. i sec. 17.

On the flank of the Bloomington dome in the SE. i sec. 17 a minor
dome has been formed. The surface rock is the Moenkopi forma-
tion beneath the Virgin limestone member. Another minor fold
is present in the SW. { sec. 19, on the east flank of the main dome.

Figure 12.— Map of the Bloomington dome, Washington County, Utah.

FictUiaus " Kingman dome,'' — South and southwest of the Bloom-
ington dome a very large, relatively flat area is reported locally
to be occupied by what is termed the "Kingman dome.'' There
is no such dome, however, but in the area it is supposed to cover
there are merely several very small domes.

OTHER ANTICLINES.

Smaller anticlines are present at several other places in this field.
One of these extends through the eastern part of T. 41 S., R. 17 W.,
and is plainly shown where the Arrowhead Trail, the tourist route
from St. George, Utah, to St. Thomas, Nev., crosses it, about 15
niiles from St. Geoi^e. The rocks exposed here are in the upper
part of the Moenkopi formation. The axis of the fold trends nearly
north and south and plunges to the north, and the dip of the flanks

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104 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

is gentle. No study was made of this fold to determine its size
or the presence of closed structm^, but its axis extends 4 or 5 miles
at least and is probably much longer. The oil-bearing zone of
Virgin City may be present beneath it, and the Coconino-Supai
sandstone is certainly there. At the locality where the Arrowhead
Trail crosses the axis the former should lie about 1,600 feet beneath
the surface and the latter about 2,500 feet. In the western part
ofT. 43 S., R. 13 W., about 15 miles south of east of St. George,
another anticline, in rocks of the Moenkopi formation, extends in a
northeasterly direction, the north end abutting against the Hurri-
cane fault and the southern part passing over into Arizona. The
axis of this fold plunges northeastward. The southeast limb dips
steeply and is cut off obliquely by the fault. No detailed study
was made of this fold, and its full extent and character are not
known, but the axis extends at least 5 miles and is probably much
longer. The Virgin City oil sand may be present beneath it, and
the Coconino-Supai sandstone certainly is. The depth to these
beds varies because of the plunging of the axis.

Farther south, in Arizona, at a place about 18 miles south of the
town of Hurricane, Utah, and the same distance southeast of St.
George, a small, low anticline with its axis trending north a mile
west of the Hurricane fault is seen in rocks of the upper part of the
Moenkopi formation. This fold is several miles in length and
apparently closed. Its east limb is cut off by the Hurricane fault,
but the west limb is not faulted so far as known. The Virgin City
oil sand may be present beneath it, and the Coconino-Supai sand-
stone certainly is. Near Black Rock Spring, Ariz., 25 miles south
of St. George, the valley between Black Rock Mountain and Wolf
Hole Mountain contains a large number of small domes, the laigest
of them perhaps 3,000 feet across. These are in the lower part of
the Moenkopi and the upper part of the Kaibab formation, but
they are so numerous and so closely crowded together that their
value is likely to be small. No detailed study was made of this area.

EVIDENCES OF OIL.

Evidence of oil in the rocks of this region is meager. The bed
that furnishes the oil found at Virgin City is missing at the crests
of the larger uplifts and if present elsewhere does not offer any indi-
cation of containing petroleum. The extreme top of the sandstone
formation, where exposed in the Hurricane fault scarp 5 to 7 miles
south of Hurricane, is stained along the face with oil, and the rock
yields oil when heated in a glass tube. At a point 6 miles south of
Hurricane this zone includes the upper 20 feet of the sandstone.
Near Black Rock Canyon, Ariz. , which lies 18 miles south of Hurricane,
Utah, and is a distinct locality from Black Rock Spring, mentioned

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OIL PROSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 105

above, thin zones at several horizons are stained by oil. However,
the sandstone as exposed in the canyon of the Virgin below St. George
shows no sign whatever of oil. In Rock Canyon, which cuts the
Hurricane fault scarp about 15 miles south of Hurricane, a deep,
wide gash was eroded mto the upper part of the Kaibab limestone
and filled with gypsum, shale, and limestone of the basal part of the
Moenkopi formation. This filling is very irregular in composition
and contains many thin veins of asphaltite and zones impregnated
with bituminous matter. The material is more abimdant in the
lower part of the exposure and seems to have come up from below.
About 2 miles west of the south end of Black Rock Canyon, in Arizona,
a crushed zone, 100 feet wide, cutting through the lower part of the
Moenkopi formation is filled with bituminous material in the form
of veins and impregnations. This material likewise seems to have
come up from below. These occurrences are favorable to the pres-
ence of oil in the suitable structural forms of the region in that they
show at near-by points oily materials in rocks whose continuation
underlies the folds, though they are by no means a proof that oil

occurs in the folds.

GBOTIND WATBB.

The water conditions in the older rocks of the region are but
poorly known. Springs are rare, and as far as surface indications
are valid the rocks seem to be dry. However, Vii^in River crosses
the outcrops of all the formations, and some water from this stream
may seep into the rocks. Besides this the region has some rainfall,
though small, and some of it must enter the rocks. In the well on
the Harrisburg dome water was struck between 1,000 and 1,100 feet
beneath the surface. It will probably be found at most points that
the rocks below the surface contain water, a factor of great impor-
tance in the development of an oil field, for if water is present in
abundance the highest parts of the anticlines and domes will usually
contain any oil that may have accumulated.

PKOSFBCTS OF CQMHBBCIAL PBODUCTION.

The value of this region as a possible producer of oil it is impossible, •
of course, to gage in advance of drilling. The region contains favor-
able structural features, and there are rocks in them capable of
serving as reservoirs for oil. At certain places, as described above,
there is evidence favorable to the assumption that these rocks carry
some oil. Whether oil is actually present in these rocks in the
anticlines and domes remains for the drill to determine. The well
drilled on the Harrisburg dome is a fair test of a part of that fold.
The fault on the east side, however, reduces the value of this test
as a criterion for the region. However,' no seepage along the fault
is evident; and its largest effect is probably that of cutting off part

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106 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT 11,

of the area of rock which might have contributed to any oil content
of the dome. According to reports the drill penetrated 1,050 feet
of limestone and about 1,200 feet of the Coconino-Supai sandstone
without finding more than a light showing of oil. Failure of the
well on this dome should not be taken as an absolute condemnation
of the whole area, for the fault may have affected the dome adversely,
whereas the other domes are still intact. Besides, if the rocks are
only partly saturated with water oil may be absent on the crest
and still be present down the dip. Nevertheless the crests of the
domes should be tested first to determine the presence or absence
of oil or water, before other locations are tried.

DIFFICUL.TIE8 OF EXPLORATION.

Drilling operations in Washington County, Utah, and the part of
Arizona adjacent to it are in general carried on under some handi-
caps. No part of the region is less than 70 miles from a railroad by
any practicable route, and much of it is 90 or 100 miles from a rail-
road. Much of the material for drilling must be brought from Los
Angeles, Calif., or other distant center of supply. Away from a few
main routes, such as that between Lund and St. George or that
through Virgin City up the Virgin to Zion Canyon, the roads are
mostly unkept trails. Fuel and water are expensive and hard to
obtain at many localities. Electric power was used at the well on
the Harrisburg dome but probably could not be supplied to many
rigs at one time nor at places, far from the transmission lines. The
'rocks of the Moenkopi formation are relatively soft and easy to drill,
but those of the Kaibab limestone offer difficulties because of the
abundance of chert, and drilling in them is slow and expensive.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DRIIjMNG.

The localities near Virgin City suggested on page 97 as favorable
places for drilling test wells lie near good roads and are easily ac-
cessible. Water in abundance may be obtained from ditches, from
North Creek, or from Virgin River. Fuel is scarce, however, as
•the easily accessible timber has already been cut off, and coal, if
used, must be hauled fromColob Plateau, some 30 miles to the north.
Electric power is not now available in this district. The rocks to
be drilled are relatively soft and offer little difficulty. Wells less
than 600 feet deep should be sufficient.

Any test hole on the terrace near Grafton, described on page 97,
should be located some distance south of Virgin Biver, perhaps in
sec. 7, T. 42 S., R. 11 W., to get as far from the Grafton fault as
possible. This locality would not be as easy of access as those near
Virgin City, as the river would have to be forded and a road inade to
the south. Water could be piped or hauled from the river, but

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OIL PBOSPECTS IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, UTAH. 107

fuel would have to be hauled a long distance. The rocks to be pene-
trated are relatively soft and easily drilled, and a 900-foot well
should reach the horizon of the Virgin City oil sand.

The anticline east of Antelope Spring is not well enough known
to justify the recommendation of localities for drilling. The rocks
to be pierced are relatively soft and easy to drill, and water can be
obtained from Antelope Spring, but the region is remote from the
settlements and sources of supply, and fuel is scarce and must be
hauled some distance.

The writers beheve no further test should be made on the Har-
lisburg dome at present, at least not until showings elsewhere on
the Virgin anticline justify it.

The first test on the Washington dome should be made near the
northwest comer of the SW. i SW. i sec. 30, T. 42 S., R. 14 W.
This locality is not easily accessible because of its high elevation
and the rough topography, but a short road can be built to it from
existing trails^ Water can be obtained by piping or hauling from
Virgin River, Fuel is very scarce and would have to be hauled a
long distance xmless electricity could be obtained to replace it. The
use of electricity would entail the building of several miles of power
line. The depth to the sandstone beneath the Kaibab limestone
is 900 to 1,000 feet, and much of the rock is very cherty, tough
material that is difficult to penetrate.

The first test on the Bloomington dome should be made near the
center of the NW. i NE. i sec. 19, T. 43 S., R. 15 W. Conditions
are much the same here as on the Washington dome except that the
locality is more accessible. Water can be procured from ditches or
from Fort Pierce Wash, but fuel is lacking. The depth to the sand-
stone is 900 to 1,000 feet, and the intervening rock is in large part
tough and cherty. The second best locality on the Bloomington
dome^is in the southeastern part of the SE. i SE. i sec. 8, T. 43
S., R. 15 W. Here the depth to the sandstone is about 800 feet.

The minor domes near the Washington and Bloomington domes
should not be tested unless the laiger domes show good results or
give some indication that there is oil down on the flanks which might
be present in the smaller domes.

The anticlines described briefly on pages 103-104 need further
exanoination. The present data are insufficient to determine the
presence or absence of closure, and without this knowledge recom-
mendations are unwarranted.

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DEPARTMENT OP THE i:

Albert B. Fall, Secretary

United States Geological
Geoboe Ons SiOTH, Director

BmXETIN 726— D

LIGNITE IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE

FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION

SOUTH OF MISSOURI RIVER

NORTH DAKOTA

CLYDE MAX. BAUER

AND

FRANK A. HERALD

CwiliMiiilliiiii to economic Z—i>»tJi mi, Fkrt D

(PkgM 109-172)

PobUahed December 1. 1*21

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFPIOB
1921

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
AiABBT B. Fall, Secretary

United States Geological Survey

Geobge Otis Sutb, Director

BnUetm 726— D

LIGNITE IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE

FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION

SOUTH OF MISSOURI RIVER

NORTH DAKOTA

CLYDE MAX. BAUER

AND

FRANK A. HERALD

Caatrlbatloiu to Monoade gMlogy. IMl. Part U
(PagM lOt-172)

r t, 1*21

WASHINGTON

OOVBBNMBNT PJtINTINO OFFIOB
1921

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CONTENTS.

Introduction 100

Importance of lignite 100

Location of field and scope of report 100

Field worlc and acknowledgments 100

Method of field work 110

Land surveys 111

Geography 111

Land forms 111

Drainage 112

Settlement J 113

Geology 113

Stratigraphy 113

Quaternary system 114

Alluvium 114

Glacial drift . 114

Tertiary system ^ 114

Fort Union formation 114

General character 114

Fossils lie

Clinker 117

Structure 117

Origin of the coal-bearing formation 118

Li^ite 110

Physical properties 110

Chemical character 110

Quantity 125

Distribution 126

Development 127

Lignite beds 128

Township descriptions 120

T. 152 N., R, 08 W 120

T. 152 N., R. 04 W 130

T. 152 N., R. 05 W 131

T. 151 N., R. 03 W 132

T. 151 K, R. 04 W 132

T. 151 N.. R. 05 W 134

T. 150 N., R. 01 W 135

T. 150 N., R. 02 W 135

T. 150 N., R. 03 W 136

T. 160 N., R. 04 W 137

T. 160 N., R. 05 W 130

T. 140 N., R. 01 W 140

T. 140 N., R. 02 W 141

T. 140 N.. R. 08 W 143

T. 140 N., R. 04 W 144

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IV ILLUSTBATIONS.

Township descriptiona-— Ck>ntinue<l. Page.

T. 149 N., R. 95 W 145

T. 148 N., R. 91 W., north of Littie Missouri River 145

T. 148 N., R. 92 W 146

T. 148 N., R. 93 W^ 148

T. 148 N., R. 94 W 150

T. 148 N., R. 95 W 150

T. 147 N., Rs. 92 and 93 W., west of Little Missouri River 151

T. 147 N., R. 94 W 153

T. 147 N., R. 95 W 154

T. 147 N., R. 92 W., east of Little Missouri River 154

T. 146 N., R. 92 W 159

T. 148 K, R. 91 W., south of Little Missouri River 162

T. 147 N., R. 91 W 162

T. 146 N., R. 91 W 165

T. 147 N., R. 90 W 166

T. 146 N., R. 90 W 167

T. 147 N., R. 89 W 168

T. 146 N., R. 89 W 169

T. 147 N., R. 88 W 170

T. 146 N., R. 88 W 171

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Pace.
Plate XIII. il/' Breaks" of the Little Missouri, looking southeast
toward the mouth of Hans Creek, N. Dak. ; B, A thick
bed of lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reserva-
tion, N. Dak 112

XIV. A, Badlands in sec. 26, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., N, Dak. ; B,

Badlands in sec. 25, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak 113

XY. A, Missouri River, N. Dak., as seen from the upper margin
of the badlands, looking north ; B, Valley of Moccasin
Creek near its mouth, in sec. 6, T. 147 N., R. 92 W..

N. Dak 114

XVI. Stratigraphic sections in Fort Berthold Indian Reserva-
tion, N. Dak., showing correlation of coal beds 128

XVII. Sections of lignite beds in the northern part of the Fort

Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 132

XVIII. At Bare buttes of the Fort Union formation on the soath
side of Hans Creek, N. Dak.; B, Log concretions in

Fort Union formation 140

XIX. A, Glacial boulders on the upland in T. 147 N., R. 93 W.,
N. Dak. ; B, Bed of lignite 8 feet thick in natural ex-
posure in sec. 14, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak 141

XX. Sections of lignite beds in the northern part of the Fort

Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 144

XXI. Ay Fossil log standing nearly upright in clay shale of the
Fort Union formation ; B, Fossil stump in Fort Union
formation 1S2

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nXUSTRATIONS. V

Page.
PiATE XXII. A, Sage-brash flat of Hans Greek, N. Dak., and bluffs of
the Fort Union formation ; B, Rolling upland in the

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 153

XXIII. S^tions of lignite beds in the southwestern part of the

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 154

XXIV. A, Buttes in sec. 9, T. 148 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak. ; B, Buttes

in T. 148 N., R. 93 W., N. Dak 160

XXV. A, View up Squaw Creek, N. Dak- ; B, Bare' buttes in
Squaw Creek valley in sec. 10, T. 148 N., R. 93 W.,

N. Dak , 161

XXVI. Sections of lignite beds in the southern part of the Fort

Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak 172

XXVII. Map of the northern part of the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite

beds In pocket.

XXVIII. Map of the southwestern part of the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservaticm, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite

beds In pocket

XXIX. Map of the southern part of the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation, N. Dak., showing outcrops of lignite

beds In pocket

FioTTKE 13. Index map showing location of Fort Berthold Indian Reserva-
tion, N. Dak 110

14. Diagram showing heating value of North Dakota lignite, com-

pared with that of certain subbituminous and bituminous
coals 123

15. Sections of lignite bed C, Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,

N. Dak., showing characteristics of the bed and of partings— 126

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LIGNITE IN THE WESTERN PART OF THE FORT BER-
THOLD INDIAN RESERVATION SOUTH OF MISSOURI
RIVER, NORTH DAKOTA.

By Clyde Max. Bauer and Frank A, HERAiiO.

INTRODUCTION.

Impcrtoffice of Ugmte. — Inasmuch as wood for fuel is practically
lacking in the northern Great Plains the lignite of this region is of
particular importance in the development of its commerce and in-
dustry. The value of lignite in North Dakota is illustrated by its
application to the development of agriculture. The early settler
and rancher have depended on it either in whole or in part for fuel
and power, and the settlement of many districts which are practically
destitute of wood has been expedited greatly by its presence. One
of these districts which is soon to be opened for settlement is the
Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

Location of field and scope of report. — The Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation is in the west-central part of North Dakota, on both
sides of Missouri River, about 65 miles northwest of Bismarck, or
about halfway between that city and the place where the Missouri
enters the State. (See fig. 13.) The reservation lies in the great lig-
nite region of the northern Great Plains and is underlain by many
beds of lignite which have been uncovered and measured at a large
number of places. The total area of the reservation is about 1,500
square miles, of which approximately 650 square miles in McKenzie,
Dunn, and Mercer counties lies south and west of Missouri River
and is the subject of this report.

In the following pages the geography and general geology of this
part of the reservation are described very briefly, and the lignite
beds in detail. The remainder of the reservation has been examined
by C. D. Smith,* who in 1908 made a reconnaissance of the area ad-
jacent to Missouri River, and by M. A. Pishel,* vho in 1910 ex-
amined that part of the reservation which lies north and east of the
river.

Field work and acknowledgments. — ^The field work on which the
present report is based extended over three seasons. In September

1 Smith, C. D., The Fort Berthold Indian Resenration lignite field, N. Dak. : U. S. Geol.
Survey Bull. 881, pp. 80-39, 1008.

'Plshel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak., north of
Hiflaonrl Btyer: U. 8. Geol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 170-186, 1912.

loe

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110 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET H.

and October, 1911, a party in charge of F. A. Herald examined the
part of the reservation west of Missouri River and north of the
south line of T. 149 N. The work was continued during September
and October, 1912, by C. M. Bauer, assisted by A. E. Fath and
O. H. Pierce. In this year the examination of the part west of
Missouri River and north of Little Missouri River was completed.
In Junei and July, 1913, C, M. Bauer, assisted by C. A. Bonine and
E. M. Parks, examined that part of the reservation lying south of
Little Missouri and Missouri rivers. Acknowledgments are due to
M. R, Campbell, for valuable suggestions in preparing the report;
to E. G, Woodruff, who had general field supervision in 1911-12;

FiouBB 18. — Index map showing location of Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dtk.
The area described in this report is Indicated by shading.

and to T. W. Stanton and F. H. Knowlton, for the determination of
fossil shells and plants collected.

Method of -field work. — ^The examination of the Fort Berthold
Reservation was undertaken primarily to obtain data for classify-
ing the land on the basis of its lignite content. All outcrops of
lignite beds, especially the places at which measurements of thick-
nesses were made, were carefully located and mapped on a scale
of 2 inches to 1 mile. A telescopic alidade and 15-inch plane table
were used, and stadia traverse was employed to make accurate loca-
tions. The altitudes of the points located were determined by
vertical angles. As the land is classified according to legal sab-
divisions, all locations were made with respect to land comers.
The lignite beds were uncovered in many places by pick and shovel,

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UGNITE IN FOET BERTHOLD RBSERVATION, K. DAK. Hi

and in some places an ordinary wood auger, capable of boring to
the depth of 10 feet, was used to prospect for or to determine the
thickness of a bed outcropping in a level grass-covered area. Many
geologic data were collected incidentally to the examination of lig-
nite beds and are applicable either directly or indirectly to the
classification of the land.

Laand surveys. — ^The General Land Office surveys were used as a
base upon which to place the economic and geologic data. All the
townships west of E. 91 W. were surveyed in 1910, 1911, and 1912.
The land comers in these townships are marked by iron pipes with
brass tops stamped with the township and section njombers, and in
most of the plats the surface features are represented by contour lines
with a 50-foot interval. The area from R. 91 W. to the southeast
comer of the reservation was surveyed in 1892, and the land comers,
being marked by stones, were not readily discovered, although all the
corners searched for on the coal outcrops were found.

GEOGRAPHY.

Limd forms. — ^In a broad sense the upland between the streams,
as shown in Plate XXII, B^ is a dissected plain with an average
altitude of about 2,100 feet above sea level. On the north and east
sides of that part of the Fort Berthold Reservation here described
the broad valley of Missouri River, shown in Plate XV, J., is eroded
to a depth of about 400 feet; on the south the sinuous course of
Little Missouri River is intrenched to about the same depth. From
the upland the valley of the Little Missouri appears gorgelike,
the walls rising precipitously to a height of 300 or 400 feet on either
side, but in places they are broken by tributary gullies and valleys,
as shown in Plate XIII, A. Along the large streams are flood plains
ranging in width from a few rods to 1 or 2 miles and commonly
separated from the upland by a zone of '^ breaks," or rough badland
country. Surmounting the upland itself are irregular ridges and
isolated buttes which rise 300 to 400 feet above the general level.

In the northern part of the region (see map, PL XXVII, in
pocket) the surface is rolling and shows locally the effect of glacia-
tion (see PI. XIX, A). Farther south, on Clark Creek, in T. 151 N.,
R. 94 W., the rolling plain is broken into badlands, and similar fea-
tures occur in the valleys of Bear Den and Skunk creeks, which lie
still farther to the south, as well as of Moccasin Creek and Little
Missouri River (see map). High buttes in T. 151 N., R. 94 W.,
known as the East Buttes, rise 750 feet above Missouri River. In T.
148 N., Rs. 92 and 93 W., there are other conspicuous ridges and bare
buttes, of which Saddle Butte is a striking example. (See PI.
XXVin.) To the west the plain reaches a greater altitude and the

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112 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

buttes do not appear to be so high, though their average height above
sea level is greater. North of the horse camp, in sees. 9 and 10, T.
148 N., R. 94 W., there is a high grass-covered hill from which a
conmianding view of most of the western part of the reservation
can be obtained, and a little north of this is Eagle's Nest, a compara-
tively round, bare butte which is a well-known landmark. In the
southern part of this township are other prominent buttes which can
be seen for many miles. Along Little Missouri Eiver as far east
as the mouth of Squaw Creek there are very rough badlands. This
badland zone averages about 3 miles in width, but up Moccasin Creek
its width is about 6 miles. In the south-central part of T. 147 N.,
K. 98 W., the maximum relief is more than 600 feet and many of
the gullies have nearly vertical sides. (See PL XIV, B.)

Southeast of Little Missouri Elver (see map, PL XXIX, in
pocket) the land rises rather steeply out of badlands to a high roll-
ing plain. This plain contains some excellent grazing and farming
land, but in the neighborhood of both Missouri and Little Missouri
rivers the land is very much broken by gullies, and badlands are
common. Near Crow's Heart Landing, in sec. 1., T. 147 N., R. 91 W.,
the bluffs are about 400 feet high and break very sharply to the
river. In the extreme southeastern part of the reservation the
upland is lower, and where the Missouri swings to the north side
of its valley the land slopes gently to the river iBood plain. A ter-
race 30 to 40 feet high overlooks the flood plain in the eastern part
of T. 147 N., R. 89 W. On Beaver Creek in T. 146 N., R. 88 W.,
the land is covered with grass and the slopes are gentle.

Drainage. — ^The southern part of the reservation is drained by
Missouri River, in part directly through the main stream and in
part through Little Missouri River and numerous smaller tributaries.
Missouri River has a sandy channel from a quarter of a mile to a
mile in width, the position of which is constantly shifting, giving
rise to a wide, barren flat of cross-bedded sand and gravel. The
amount of water in the stream is variable, and the channel contains
many deeps and shallows which render it dangerous for ferry boats
and other craft. The water is always muddy and at times is heavily
laden with silt and debris derived largely from the bare, steep slopes
of the badlands of the drainage basin. Borings made in the channel
of the river 3 miles west of Elbowoods by the Great Northern Rail-
way Co. show the presence of quicksand and river mud to a depth
of 60 feet. The alluvium is probably not generally so thick and is
commonly spread over a tract roughly coinciding with the river
flood plain.

The channel of Little Missouri River is extremely sinuous. The
stream meanders in an alluvial flat from half to three-quarters of
a mile wide. During most of the year the channel is from 300 to

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U. 8. GEOLOGICAL BURVET

BULLETIN 736 PLATE XIU

A. "BREAKS" OF THE LITTLE MISSOURI. LOOKING SOUTHEAST TOWARD THE
MOUTH OF HANS CREEK. N. DAK.

■i^-^'^T^'

B. A THICK BED OF LIGNITE IN THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION,

N. DAK.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XIV

A. BADLANDS IN SEC. 26. T. 147 N.. R. 93 W., N. DAK.

B. BADLANDS IN SKG. 25, T. Ii7 N.. R. 93 W.. N. DAK.

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UGKITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 113

600 feet wide, but in July and August it carries very little water
and can be forded in a few places.

Clark, Bear Den, and Skunk creeks are the chief tributaries of
Missouri Eiver in the northern part of the reservation, and Squaw,
Moccasin, Sam's, and Hans creeks empty into Little Missouri Eiver
in the southern part. Each of these streams has a basin 50 square
miles or more in extent and contains j9owing water in most of its
course throughout the year. Springs and seeps are common on
many of the smaller intermittent streams as well as on those just
mentioned. Many of the springs issue from the outcrops of lignite
beds, because joints in these beds afford free passage for the water
that is confined by the relatively impervious adjacent strata. The
water is thus conducted down th6 dip to the outcrop, where it issues
in springs.

The spring water in this general region carries a large amount
of sodium, calcium, and magnesium sulphate in solution, and around
some of the springs there is a deposit of these white alkaline salts.
The water in a large number of the springs is discolored by a brown-
ish substance leached from the lignite beds, and the ground in the
vicinity of certain springs is covered by thin, scaly layers of this
brownish-black material, which is known locally as "black alkali."
According to Pishel* it is a hydrocarbon leached from the lignite
by the action of alkaline water.

Settlement, — Settlement in the southwestern part of the reserva-
tion is confined to the valleys of Missouri and Little Missouri rivers.
A large part of the reservation south of the river is unfit for cultiva-
tion owing to its badland character, and at present most of it is leased
to stockmen and devoted to grazing. Farming is limited to vegetable
gardening by a few thrifty Indians, who produce enough for their
own use. Experiments in raising vegetables in this region have
proved that the soil is generally fertile. Although the annual rain-
fall is only 17 inches, a large portion of it comes during the growing
season and makes successful dry farming possible. At present, how-
ever, markets are distant and roads are poor, most of them being
merely trails, which in many places follow practically the only pass-
able routes through the rough country. The principal trails are
shown on the maps (Pis. XXVII-XXIX, in pocket).

GEOLOGY.

STKATIGBAFHT.

The Fort Berthold lignite field contains rocks of three series,
namely the Becent (alluvium) and Pleistocene (glacial drift) series

•Pishel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak., north of
3CIaaoarl River: U. 8. GeoL Survey Bull. 471, pp. 177-178, 1912.

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114 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

of the Quaternary system and the Eocene series (Fort Union forma-
tion) of the Tertiary system. Outcrops or exposures of the different
formations are more or less widely scattered throughout the field.
The glacial drift was not mapped, and the alluvium was mapped only
along Missouri and Little Missouri rivers and Hans Creek. The Fort
Union formation underlies the entire field and is exposed where the
younger formations are absent.

QUATERNARY SYSTEM.

AUuvium, — ^The alluvium, or recent washed material, is spread out
in sheets and ribbon-like deposits on the slopes and along the streams
in all parts of the field. It consists of silt, sand, and gravel washed
from the older rocks and deposited by the water where the current
is checked on account of decreased grade. It ranges in thickness
from a few inches to about 60 feet and is thickest in the flood plain
of Missouri River. The alluvium is commonly mixed with humus
and is sufficiently porous and decomposed to form a basis for good
soil. It therefore underlies some of the best agricultural land in the
reservation.

Glacial drift. — Both stratified and unstratified drift, probably of
Kansan (early Pleistocene) and Wisconsin (late Pleistocene) age,
cover large portions of the field and were noted in many localities.
In general, however, their thickness is less than 5 feet, and in some
places, particularly on the larger streams, they are absent. On
Little Missouri River the effects of glaciation can hardly be detected
except for the presence, as shown in Plates XIX, A^ and XXV, -4,
of scattered foreign boulders. In the NW. i sec. 27, T. 148 N., R.
93 W., and the NE. J sec. 23, T. 148.N., R. 92 W., there is some con-
solidated glacial drift, with a maximum thickness of 15 feet, con-
taining numerous concretions and boulders of shale and sandstone,
with a few boulders of granite and limestone. The whole is cemented
^7 gypsum and iron oxide. Along the creek in sec. 7, T. 162 N., R.
93 W., the drift is 37 feet thick but unconsolidated, and at several
places in the township to the west it was found to be as thick as 15
feet. This unconsolidated drift is probably younger than Kansan
and may belong to the Wisconsin stage of the Pleistocene.

TERTIAKY SYSTEM.

FOBT XTHIOV FOBMATIOV.

GENERAL CHABACTEB.

The lignite-bearing rocks exposed in the Fort Berthold field are a
part of the Fort Union formation as described by Meek and Hayden *

* Meek, F. B., and Haydon, F. V., Acad. Nat. Scl. Philadelphia Proc., vol. 13, p. 43S, 1861.

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U. fl. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 736 PLATE XV

A. MISSOURI RIVER. N. DAK.. AS SEEN FROM THE UPPER MARGIN OF THE
BADLANDS, LOOKING NORTH.

VALLEY OF MOCCASIN CREEK NEAR ITS MOUTH. IN SEC. 6, T. 147 N..
R. 92 W.. N. DAK.

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MQNITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 115

in their Missouri River section and are assigned to the Eocene or
early Tertiary. The Fort Union formation has a wide areal distri-
bution, cropping out in parts of Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota,
and South Dakota and also extending northward into Canada. Geo-
graphically the Fort Berthold field is in the east-central part of this
large region. Between the lowest rocks exposed on Missouri River
and the highest capping of the buttes there is a thickness of about
850 feet of strata. The exact stratigraphic position of that part of
the Fort Union which is exposed in the Fort Berthold field is not
known, but on the assumption that the original thickness is com-
parable to the known thickness in Billings County, N. Dak.,^ it seems
probable that there is about 200 feet of the formation underlying the
lowest exposed stratum in the reservation.

The formation consists of shale, clay, sandstone, and beds of lig-
nite which range in thickness from a few inches to 15 or 20 feet.
The strata are dull gray in general appearance, with bands of lighter
colors, some of which may be traced for several miles. These bands,
however, are not confined to definite strata. A light-colored band
may follow one stratum continuously for several miles and then
gradually rise or fall in the stratigraphic section. Locally sandy
shale grades almost imperceptibly into clayey sandstone within short
distances. Certain comparatively thin lenticular layers of limestone
are deserving of especial mention. They are bluish gray when fresh
but usually weather into light-buff angular fragments. These lenses
are generally fossiliferous, containing both leaves and 'shells.

A siliceous bed, apparently containing no lime, was traced across
T. 148 N,, Rs. 92 and 93 W. Its average thickness is not more than
18 inches. In fresh exposures it is dark and friable, but where
weathered it is white and very resistant, and residual fragments are
strewn upon low buttes and scattered widely in front of the outcrop.
Many of the weathered boulders show numerous impressions of plant
stems and roots. The abundance of plant remains, particularly the
casts of stems and roots, in this quartzite suggests that it originated
from a soil or muck deposit and that subsequently silica-bearing
waters replaced most of the carbon. A microscopic examination
shows the rock to be composed almost entirely of minute angular
grains of quartz with scattered particles of black material resembling
carbon.

Cross-bedding of shale and sandy shale as well as sandstone is
very common in the Fort Union formation. This feature is particu-
larly well shown in a lens of reddish-brown sandy shale which crops
out in T. 147 N., R. 92 W., and ranges in thickness from about 1 foot
to 18 feet within a horizontal distance of less than a mile. In some

* Uoyd, E. R., and Hares, C. J., The Cazmonball marine member of the Lance forma-
tion : Joor. Geolegy, vol. 23, pp. 628-647, 1916.

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116 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET H.

places the material of this bed crumbles in the hand and is very
sandy ; in other places it contains laminae of soft flaky shale which
carries plant remains and carbonaceous material to such an extent
that its color is chocolate-brown.

Some of the sandstones of this formation weather into peculiar
loglike forms, examples of which ai'e shown in Plate XVIII, B. It is
supposed that these forms are really concretions, but some geologists
have maintained that this particular phase of weathering is due to
some irregularity in deposition, possibly in the form of sand bars or
sand spits.

FOSSILS.

The early Tertiary or Fort Union age of the coal-bearing forma-
tion in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is established not only
by its continuity with the type Fort Union formation at the mouth
of Yellowstone River, but by fossil plants and shells which were col-
lected at several horizons in the formation in this field. A list of
these fossils obtained from the southeastern part of the reservation is
given below :

Fossil plants.

6683. NE. i sec. 13, T. 147 N., R. 91 W. :

Viburnum nordenskidldi ? Heer.

Populus sp.
6693. NE. i sec. 86, T. 147 N., R. 89 W. :

Sequoia nordenskiOldi Heer.

Oelastrus sp.

Gelastrus ovatus Ward.
6894. NW. i sec. 35, T. 147 N., R. 89 W. :

Glyptostrobus europaeus Unger.

Dicotyledonous fragments.
6693. SE. i sec. 10, T. 147 N., R. 91 W. :

Platanus nobilis Newberry.

Fragments.

FossU shells,

8557. SE. i sec. 7, T. 147 N., R. 91 W.. In day above bed FP :
Unio sp.

Viviparus.

8558. SE. ^ sec. 5, T. 147 N., R. 91 W., 10 feet above bed GG:
Unio sp.

Goniobasis nebrascensis Meek and Hayden.

Owing to the ease with which the fossil-bearing rocks crumble it is
difficult to preserve the specimens collected, and many of the fossils
obtained are broken to fragments in transit before they can be ex-
amined and identified. For that reason the number of determinable
species obtained from this field is small. Those listed above are re-
ferred by Messrs. Knowlton and Stanton to the Fort Union.

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UGNITE IN FOBT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 117

CLINKEB.

Red baked rock, known locally as " scoria " or* clinker, is common
at certain horizons in the Fort Union formation. In several locali-
ties, particulariy in sees. 21 and 28, T. 148 N., R. 93 W., and sees. 16,
17, 20, and. 21, T. 147 N., E. 93 W., it covers areas a square mile or
more in extent. The clinker is formed by the burning of beds of
lignite on their outcrop. The ignition of the lignite may have been
due to prairie fire, lightning, the agency of man, spontaneous com-
bustion caused by rapid oxidation on weathering, or other causes.
The burning becomes slower as it progresses back from the out-
crop under thickening cover, owing to a decrease in the supply of
air. The lignite in the vicinity of the fire may be heated to the
kindling temperature, but owing to lack of air it smolders until
slumping takes place, admitting air or directly exposing fresh sur-
faces of heated lignite, which then begin to bum. Sometimes crev-
ices afford natural chimneys, and in these openings the heat becomes
intense. In such places the overlying clay and shale have been
fused by the heat and the product is vesicular and shows flow struc-
ture. Many beautiful colors are developed, differing according to
the composition of the rocks and the temperature to which they have
been subjected.

If a bed of lignite is under thick cover when it is burning, the
thickness of the clinker produced at or near the outcrop generally
varies directly as the thickness of the lignite, though thick beds of
lignite may bum slowly without fusing the adjacent strata. On
the other hand, if the cover is thin it may be affected throughout,
even by the burning of thin beds, and combustion may continue un-
der large areas. As the quantity of ash which remains is smaller
than, the quantity of lignite burned the total thickness of the strata
is materially diminished in areas of considerable burning, and the
overlying beds settle. This causes local discordance in the dip of
the beds above and below zones of burning.

In mapping the outcrops of lignite beds in this field the burned
areas were located, and their extent is shown on the maps (Pis.
XXVII-XXIX, in pocket). In most localities the eirtent of the
burning could be mapped with a fair degree of certainty ; but in a
few places where the cover is thin the effect of the fire is uncertain,
hence the approximate edge of the lignite bed in these places is rep-
resented by a broken line.

STBUCTXTBE.

Except for slight undulations, which in some places show notice-
able dips for short distances, the beds of the Fort Union formation
lie nearly flat. These local variations in direction and degree of dip

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118 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

are numerous, but as the dips are commonly less than 2° they are not
easily detected. By comparing the carefully determined altitudes
of many points on the outcrops of the lignite beds it was found that
the strata in the western part of the area dip in general in a north-
easterly direction at an average rate of less than 8 feet to the mile.
The lowest point structurally in the area is in the southeastern part of
T. 149 N., E. 91 W., and east of this point the strata rises toward the
east at the rate of a few feet to the mile. Observations on the minor
undulations are given in the township descriptions (pp. 129-172).

OBIGIN OF THE COAL-BEABING FORMATION.

A full discussion of the problem of the origin of the Fort Union
formation will not be presented here, but only a preliminary state-
ment of the meaning of some of the prominent features as suggested
in the cursory study of this field.

It is probable that the generally tilted attitude of the strata in
this part of North Dakota is due partly to deformation and partly
to the original slope of deposition. To what degree deformation has
affected the strata since they were laid down is difficult to determine,
but it seems certain that many of the minor undulations noted in
the outcropping portion of the formation are due largely to the
varying thickness of the strata themselves as well as of the under-
Ijing beds. Not only do its fossil remains of plants and animals
indicate that the Fort Union formation was made up largely of
sediments deposited in fresh water, but the character and constitu-
tion of the beds themselves furnish additional evidence of their con^
tinental origin. Some of the beds show ripple marks, shrinkage
cracks, and silicified tree stumps (PI. XXI, B) in place, indicating
that they originated in very shallow water and that possibly part of
their material is wind blown. Other beds indicate deeper and more
quiet water, but the tree trunks, limbs, and knots (PI. XXI, A)
which are so well preserved in the lignite beds show clearly that
forests must have existed in the area where a considerable part of
the lignite was deposited. As a result of the deposition of the sedi-
ments in lakes and swamps and on flood plains, many of the beds,
both of sandstone and shale, are lenticular and cross-bedded, like
shale that originates in extensive deltas. At times during the depo-
sition of the strata large areas of the sediments were covered by
shallow, stagnant water in which vegetation grew and carbonaceous
material accumulated. Owing to occasional changes in climate, or
to further submergence of the sediments, these swamps were at
times replaced by deeper water. TTie stronger currents consequent
on these changes brought about conditions favorable to the deposi-
tion of sand and mud, which when indurated formed sandstone and

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LIGNITE IN FORT BEKTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 119

shale. The weight of these later sediments helped to compress the
carbonaceous material into lignite.

Since their deposition the strata have been elevated and subjected
to long periods of erosion. Streams have removed hundreds of feet
of material and are still furrowing the strata and carrying the
debris seaward. Glaciers have also covered the region and in places
have reduced the relief by rounding off the hills and partly filling
the valleys.

LIGNITE.

PHYSICAL PBOPEBTIES.

The most pronounced physical property of lignite is its tendency to
slack on exposure to the air. This tendency is due to the fact that
it contains a large percentage of water, which evaporates on ex-
posure, causing shrinkage and the development of an irregular net-
work of cracks and an eventual breaking up into small irregular
fragments. Fresh lignite is dark brown and has a dull to waxy
luster. In the bed the principal structure is usually parallel to the
bedding, in places laminated, and generally shows a cubic jointing.
The texture is dense in some places and woody in others. The wood
is in many places so well preserved that it still retains its elasticity
and may be bent in the hands to a considerable angle and will spring
back to its original position. Pieces of wood and steins are gen-
erally flattened, such harder parts as knots being best preserved.
The lignite contains other minerals in small quantities; the com-
monest are gypsum and iron pyrites. Some layers contain a large
percentage of mineral charcoal, which may indicate extensive fires
Qr temporary desiccation of the swamps ^ during the accumulation
of the vegetable matter.

CHEMICAL CHABACTER.

In the examination of the western part of the Fort Berthold Res-
ervation it was not possible without a great amount of labor to ob-
tain samples of lignite sufficiently fresh to give valuable results on
chemical analysis. The chemical composition of North Dakota lig-
nite, however, is well known from the results of numerous analyses
of samples collected in many parts of the State, either from working
mines or from freshly opened prospects. Six representative analyses
of lignite from neighboring fields have been selected and may be
accepted as showing fairly accurately the composition of the lignite
in this reservation. Five analyses of bituminous coal are also given
in the accompanying table for comparison of values.

*Sayage» T. B., On the conditions under which the vegetable matter of the IllinoiB
coal beds accumulated : Jour. Geology, vol. 22, pp. 754-765, 1914. White, David, and
Tliiessen, R., The origin of coal : Bur. Mines Bull. 38, 1918.

44497'*— 21 2

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120 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

In the table the analyses are given in four forms, marked A, B,
C, D. Form 'A is the analysis of the lignite exactly as it comes from
the mine. Owing to the fact, however, that the original moisture
content of a sample is largely a matter of accident and depends in
part on the amount of water in the mine from which it came, it is
best for comparative purposes to use form B, which is the analysis
of the sample air-dried under uniform conditions. Form C is the
theoretical analysis of the sample after all moisture has been elimi-
nated. Form D is also computed and is the analysis of the sample
after all moisture and ash have been theoretically removed. Neither
of the two conditions last mentioned exists in nature, but form C is
used by mechanical engineers and form D is valuable for comparing
the quality of the pure coal substance and the effect on its heating
value of the impurities present. The analyses given show a moisture
content in the samples as received ranging from 34.8 to 44.1 per cent
and in the air-dried samples from 8.6 to 12.6 per cent. The heat
value of the air-dried samples ranges from 8,600 to 9,860 British ther-
mal units.

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122 CONTRIBUTIOlirS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET II.

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LIGNITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

123

Most users of lignite are little concerned about the percentage of
sulphur it contains or even the relative amounts of volatile matter
and fixed carbon, but they are vitally interested in the heat-produc-
ing quality of the lignite, for this determines its value for ordinary
purposes, such as heating buildings, raising steam, and manufactur-
ing uses generally.

Many persons think it best to foster home industries, even though
it involves some sacrifice on their part^ but to most persons the de-
ciding question regarding a fuel as well as any other commodity is
that of economy, and economy in the purchase of fuel means generally
the getting of fuel with the greatest heating power for the least
money. Lignite is so different from bituminous coal that most per-
sons are unable to make a direct comparison, but such a comparison

FiGDBB 14. — Diagram showing heating value of North Dakota lignite compared with that
of certain Bubbitimlnous and bituminous coals. See text for explanation.

is essential in order to determine which kind of fuel is the most
economical to use. The ordinary analysis of a coal will not furnish
the data directly for the comparison, but the calorific determinations
given in the table on pages 121-122 will enable anyone to make a
direct comparison of the coals and lignites there listed, and in fact
their comparative values may be expressed in dollars and cents.

Figure 14 shows graphically the heating value of certain of the
coals and lignites whose analyses are given on pages 121-122. These
analyses have been selected because they were made from samples
collected in working mines and so had suffered no deterioration from
exposure to the weather. For convenience in reference these analyses
will be designated A, B, C, etc., as shown in the diagram.
A to F represent samples from neighboring fields of North

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124 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

Dakota, in which the lignite is essentially of the same heating value
as that of the Fort Berthold Beservation. 6 is one of the standard
subbituminous coals of Wyoming, and I a similar though better coal
from Lethbridge, Canada. H is a bituminous coal from Sand Coulee,
near Great Falls, Mont., and J and K are two well-known eastern
bituminous coals— the Hocking Valley coal of Ohio and the Pitts-
burgh coal of Pennsylvania. If mines are developed in the Fort
Berthold Beservation the output will be likely to come into active
competition with one or more of the coals represented in figure 14,
and for that reason their relative values should be known alike to
the producer and to the consumer.

The line marked ^^pure coal" shows the comparative heating value
of the coals in nearly the pure form — that is, after the moisture and
ash, the ordinary impurities, have been eliminated. This line, so far
as it concerns the lignite, is nearly horizontal, showing that, in their
pure form, the lignites differ but little in their heating value. Ac-
cording to this line the lignites here considered rank as follows:
E, F, C, B, A, D. In other words, the New Salem lignite is in-
trinsically a little better than any other lignite here considered. The
line marked ^ pure coal" ascends rapidly to the ri^t, reaching its
highest point at K. This shows that the best coal represented in the
table is the Pittsburgh coal, and that both this and the Hocking
Valley coal are superior in heating value to the coals of Wyoming
and Montana here considered.

The comparison just made is interesting, but it has no practical
value because it refers to pure coal and not to coal in the bin. The
line marked ^^coal as mined" shows the comparative heating values
of the coals as they are taken from the mine, which is in approxi-
mately the same condition as when they are consumed. This line
shows much jgreater variations than the line marked " pure coal," be-
cause it involves not only inherent differences in the coal substance but
also differences due to the presence of ash and moisture, both of
which are very detrimental to a fuel. The lignites stand in the fol-
lowing order: F, E, D, C, B, A. The Beulah lignite is a little the
best, New Salem a close second, and Wilton third. Here again the
subbituminous and bituminous coals stand higher than the lignites.
The difference between them is more marked than it is in the other
line, mainly because the high-rank coals contain little moisture,
whereas lignite is heavily charged with it.

The relative values to the consumer are proportional to the British
thermal units in the coal " as received." For example, the values of
Burlington lignite and Pittsburgh coal are as 6,010 is to 13,6S0; or,
expressed in another way, if Burlington lignite sells for $5 a ton
the consumer could afford to pay $11.36 for Pittsburgh coal. If he
could buy Pittsburgh coal for less than that amount it would be

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UGNITE IK FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 125

cheaper than the lignite, but if it cost more than that the lignite
would be the cheaper of the two.

The comparative values of the lignites and coals shown in the
diagram, on the assumption that Burlington lignite costs $5 a ton,
are as follows:

BurUngton lignite $5.00

WlUlston lignite 5.02

Lehigh lignite 5. 12

Wilton lignite 5. 52

New Salem lignite 5. 57

Beulah lignite 6. 00

Sheridan sabbituminous coal 8.00

Sand Coulee bituminous coal 9.28

Leihbridge subbituminous coal 9.49

Hocking VaUey bituminous coal l 10.19

Pittsburgh bituminous coal 11.36

QXJAJtITlTy.

An estimate of the quantity of lignite within a given field pre-
sents many difficulties, even if data on the outcrops of the beds are
abundant. Lignite beds are not only lenticular in cross section, but
their areal distribution is extremely irregular. In the following
estimate only beds 2 feet or more in thickness are considered. For
a bed that is more than 2 feet thick in one locality and less in an-
other, the extent of the thick portion was carefully estimated and
the thin portion was ignored. Another factor to be taken into ac-
count in estimating the tonnage for this field is the amount of each
bed which has been carried away by the erosive action of streams.
It is calculated from topographic data that 30 to 40 per cent of the
exposed portion of the lignite-bearing formation has been removed
in this way. In estimating the amount of lignite in the several
beds it was necessary to assume that each bed maintained under
cover characteristics similar to those which were discovered on the
outcrop. For beds high in the section a large amount of data per
unit of area could be obtained, because of the excellent exposures
along their sinuous outcrops, but for low beds the data are more
meager. Bed A, which is the lowest one outcropping in the field,
has on its outcrop an average thickness of 8 feet and is assumed to
maintain that average in the area north of the twelfth standard
parallel. South of that parallel there are no outcrops of bed A, but
it is assumed to imderlie the southern part of the field, with an
average thickness of 6 feet. The area of this bed used in the com-
putation therefore nearly coincides with the area of the field. In
obtaining the quantity of lignite in beds higher than bed A, the
area in acres and the average thickness in feet of each bed was ob-
tained. The product of these multiplied by 1,800, which is the

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126 CONTRIBXTTIOIirS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 194l, PABT H.

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approximate weight in short tons of a bed of lig-
nite 1 acre in extent and 1 foot thick, gave the ton-
nage for each bed. The total quantity of lignite
estimated in this way is 8,655,000,000 short tons

If this amount were distributed equally through-
out the field and concentrated into one stratum,
it would form one bed Hi feet thick. As a
matter of fact, however, the lignite is local-
ized, as noted in the township descriptions, both
by its lenticular habit and by erosion, so that
large areas contain much less than ll^ feet of
lignite in beds 2 feet or more in thickness, whereas
other areas may contain as much as 25 feet or
more. In addition to the estimated quantity,
there is a large tonnage in beds less than 2 feet
thick, which is not of value at present and is very
difficult to estimate.

DIBTBIBTrTION.

Beds of lignite are well exposed in the bluffs of
Missouri and Little Missouri rivers (see Pis.
XIII, B and XIX, B) and on most of the tribu-
tary creeks as far as the badlands extend. Out-
crops of some of these beds are continuous for
distances ranging from 5 to 80 miles or even
more. Other beds are lenticular and within short
distances range from a few inches to several
feet in thickness. A conspicuous example of
this extensive variation in thickness is furnished
by bed C in T. 151 N., E. 94 W., as shown ii
figure 15. The several stratigraphic sections
from different parts of the field, given on Plate
XVI, also show the variation of the beds from
place to place.

It follows from the preceding statements that
the total amount of lignite in any stratigraphic
section varies within wide limits, but nowhere
in this field is there exposed as much as 500
feet of the Fort Union formation which does
not contain one or more beds of lignite 2 feet
or more in thickness. It is therefore probable that
the entire area is underlain by lignite beds, some of
which do not crop out in the field but are neverthe-
less near enough to the surface to be of value.

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LIGKITE IN FOBT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 127

At least 14 beds of lignite in this field have been considered
valuable enough to map — that is, they contain 2 feet or more of lig-
nite somewhere along their outcrops. The correlation of the out-
crops is in many places difficult, owing to the variation in the thick-
ness of the lignite beds as well as in the thickness and composition
of the strata between them. Some beds, however, that show excep-
tional thickness or unconunon partings or other striking character-
istics can be used as keys for correlation, providing the distance be-
tween the outcrops is not too great. Correlation between some beds
of lignite that crop out on opposite sides of Missouri River is there-
fore possible and can be made with considerable certainty. A bed
of lignite called bed C in this report is correlated with bed 1 de-
scribed by Pishel,^ and likewise bed CC of this report is probably
the same as bed 1-A north of the river. Further correlations of
beds on opposite sides of Missouri River will not be attempted owing
to the great variations in the stratigraphic sections within short dis-
tances and the difficulty of drawing exact conclusions without first-
hand knowledge of the stratigraphy on both sides of the river.

DEVELOPMENT.

At present the lignite in the western part of the Fort Berthold
Indian Reservation is used very little. The region is almost un-
settled, and only a few log houses, occupied by Indians, are built in
the valleys of Missouri and Little Missouri rivers. The upland
is inhabited by a few transient stockmen, who lease the land for
grazing. Wood can be obtained aloug the principal streams, and
lignite is used in conjunction with wood only during the winter.
Hence the lignite has not been mined to any extent, and that which
is used is obtained directly from outcrops. As lignite is plentiful
in the surrounding country, no attempt has been made to market
the fuel in settlements bordering the reservation.

Roads are poor and in many places are mere trails; therefore
hauling for long distances is expensive, and railroads have not en-
tered the reservation west of Missouri River. The nearest railway
station is Sanish, on the left bank of the Missouri near the north
line of the reservation. The most accessible railway from the south-
em part of the region is a branch of the Northern Pacific that ends
at Killdeer, about 16 miles south of the southwest corner of the res-
ervation, and extends eastward nearly parallel with its south
boundary. The lack of transportation facilities, together with the
poor shipping qualities of the lignite, preclude extensive exploita-
tion of it in this field for many years. As general commercial de-

vpiBhel, M. A., Lignite in the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, N. Dak., north of
MiBSOuri River: U. 8. Qeol. Survey Bull. 471, pp. 170-186, 1912.

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128 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART 11.

velopment in this region proceeds, however, the lignite will probably
be used in near-by power plants or made into briquets for shipping,
as lignite briquets have proved a very satisfactory and good stocking
fuel.® But when the location of the field and the added cost of
briquetting are considered, it seems improbable that the lignite of
the Fort Berthold field will be able to compete in outside markets
until the supply of high-grade coal is sufficiently diminished to
render lignite briquets economical for general industrial use,

I/IGNITE BEDS.

The positions in the stratigraphic section occupied by the lignite beds
are shown in Plate XVI. The lowest bed of lignite exposed crops out
along the foot of the river bluff in T. 151 K, R. 94 W., and as far
south as sec. 18, T, 150 N., R. 93 W. It also crops out in many cut
banks in the bottom of the valley of Bear Den Creek. As it is the
lowest bed of lignite exposed in this field it is called bed A for con-
venience. From numerous measurements on bed A it was found to
average nearly 8 feet in thickness. Owing to a local easterly dip of
about 75 feet to the mile in the eastern part of T. 151 N., R. 94 W.,
and also in T. 151 N., R. 93 W., this bed does not crop out in the
reservation east of Missouri River, but it probably imderlies large
areas on both sides of the river.

Bed B, the next higher bed of lignite of any value, is lenticular,
and its valuable portion lies largely in Tps. 150 and 151 N., R. 94 W.
Its outcrop along Clark and Bear Den creeks shows it to be variable
in thickness and quality, carrying in many places much impure lig-
nite and carbonaceous shale.

Beds C and CC, which may be the same, are remarkably wide-
spread, cropping out in a large niunber of places from the northern-
most townslup to the extreme southeastemmost part of the field.
Their average thickness is nearly 4 feet, but in many places they
are much thicker.

Beds D and DD are similar in character. They occur at about the
same stratigraphic position and are variable in quality and thickness.
Bed D is valuable in Tps. 150 and 151 K, R. 94 W., and bed DD,
which occupies only a small area, reaches its maximum thickness of
5i feet at location 851, in T. 146 N., R. 88 W.

Another valuable bed of lignite of wide extent in this field is bed
E, which is probably the same as bed EE. This bed has been mapped
almost continuously from sec. 36, T. 152 N., R. 95 W., to the south-
eastern extremity of the reservation in T. 146 N., R. 88 W. It
averages about 4 feet in thickness, but near the western boundary of

"Babcock, E. J., Investigation of lignite coal relative to the production of gas and
briquets : North Dakota Univ. Rept. School of Mines and Kxpor. Sta., 1911.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. 8. OBOLOOICAL SURVEY

5cal€

600

STRATIGRAPHIC SECTIONS IN FORT BERTHOLt

CORRELATION

Numbera expla

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LIGNITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 129

the reservation it reaches a thickness of 14 feet 9 inches, and near
Crow's Heart L&nding it thins to less than 2 feet. In general, how-
ever, it is of such quality and thickness as to make it one of the most
valuable beds in the field. In places this bed contains a small parting
of shale and silicified wood, which aids in its recognition.

Beds of lignite higher in the section do not underlie as large areas as
the lower beds, owing to the fact that large portions of them have
been removed by the erosive action of the rivers and their numerous
tributaries. Because of this erosion many of the higher beds appear
to have only a local distribution, whereas originally they may have
been coextensive with those beneath. Each of these beds will be
d^cribed in connection with the township in which it crops out.

TOWNSHIP DESCRIPTIONS.

A description of each township in the region examined, setting
forth the main surface features, with a detailed statement of its lig-
nite resources, is given below. The descriptions are presented in
geographic order, beginning at the north line of the field (see PI.
XXVII) and proceeding from east to west along each tier of town-
ships until the area shown in Plate XXVIII is reached. The town-
ships of the southern part of the field (represented in PI. XXIX) are
described from north to south along each succeeding range beginning
with the northwest corner.

The numbering of the lignite sections is consecutive from north to
south on Plate XXVII, from east to west on Plate XXVIII, and
from west to east on Plate XXIX. Many of the measurements of
lignite beds 2 feet or more in thickness are shown graphically on
Plates XVII, XX, XXIII, and XXVI, with numbers corresponding
to those used on the maps.

T. 152 N., B. 98 W.

Only that part of T. 152 N., E. 93 W., that lies within the reserva-
tion and west of Missouri River was examined by the Geological
Survey party. (See PI. XXVII, in pocket.) The surface is a roll-
ing upland on the west, bordered on the east by a rather abrupt but
low bluff, below and east of which lies the flat flood plain of Missouri
River. The upland is grass grown ; the flood plain is covered with
trees and brush. The lignite-bearing strata are largely concealed
beneath glacial drift and alluvium, so that exposures of them are
almost lacking in that part of the township which lies west of the
river. On a creek in the SW. J sec. 7 the drift reaches a thickness of
37 feet. The measurements of lignite beds at locations 1, 2, and 3,
in sec. 15, and 7, in sec. 20, are shown diagrammatically in the accom-
panying plate of lignite sections (PL XVII), but owing to insuflScient

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130 CONTRTBtTTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

exposures the beds measured at these places could not be correlated
either with one another or with beds in adjoining 'townships. At
location 4 the following section is exposed :

Section of lignite bed at location J^ sec. 16, T. 152 N., R. 93 W.

Shale. Ft. in.

Lignite 6

^ale 21

Sandstone 4

Lignite 11

Shale.

26 5

At location 5, in sec. 16, two thin beds of lignite, the upper of
which is 9 inches thick and the lower 6 inches, are separated by 3
feet of shale. At location 6, on the same bed as location 7, in sec
20 (PI. XVII), 1 foot 8 inches of lignite is exposed, which, however,
is not the full thickness of the bed, as the upper portion has been
eroded and the remainder is now covered by glacial drift. No at-
tempt was made to correlate these beds of lignite, as the exposure
are far apart and of small extent.

A bed of lignite (called bed C in this report), which is over 5 feet
thick at locations 8 and 9 (see PL XVII), in sec. 36 of the township
immediately to the west, probably underlies the southwestern por-
tion of this township also. The approximate outcrop of this bed in
sees. 30 and 31 is shown on Plate XXVII (in pocket).

T. 152 N., B. M W.

Only that part of T. 152 N., R. 94 W., which lies within the reser-
vation was examined by the Greological Survey party. The surface
is rolling and grass covered. The greatest difference in elevation be-
tween any two points in the township is about 300 feet. In general
the surface material is glacial drift, and outcrops of stratified rocks
are few and of small extent ; the principal exposures occur in sees.
11, 12, 20, 31, 32, and 36. No lignite beds of commercial importance
crop out in sees. 11 and 12. At location 10, sec. 20, howcA'^er, 10 inches
of lignite is exposed, and at location 11 the following section was
measured :

Section of lignite bed at location 11, sec. 20, T. 152 N., R. 94 W.

Shale. Pt In.

Lignite 5

Shale 2

Lignite (bottom of bed not exposed) 1 10+

2 5+

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LIGNITE IN FORT BERTHOU) RESERVATION, N. DAK. 131

The beds of lignite represented by these sections are high in the
stratigraphic section of this field and are not correlated with any
other beds. At location 11 a local dip of 7° NE. was noted, but it
is probable that this dip does not persist for more than a few hun-
dred feet. Representative sections of beds of lignite are very diflS-
cult to obtain, owing to the covering of glacial drift and the dis-
turbed condition of the strata, caused by the movement of the ice
sheet. It is probable, however, that bed C, measured at locations
8 and 9, in sec. 36, underlies the greater part of this township at a
depth of less than 300 feet. The bed averages 5^ feet in thickness
where it is exposed in this township (see sections 8 and 9, PL XVII)
and is thicker farther south. About 25 feet above bed C there is a
bed containing about 3^ feet of lignite (bed D), exposed at location
12, in sec. 32. The section measured at this place is shown in Plate
XVII. About 4 feet of lignite at location 13, sec. 31, is in a bed
probably bed E) about 60 feet higher than bed C and is also shown
in Plate XVII.

T. 152 N., B. 95 W.

Only a part of sees. 12, 13, 24, 25, and 36, T. 152 N., R. 95 W., was
examined. This area is a narrow strip less than a mile wide and
about 4^ miles long which lies within the reservation. The southern
part is traversed by a tributary of Clark Creek, which has cut a
deep trough into the lignite-bearing strata, exposing them in bluffs
on either side. In the remainder of this belt the land is rolling and
grass covered.

Bed C, which crops out extensively in the township inmiediately
to the southeast, is not exposed in this township but probably under-
lies the greater part of it within 300 feet of the surface.

Three beds of lignite were mapped and measured in sees. 25 and 36.
These beds occupy positions above bed C and correspond to beds D,
E, and F, which were mapped also in the townships immediately to
the south and southeast. Their general relations are shown in sec-
tion 1, Plate XVI.

Lignite sections 22 and 23, Plate XVII, representing bed D, show
that it contains about 3 feet of lignite. A satisfactory measurement
of bed E could not be obtained in this township, owing to the fact
that springs issue from the bed wherever it is exposed. At location
21, however, 2 feet of lignite was found above the surface of the
water in a spring.

Bed F ranges in thickness from about 3 to 6 feet, as shown by sec-
tions 14 to 19, inclusive, on Plate XVII. At location 20 bed F con-
tains 1 foot 8 inches of lignite, but owing to a slimip at this place
the measurement is not reliable.

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132 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

T. 151 N., B. 93 W.

Only a small part of T. 151 N., R. 93 W., is included in the ter-
ritory here described. This part lies in the flood plain of Missouri
River and contains no exposures of lignite. It is probable, however,
that the land is underlain by beds of lignite lower in the formation
than those exposed along the river bluffs in this vicinity — such, for
example, as bed A, mapped along the river in Tps. 150 and 151 N.,
R. 94 W.

T. 151 N., B. M W.

Practically all of T. 151 N., R. 94 W., lies west of Missouri River
and is included in the area described in this report. The eastern tier
of sections, except sec. 1, is crossed by the river. The northern part
of the township is deeply incised by Clark Creek and its tributary
gullies, which have produced extensive badlands. The upland is
very irregular in outline, and level portions of it are of small extent
and confined largely to the southern and western parts of the
township. Surmounting the upland in sees. 28, 29, 32, and 33 are
high buttes, reaching altitudes of over 2,600 feet above sea level, or
870 feet above Missouri River. These buttes, known locally as the
East Buttes, are part of a group of hills called the Blue Buttes,
which lie largely west of the reservation. The upland in this town-
ship is thinly covered by glacial drift. Along the streams where
erosion has been most rapid the lignite-bearing strata are well ex-
posed. Altitudes on the lignite beds indicate a general eastward dip
of about 8 feet to the mile. In sees. 1 and 12 this increases to about
75 feet to the mile in a northeasterly direction, and in sees. 25 and 26
a dip to the southeast of about the same magnitude was determined.
As the relief is about 800 feet in this township, opportunity is offered
for measuring long stratigraphic sections. One of these (section 1,
PL XVI) shows the approximate position and relation of the lig-
nite beds. There are fourteen of these beds exposed in the valley
of Clark Creek and its tributaries, but only nine were considered of *
sufficient thickness to warrant mapping. The lowest bed that is ex- f
posed in the Fort Berthold field (bed A) crops out on the bluff fac- ^
ing Missouri River at location 98, in sec. 24, where it has a thickness
of 10 feet (PL XVII). A measurement of an incomplete section of
the same bed was made at location 103, in sec 25, where it is more
than 5 feet 7 inches thick. Elsewhere in the township the outcrop
of this bed is covered with alluvium.

The next higher bed of lignite (bed B) is separated from bed A
by 25 to 60 feet of sandy shale. Bed B is variable in thickness, and
the lignite varies from place to place in quality. The bed crops out
along Clark Creek and Missouri River and was measured at loca-
tions 30, 32, 36, 38, 39, 40, 41, 48, 52, 54, and 110. At location 110,
in sec. 36, the following section was measured:

Digitized by VjOOQIC

telN.,R.94W.-

BULLETIN 726 PLATE XVH

45 46

|6 5

3'€r

4' 2-

2'«r

16 2"

T.150N^R.94 WL-

a'lf

175Ltn. 177 17(

k4'

1 3 A

•T.149N.,R.95 W.-

^ 195 ' 196

ta^F ^=3r fcS^D

2'<

[ON, NORTH E

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ai
o:
o:

v-
a:
tc
h
8
I

s
e

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIGITITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

133

SectUm of lignite bed at location 110, sec. 36, T, 151 N., R. 94 W.

Shale, carbonaceous. Bt in.

Lignite, high in ash 1 10

Shale 5

Lignite ^ 1 6

Shale.

3 9

The bed ranges in thickness from 2 feet at location 40, sec. 4, to 8
feet 10 inches at location 38, sec. 3 ; but its average thickness in this
township is about 3 feet 8 inches. Plate XVII contains graphic sec-
tions of these beds, except that at location 110.

The next higher bed of lignite (bed C) is separated from bed B
by about 70 feet of shale. It is represented on Plate XVII by sec-
tions 24, 26, 27, 28, 29, 31, 33, 37, 42, 46, 51, 53, 56, 86, 87, 89, 90, 91, 94,
95, 97, 99, 100, 101, 102, 104, 105, 108, 109, 111, and 112. The bed
ranges in thickness from 2 feet at location 37, sec. 3, to almost 9 feet
at location 51, sec. 6, but averages somewhat less than 5 feet. It is
persistent and crops out for many miles along Missouri River, Clark
Creek, and Bear Den Creek. It is separated into two benches in sec.
35, as shown by sections 101, 102, 108, 109, 111, and 112. The meas-
urements on the bed in this locality are shown graphically in figure
15 (p. 126). Section 104 represents the entire bed, sections 108 and
111 the lower bench, and sections 109 and 112 the upper bench. In
sec. 12 of the township immediately to the south, this bed was meas-
ured at location 119, where it consists of a single bench. The sep-
aration of lignite beds into two benches by partings of variable
thickn^s is common to many of the beds of this region, and the sec-
tions shown in figure 15 are illustrative of this feature.

Bed D is about 25 feet above bed C in this township and is repre-
sented by sections 34, 35, 43, 44, 45, 47, 49, 50, 57, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83,
84, 86, 88, 92, 93, and 96. All these sections except those given in
the following table are shown on Plate XVII. Lignite sections 25
and 106 probably also represent this bed. Its average thickness is
3 feet.

Sections of lignite bed D in T. 151 N., R. 94 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XVII.]

No. on map
(PL XXVlf),

Location.

Section.

25.

NE.i 860.1.

Shale.

Lignite.
Shale.

J^. In.
... 1 8

U..
35..
47..
97..
106.

NW. J seo. 2. .
NE.isec.a...
NE. laec.6...
NW.isec.24.
NW.isec.35.

1 2

Lignite

Lignite 8

Lignite, crushed l±

Lignite (bed D is 30 feet above bed Cat this place) 8 8

Lignite 1 8

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134 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

Bed E, about 38 feet above bed D, was measured at locations 55,
58, and 83 and averages about ^ feet in thickness in this township.
All these sections are shown on Plate XVII.

A higher bed of lignite (bed F) averaging only 1^ feet was meas-
ured at locations 59, 71, and 107. Section 71 is given on Plate XVTI.

Sections of lignite bed F in T. 151 JY., R. 9^ W.
[In addition to that ahown on PI. X VH.]

No. on map
(PL XXVII).

Location.

Section.

107.

SE.iseo.?...
NE.i8ec.35.

Ft. m.

Lignite 1 6

Lignite 1 2

Beds G, H, and I crop out in sees. 18 and 19 of this township.
Measurements taken at locations 60, 65, and 70, shown on Plate
XVII, averaging 2 feet 9 inches, are on bed G ; those at locations 61,
66 (PL XVII), and 69, bed H. The section at location 69 shows
several thin beds of lignite, as follows :

Section of UgMie bed H at location 69, sec. 19, T. 151 N., B. 94 W.

Shale. Pt in-

Lignite 6

Shale, carbonaceous 10

Llgntte 6

Shale, carbonaceous 8

Shale 4

Sandstone 1

Lignite 6

Sandstone 3

Sandstone, carbonaceous 2

Shale 14

Lignite (bed H) .._- 1 8

Shale.

37 10

Bed I was measured at locations 62, 67, and 68. These sections,
averaging about 3 feet, are given on Plate XVII. A number of thin,
unimportant beds of lignite which were measured at locations 114,
116, 117, and 118, in sees. 33 and 34, are shown graphically in section
1, Plate XVI, with their approximate correlation. Sections 114
and 116 are also shown on Plate XVII.

T, 151 N., R. 95 W.

The eastern part of T. 151 N., R. 95 W., which lies within the
reservation, comprises a strip less than 1 mile wide and about 6 miles
long. This strip of land is crossed by Clark Creek, whose steep val-
ley walls expose the strata of the lignite-bearing Fort Union forma-

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UGNITE IK FORT BEBTHOU) BBSBBVATION, N. DAK. 135

tion. Many of the lignite beds mapped in the township immediately
to the east along Clark Creek were also mapped in this township.
Beds A, B, C, and D lie too deep to be prospected except with a drill,
hence their thickness is not known. The lowest lignite bed that crops
out in this part of the township is bed E, which at location 73 is
about 6 feet thick. (See PI. XVII.) Bed F is 1 foot 3 inches thick
at location 64, 2 feet at location 72,® and 1 foot 11 inches at location
74. A measurement obtained at location 75 shows 2 feet 9 inches of
lignite in bed O. Bed H is partly burned at location 76, the only
exposure of it in this vicinity, where the following section was
measured: y

Section of Hth^e bed at location 76, see, 24, T. 151 N., R, 95 W.

Shale. Ft In.

Lignite 10

Ash 10

Shale.

1 8

Bed J was measured at location 77, in sec. 24, where it contains 1

foot 10 inches of lignite.

T. 150 N., B. 91 W.

Only a small part of T. 150 N., R. 91 W., is south of Missouri
River, and this part lies almost entirely on the flood plain of the
river. South of the flood plain is a low grass-covered bluflf that
rises about 66 feet to the rolling upland, which stretches southward.
Glacial drift forms the surface in many places, but its maximum
thickness is apparently only a few feet. Only one bed of lignite
(bed E) crops out in the township. Measurements on tiiis bed were
obtained at locations 356, sec. 31, and 357, sec. 32, as given on Plate
XX, and show that the thickness of the bed ranges in a distance of
half a mile from 5 feet 1 inch to 3 feet 3 inches. It is believed that
bed A, which in T. 151 N., R. 94 W., and adjoining townships has
an average thickness of nearly 8 feet, lies beneath this part of T.
160 N., R. 91 W., at a depth of less than 300 feet. It is also probable
that either one or all of beds B, C, and D, which lie too deep to be
prosi>ected without the aid of a drill, are thick enough to be of com-
mercial value.

T. 150 N., B. 02 W.

Only a small part of T. 150 N., R. 92 W., lies south of Missouri
River, and most of this part is in the flood plain of the river. Two
beds of lignite crop out in the bluff in sec. 31. The lower of these,
bed E, was measured at location 249, where it is 1 foot 4 inches
thick. A section of the upper bed was not obtained in this town-

• On Plate XVII sections 72 and 78 are erroneooaly connected by correlation lines,
444e7*»— 21 3

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186 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT U.

ship, but it wa4S measured in the township immediately to the south,
where it has an average thickness of about 3 feet.

T. 150 N., B. 98 W.

T. 160 N., E. 93 W., is crossed by Missouri River from west to
east, and only the part south of the river is here described. A prom-
inent bluflf rises abruptly from the river in the western part of
the township and from the flood plain in the eastern part to a height
of about 150 feet. This bluff has been dissected by the run-off
of rains into a fringe of gullies, breaks, ridges, and points. The
rough topography here affords an excellent opportunity for meas-
uring and tracing the outcrops of lignite beds. The strata have a
slight eastward dip of about 18 feet to the mile, as determined by
a comparison of altitudes on the lignite beds. Four beds of lignite
(beds A, C, E, and F) were mapped here, of which bed C is the
most valuable. A partial section of bed A was obtained at an ex-
posure at location 124, in sec. 18, near the water's edge of Missouri
River. The entire thickness could not be measured, as part of the
bed was beneath the water and only 1 foot 8 inches above. This
bed, however, crops out extensively along Bear Den Creek in the
township immediately to the west and has been found to have an
average thickness of nearly 8 feet Bed A, east of location 124, is
lower than the surface of Missouri River.

Bed B contains at location 122 only 8 inches of lignite, between
beds of carbonaceous shale.

Bed C is about 55 feet above bed B in this township and crops
out almost continuously along the river bluff across the township.
Beginning in the northwestern part of the township the sections of
this bed are as follows : Nos. 120, 121, 128, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 208,
209, 210, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 226, 230, 232, 233, 234, and 236.
The average thickness of bed C, as shown by these sections, is about
3 feet. Its maximum thickness, at location 202, in the SW. ^ sec.
20, is 4 feet 2 inches. The more important sections listed above are
shown on Plate XX, and the remainder are given in the following
table :

Sections of ligMie bed in T. 150 N,, R. 9S W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map
(PI. XXVlf).

109.
900.
213.

Location.

NW. I aec. 20
NW. i sec. 20
SW. i sec. 27.

Section.

J^. in.
Lignite 1 I

Lignite 8

Shale.

Bone 1 3

Shale 1 ft

lignite 1

Shale.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UONITB IN FOBT BEBTHOIJ> BESERVATION, N. DAK.
Sectkma of Ugn^ ^d C in T. 150 N., R, 93 W.— Continued.

137

No, OP amp

(PL XXVII).

Lo»ti<Hl.

Section.

NW.l8ec.34

NE.iaec.35.

NW.j8ec.36

Shale.

FL in.

. . 1

Lignite^ :

Shale, carbonaoeoas

Bone

1 8

»h»lA

lignite (bed C)

Bhale

1 6

sJ^*"

Shale.

238

Bone

Lignite

Shale.

lignite, wM^thentd

1 8

1 6

1 9

Sections 204, 205, 206, 207, 228, 229, and 231 represent a bed of
lignite higher than bed C, probably bed D. The lignite is of poor
quality and contains many partings of shale and bone, as shown in
the sections which are given on Plate XX.

A bed of lignite averaging 2 feet 2 inches in thickness and lying
approximately 145 feet higher than bed C was measured at loca-
tions 216, 218, 223, 225, and 227 and is probably bed E, though the
correlation can not be made with certainty. These sections are given
on Plate XX, with the exception of Nos. 223 and 225.

Sections of UgtUte bed E in T, 150 N.. R. 9S W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map
(PI. XXVlf).

Location.

Section.

823

SW.48ec.35

SW.|8ec.35.

Lignite

FLku
1

225

Wgn^te. , c

1 1

Bed F is separated from bed E by 25 to 35 feet of yellow sandstone,
which is fairly regular in thickness and color and which was used as
a marker in locating beds E and F in this township and townships
farther east. Bed F was measured at locations 217, 219, 220, 222, and
224 (see PL XX) and averages about 2J feet in thickness.

A bed of lignite higher in the section in this township, which is
believed to be bed G, was measured at location 221, in sec. 35, where
it contains 3 feet 6 inches of good lignite. (See PI. XX.)

T. 150 N., B. 94 W.

All of T. 150 N., R, 94 W., is included in the area described in this
report, except a small tract in the eastern part of sec. 1 and the NE. J
sec. 12, which lies in the flood plain of Missouri Biver. West of the
flood plain the bluffs rise over 125 feet to a rolling upland which

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138 CONTRroUTIONS TO ECONOMIO GEOLOGT, 1921, PART II.

gradually increases in altitude away from the riv^. Farther west
the upland is broken across the central part of the township by the
deep valley of Bear Den Creek. Along this valley and also tluit of
Missouri Eiver badlands are developed in which the lignite-bearing
strata are well exposed, and the beds of lignite are easily measured
at many plac^. Only four beds, A, B, C, and D, were mapped con-
tinuously in this township.

Bed A has an average thickness of nearly 8 feet, as shown in sec^
tions 147, 151, 152, 158, 173, 178, 180, and 181 on Plate XVII. This
thick bed of lignite is low in the strata exposed and probably under-
lies most of the township, as well as a considerable portion of the
adjoining townships.

Bed B is separated from bed A by 40 feet of argillaceous sandstone.
It contains very poor lignite and in many places has been found to be
merely a bed of carbonaceous shale. Sections 157 and 159 of this bed
are shown on Plate XVII. Its best development is at location 157,
where the lower bench and the only one to be considered is 2 feet 8
inches thick; other measurements of it are given in the following

table:

Sections of lignite bed B in T. 1^0 N,, R. H W-
[In addition to section 157, PI. XVn.J

No. on map
(PI. XXVrf).

Location.

Section.

148.
IffS.

174.
184.

SW. \ sec 15.
NW.iseclG

NW.iseo.17
NE.isecSO.

Ft. to.

lignite, impure : 5 6

Shale.

Lignite 1 2±

8hale,carbonaceous 3 8

Shale.

Lignite I 3

Lignite 1 8

Bed C, which averages over 5 feet in thickness, is about 70 feet
above bed B in this township and was measured at locations 119, 126
to 135, 137, 138, 140, 142, 149, 150, 154 to 156, 160 to 164, 167, 168,
170 to 172, 177, 179, and 183. These sections, except Nos. 128, 150,
and 154, are shown graphically on PI. XVII.

Sections of lignite bed C i^ T, ISO N., R. 94 W.

No. on map
(PI. XXVlf).

Location.

Section.

128

NW.i8ec.24.
SW.isec.l6..
NE. J sec. 16..

Lignite

Lignite (base not exposed)

Shale.

Lignite.

Bone

FL hi.
1 «

150

2 6+

154

3 11

Shale.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIGNITE IT^ FOBT BERTHOLD tUaSERVATlON, N. DAK.

189

The outcrop of bed D, which in this township is about 90 feet
higher than bed C, was mapped for a short distance, and measure-
ments were obtained at locations 125, 136, 139, 141, 143, 145, 146, and
185. As shown by the sections, this is an unpromising bed, contain-
ing on an average less than 2 feet of lignite. Sections 139 and 145
are shown on Plate XVII, and other measurements are given in the
following table :

Sections of liffnite l>ed D ir^ T, 150 K., R. 94 W.
[In addltton to tboee sbown on PI. XVn.]

No. on map
(PI. XXVlf)

Section.

125..
IM..

NW.i8ec.24.
NW.isec23.

141
143
146

185.

8S.iseclO..
SB. i see. 10..
NW.|8ec.l5
SW.iseo.29.

Ft. in.

lignite. 1 2

Shale.

Lignite 1 2

Shale, carbonaceous 1

Lignite 4

Shale 2 6

lignite 1

Shale 6

lignite 7

Shale.

lignite 1 3

lignite 1 4

lignite 1 6

Ugnlte 1 2

Isolated outcrops of higher beds of lignite were measured at lo-
cations 165, 175, and 176. Sections 165 and 175 are shown on Plate
XVII. The bed measured at location 176 carries 1 foot 11 inches
of lignite and is probably the same bed as that at location 175. The
relation of this bed to other beds is shown in stratigraphic section
2, Plate XVI. Other measurements of lignite beds were made at
locations 114 and 166. The beds at both locations are impure ; they
contain 2 feet of lignite at location 144 and 2 feet 10 inches of lignite
at location 166.

T. 150 N., B. 95 W,

That part of T. 150 N., B. 95 W., included in the Fort Berthold
Eeservation is a strip less than a mile wide along the eastern edge
of the township. Along the steep bluflfs of Bear Den Creek, which
crosses this strip, four beds of lignite (A, B, C, and E) were mapped.
Xo measurements were made on bed A in this township, but its
average thickness in the township to the east is nearly 8 feet, and it
probably underlies this township also. A measurement of bed B
was obtained at location 186, sec. 25, where it contains 2 feet 3 inches
of lignite, as shown on Plate XVIL Section IW, showing 5 feet 1

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140 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, pXeT H.

inch of bed C, is given on Plate XVII. Another bed of lignite
about 125 feet higher in the section, which may be bed E, is repre-
sented by sections 182, 187, and 188, Plate XVII. At location 182
this bed contains 4 feet 4 inches of lignite, and at locations 187 and
188 ^® it is separated by a thick shale parting into two benches, each
of which is over 2^ feet thick.

T. 14j& N., B. 91 W.

The greater part of T. 149 N., R. 91 W., is a rolling uplalid cov-
ered thinly with glacial drift. The eastern part, however, includes
a portion of the wide flood plain of Missouri River. The maximum
relief within the boundaries of the township is about 450 feet.
Throughout most of the township the strata have a slight dip to the
northeast) but in sees. 35 and 36 there is an eastward dip of about
100 feet to the mile.

Six beds of lignite were mapped at several places in this township.
Bed E is probably the most valuable, although bed CC, which is
about 110 feet below bed E and at about the same position in the
section as bed C, was mapped for a considerable distance in the
eastern part of the township. Beds A and B lie too deep to crop
out in this township, hence no data regarding them were obtained.
Measurements of bed CC were obtained at locations 362, 367, 368,
and 369. (See PI. XX.) Sections 37.6 and 377 probably also repre-
sent the-same bed. It is of fair quality and averages 3 feet in thick-
ness. At location 877, in sec. 36, the bed carries at least 1 foot 8
inches of lignite, but the base could not be reached on account of
the water from a spring at the outcrop.

Bed E was mapped continuously along the bluffs in a northwest-
southeast direction across the central part of the township. The sec-
tions of this bed are Nos. 353, 354, 355, 358, 359, 360, 361, 363, 865,
370, 372, 373, and probably also 378. At location 354 it contains 1
foot 11 inches of lignite. Southeast of this place it is generally
thicker, but at location 370 it carries only about 8 inches of lignite.
It is quite probable that the measurement at location 870 is not com-
plete, as the lignite was much weathered and the shale above may not
have been in place. At location 365 bed E carries 4 feet 2 inches of
good lignite. Other sections of this bed are shown on Plate XX.

Measurements on a thin bed of lignite about 30 feet below bed E
and near the horizon of bed D were obtained at a number of places,
and its thickness is shown by sections 364, 374, and 376. Section 364
shows 1 foot 4 inches of lignite, and section 375 shows 1 foot 2 inches.
Section 874 is shown on Plate XX.

*« Section 188 is erroneously labeled bed C on Plate XVII.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. B. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XVHI

BARE BUTTES OF THE FORT UNION FORMATION ON THE SOUTH SIDE OF
HANS CREEK, N. DAK.

B. LOG CONCRETIONS IN FORT UNION FORMATION.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. B. OEOXOGICAL SURVEY

BULLETIN 736 PLATE ZIX

A. GLACIAL BOULDERS ON THE UPLAND IN T. 147 N.. R. 93 W.. N. DAK.

B. BED OF UGNITE 8 FEET THICK IN NATURAL EXPOSURE IN SEC. 14. T.
147 N., R. 93 W.. N. DAK.

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UONITE IN FOBT BEBTHOLD BBSEBVATION, N. DAK.

141

Bed F, which is about 40 feet above bed E, was measured at loca-
tion 363 (see PL XX) and also at location 366, where it contains I
foot 9 inches of lignite. A section obtained at location 371, con-
taining 1 foot 9 inches of lignite, may also represent bed F.

Three beds of lignite from 100 to 180 feet higher in the formation
than bed E were mapped in sees. 27, 28, 31, 32, and 33. These beds
probably correspond to beds I, K, and M in the township to the
south. In T. 149 N., R. 91 W. they are thin and variable in quality,
but in the township to the south they have been traced continuously
for long distances. Beds I and K were measured at location 882,
where they are 2 feet 6+ inches and 2 feet 8 inches thick, respec-
tively. Bed K carries 2 feet 4 inches of lignite at.location 380. Bed
M was measured at locations 379, 381, and 883, and the sections are
given below:

Sections of lignite bed M in T, 14$ N., R. 91 Wy

No. on msp
(PI. XXVlf).

Location.

Section.

379.
381.

NW.i8ec.27
8W. i sec. 33.
BE. i aec. 32..

Ft. in

Lignite 1 9

Lignite 1 3

Lignite 2

T. 149 N., K. 99 W.

All of T. 149 N., R. 92 W., except the northern parts of sees. 1,
2, and 8 is here described. The maximum relief in the township is
about 625 feet. Excellent exposures of the stratified rocks occur in
the bluffs and gullies along Missouri Eiver and on both sides of the
valley of Skunk Creek, which flows through the central part of the
township. The course of the lower part of Skunk Creek apparently
follows a shallow syncline.

Outcrops of lignite beds E and F were mapped almost continu-
ously throughout this township. The beds are not constant in thick-
ness, however, and both of them are thinner in the eastern part of
the township than they are in the western part. Beds D and G were
also measured in this township and mapped for short distances.
The stratigraphic relations of these beds are shown in Plate XVI,
section 4.

Several sections of lignite beds lower in the formation than bed E
were obtained, but correlation of these beds is uncertain. Their
thicknesses are given in the following table:

Digitized by VjOOQIC

142 ooirrliiBtJTioiJS to eookomio geology, loa, paet n.

Sections of lignite beds below bed E in T. 14$ N., R. 9B W,

No. on map
(PI. XXVlf).

Location.

Section.

281.
297.
a02.,

810.
314.

345.
347.
348..

SE.i8ec.9...
SB. 1 sec. 19..
NB.i8eo.20.

8W.i8ec.l5.
SE.iBec.15..

NW.isec.l2
8E.i8ec.2...
SW.isec.l..
NB.isecl..

Lignite..
Lignite..

Ft. in,

.. 1

Shale.

Lignite 1

Shale, carbonaceous

Lignite

Dene.

Shale.

Lignite 1 1

Shale.

Lignite 1

Bone * 1

Lignite

Shale, carbonaceous 1

Shale.

Lignite (bed DT)

Lignite 1

Sections 312, 313, and 346, averaging about 3 feet, probably rep-
resent bed D and are shown in Plate XX. All the preceding meas-
urements were obtained on lenticular beds of lignite that occur at
about the same horizon as bed D, but they can not be exactly corre-
lated.

Bed E, the lower one of the beds mapped, has an average thickness
of about 3 feet in this township. It was measured at locations 250,
253, 261, 276, 279, 280, 284, 285, 287, 290, 293, 294, 306, 309, 311,
815 to 317, 320, 322, 323, 325, 326, 330, 331, 333, 334, 338, 339, 341 to
344, 348, 350, and 351. Most of the sections of this bed are shown in
Plate XX. Measurements of bed E not shown graphically are as
follows:

Sections of UgnUe bed E in T. 149 N., R, 92 W,
(In addition to those shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map

(PI. xvnj.

Location.

Section.

250..
253..
261..
279..
348..
350..
851..

NW. i sec. e. .
NW.|sec.6..
NW.IsecS..
SW.^aeo.10..
SW.Iseo.!...
SE.^secl.

C.I.,

Ft. in.

Bone 3 4

Lignite 1 6

Lignite. 1 5

Lignite 1 10

Lignite 1

Lignite : l 5

Lignite. 1 4

Bed E is commonly separated from Bed F by 40 to 50 feet of yel-
low friable sandstone, which is easily distinguished from other beds
of the formation in this locality.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UGOTTE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

143

Bed F, which is about 55 feet above bed E, is exposed at a great
many places in this township with an average thickness of about
3 feet 2 inches. Its sections are Nos. 251, 254, 255, 258 to 260, 262
to 266, 269, 271 to 275, 277, 278, 282, 283, 285, 288, 291, 295, 296, 298,
307, 308, 318, 319, 321, 324, 327, 328, 329, 332, 335 to 337, 340, and 349.
All these sections, except those measured where the bed was only partly
exi>osed or was too thin to be workable, are shown on Plate XX.
The other measurements are tabulated below :

Sections of lignite bed F in T. 1^9 N,, R. 92 W.
{In addition to those shown on PL XX.]

No. on map
(PL XXVII).

Location.

Section.

2S1..

auir

272..
273..
274..
277..
382..
337.-

NW.i8CC.6.
NB.|S6C.5..
NE.IsecS..
SE. i sec. 4. .
SW.isec.S..
NW.iseclO
8W. J sec. 10.
SE.^sec.g..
SE. I sec. 14.

Ft. Hk

Lignite 3 4

Lignite 1 10

Lignite 1 7

Lignite (top 0/ bed eroded) 1 2+

Bone 1 6

Lignite 1 6

Lignite 1 8

Bed G, with an average thickness of 2 feet 8 inches, crops out
in some of the higher parts of this township. It was measured at
locations 252, 256, 257, 266, 267, 268, 286, 289, and 292. All these sec-
tions are shown graphically on Plate XX, except No. 268, which is
given below.

Section of lignite bed at location 268, sec. 8, T. U9 N., R. 92 W.

Shale. Ft. in.

Lignite 4

Shale 1 7

Lignite 6

Shale.

At location 270 a bed of lignite, whose position is not known, has
a thickness of 1 foot 5 inches.

T. 149 N., R. 03 W.

T. 149 N., R. 93 W., is a rolling upland, broken on the north by
the badlands along Missouri River and on the south by Squaw Creek
and its tributaries. The central part of this township contains
very poor rock exposures, and no outcrops of lignite beds were found
except in sees. 1, 2, 3, 4, 35, and 36, where beds D, E, and F were
measured. The relations of these beds are shown in the strati-
graphic sections on Plate XVI.

Bed D, the lowest one, is broken by shale partings as shown by
the following section, and the lignite is poor :

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144 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET n.

Section of Ugnite bed D at location 243, sec, 1, T, H9 N., R. 93 W.

Shale. Ft in.

Bone 2

Lignite 1 9

Shale, carbonaceous , 1 4

Bone 4

Shale 1

Shale, carbonaceous 6

Lignite 3

Shale.

Bed E is exposed in the bluffs at many places, and sections were
measured at locations 237, 238, 239, 240, 244, 247, and 248. All these
sections except Nos. 244 and 248, given below, are shown in Plate
XX. The average thickness of bed E obtained from these measure-
ments is 2 feet 6 inches.

Sections of Hgnite bed E in T, U9 N., R, 93 W,
[In addition to those shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map
(PL XXVII).

Location.

Section.

244

NE.isec.1

NE.isec.l

Shale.

Bone

FL In.

1 8

248

Ugnite

Sbale.

Lignite. -

1 8

1 11

Bed F, which averages in this township a little over 2J feet in
thickness, is 52 feet higher than bed E at location 245 and 25 feet
higher at location 239. Measured sections of this bed at locations
236, 239, 241, 242, and 245 are shown on Plate XX.

At location 246, in sec. 1, bed G is 1 foot 10 inches thick. In sees.
32, 35, and 36 there is a bed of lignite at about the same position as
bed I. However, no measurement, except at location 301 (see PL
XX), was obtained on this bed, but in the township to the south,
where it was mapped extensively, it was measured in many places
and averages over 3 feet in thickness.

Another bed corresponding to bed K in the township immediately
to the south was measured at locations 299 and 300, in sec. 36, and
averages 4^ feet in thickness, though its upper portion is bony at
location 300. (See PI. XX.)

Bed M was measured in a number of places in the township to the
south and was mapped for a short distance in this township, although
no section of it was obtained here.

T. 149 N., B. 94 W.

T. 149 N., R. 94 W., is largely a grass-covered upland. Several
streams head in the township, among them Squaw and Bear Den

Digitized by VjOOQIC

BULLETIN 726 PLATE XX

T.150N..rt

ON, NORTH :|

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIGKITE IN FORT BEBTHOU) BESEBVATION, H. DAK. 145

creeks. The valleys, as shown in Plate XXV, A^ are broad, with
gentle slopes, and do not seem to have been affected by the advance
of the ice sheet, although here and there erratic boulders are found.
Most of the township is lacking in rock exposures, and outcrops of
lignite beds were found only in a few localities in sees. 6 and 7.
Section 194 represents a lenticular bed of lignite that lies between
beds C and D and is 2 feet thick. Sections 191 and 193 represent bed
D, which averages about S^ feet in thickness in this township. (See
PL XVII.) Section 190 probably shows bed E, and sec. 192,
bedF.

T. 140 N., B. 95 W.

The eastern part of T. 149 N., R. 95 W., comprising a strip of
land less than 1 mile wide and about 6 miles long, is included in the
Fort Berthold Reservation. The southern part of this strip is a
high, rolling upland. The northern part lies in the valley of Bear
Den Creek, which furnishes several good exposures of the lignite-
bearing formation. Four beds of lignite (beds C, D, E, and F) that
are exposed in the township immediately to the north crop out in
this township also and were measured in the NE. i sec. 12. Their
thickness and general relations are given in stratigraphic section 3,
Plate XVI, the upper 180 feet of which was measured on a butte
just outside of the reservation. Location 195 is on bed C, 196 on
bed D, 197 on bed E, and 198 on bed F. (See PI. XVII.) At
location 197 bed E contains 2 feet 1 inch of lignite separated into'
two equal benches by 3 feet of shale. The section at location 189,
in the NE. i sec. 1, represents bed F and is given on Plate XVII.
At location 198 bed F contains 1 foot 2 inches of lignite.

T. 148 N., B. 91 W., NORTH OF LITTLE MISSOTJBI BIVEB.

The part of T. 148 N., R. 91 W., lying north of Little Missouri
River and west of Missouri River is here described. The part lying
south of Little Missouri River is described on page 162. The east-
ern half of the area here described consists of the flood plain of Mis-
souri and Little Missouri rivers. The western part of the township
is a rolling upland about 150 feet above the river. Outcrops of
stratified rocks are few and limited to small areas. Two beds of
lignite crop out in sees. 4, 5, 8, and 9, and one bed in sees. 19 and 30.
The lower bed mapped in this township (called bed CC ?) is probably
the same as the lowest bed mapped in the township to the north. It
was measured only at location 386, in sec. 5, where it carries 2 feet 8
inches of lignite.

The next higher bed is correlated with bed E of the township to
the north and was measured at locations 285 and 287. The bed

Digitized by VjOOQIC

146 com?BiBTjnoNS to economic geology. 1921, paet n.

mapped in sees. 19 and 30 is probably bed E, as it has about the same
position. However, owing to the uncertainty of the correlation, it is
called bed EE. It was measured at locations 388, 389, and 390.
Section 390 is shown on Plate XX ; the other two are given below.

Sections of lignite bed EE in T. US N,, R. 91 W.
(In addition to that shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map
(P1.3tXVnf).

LooaUon.

Section.

888

NE.i8ec.30

NW.i8ec.30

T^iimltA

FLH.

.. 2 i

38d

TJ^ItA

2 11

This bed becomes thicker toward the west and was mapped con-
tinuously in that direction for more than 25 miles.

T. 148 N., Bw 92 W.

T. 148 N., R. 92 W., is drained by Squaw Creek and other small
streams that flow into Little Missouri River. The valley of Squaw
Creek is nearly as wide as the valley of the Little Missouri, though
the creek is about one-tenth the size of the river. The central part
of the township is a rolling upland dissected by the sharp, steep-
sided valleys of southward-flowing intermittent streams. Near the
north boundary of the township is a group of high buttes headed on
the east by Saddle Butte. A spur of bare buttes extends southward
from this group in the west-central part of the township. The relief
is about 700 feet.

The general character and relation of the rocks in this township
are shown in stratigraphic section 5, Plate XVI. The beds have a
general eastward dip of about 12 feet to the mile. Minor structural
features, such as a shallow syncline in sec. 16, a low dome in sees. 4
and 9 pitching rather steeply to the east in sec. 15, and a synclinal
basin with its center in sec. 11, were determined by careful plane-table
traverse on lignite bed I. However, the greatest observed dip in this
township is less than 2^. A thin mantle of glacial drift covers the
gentle slopes of Squaw Creek valley (PI. XXV, -4), and in the NE. }
sec. 33 glacial till was noted with a maximum thickness of 6 feet.

Four valuable beds of lignite are exposed in this township. Bed
EE crops out along Little Missouri River and Squaw Creek, with an
average thickness of 3 feet. Sections measured at locations 391, 392,
487, 439 to 447, and 449 to 457 show the character of this bed. These
sections are shown graphically in Plate XX, except those at loca-
tions 391 and 442, at both of which bed EE carries 1 foot 10 inches of
lignite.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UGIHTE IK FORT BERTHOU) RESERVATION, N. DAK.

147

A thin bed of lignite about 30 feet below bed EE was measured at
locations 451 ^* and 458. Its correlation with bed D is uncertain.
The measurements are tabulated below.

Sections of lignite lens in T. U8 N., R, 92 W,
[Not indnded in PI. XX.]

No. on map

(Pi.xxvni).

Location.

Section.

451

SW.i80c.27

SE.i8ec.32

Lij!;nite

Ft. in.

. 2 6

458

Lignite

1 7

A bed of lignite higher than bed EE and probably corresponding
to bed F was measured at location 448, in sec. 26, where it contains
3 feet of lignite. This bed is about 40 feet above bed EE and carries
lignite of poor quality.

A second bed of importance in the township is bed I, which is
about 175 feet above bed EE. This bed is somewhat variable in thick-
ness, but as shown by the measurements on Plate XX, it averages
over 2 feet 6 inches of good lignite. It is represented by sections
393, 395, 397, 398, 400, 401, 405, 410, 416, 419, 420, 422 to 431, and
433 to 436, all of which except those tabulated below are given on
Plate XX.

Sections of lignite hed I in T, U8 N., R. 92 W.
[In addition to those shown on Fl. XX.]

No. on map
(PI. XXVlfi).

Location.

Section.

NE.f see. 1.1

Lijnilte

FUn^
1 11

416

NE.
NE.

NE.-

sec. 11

sec. 14

sec. 15. .

Lignite

1 9

420

Lignite

1 9

423.. .

Shale, carboniaceous.

Lignite

Shale

Lignite

Shale.

1 4

Bed K, which lies about 80 feet above bed I, was mapped in the
northeastern part of this township and also in sec. 18. It has an
average thickness of about 2 feet and is represented by sections 394,
396, 399, 404, 406, 409, 417, 418, 421, and 432. These sections are
shown graphically on Plate XX, with the exception of those given
in the following table :

^ On Plate XX section 451 is erroneoasly credited to bed BIB, whereas It represents a
bed 30 feet below be^ EB.

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148 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET H.

Sections of UgnUe bed Kin T. U8 N,, R. 92 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XX.]

No. on map
(PlJCXVllf).

Location.

Section.

896

SB.j8ec.l2

SW.i8ec.l2

SW.|sec.l

SW.Jsec.l2

Lignite

Fi.in.
1 9

399...

Lignite

1 8

404.

Lignite

1 6

417

Lignite

1 &

Bed M is about 25 feet above bed K and is thick enough to warrant
mapping (2 feet or more) only in sees. 1, 2, 3, 11, and 12. Measure-
ments of this bed were obtained at locations 402, 403, 407, 408, 411,
412, 413, 414, and 415, and are shown graphically on Plate XX, with
the exception of those which are tabulated below.

Sections of Ugtiite bed M in T. US N,, R. 92 W.

[In addition to those shown on Pi. XX.]

No. on map
(PL xxvm).

I^ocation.

Section.

412.
414.
415.

NW.ifleo.2.
NW.i8ee.ll
NE.isec. 11.

Ft, <s.

Lignite 1 4

Lignite 1 5

Lignite 1 8

A stratigraphic section including about 300 feet of strata was
measured in a butte at location 438. Two beds of lignite, corre-
sponding to beds I and K of the townships farther north, were
found. Both were less than 2 feet thick at this place.

T. 148 N., B. 9S W.

T. 148 N., R. 93 W., is traversed diagonally from northwest to
southeast by the broad valley of Squaw Creek, which at its upper
ends opens out into the broad flat of the upland, as shown in Plate
XXV, J., but which lower down in this township is bordered by bad-
lands that give it a much more rugged appearance. A group of
these buttes in sec. 9 is shown in Plate XXIV, J., and another group
exhibiting typical topography of the western part of the reservation
is shown in Plate XXIV, B,

The lignite-bearing it)cks are very well exposed along Moccasin
Creek and in the high buttes on the north side of Squaw Creek. The
southern exposures, as shown in Plate XXV, By are much better than
those on the hillsides facing the north. This seems to be due partly
to the lodging of glacial drift and partly to the greater abundance
of vegetation on the northern slopes. The general dip of the strata
in this township is about 12 feet to the mile N. 70^ £., but there are

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UGKITE IN FORT BEBTHOLD RBSEBVATION, N. DAK. 149

many minor undulations in the beds which cause local dips in various
directions. A low anticline with its axis approximately in sees. 8
and 9 and a shallow syncline with its axis in sec. 14 were determined
by comparing altitudes on the lignite beds. None of the observed
dips exceed 2^. A thin mantle of glacial drift forms the surface
over most of the highland and in a few of the larger valleys. In
the NW. i sea 27 a section of glacial drift 12 feet thick was measured.
The drift contains at this place principally limonite concretions,
boulders of sandstone and shale, and pebbles of limestone, granite,
and quartzite. The whole is loosely cemented with gypsum and
limonite.

Five beds of lignite were mapped in this township, but none of
them is thick enough to justify mapping aU along its outcrop. Bed
£E, the lowest bed exposed, was measured only at locations 524 and
525, in sec. 36. At location 524 this bed contains less than 12 inches
of lignite, and at location 525 it carries 3 feet 3 inches of lignite. In
the township immediately to the south, where this bed is much
thicker, its outcrop has been mapped for long distances.

Bed FF is poorly exposed, and where it crops out it is too thin
to be of value.

Bed I in this township is about 150 feet higher than bed EE, and
its average thickness is about 3 feet. Sections 459, 463, 464, 465,
469, 474, 475, 479, 486, 487, 492, 493, 494, 497, 499, 500, 502, 606, 507,

509, 516, 519, 520, and 521 (PI. XXIII) represent this bed. At loca-
tion 465, in sec. 13, this bed contains 2 feet 3 inches of impure lignite ;
at location 494, in sec. 4, 1 foot 10 inches of lignite. Section 522,
showing nearly 4 feet of lignite, is probably on the same bed but
could not be identified with certainty. A lenticular bed of lignite
about 25 feet above bed I was measured at location 473, where it is
2 feet thick. Both east and west of this place this bed is thinner.
Section 481 represents a worthless bed somewhat higher than bed I,
which may correspond to bed J.

Bed K, which has an average thickness of about 3 feet, is repre-
sented by sections 468, 471, 476, 480, 485, 489, 491, 495, 498, 501, 503,
505, 508, 512, 515, 517, 518, and probably also 523. These are shown
graphically on Plate XXIII. At location 523 a bed of lignite is
1 foot 2 inches thick.

Sections 460, 461, 466, 470, 472, 477, 482, 484, 488, 490, 496, 504,

510, 511, 513, and 514 represent bed M. (See PL XXIII.) This bed
contains 1 foot 11 inches of lignite at location 496, but its average
thickness is 3 feet 6 inches. Bed N, the highest bed of lignite ^rati-
graphically that is mapped in this township, is represented by sec-
tions 467, 478, and 483. It is lenticular, but in its lower part the
lignite is of very good quality and averages 2 feet 10 inches in
thickness.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

150 CONTRIBUTIONS TO EOOKOMIG GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

Good exposures of the rocks occur in sees. 34 and 35, but they an
noticeably lacking in beds of lignite. The strata here are composed
mainly of yellow sandstone and gray clayey sandstone.

T. 148 N., B. 94 W.

T. 148 N., R. 94 W., lies largely on the upland, which is sur-
mounted here and there by buttes 200 to 300 feet high. Exposures
of the lignite-bearing formation are confined almost entirely to the
few isolated hills and the badlands in sec. 31. The strata apparently
lie nearly flat. Only one lignite section was obtained in the town-
ship, at location 636, in sec. 27, where a bed of lignite 2 feet 10 inches
thick crops out in a tributary of Moccasin Creek. It is probable that
the bed which was mapped in sec. 31 underlies most of this township
and may be the same as the bed mapped in sees. 1 and 12. The
strata exposed in the high hills in this township seem to be barren of
lignite.

T. 148 N., Bw 96 W.

That part of T. 148 N., R. 95 W., that lies within the Fort Berthold
Eeservation is described here. The lignite-bearing rocks are very
well exposed in this township, especially in the almost vertical cliffs
in the badlands along Sams Creek. Two valuable beds of lignite
and numerous thin beds crop out here. The lowest one is probably
bed EE, whose average thickness is about 12 feet. It is represented
by sections 627, 628, and 631, Plate XXIII. Owing to the burning
of the outcrop it is generally concealed by clinker. A lenticular bed
about 2 feet 10 inches thick and 20 feet higher (bed FF ?) was
measured at location 632. Another thin bed (bed HH) was meas-
ured at location 633, where it contains 2 feet 4 inches of impure
lignite. Bed I-J, with an average thickness of 3 feet 10 inches,
crops out for some distance in this township and is represented by
sections 626, 629, 630, 634, and 635, Plate XXIII. At location 635
the bed is composed principally of shale, as shown below.

Section of lignite bed I~-J at location 635, sec, 27, T. H8 N,, B, 95 W.

Shale. ^ ^

Bone 2 1

Shale 8

Lignite 5

Shale 3

Lignite 1 3

Shale.

4 8

Several beds of lignite were noted in the northern part of the
township, but as they are less than 2 feet thick they were not mapped.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIG27ITB IN FORT BEBTHOU) RESERVATION, N. DAK. 151

T. 147 N., B& 92 AND 93 W., WEST OT LITTLE MISSOUBI BIVEA.

The parts of T. 147 N., Rs. 92 and 93 W., that are here described
lie north and west of Little Missouri River. (See PL XXVIII.)
These contiguous townships are described together because of the
similarity of their surfaces and the continuity of outcrops of lignite
beds from one to the other. That part of the townships adjacent to
the Little Missouri contains some of the roughest badlands in North
Dakota. Views of these badlands in sees. 25 and 26 are shown in
Plate XTV. They are generally without vegetation and thus afford
excellent exposures of the lignite-bearing formation. The southern
slopes are almost free of vegetation, but the northern slopes are com-
monly covered with grass, and some of the coulees contain a dense
growth of scrub pines. In sec. 6, T. 147 N., R. 92 W., the badlands
are not so prominent as farther south, and the valley of Moccasin
Creek, as shown in Plate XV, B^ is broad and has comparatively
gentle slopes.

In sec. 19, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., there is a flat tract on which the
glacial boulders shown in Plate XIX, A^ are scattered in great num-
bers. At several places blocks of granite a yard or two in length lie
upon the surface.

The dip of the beds is about 8 feet to the mile in a southeasterly
direction, as determined by stadia traverse on the lignite beds. Eight
beds of lignite of sufficient thickness to justify mapping crop out in
these two townships, and owing to the excellent exposures in the bad-
lands most of the lignite beds can readily be studied in detail. The
stratigraphic position of lignite beds in these townships is shown in
section 7, Plate XVI.

The lowest bed stratigraphically is at about the same horizon as
bed DD and crops out in several localities, but is not thick enough
to justify mapping except at location 594, in sec. 20, T. 147 N., R.
93 W., where it contains 3 feet 2 inches of good lignite. West of this
place the bed is burned on the outcrop for a short distance, and beyond
the burned area it is covered by alluvium of the river flood plain. At
location 579 the following section of this bed was measured :

Section of Hgnite bed at location 579, sec. 28, T. W N., R, 93 W.

Shale. Ft In.

Lignite 1

Shale 9

Lignite 1 3

Shale.

11 3

Bed EE, which is perhaps the most persistent and valuable bed
in these townships, is about 30 feet above bed DD. In the NW. i
sec 1, T. 147 N., R. 93 W., it is less than 30 inches thick, but east and

44407**— 21 4

Digitized by VjOOQIC

152 GONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIG GEOLOGT, 1921^ PABT IL

fiouth of this place it generally measures 3 feet or more. It is rep-
resented on Plate XXIII by sections 526 to 531, 642, 548, 569, 673,
578, 591, and 596.

The greater part of the outcrop of bed EE is covered by clinker,
and as it crops out near the bases of talus slopes it is also covered in
many places by debris from the weathering of younger strata.

A thin bed of lignite about 20 feet above bed EE was measured at
locations 550, 583, and 598, in T. 147 N., R. 93 W. At location 550
it carries 10 inches of lignite; at location 583, 2 feet; and at location

598, 1 foot 9 inches.

The beds of lignite higher in the formation can not be certainly cor-
related with those in the northern part of the Fort Berthold field;
therefore double letters are used to designate the beds. Bed 6Q,
which is at about the horizon of bed 6, has a more sinuous outcrop
than any other lignite bed in these townships and is also the best ex-
posed, as it crops out at an altitude where rapid erosion is in prog-
ress. It is fairly constant in thickness, averaging about 5 feet, but
contains a high percentage of ash. It is present at locations 535, 541,
551, 557, 559, 560, 563, 576, 577, 580, 584, 585, 590, 596j 597, and

599, in T. 147 N., R. 93 W. ; and locations 564 and 572, in T. 147 N.,
R. 92 W. The sections at these locations are shown graphically on
Plate XXIII, with the exception of section 535, which includes only
10 inches of lignite.

Bed HH is generally separated from bed 6G by 20 to 35 feet of
yellow sandstone. It occurs at locations 540, 543, 546, 565, and 571,
in T. 147 N., T. 92 W. ; and locations 534, 537, 552, 558, 561, 577, 586,
588, and 589, in T. 147 N., R. 93 W. (See PI. XXIII.) Its average
thickness is nearly 4 feet.

Bed II is represented in T. 147 N., R. 92 W., by sections 646 and
568, and in T. 147 N., R. 93 W., by sections 539, 548, 553, 577, and
592 (PI. XXIII) ; it averages about 3 feet in thickness.

Bed JJ is mapped for a considerable distance in these townships.
It lies in a zone of shale and in some places contains a small amount
of gypsum. This bed occurs at locations 544, 566, and 570, in T.
147 N., R. 92 W., and locations 532, 533, 536, 538, 547, 554, 562, 581,
582, and 587, in T. 147 N., R. 93 W. The sections at these locations,
with the exception of those tabulated below, are shown graphically
on Plate XXHI.

Sections of lignite bed J J in T. U7 N,, Bs. 92 and 93 W. '
[In addition to thow shown on Fl. XXm.]

No. on map
(Pl.XXVnt

Location.

Section.

«d..
5M..

BE. i sec. 19..
NE.isec.14.

FL te.

Lignite 8 2

Bone a 8

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. 8. OEOLOOICAL SUBVET

BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXI

FOSSIL LOG STANDING NEARLY UPRIGHT IN CLAY SHALE OF THE
FORT UNION FORMATION.

B. FOSSIL STUMP IN FORT UNION FORMATION.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXII

A. SAGE-BRUSH FLAT OF HANS CREEK, N. DAK.. AND BLUFFS OF THE FORT
UNION FORMATION.

B. ROLLING UPLAND IN THE FORT BERTHOLD INDIAN RESERVATION. N. DAK.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

UGKITB m FOET BERTHOIJ) RESERVATION, N. DAK. 168

Sections 555 and 574, representing bed KK, were measured in T.
147 N., R 93 W. (See PI. XXIII.) A section of this bed in T. 147
X., E. 92 W., is given below.

Section of ligwUe bed KK at location 567, in «eo. 19, T. U7 N., R. 92 W.

Sandstone. Ft in.

Lignite '- 8

Shale, carbonaceous 3

Lignite. 1 6

Shale.

5 2

Sections 566, 575, and 693 represent lignite bed MM in T. 147 N.,
R. 93 W. The bed averages over 5 feet in thickness and is the highest
bed of lignite that is exposed in this township. In many places its
outcrop is obscured by clinker. In sees. 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, and 20, T.
147 N., B. 93 W., there are several large areas in which this bed has
been burned.

In sees. 2, 5, and 34, T. 147 N., K. 93 W., excellent exposures of the
rocks, chiefly above the horizon of bed MM, reveal only thin beds of
lignite or none at all.

T. 147 N., B. 94 W.

The part of T. 147 N., R. 94 W., here described lies north of Little
Missouri River. The lignite-bearing rocks are well exposed along
that stream and its tributary gullies. The ground in the northern
part of the township is level and covered by a thin mantle of glacial
debris. A few foreign boulders derived from glacial drift are also
found in the stream valleys, mingled with the alluvium of the river
flood plain. A northwestward dip of 15 feet to the mile was noted
in sec. 15, but elsewhere the beds have a general southeastward dip.
Several high buttes occur in sec. 2.

Five beds of lignite crop out in this township. Bed EE, the lowest
one, is represented by sections 604, 609, 613, and 614 (PI. XXIII)
and ranges in thickness from 7 feet 11 inches at location 604 to 10 feet
3 inches at location 614.

A lenticular bed near the horizon of bed FF and about 25 feet
higher than bed EE has the following section at location 603 :

Section of lignite bed at locaHon 60S, sec. IS, T. 147 N'., R. 94 W.

Shale, sandy. Ft hi.

Lignite 8

Shale, carbonaceous 1

Lignite 10

Shale, carbonaceous;

2 6

Sections 602, 605, 610, 617, and 618, Plate XXIII, represent

bed 6G, which ranges in thickness from 1 foot 2 inches at location

Digitized by VjOOQIC

154 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

6i22 to 4 feet 2 inches at location 618. At location 617 the bed carries
2 feet 7 inches of lignite, containing a large amount of gypsum. At
location 622 bed GG contains 1 foot 2 inches of lignite.

Bed HH was mapped in the western. part of the township and is
represented by sections 619, 620, and 622, Plate XXIII. Beds GG
and HH are separated by about 20 feet of yellow sandstone, and it
is notable that where one is thin the other is thick. Both beds are
lenticular, and the lignite is variable in quality.

In the western part of this township beds II and JJ are mapped
as one because they are generally separated by not more than 5 feet
of strata, but in the eastern part (sec. 13, locations 600 and 601)
these beds are separated by about 40 feet of shale and are mapped
separately. This divergence of strata is not an uncommon feature
in this field among thin beds of shale and sandstone as well as beds
of lignite, (See fig. 15, p. 126.) Sections 601, 606, and 611 repre-
sent bed II ; sections 600, 607, and 612 bed J J ; and sections 616, 616,
621, 623, and 624 the combined beds I-^.

Bed EX is less than 2 feet thick in this township and was not
mapped. The highest bed mapped is bed MM, which, as measured
at location 608, is 8 feet 9 inches thick. (See PL XXIII.)

T. 147 N., B. 95 W.

The part, of T. 147 N., K. 95 W., here described lies north of Little
Missouri River. Rocks are exposed in the SE. i NE. J sec. 1, but
elsewhere the surface material is the alluvium of the river flood
plain. One bed of lignite was found and as measured at location
625 (see PI. XXIII) has a thickness of 4 feet 10 inches. This bed
is believed to be bed EE, mapped in T. 147 N., R. 93 W. The strate
have a slight eastward dip.

T. 147 N., B. 92 W., EAST OF LITTLE UISS0X7BI BIVEB.

The part of T. 147 N., R. 92 W., which lies west of Little Missouri
River is described on pages 161-153, in connection with T. 147 N.,
R. 93 W. ; the part here described lies east of Little Missouri River.
This stream has a deep troughlike valley, on either side of which, in a
belt 3 or 4 miles wide, are the extensive badlands shown in Plate XIV.
These consist of small gorges or steep-sided gulches cut into the
uplands so as to form an intricate network of drainage and make the
tract practically impassable. In many places these gullies are only
a few feet in width, but their depth may be so great as to make it
impossible to cross them. The upland is rolling and well covered
with grass. The rocks exposed in the township consist principally
of sandy shale and sandstone, with numerous beds of lignite. Some
of the strata are cross-bedded and exhibit other features indicative of

Digitized by VjOOQIC

^' S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

»^ 564 565

568 569 570

4' 6" ■2' i"

571 572 573

j^HH P|^C6 ^^CC

ly 1"

16' r

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIOITITE IN FOBT BERTHOU) RESERVATIONy N. DAK.

155

deposition by rapidly moving currents of water; some suggest eolian
deposition; others suggest deposition in swirls or eddies of streams;
still others appear to have been formed in deltas; and undoubtedly
some of the beds of carbonaceous shale and lignite were formed in
marshes. The strata lie nearly flat, as is proved by the fact that al-
titudes on the same bed of lignite 5 or 6 miles apart are, as a rule,
nearly the same. However, local dips in various directions were
noted. The maximum relief in this township is about 600 feet.

Nine beds of lignite 2 feet or more in thickness have been traced
and mapped in this township, some for only short distances and others
across the entire township. The approximate stratigraphic positions
of these beds are shown in section 7, Plate XVI. At many of the lo-
cations two or more lignite beds are exposed, and in the following
descriptions the numbers are repeated for each bed. The lowest bed
exposed is bed DD, which was mapped for a short distance in sees.
1 and 12 and measured at locations 749 and 750. At location 749 it
contains 2 feet 4 inches of lignite, and at location 750 it contains 1 foot
7 inches.

Bed EE is about 30 feet higher than bed DD and is probably the
most valuable bed in this township and the one immediately to the
west, as it averages over 4 feet in thickness and underlies practically
all of the area except the flood plain of Little Missouri Eiver. It was
measured at locations 641, 715, 726, 729, 730, 732, 733, 739, 740, 745,
746, 748, 749, and 751. Sections at all these locations are shown on
Plate XXVI, except Nos. 748 and 749, which are given below.

Sections of lignite bed EE in T, IJft y., R, 92 W.
{In addition to those shown on Plate XXVI.]

No. on map
(PL XXIX).

Location.

Section.

748

NB.i8ee.13

NB.i8ee.12

Shale.

Shale, carbonaoeous

Lignite

Shale, carbonaoeous. . .

Lignite, dirty

Shale.

Shale, carbonaoeoas

Ft. in.

749

1 2

Lixnite

ShaleT^

1 8

Bed FF is about 20 feet above bed EE and is very lenticular. It
was mapped only in the northern part of this township and was
measured at locations 730, 732, 733, and 739 (PL XXVI). The bed
contains 1 foot 9 inches of lignite at location 730 and 1 foot 8 inches
at location 739.

Bed GG is about 30 feet above bed FF and averages more than
3 feet in thickness in the eastern part of the township, but in the
western part it is very thin or absent Sections 729, 780, 789, 742,

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156 COirrBIBUTIONS to economic OEOLOaY, 1921, PAET n.

746, and 747 were measured on bed GG ; section 746 is shown on Plate
XXVI, and the other measurements are given in the following table:

Sections of lignite bed GG in T. 1^7 N., R. 92 W.
[In addition to that shown on Plate XXVI.]

No. on map
(PL XXIX),

Looation.

SecUon.

7».

8W.i8ec.4

NW.isec3

NW. J sec. 13

SW.isec. 13

NE.i8ec.13

Sandstone.

Liimito

FUk,

730

Lignite, poor

Shale.

lignite

Shale

1 2

730

lignite, dirty

Shale.

lignite

Shale

1 2

742

lignite

ShaleT

Lignite

Shale, carbonaceous

Lignite,

Shale.

Ugnlte

Shale, sandy.

1 s

747

1 8

1 7

A lenticular bed at about the horizon of bed GG was measured
at location 718, where it contains but 1 foot 2 inches of lignite. Bed
HH is separated from bed GG by about 25 feet of drab shale, and
it has an average thickness of 2 feet 8 inches. In this township the
bed was measured at locations 637, 638, 642, 714, 716, 719, 726, 727,
729, and 746." These sections are shown on Plate XXVI, with the
exception of those given below.

Sections of lignite bed HH in T. 147 N., R. 9$ W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XX VI.]

No. on
(PI.

LocaUon.

Section.

716.
719.

SE. isec.29..
SW.isec.20.

727.

8E.}sec.l6..

729.
745.

SW.}8ee.4...
NW.}8eo.24.

Lignite ,

Shale.

Bon©

Shale

lignite..
Shale.

Sandstone.

Lignite...

Shale...

Lignite..!
Shale.

Lignite

...2

Lignite 2

» Section 740 Is lahd«d bed OG on Plate tXVl ; it should be labeled bed HH.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

lAQinTE IN FOBT BEBXHOU) BESEBYATIONy N. DAK.

167

The next important bed of lignite higher in the section is bed 11,
which averages 3 feet in thickness and was measured at locations
639, 642, 700, 710, 712, 714, 716, 720, 726, 727, 728, 729, 731, 735, 786,
737, 738, 741, 742, 743, and 746. These sections are given graphically
on Plate XXVI with the exception of those tabulated below.

Sections of lignite bed II in T. 147 N., R, 92 W.
[In. addition to those shown on PL XXVI.]

No.onnra
(PL XXIX).

Location.

Section.

712

NE.i860.84

SB.i860.29.

SW.J86C.4

BE. i860. 16

BE.ia60.13

8E.i86Q.13

Sandstone.

Lignite

Shalo.

T4e*iiti^...

Ft. in.

n«

3 4

7»

Lfgnfte^

1 8

TS7

T'ienft*

742

TJgnite...

7«

Shale.

lignite

Shale, oarbonaoeous

Shale.

Bed JJ, whose average thickness is 1 foot 8 inches, was measured
at locations 716, 721, 726 to 729, 731, 735 to 738, 741 to 743, and 745.
These measurements are shown graphically on Plate XXVI, with the
exception of those tabulated below.

Sections of lignite bed J J in T, H7 N., R. 92 W,
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on n^p
(PLXXUt).

Location.

Section.

ne.

721.
727.
728.
720.
731.
735.
736.
737.
738.
741.
742.
743.

8E.
8E.
SB.

BE
BE.
BE.
SB.

860.29..
sec. 20...
sec. 16...

NB; 860.16.
8 W sec. 4.

sec. 3..,
sec. 11...
sec. 11...

.860. 15...

BW.isec.14.
NE.isec.l4.

BE. i sec. 14...
BE. {sec. 14..

Ft. In.

Lignite. 2

Lignite. 2 2

lignite. 1 10

Ugnite 1 5

lignite 1 7

lignite 1 2

lignite 1

lignite. 1 6

lignite. 1 1

lignite. 1 3

lignite. 1 6

lignite. 1 2

lignite 1 2

Bed KK, which averages 2^ feet in thickness in this township, was
measured at locations 640, 701, 704, 706, 708, 709, 713, 716, 717, 722,
726 to 728, 731, 734 to 738, and 741 to 743. The measurements of this
bed are shown graphically on Plate XXVI, with the exception of
those tabulated on page 158.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

158 COISTTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAKT n.

Sections of lignite bed KK in T. U7 K., R. 92 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on nittp
(P1.XXD0,

701.
704.
708.
708.
700.
716.
796.
738.
741.
742.
743.

Location.

8W. i sec. 35.
NW.isec.35
SW. i sec. 26.
SW. I sec. 26.
SE.isec.27..
SE. I sec. 29..
SE.isec. 11..
S W. i sec. 14.
NW. J sec. 14.
SE.isec. 14..
SE.isec. 14..

Section.

Ft. in.

Lignite 1 2

Lignite 1 8

lignite 1 10

Lignite. 1 10

Lignite 2

Lignite. 2 4

Lignite 2 2

Lignite 1 5

lignite.... 1 10

Lignite 1 5

Lignite (bottom of bed unexposed) 1 6+

Bed liL is generally less than 2 feet thick in this township and
contains lignite of poor quality. It is represented by sections 702,
708, 713, 716, 723, 728, 737, and 745. Sections 713 and 745 are shown
graphically on Plate XXVI ; the remainder are tabulated below.

Sections of lignite bed LL in T. U7 N„ R. 92 W,
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on map
(PI. XXt30.

Location.

Section.

FLin.

Lignite 1 10

Lignite 8

Lignite S

Lignite 1 11

Lignite, very impure 2

Lignite, impure 2 11

702...
708...
716...
723...
728...
737. _

8W.isec.35
SW.isec.26
SE.isec. 29.
SE.isec. 20.
NE.isec.l6
SE. i sec. 15.

Bed MM is the highest bed of lignite mapped in the township, and
it averages 3 feet in thickness, as shown by sections 689, 705, 708, 711,
713, 716, 724, and 725. All these sections are given on Plate XXVI
except section 716, which shows 1 foot of lignite.

Several thin lenses of lignite from 10 to 15 feet above bed MM were
measured at locations 688, 707, 713, and 728. These measurements
are tabulated below.

Sections of lignite lenses above bed MM in T. lip N., R, 92 W,

(??:SS^.

Location.

Section.

688

SW.f9ec.36

8W.i8ec.26

NW.i8ec84

NE.i8ec.16

Lignite, dirty

Ft. in.
1 4

707 . .

LiSite..T... .:..;.

713

Lignite

1 2

728

T^iimitA .

1 10

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UaNITE IN FOET BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 159

T. 146 N., B. &2 W.

The part of T. 146 N., R. 92 W., here described lies within the
Fort Berthold Reservation. Hans Creek flows northwestward
through the township, entering at sec. 12 and leaving at sec. 4. Its
Talley, as shown in Plate XXII, J., is fairly wide for the size of
the stream and is bordered on either side by badlands, particularly
in the northwestern part of the township. Many of the tributary
streams are cut into the soft Fort Union strata, so that gorges and
canyons are common. Fantastic peaks of Fort Union strata, such
as the one shown in Plate XVIII, -4, overlook the valley from the
south, and the wash of the rain has carved them into fantastic
shapes and seamed them with countless channels of the most delicate
tracery. These precipitous peaks, together with the steep-sided can-
yons, make the country exceedingly difficult to cross. The relief
amounts to about 400 feet in the maximum but is considerably less
in the eastern part of the township than in the western part

The lignite-bearing rocks are exposed in the bluffs on either side
of Hans Creek and along its tributaries. Along the stream itself
alluvium covers the stratified formation to a considerable depth. On
the uplands a thin mantle of glacial drift is found in several locali-
ties, but usually the drift amounts to only a scattering of pebbles
and boulders. It is doubtful if at any place in this township the
drift is more than 15 feet thick. Consolidated glacial drift 12 feet
thick was found in sec 6 on a high ridge within half a mile of Little
Missouri River. The drift does not, however, generally obscure the
outcrops of lignite beds in this township.

The approximate vertical position of the lignite beds in this town-
ship is shown in stratigraphic section 7, Plate XVI. At several of
the locations indicated by numbers on this section two or more beds
of lignite occur. The lowest bed of lignite exposed in this township
was measured at location 647, in sec. 5. This bed, as indicated by
measurements in the surrounding townships, has an average thick-
ness of over 5 feet and has been called for convenience bed EE and
correlated with bed EE north of Little Missouri River. At location
647 the entire thickness could not be measured owing to the fact
that the base of the bed was covered by a large slump. However, it
carries over'6 feet of lignite at this place. (See PL XXVI.) The next
higher important bed of lignite in this township is separated from
bed EE by about 100 feet of sandy shale and sandstone containing
two thin beds of lignite. These thin beds (FF and GG) were not
mapped, as each contains less than 2 feet of good lignite. Bed HH,
which has an average thickness of about 4 feet 6 inches in this town-
ship, was measured at locations 645, 646, 648, 649, 651, 654, 657, 658,

Digitized by VjOOQIC

160 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

659, 666, 668, 670, 695, 697, and 699. All the sections are shown on
Plate XXVI.

Bed II, which has an average thickness of about 2 feet 6 inches,
was measured at locations 645, 646, 651, 652, 653, 656, 658, 660, 664,
665, 667, 671, 672, 685, 694, 696, and 699, as shown in Plate XXVI.
Sections of bed II not shown on this plate are given in the following
table:

Sections of lignite bed JT in T. U6 N., R. 92 W,

[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on map
(PI. XXIX).

Section.

Ft.H.

Lignite 2 2

Lignite. 3

Bed JJ was measured at locations 645, 651, 655, 658, 661, 662, 669,
673, and 698. This bed averages less than 2 feet in thickness and is
of poor quality. Section 661 is shown on Plate XXVI, and others
are given in the following table :

Sections of Ugnite led JJ in T, H6 N., R. 92 W.
[In addition to that shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on mai
(PI. xxi:

lap

x5.

Location.

Section.

M5
051.

066.

058
002.
000
073.
008

NW.isec.5.
SW. isec. 8.

SE.^sec. 8..
NE.isec.9.
S W. I sec. 0. ,
NE.isec. 11
NE.}8ec.l3
NE.Jseca.

Ft.bL

Lignite 2 1

Shale, carbonaceous 8

Lignite 1 10

Shale, carbonaceous 8

Lignite 1 5

Lignite 1 S

Lignite 1 7

Lignite 1 10

Lignite 1 8

Lignite 1

Bed KK is of value in the township to the north but is thin or
absent throughout most of this township. It was measured, how-
ever, at locations 651, 655, 658, 661, 662, 682, 683, 686, 687, 690, and
692. All these sections are tabulated below, with the exception of
sections 683 and 686, which are shown graphically on Plate XXVL

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 728 PLATE XXIV

A. BUTTES IN SEC. 9. T. 148 N.. R. 93 W.. N. DAK.

B. BUTTES IN T. 148 N.. R. 93 W.. N. DAK.

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U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 736 PLATE XXV

A, VIEW UP SQUAW CREEK. N. DAK.

B. BARE BUTTES IN SQUAW CREEK VALLEY IN SEC. 10, T. 148 N.. R. 93 W.,

N. DAK.

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UQNITE IS TORT BEBTHOIJ) BESEBVATION, 17. DAK.

161

SeotioM of UffMte bed KK In r. US N., R. 9B W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI. I

No. on
(PL —

Loostion.

Section.

651.
ft55.
658.

051.
682.
682.
687,
600.
602.

8 W. } 86C. 8. ,

8E.i8ee.8...
NE.|8ec9.
8W.|8ee.9.
8W.}8ee.9.,
NE. I sec. 12
NW.isecl.
NB.|8eo.2..
NB.}sec.2.

lignite. I 8

lignite. 1 6

lignite. 1 10

lignite. 1

lignite 1 7

lignite. 2 3

lignite. 2 2

lignite. ; 2 2

lignite 1 1

A carbonaceous shale bed about 20 feet thick and about 15 feet
above bed KK was noted at location 691^ where it pinches out south-
ward, being replaced by a bed of buff sandstone 20 feet thick. Half
a mile to the north this carbonaceous bed suddenly becomes thin,
and at location 693 it is replaced by a coarse buff sandstone, which
is cross-bedded.

Bed LL lies in a zone of carbonaceous shale and is generally thin
and shaly. Measurements of it were obtained at locations 643, 651,
658, 661, 663, and 681. These measurements are tabulated below or
shown graphically on Plate XXVI.

Sections of lismite bed LL in T, U6 N., R, 92 W.
[In addition to those shown on Pi. XXVI.]

No.on]i^
(PI. X^2>.

Location.

Section.

543

NW.isecO

SW.iaecS

NW.isecW

NB.i8ecl2

T4|mlt^. . . . , . , ,

1 8

851

\Aan\f^ , , ,

1 8

063

Lignite

1 11

081

Tienlte

The highest bed of lignite in this township is bed MM. It is
about 300 feet above bed EE and ranges in thickness from about 1
foot 1 inch at location 650 to 6 feet 4 inches at location 661, having
an average thickness of about 3 feet of good lignite. Sections were
measured at locations 644, 650, 651, 658, 661, 680, and 684 and are
shown on Plate XXVI or tabulated below.

8ecti(m8 of lignite bed MM in T. H6 N., R. 92 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

Nconnwp
(PLXixixS.

Looetion.

Section.

660.
Ofil.

680.

NW. J sec 17,

8W. 1860.8..

KB.iaeo.12.

FLin,
Lignite 1 I

Shale, carbonaoeous 6

Lignite 2 4

Shale.

lignite. I e

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162 COHTTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

So far as known there are in this immediate locality no beds of
lignite of any importance higher than bed MM, nor any lower than
bed EE. The nearest location on a bed greater than 3 feet in thick-
ness and stratigraphically below bed EE is in sec. 9, T. 147 N., E.
90 E., where bed CC has a reported thickness of 6 feet. As bed CG
dips beneath the surface of Missouri River at this place it is probable
that the bed underlies all of this township, with an average thick-
ness of more than 3 feet.

T. 148 N., B. 91 W., SOUTH OF LITTLB UISSOUBI BIVEB.

The part of T. 148 N., R. 91 W., that is described here lies south
of Little Missouri River and west of Missouri River. The surface
of this part of the township is made up of the flood plains of the
main rivers and a strip of badlands along the south. The maximum
relief is about 200 feet.

The rocks consist mainly of sandy shale and sandstone interbedded
with carbonaceous shale and thin beds of lignite. The surface mate-
rial is largely alluviimi. In places a few boulders of crystalline rock
weighing several tons each were noted, which indicate that this area
has been subjected to glaciation.

Altitudes of certain beds of lignite at diflFerent places indicate that
the dip of the strata is very slight or practically horizontal. Two
beds of lignite are mapped in this township. Bed EE is the lower
one, and was measured at locations 758, 759, 760, and 761. At loca-
tion 758 it contains 2 feet 2 inches of lignite ; at location 761, 11 inches
of lignite overlain by 8 inches of bone ; and at location 759, 2 feet
7 inches of lignite. Sections 759 and 760 appear on Plate XXVI.
Bed GG was mapped in sec. 34 of this towndiip. Sections on this
bed were obtained in sec 3 of the township immediately to the
south. As both of these beds of lignite average less than 2 feet in
thickness they are not considered valuable. However, it is believed
that the township is underlain by thicker beds of lignite at a depth
of less than 300 feet.

T. 147 N., B. 91 W.

All of T. 147 N., R. 91 W., is described here except part of sec.
1, which lies northeast of Missouri River.

In the northern part of this township steep-sided gullies and
ravines cut into the upland to a depth of about 300 feet. The maxi-
mum relief in the township, however, amounts to about 500 feet.
South of the central part is a high rolling upland surmounted in
places by grass-covered mounds 50 or 60 feet higher than the main
level. Along Missouri River in sees. 1 and 12 are steep bluffs caused
by the undercutting of the stream. Many landslides occur on these
bluffs; the largest seen, in sec 1, is about half a mile in length and

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UGITITE IK FOBT BEBTHOLD BESEBVATIONy K. DAK.

163

800 to 1,000 feet in width. The vertical displacement due to the
slide is about 300 feet. Part of the material has slid into Missouri
River and is gradually being carried away by the stream. Another
slide, which is probably older than the one just mentioned, extends
for about half a mile along the river bluff in the NE. i sec. 12 and
into sec. 1 of this township and sec. 7 of the township to the east.
The strata in every slide in this locality dip from 1° or 2° to 40®
toward the bluff from which the material is derived.

The rocks in this township are composed of sandy shale and sand-
stone interbedded with thin layers of carbonaceous shale and lignite.
The strata lie nearly flat ; a northwestward dip of perhaps as much
as 8 feet to the mile has been noted in sees. 3 and 10. A few glacial
boulders are scattered on the upland, but in the rough country near
Missouri Biver and in the northern part of this township practi-
cally all the drift has been removed by stream erosion.

The lignite beds in the township are much thinner than those of
adjoining townships. The number of mappable beds is four, whereas
in the township immediately to the west there are nine. The lowest
bed of lignite mapped in this township is bed DD. Only one meas-
urement of this bed was obtained — at location 780, in sec. 12, where
it contains 1 foot 1 inch of lignite.

The next higher bed is EE, on which measurements were made at
locations 764, 769, and 777.

Sections of HgrUte bed EE in T. U7 N., R, 91 W.
[In addition to that shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on map
(P1.XXIX!).

Location.

86ction.

704

NW.i8ec.4

NW.J90C.12

Shale.

Lignite.

Shale.

Ft. in.

Lignite

Shale, carbonaceoiui. . .

S^!^rbiiii^:::

777

Llgnftp

1 7

At location 769 only 3 feet of lignite is exposed, the lower part of
the bed being concealed by water. The section is shown on Plate
XXVI. Bed EE becomes thinner to the north and is less than 2
feet in thickness near the township line. South and west of this
township this bed is much thicker; in the township immediately to
the west it has an average thickness of over 4 feet ; and in T. 147 N.,
R. 94 W.j it has a maximum observed thickness of 14 feet. It is
probable that bed CC lies at a depth of less than 500 feet beneath
this township and carries more than 2 feet of lignite. A bed about

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164 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAET II.

20 feet above bed EE and 3 feet thick was measured at locations 755,
778, 779, and 780. Section 756 is shown on Plate XXVI. Other
sections of bed FF are tabulated below :

SecUana of lignite bed FF in T. 147 N., R. 91 W,
[In addition to that shown on PL XXVI.]

No. on map
(PI.XXIX5.

Location.

Section.

778

SW.lsec.1

NB.i8ec.l2

8B.i8eo.12.

Shale, carbonaceous

Lteilte.

Shale.

Lignite

Shale.

Ligprilte

Shale, carbonaoooiu x.... .

FLiu.
10

::;:::::;:::: u

1 7

Lignite

Shale

Lignite, dirty

780

Shale.

Shale, carbonaceous

^^ Lignite.

Shale, carbonaceous

1 4

Shale.

Bed GG, which has an average thickness in this township of 2
feet 6 inches, is separated from bed FF by abount 80 feet of sandy
shale and crops out in sees. 3, 4, 5, 9, and 10. Measurements of
this bed were obtained at locations 762, 763, 766 to 768, 770, 772, 778,
and 775. (See PL XX VI.)

Sections of Uffwite bed GG in T. W N., R. 91 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

No. on map
(PL XXIX).

Location.

Section.

702
707

768.

770.
772.

NE.isecS..
SW.isecd.

NE.i8eo.3.

NE.}8eo.lO
NB. iseclO

Ft. in.

Lignite 1 10

Shale, landy.

Shale, carbonaceous 6

Lignite 1 8

Shale, oarbonaoeous 7

I4gnite 5

Shale.

Shale, carbonaceous 5

Lignite 1

Shale, carbonaceous 2

Lignite 7

Lignite 2 «

Shale.

Lignite 1 6

Shale, oarbonaoeous 1 l

Lignite 3

Shale/

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UGKITE IN FORT BERTHOIiD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

165

West of location 762 bed GG is less than 2 feet thick and was not
mapped for several miles.

Bed HH is of mappable thickness in sec 17. It is 2 feet 5 inches
thick at location 754 (PL XXVI) and 1 foot 3 inches at location
771. Thin beds of lignite higher in the section were measured in
sees. 7, 18, and 19. Bed II was measured at location 757, in the
SW. J sea 7, where it carries 1 foot 10 inches of lignite.

The thickness of bed JJ was obtained at locations 752, 753, and 774.

BectiOM of UffnUe bed J J in T. 147 N., R. 91 W.

No. on
(P1.X

Q nun

Location.

Section.

752.

774.

SW. iseclS.
NW.iseo. 19
8£. I sec. 10..

Ft. in.

Lignite 2 1

Lignite 1 7

Shale.

Shale, carbooaoeous. 8

Lignite 1 3

Shale.

Other sections of thin beds which may be the same as higher
beds already described were obtained at locations 678 and 776. At
location 678 a bed carrying 1 foot 11 inches of lignite was meas-
ured, and at location 776 a section 1 foot 3 inches thick was obtained.

T. 146 N., R 91 W.

That part of T. 146 N., R. 91 W., which lies within the Fort
Berthold Keservation has a fairly regular surface, though in the
western part the relief amounts to several hundred feet. In the
central and eastern parts the surface is rolling and generally grass
covered. Although the ground is commonly covered with glacial
drift it does not affect the surface features noticeably. The rocks
are composed of light-yellow sandstone and gray shale interbedded
with lignite. The lignite is thin and usually of poor quality. The
township is probably underlain by a bed of lignite which crops out
on Hans Creek in T. 146 N., R. 92 W., and was measured at locations
668 and 696. This bed (HH) averages over 4 feet in thickness on
Hans Creek. Another still lower bed that may underlie this town-
ship is bed EE, which averages about 5 feet in thickness on Hans
Creek and Little Missouri River in Tps. 146 and 147 N., R 92 W.
Beds II, KK, and MM are mapped for short distances in sees. 6, 7,
and 18 of this township. All these beds, however, are less than 2
feet 6 inches thick. Measurements of them aie given in the f ollow-
ing table:

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166 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT U.
Sections of lignite beds IT and KK in T. U6 N^ R. 91 W.

No. Gnmfip
(P1.XXIX5.

LooatioQ.

Bed.

Seetton.

C74

NW. Jsec. 18

NW.}8ec.7

NE.Jsec.7

8W.l8ec.6

NE.|sec.6

KK...
KK...

Lignite (thickness reported)

FLin,
3±

675

Lignite.: *

Lignite

1 10

076

1 8

677

1 10

679

Lignite

1 ft

Bed MM was not measured in this township but was mapped a
short distance on the strength of a measurement made at location
680, in the township immediately to the west, where it is <mly 1 foot
6 inches thick.

T. 147 N., R 90 W.

That part of T. 147 N., R. 90 W., here described lies south of Mis^
souri River. The principal surface features are Missouri River and
its bluffa The river flows through sees. 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 and for
the greater part of the way is undercutting the bluffs on its south
bank, which in many places are 260 to 300 feet high, forming sheer
walls of sedimentary rocks. In other places landslides have caused
thousands of tons of material to slide into the river. One of the
most notable of these slides is mapped in the SW. i sec. 8. A large
creek flowing through the southeastern part of this township, leaving
it in sec. 24, has a wide valley well covered with grass and is peculiar
because of the large number of seeps and springs it contains. At
many places along this stream there are pools 10 or 12 feet deep. The
general covering of glacial drift in the southern part of this town-
ship is not thick enough to affect the form of the surface.

The rocks exposed in the sections on Missouri River consist of
sandy shale and sandstone, together with thin beds of carbonaceous
shale and lignite. There is probably about 200 feet of the Fort Union
formation beneath the lowest beds exposed in this township.

The lowest bed of lignite that crops out in the township is bed CC,
which was measured at locations 788, 806, and 809. At location 78S
4 feet oTf lignite was measured above the water of Missouri River in
September, 1912. Owing to the height of the water a complete sec-
tion could not be measured. It was reported, however, that the lig-
nite bed at this place is more than 6 feet thick and is mined during
the winter when the water is low and the river frozen. This measure-
ment is believed to be on bed CC, which was mapped for 15 miles in
the township immediately to the east. Sections 806 and 809 are
shown on Plate XXVI. The next higher bed of lignite is bed DD,
which averages 2 feet 8 inches in thickness and was measured at loca-
tions 796, 797, 804, 805, 807, 808, and 813. At locations 796 and 797
bed DD carries 1 foot 9 inches of lignite. Other measureoients of

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LIGKITE IN FORT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK.

167

this bed are shown on Plate XXVI. Its quality as well as its thick-
ness is variable. Bed EE has an average thickness of 2 feet 4 inches
and is separated in this township from bed DD by about 35 feet of
shale. It was measured at locations 781, 7<82, 784, 785, 787, 791 to 795,
799, 803, 810, 814, and 815. These sections, with the exception of
those tabulated below, are shown on Plate XXVI.

Sections of lignite bed EE in T. U7 N., R. 90 W.
[In addition to those shown on Plate XXVI.]

No. on map
(PI. XXIX).

Location.

Section.

787.
798.
810.
814.

815.

BE. I sec. 8...
SW. i sec. 10.
BE. i sec. 27..
NE.i8ec.25.

NE.isec.25.

Ft. in.
Lignite f. 1 11

Lignite 2 1

Lignite, impure 1 6

Shale.

Lignite 1

Shale 3

Ligirfte 6

Shale.

lignite. 1 4

Bed FF, which has an average thickness of 2 feet 11 inches, is
separated from bed EE by 5 to 20 feet of shale. It seems probable
that this bed is the upper part of bed EE of the township imme-
diately to the east and that in this township it becomes separated from
that bed by the increasing thickness of the shale parting. Bed FF
was measured at locations 783, 786," 789, 790, 798, 800, 801, and 802.
(See PI. XXVI.) A section measured at locatioi^ 811, in sec. 19,
may represent bed FF, although the correlation is uncertain. At
this place a spring issues from; an outcrop of lignite, and an in-
complete section shows 4 feet 2 inches of lignite of good quality.
In sees. 24, 25, and 36 a lens of lignite lies between bed DD and
bed EE. It was measured at locations 813 and 815 and apparently
becomes thicker toward the 'south. The lens is only 8 inches thick
at location 815 and continues to thin northward from this point.
Several beds of lignite higher in the geologic section were noted but
are too thin to be of any value.

T. 146 N., R 90 W.

The part of T. 146 N., E. 90 W., that lies within the Fort Berthold
Keservation has very little relief. The streams flow in broad val-
leys that are partly filled with glacial drift. However, the glacial
drift is so old that the surface is not materially modified by it.

^ The two sections on Plate XXVI labeled 783 should be 783 and 786.
44497**— 21 5

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168 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

The rocks underlying the glacial drift carry lignite, although no
exposed lignite beds were found within the township, and the strata
that crop out are beds which for this field are high in the Fort
Union formation. It is probable, therefore, that the township is
underlain by the lignite beds that crop out in townships to the east,
north, and west.

T. 147 N., a. 89 W.

That portion of T. 147 N., R. 89 W., that lies south of Missouri
River includes in its northern half the flood plain of the river, which
in places is several miles wide. A bluff that has an average height of
about 40 feet and in the eastern and western parts is apparently a
river-built terrace extends across sees. 18, 20, 21, 25, 26, and 27. In the
central part the bluff is cut by gullies into badlands. In sees. 27, 28,
29, and 30 badlands are present. Above this terrace is a high grass-
covered upland extending across the southern part of the township.
The relief reaches a maximum of about 460 feet. The flood plain of
Missouri River is well covered with underbrush and trees, whereas
the badlands are only sparsely covered with grass and in many places
are totally bare. On the upland grass is abundant.

The strata have a southwestward dip of less than 10 feet to the
mile. Exposures of the rocks are few, owing to the fact that on the
river flood plain they are buried many feet beneath alluvium, and
on the upland they are covered with glacial drift. The drift, how-
ever, is thin and in many places consists of only a few boulders
scattered on the surface. A mass of drift which has been baked by
the burning of a lignite bed caps a ridge in the NW. J sec. 28, at
location 826.

The lowest bed of lignite that crops out in this township was found
in the SE. J sec. 21, at location 827. This bed, which is at about the
same horizon as bed BB, contains 3 feet 6 inches of lignite. This is
the only measurement on bed BB in this locality, but a bed at about
the same horizon was mapped for considerable distances in T. 150 N.,
R. 94 W., along Bear Den Creek. Bed CC was measured at loca-
tions 818, 825, 829, and 839. At location 818, where the lignite is
mined by stripping, the bed is 6 feet 10 inches thick, and although it
contains some poor lignite it is probably the best source of lignite for
local use. Other measurements of bed CC, which are given on Plate
XXVT, show its average thickness to be 6 feet. The next higher bed
of lignite, bed DD, which has an average thickness of 2 feet, was
measured at locations 816, 819, 822, and 823. Section 822 is shown
graphically on Plate XXVL Other sections of bed DD are given in
the following table:

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UGIHTB IK FOBT BERTHOU) RESERVATION, K. DAK.

169

Sections of UgrUte bed DD in T, U7 N., R, 89 W.
[In addition to that shown on PI. XXVI.]

No.
(PI.

Section.

816.
819.
823.

SW.i8ee.19.
8W.iseo.29.
8W.i8ee.28.

FLin.

Ugnite 1 8

lignite 10

Sandstone.

lignite 1 2

Shale 8

Lignite 2

Shale 1

Lignite. 6

Shale.

A lens of lignite mapped for a short distance in this township and
the one immediately to the west lies about 25 feet above bed DD and
was measured at location 812. Here it contains 4 feet 8 inches of
lignite, but both east and west of this place it pinches out rapidly.

The next higher valuable bed of lignite in this township is bed
EE, measur^nents of which were obtained at locations 817, 820, 821,
823, 824, 828, and 830." (See PI. XXVI.) Bed EE is the highest
bed of lignite exposed and has an average thickness of about .3^ feet
in this township.

Sections of liffnite bed EE in T. U7 N., R. 89 W.
[In addition to those shown on PI. XXVI.]

Lignite...
Lignite...

--.. 8 2

T. 146 N., R. 89 W.

The part of T. 146 N., K. 89 W., which lies within the Fort Ber-
thold Reservation is crossed by the valleys of Beaver Creek and a
tributary of that stream, which heads in the township to the north.
Between these valleys is a high ridge containing several prominent
points, which are capped with standstone. The altitude of the high-
est point in this township is about 400 feet above that of the lowest
part^ Although the relief is great, the township is generally grass
covered, and most of the slopes are gentle. The rocks are generally
covered with glacial drift.

The glacial drift ranges in thickness from a few inches to 30 feet
and is composed of pebbles of igneous and sedimentary rock of almost

** On Plate XXVI section 830 is incorrectly labeled 828.

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170 CONTKIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

every description. In places the fine material has been carried away
by subsequent erosion, leaving only large boulders of crystalline rock.
A few limestone boulders have been found pitted and honeycombed
by weathering, but generally the granites predominate at the surface.
Exposures of the underlying rocks are poor and widely separated.
In sees. 3 and 4 high hills are capped with sandstone. Elsewhere ex*-
posures of the stratified rocks are confined to little cut banks along
streams or in gullies. The only formation represented is the Fort
Union. This formation is lignite-bearing wherever known, and in
this township at least three beds of lignite were noted in its exposed
portions, although difficulty was experienced in mapping them be-
cause of the grass-covered slopes and the scarcity of outcrops. The
lowest bed exposed is bed CC, which has an average thickness of
over 5 feet in this part of the field. Measurements of this bed were
obtained at locations 836 and 837. (See PI. XXVI.) Elsewhere in
the township the outcrop of this bed is concealed, although it is prob-
able that location 832 is on the outcrop of this bed also, as a small
amount of clinker was found here. At the horizon of bed DD some
large pieces of lignite were found on the surface at location 834, but
owing to the swampy condition of the place no section of the bed
could be obtained. The highest bed of lignite exposed is bed EE,
which was noted at locations 831 (see PI. XXVI) and 835. No meas-
urement of thickness is given for location 835. At location 833,
which is outside of the reservation, bed EE has been mined by strip-
ping. The section at this place is as follows :

Section of bed EE at location 83S, in the 8W, i sec, U, T. U6 N,, R. 89 W.

Shale. Ft in.

Lignite 6

Shale 1

Lignite . 2 2

Bottom covered by slump.

3 8

T. 147 N., B. 88 W.

Only that portion of T. 147 N., E. 88 W., which lies southwest of
Missouri Eiver is described here. It comprises parts of sees. 19, 30,
31, 32, 34, and 35.

The greater part of this township includes the flood plain of Mis-
souri River. The southwestern part of sec. 31 lies on a terrace which
slopes gently toward the flood plain. Between the terrace and the
flood plain is a bluff averaging 50 or 60 feet in height but not so
abrupt as to cause exposures in very many places. The bluff and the
terrace are generally grass covered, whereas the flood plain of the
river is densely covered with undergrowth. In places it is swampy,
indicating cut-off meanders of the old stream.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LIGNITE IN FOBT BERTHOLD RESERVATION, N. DAK. 171

The surface is largely covered with recent alluvium. In places,
however, the ground is composed of glacial drift, and only in a few
localities do the sedimentary rocks appear at the surface.

One bed of lignite corresponding to bed CC in the township imme^
diately to the south has been mapped in sec. 31 of this township and
was measured at locations 840 and 841. In a coulee in the center
of sec. 31 this bed has been burned on this outcrop. Section 840
is incomplete owing to weathering of the bed at this place, and only
1 foot 8 inches was found. Section 841, which is also incomplete,
shows 4 feet of lignite. (See PL XXVI.)

T. 146 N., R. 88 W.

The part of T. 146 N., K. 88 W., that lies within the Fort Berthold
Reservation is rolling and generally 'grass covered. Beaver Creek
flows through the western part from south to north and empties into
Missouri River. Its valley is broadly U-shaped, and most of the
slopes are gentle. The lower part of the stream for a mile or so
contains flowing water the year around. Above this point the stream
contains water in pools. Missouri River cuts the north line of the
township in two places, but the entire width of the river does not
come within the boundaries at any place. In sees. 4 and 5 bluffs
60 to 70 feet high are being rapidly undercut by the river, which
is gradually moving its channel southward. A small tributary of
Missouri River in sec. 4 heads in the highest hills in this town-
ship. It contains water in pools, from several springs, and in sec.
9 its valley is very steep-sided. It probably contains the best ex-
posures of the rocks in this township.

The formation is generally covered with glacial drift from a few
inches to 30 feet or more in thickness. Enough exposures were
found, however, to indicate that the rocks lie nearly flat, with prob-
ably a slight dip to the northwest of less than 10 feet to the mile.
The formation at the surface is the Fort Union and contains at least
three beds of lignite in the exposed section in this township. The
base of the exposed section is probably 160 feet above the base of the
formation. The length of the stratigraphic section above Missouri
River in this township amounts to about 225 feet, but a complete
section could not be obtained owing to the cover of glacial drift or
alluvium. Most of the strata are composed of sandy shale and sand-
stone with a few carbonaceous layers and a few beds of lignite.

The lowest bed of lignite mapped in this township, bed CC, crops
out in sec. 5 in the bluff at the mouth of Beaver Creek on Missouri
River, at location 847, where it contains 4 feet 8 inches of lignite.
(See PI. XXVI.) At this place the entire bed is not exposed,
for the upper part has been eroded, and its surface is irregular
and overlain by drift. At location 848, in sec. 4, the conditions

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172 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIO GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

are similar and only 4 feet of this bed could be measured. The
thickest known portion of this bed lies in the southern part of sec
4 and the northern part of sec. 9. A section measured at location
849, in the SW. J sec. 4 shows over 4 feet of lignite. (See PL
XXVI.) Another section of this bed was obtained at location
843. Locations 846 and 852 are at the horizon of bed CC, but no
section could be obtained at these places, and only fragments of
lignite indicate its presence. Bed DD was measured at locations
845, 850, and 851. (See PI. XXVI.) This bed is thicker and of
better quality in this township than in the townships to the west.
The highest bed of lignite exposed in this township is bed EE. It
has been burned along the outcrop and causes a large amount of
clinker. A section of this bed was measured at location 844, where
it contains over 6 feet of lignite. (See PL XXVL)

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661

•

713

839

iT]

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V CAMBRIDGE, \^

^tafc^^iua^^

DEPARTMENT OF THE INT
Albebt B. Fall, Secretary

United States Geological Survey

George Otis Sioth, Director

BULLETIN 726— E

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF
NEW MEXICO

N. H. DARTON

Cnitritatioiu to eeonomle seology* 1911, Part II

(Pagva 178-275)

PablLdied Much 81, 1922

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFIOE

1922

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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Albebt B. Fall, Secretaiy

United States Geological Survey

George Otis Smith, Director

Bulletin 726— E

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF
NEW MEXICO

N. H. DARTON

CdBtKibiitioiia to •conomie seolonr, 1921, Part II
(Pftges 17S.275) >

PabUahed Mareh 11, 1922

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PBINTINQ OFFICE
1922

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CONTENTS.

Page.

Introduction 173 '

Sedimentary rocks of New Mexico 176

General succession 175

Older Paleozoic rocks 179

Magdalena group (Pennsylvanian) 179

Permian ''Red Beds" (Manzano group) 181

Abo sandstone 181

Ohupadera formation 181

Triassic "Red Beds'' 182

La Plata group (Jurassic) 184

Wingate sandstone 184

Todilto formation 184

Navajo sandstone 184

Morrison formation (Cretaceous?) '. 184

Limestones and sandstones of Comanche (Lower Cretaceous) age 185

Dakota sandstone (Upper Cretaceous) 185

Mancos shale and contemporaneous Upper Cretaceous formations 185

Mesaverde- group and corresponding and younger Cretaceous rocks 185

Early Tertiary (Eocene) deposits 186

Later Tertiary deposits 186

Quaternary deposits 187

General stratigraphic conditions 187

Structural and stratigraphic relations 189

Northeastern counties ^ 189

General relations 189

Stratigraphy 190

Local structure 192

Deep borings 192

Central eastern counties 194

General relations 194

Stratigraphy 195

Local domes 195

Deep borings 197

Rocky Mountains 200

East-central plateau region 201

General relations 201

Stratigraphy 201

Local structure 202

Deep borings 203

Estancia Valley 206

Sacramento Cuesta 207

General relations 207

Stratigraphy 207

Local structure 209

Borings 210

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IV CONTENTS.

Structural and stratigraphic relations — Continued. Page.

Pecos Valley in Chaves and Eddy counties 210

General relations 210

Stratigraphy 210

Local structure 21 1

Oil 211

Deep borings 212

Staked Plains region 216

Cerrillos Basin 216

Upper Rio Grande valley 217

Sandia and Manzano mountains and Sierra de los Pinos. . .' 217

General relations 217

Deep borings 219

Rio Grande valley in central New Mexico 220

Chupadera Mesa 221

General relations 221

Stratigraphy 221

Local structure 221

Tularosa Basin 223

General relations 223

Stratigraphy 223

Local structure 226

Deep borings • 227

San Andres Mountains 229

Jornada del Muerto ' 229

General relations 229

Local structure * 231

Lower Rio Grande valley 232

Eastern Socorro County 234

General relations 234

Local structure 234

Cerrillos del Coyote to Carthage 234

Cibola Cone syncline and fault 237

Valle del Ojo de la Panda 237

Taylor coal basin 238

Prairie Spring anticline 238

Basin of Arroyo Chupadero 239

Oscura anticline 239

Joyi ta Hills 239

, Socorro and Lemitar mountains 240

Nacimiento uplift 241

General relations 241

Stratigraphy 241

Local structure 242

CTiama Basin 242

General relations 242

Stratigraphy 244

Local structure. 244

Valle Grande area 245

San Juan Basin 245

General relations 245

Oil 246

Local structure 247

Deep borings 249

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CONTENTS. V

Structural and stratigraphic relations — Continued. Page.

Ztini Mountains 253

General relations 253

Stratigraphy 254

• Deep borings 254

Gallup-Zuni Basin 257

General relations 257

Stratigraphy 259

Local structure 259

Deep borings 260

East-central Valencia County 262

General relations 262

Stratigraphy 263

Local structure 264

Deep borings 264

North-central Socorro County 265

General relations 265

Stratigraphy 265

Local structure 266

Borings 266

West-central volcanic area 267

Plains of San Agustin 268

Fairview to Lake Valley 268

Southwestern counties 269

, General relations 269

(kwks Range 270

Florida Mountains 270

Florida Plains 270

Goodsight Mountains 272

Tres Hermanas Mountains and adjoining plains 272

Cedar Grove Mountains and CiLrrizalillo Hills 273

Klondike Hills 273

Victorio Mountains 273 .

Kidges in northwest comer of Luna County 274

Big Hatchet Mountains 274

Little Hatchet Mountains 274

Animas Mountain and San Luis Bange 275

Peloncillo Mountains 276

Pyramid Mountains 275

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Page.

Plate XXX. Map of New Mexico 174

XXXI. A, Bliss sandstone, San Andres Mountains, N. Mex.; B, C>oyote

Butte, N. Mex 188

XXXII. A, Bluewater Canyon, N. Mex.; £, Inscription Bock, N. Mex. . 188

XXXIII. Af Wingate sandstone at Rito, N. Mex.; B, Sandstone of

Glorieta Mesa, near LaCuesta, N. Mex 188

XXXIV. SandstonesatNavajoChurch, N. Mex 189

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VI ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate XXXV. ^, Navajo and Dakota Bandstonee at A tarque, N.Mex.;B, Da-
kota sandstone at Bluewater Falls, N. Mex 196

XXXVI. k, Dome near San Ignado, N. Mex.; B, West front of Sacra-
mento Mountains, N. Mex 197

XXXVII. West front of Sandia Mountains at Bernalillo, N. Mex 218

XXXVIII . Geologic map of Sandia and Manzano mountains and Sierra de

los Pinos, N. Mex 218

XXXIX. A, Dakota sandstone on west slope of Cerrillos Basin, N. Mex.;

B, West front of Chupadera Mesa, N. Mex 220

XL. Geologic map of Tularosa Basin, N. Mex 224

XLI. Pilot Knob on west slope of San Andres Mountains, N. Mex. . 228

XLII. Geologic map of Jornada d^ Muerto, N. Mex 230

XLIII. Geologic map of part of Socorro County, N. Mex 234

XLIV. A, Base of Magdalena group southeast of Socorro, N. Mex.;B,
Upturned Magdalena beds at Ojo de Amado, east-northeast

of Socorro , N . Mex 236

XLV. Aj Mesa del Yeso, N. Mex.; B, Sierrita Mesa, Nadmiento

uplift. N.Mex 237

XLVI. A, Pyramid Rock, N. Mex.; J5, Uplift at Atarque, N. Mex. . 254
XLVII. A, West slope of Zuni uplift at Nutria, N. Mex. ; B, Northwest

slope of Zuni uplift east of Gallup, N. Mex 255

XLVIII. Geologic map of parts of Valencia and Socorro counties, N. Mex. 262
XLIX. Secti ns across Sierra Lucero in Valencia and Socorro coun-
ties, N. Mex 264

L. Map showing structure of valleys of Rio Salado and Alamosa

Creek, Socorro County, N. Mex 266

FlouBB 16. Map showing the major structure of northeastern New Mexico 189

17. Section across Colfax and Union counties, N. Mex 190

18. Section from Pedemal Mountain across Guadalupe, and Quay

counties, N. Mex 1 195

19. Map of Esterito dome, Guadalupe County, N. Mex 196

20. Section from south end of Rocky Mountains to Cuervo Butte,

Guadalupe County, N. Mex 197

21. Generalized sections across the Rocky Mouhtains in New Mexico. . 201

22. Sections across the plateaus of southeastern Santa Fe County,

southwestern San Miguel County, and eastern Torrance County,

N. Max 202

23. Sections across the Sacramento Cuesta and Guadalupe Mountains,

N.Mex 208

24. Sketch section of anticlines and fault between Alamogordo and

High Rolls, N. Mex 209

25. Map showing relation of anticline in Tijeras coal field, N. Mex. . . 218

26. Sections across the Sandia and Manzano mountains and the Sierra

de los Pinos, N, Mex 219

27. Sections across Chupadera Mesa, N. Mex 222

28. Sections across Tularosa Basin, N. Mex 225

29. Log of deep boring at Oscuro, N. Mex 228

30. Logs of two railroad wells at Carrizozo, N. Mex 228

31. Sections across the Jornada del Muerto, N. Mex 230

32. Sections across eastern Socorro County, N. Mex 235

S3. Sketch section across the JToyita Hills, Socorro County, N. Mex.... 240
34. Sections across San Pedro Mountain and the Nadmiento Range,

N.Mex 242

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ILLUSTRATIONS. VU

PagQ.

Figure 35. Map showing structure in part of Bio Arriba County, N. Mex 243

36. Section across the plateau in Bio Arriba Ck)unty, N. Mex 245

37. Section along San Juan Biver, San Juan County, N. Mex 246

38. Geologic sketch map of part of McKinley County, N. Mex 248

39. Map endowing structure of part of northwestern New Mexico 255

40. Sections across the Zuni Mountain uplift, N. Mex 256

41. Sections across the Gallup-Zuni Basin, N. Me^ 258

42. Section across north-central Socorro County, N. Mex 267

43. Section from the Mimbres Mountains eastward through Kingston

and Hillsboro, N. Mex 269

44. Sections across the Florida Mountains, Luna County, N. Mex 271

45. Section throu^ the Snake Hills, southwest of Doming, Luna

County, N . Mex 272

46. Section through the Klondike Hills, Luna County, N. Mex 273

47. Section across the Victorio Mountains, south of Gage, Luna County,

N.Mex 273

48. Sketch section across the north end of the Big Hatchet Mountains,

Hidalgo* County, N. Mex 274

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

By N. H. Darton.

INTRODUCTION.

Although New Mexico is not yet producing oil, wide areas of the
State are underlain by rocks of the same age as those which yield oil
and gas in adjoining States to the east, and in many places the struc-
tural conditions are favorable for the accumulation of oil and gas if
they are present. So far the only notable discovery of oil has been
that made near Dayton, in Pecos VaUey, where some artesian wells
yield small amounts, but indications of oil have been reported in
several parts of the State. Many deep holes have been bored for
water and a few for oil, but most of them have been in places where
the structure is not favorable for oil or gas or were not deep enough
to test the possibilities of all the strata.

This report is published in order to place in the hands of oil and
gas geologists the information now. in hand as to the structural fea-
tures of New Mexico. Many of the data are new and are by-products
of investigations Inade with objects very different from those of the
geologist in search of new oil fields. Dining the last four years I
have studied the stratigraphy and depositional history of the ''Red
Beds" region of the Southwest, including a large part of New Mexico,
with special reference to the determination of the centers of greatest
salt deposition. The principal aim of the work was to discover areas
in which potash salts also may have been locally deposited. In the
course of these studies .reconnaissance was extended over large por-
tions of New Mexico, especially in areas where the stratigraphy and
structure were but little known. The results of this work, together
with information previously available, are embodied in a forthcoming
report on the geology of the ''Red Beds" and associated formations
of New Mexico, to be accompanied by a colored geologic map on a
topographic base founded in large part upon original topographic
sketches.

On account of the great niunber of requests received by the Geo-
logical Survey for information relating to the general stratigraphy
and structure of New Mexico, it has been decided to publish at this
time the data on the character and thickness of the formations and
the general structure for the special use of oil geologists in a report
with simple maps that may be placed in the hands of the public in
advance of the engraving of the more elaborate geologic map of the

173

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174 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II-

State. Emphasis must be laid on the facts that the field examina-
tions were not made for the purpose of finding areas favorable for
the occurrence of oil and that the work was done largely by methods
less detailed than those required in the search for oil and gas, espe-
cially in the recognition and mapping of minor anticlines or domes
that might be important centers of oil or gas accumulation. How-
ever, it is beheved that this report will be of value as a guide to the
regions in which the stratigraphy of the formations appears more
favorable and as a presentation of the larger structural features.
Doubtless it will also indicate some of the areas where minor folds
are to be looked for. At the same time many portions of the State
are differentiated as offering no encouragement to prospectors for oil.
In general, New Mexico has not been regarded with favor by most
of the oil and gas geologists of the country, notwithstanding the fact
that surface indications of oil are known at several points in the
State and oil in small amounts has been found near Dayton and
Seven Lakes. This disfavor is not without some foundation, for
there are several adverse considerations, of which the following are
perhaps the most important: (1) In New Mexico the Cretaceous
formations, which are the sources of i^ost of the oil in the Rocky
Moimtain States, are present only in relatively small areas, in many
of which their position and structure are not favorable for oil; (2)
in the many wide areas where the Cretaceous formations are absent,
particularly in the central and norjhem parts of the State, the Paleo-
zoic formations are of no great aggregate thickness, the Carboniferous
lying directly on the pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks; (3) the Jurassic,
Triassic, and Permian formations in general carry but little carbona-
ceous matter, the thick succession of these strata being singularly
deficient in such organic debris as is generally regarded as the mother
substance of petroleum; (4) through the central and southern portions
of the State the folding and faulting are relatively pronounced, the
pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks are brought up in the axes of the
arches, the basins are comparatively narrow, and although minor
folds undoubtedly are present, the marginal areas are in some places
much faulted and cut by later lavas and many of the catchment areas
are very small; and (5) finally, it is likely that in many areas, particu-
larly in the older rocks and toward the southwest, carbonization of
the organic debris in the formations has progressed so far as to pre-
clude the survival of oil in commercial pools, though gas in consider-
able amoxmts may be present. The data on this fifth point are,
however, very meager, so that it is not possible to state at the present
time their bearing on the prospects in the different areas. The same
condition exists in the Cretaceous rocks in some areas, notably in the
Raton and Cenillos coal fields. For the same reason also it seems
probable that the Pennsylvanian rocks in the upper Pecos Valley
east of Santa Fe and in a part of Bernalillo County may be too much

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I I

nw Tinimn nw Tnwin ^a—ai^— ^^AflM^

' ' f • i X / c

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTUBB OF PARTS OF ITBW MEXICO. 175

altered to encourage the prospector for oil. On the other hand, it is
probable that the Cretaceous rocks in the San Juan Basin, except
possibly near the Colorado line, and the Carboniferous beds in the
eastern third of the State are not too greatly altered. In general the
oil geologist may find it advantageous to consider the state of car-
bonization of the combustible debris of the coals and carbonaceous
shales in most areas in advance of testing by the drill.

Although the ''Red Beds" are nearly barren of oil-making mate-
rials th^y include sandstones which may be excellent reservoirs for
the' storage of oil that has migrated from more favorable strata,
separated by considerable thicknesses of unproductive beds. The
demonstrated presence of oil in the " Red Beds ", of the Pecos Valley
near Dayton encourages the hope that in some areas the sands in
these unpromising rocks may be reservoirs for commercial deposits
of oil, even where they are remote from strata rich in carbonaceous
matter.

On the whole, the Carboniferous and Cretaceous areas of eastern
New Mexico and the Cretaceous areas of the northwestern portion of
the State, west of the Nacimiento uplift, probably offer greater
encouragement for the discovery of commercial oil fields than other
portions of the State. Oil, gas, or asphalt are present in these areas;
the sedimentary formations attain considerable thicknesses; some of
the associated strata are sufficiently rich in carbonaceous d6bris;
and the presence of stresses, indicated by the major folding, makes it
almost certain that examinations in detail will reveal minor anti-
clines aiHd domes of the type most favorable for oil and gas.

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS OF NEW MEXICO.

QENEBAL SUCCESSION.

The strata in New Mexico present a great thickness of beds from
Cambrian to Recent in age, but portions of some of the geologic
periods are not represented by deposits. The classification of most
of the formations has been established by the work of several geolo-
gists, and this subject will be only briefly treated here, except as it
is touched by my own investigations of the Triassic and Permian
'* Red Beds " and associated formations, for which some new classi-
fications must be introduced. It is necessary to consider these
matters briefly at this time, because in this report many new facts
are presented in connection with the distribution and structiffe of the
formations of Jurassic, Triassic, and Permian age. A more detailed
discussion will be given in the fuller report now in preparation.

The following lists show the stratigraphic position, character, and
thickness of the principal formations in different parts of New Mexico.
It is not practicable to give them all in one table, because of the
regional variations in the character of the deposits in this large State,
which has an area of 122,634 square miles.

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176 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.
ForTnatioTU in northeastern New Mexico.

Age.

Group and formation.

Average

thickness

(feet).

Reoont.

Alluvium.

Sand, gravel, and day.

50±

PUocene and Mio-
cene.

Santa Fe formation.

Sand, silt, gravel, and conglomerate.

15(H-

Eocene.

Raton formation.

Conglomerate and sandstone; local coal beds.

1,200-1.600

Eocene (f).

Oalisteo sandstone.

Sandstone and conglomerate. Relations to
Raton formation unknown.

700+

Vermejo forma-
Uon.

Sandstone and shale, with coal beds.

0-375

Trinidad sand-
stone.

Sandstone, gray to bull.

O-lOO

Pierre shale.

Shale, mostly dark colored; upper beds
sandy.

(T)

Apishapa shale.

Shale, in part limy.

Niobrara for-
mation where
not dtfferen-
Uated.

500

Upper Cretaceous.

Timpas limestone.

Limestone, mostly Impure.

Carlile shale.

Shale, with concretions.

Benton shale
where not
differenti-
ated.

2S0

Greenhorn lime-
stone.

Limestone, slabby, and
dark shale.

Graneros shale.

Shale, dark.

150+

Dakota sandstone.

Sandstone, gray to buff, hard.

100

Lower Cretaceous.

Purgatoire formation.

Sandstone, overlain by shale.

140

Cretaceous (f).

Morrison formation.

Shale, massive, mostly greenish gray, and
intercalated sandstones.

150

Jurassic.

Ta
Wl

Ulto limestone.

Limestone; weathers thin bedded; locally
overlain by 60 feet of gypsum.

0-85

Sandstone, massive, light gray.

100

Triasslc.

Dockum group.

Shales and sandstones, mostly red, contain-
ing locally, Dear the lower part, the Santa
Rosa sandstone.

80(H-

Permian.

Chupadera forma-
tion.

Limestone, sandstone, and gypsum.

600-1,200

Abo sandstone.

Sandstone, mosUy hard, .slabby, brownish
red.

600-800

Pennsylvanlan.

Magdalena group.

Limestone, some shale, and sandstone.

600-1,200+

Pre-Cambrian.

Granite, schist, etc.

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GEOLOGIC STRTJCrURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.
ForTnations in northwestern New Mexico.

177

Age.

Character and general relations.

thickness
(feet).

Recent.

Alluvium.

Sand, gravel, and silt of river bottoms, desert
floors, and fans.

0-50

Pliocene and Mio-
cene.

Santa Fe formation.

Sand, gravel, silt, sandstone, and conglom-
erate.

450±

Wasatch formation.

Conglomerate, sandstone, and shale.

2,000+

Eocene.

Torrejon formation.

Clay, sandy shale, and sandstones, hard and
soft.

Puerco formation.

Clay, sandy shale, and sandstones, hard and
soft.

400

OJo Alamo sandstone.

Sandstone, conglomeratic, with two con-
glomerate beds and shale lenses.

05-110

KlrUand shale.

Shale. Includes Farmlngton sandstone
member.

800-1,180

Fniitland formation.

Sandstoneand shale, with coal, sandy shales,
and concretions.

190-290

Pictured Cliffs sand-
stone.

Sandstone, copper-colored, also yellowish to
light gray or brown.

50-275

Upper Cretaceous.

Lewis shale.

Shale, greenish gray, sandy, with local
streaks of yellowish calcareous shale.

200-1,200

CM House sand-
stone.

Sandstone, with some shale beds.

. 400+

Menefee forma-
Uon.

Shale, with sandstone and coal beds.

600-1,200

Point Lookout
sandstone.

aoo

Mancofi shale.

Shale, with sandstone members.

1,000-2,000

Dakota sandstone.

Sandstone, gray to buff, hard, massive.

76-125

Cretaceous (?).

McElmo formation to
west; Morrison for-
mation to east.

Shale, ligbt-cdiored, and sandstones

200

S
i

Navajosandstone.

Sandstone, massive, pink to gray.

600

Jurassic.

Todllto limestone.

Limestone, mostly very thin-bedded and 15
feet thick; locally at top a gypsum bed 80
feet thick.

Wingate sand-
stone.

Sandstone, massive, pink.

80-400

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178 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.
Formations in northwestern New Mexico — Continued.

Age.

Oroup and formation.

Character and general relations.

Average

thickness

(feet).

Chinle formation.

Shale, largely red, some gray.

850

Triassic

Shinarump conglom-
erate to west; Poleo
sandstone in Nad-
miento uplift.

Sandstone, mostly coarse (Shinarump oon-
elomerate, 60-100 feet); in Nadmiento up-
lift sandstone, massive gray, hard (Poleo
sandstone, 120 feet). .

50-120

Moenkopi formation.

Shale, In part sandy, mostly red.

400-«n

Permian.

o
I

Chupadera forma-
tion.

soft red sandstone.

600+

Abo sandstone.

Sandstone, hard, slabby, brownish red; lime-
stone near base.

700+

PennsylTBiiJan. | Magdalena group.

Limestone; some shale and sandstone.

0-200+

Pre-Cambrlan.

Granite and schist

Formations in southern New Mexico.

Age.

Oroap and formation.

(Character and general relations.

thickness
(feet).

Recent.

Alluvium.

Sand, gravel, and silt of river bottoms,
desert floors, and fans.

0-1,000

Pleistocene.

Palomas gravel.

Sand, gravel, and conglomerate.

450

Eocene (?).

Conglomerate.

120+

Upper Cretaceous.

Mesaverde (7) forma-
tion.

Sandstone, with coal beds.

000

Manco8shale(7).

Shale with sandstone layers.

040-2,000

Upper Cretaceous(?)

Sar

irtooth quartzite.

(Quartzite, with some shale.

9(^125

Lower Cretaceous.

ten sandstone.

Sandstone.

0-ano

Limestones, shales, and sandstones.

«0+

Triassic (T).

Lobo formation.

Shales, conglomerate, and limestone.

O-350

Triassic.

Red shales.

0-000

Permian.

CThupadera for-
mation.

limestone, gypsum, and gray and red sand-
stone. Oym limestone of Deming quad-
rangle Is equivalent to part of Chupadera.

1,20(^,000+

Abo sandstone.

Sandstone, slabby, brown-red. Thins out
near Hueco Mountains and to southwest.

o-ooo

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTTJBE OF PABTS OF NEW MEXICO.
FomuUions in souXhem New i/erico— Continued.

179

Age.

Group and f omatioii.

Character and general relations.

thickness
(feet).

Pennsylvanian.

Magdalena group.

limestone, with some shale and sandstone,

1,000-2,500

Missfssippian.

Lake Valley limestone.

limestone. Absent north oflatitude34«» 30'.
(Combined with Magdalena as Fierro lime-
stone in Silver aty region.)

S^^

Devtmisn.

Peroha shale.

Shale. Absent north of latitude 33* SCK.

0-300+

Silurtan.

Fussdman limestone.

Limestone, massive. Absent north of lati-
tude 33* 30*.

0-1,000

Ordovldan.

Montoya limestone.

limestone, with chertv members above,
dark and massive below. Absent north
of latitude 33* 40'.

0-250

El Paso limestone.

Limestone, slabby; weathers light gray.
Absent north of latitude 33* 40^.

0-1,000

Bliss sandstone.

Sandstone, massive to slabby, glauconitic.
Absent north of latitude 33' 40^.

0-300

Pre^ambrlan.

Granite, schist, etc.

QLDEB PALEOZOIC BOCKS.

The distribution and classification of formations ranging in age
from the Cambrian to the Mississippian have been presented in a
previous publication.^ Since that paper was written it has been
found that the full sequence of the limestones and' shales of these
periods is exposed in the north end of Big Hatchet Mountain and
near Gabilan Peak, 'in Grant County. Their character and relations
in the Tularosa Basin, the Sacramento Mountains, the Jornada del
Muerto region, and the southwest corner of New Mexico are treated
in the sections on those regions in this report. It is rather unlikely
that any rocks older than Carboniferous will be found to produce oil
in this part of the continent.

MAGDALENA GROUP (PENNSYLVANIAN).

The Magdalena group is conspicuous at many places in New Mexico,
notably in the Rocky Mountains, the Sandia, Manzano, and Pinos
mountains, the Nacimiento uplift, the Magdalena, Mimbres, San
Andres, and Sacramento mountains, and the SQver Gty and El Rito
districts. It underlies a large part of the State and will be found in
many well borings, although in the eastern part of the State it lies
very deep. Limestone is the most conspicflous feature of the group, .

> Darton, N. H., A comparison of Paleozoic sections in southern New Mexico: U. S. Qed. Survey Prof.
Paper 106, pp. 81-66, 1917.

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180 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

but interbedded sandstones and shales occur in all sections; along
the east side of the Rocky Mountains in the northern part of the
State the Magdalena consists mainly of a thick body of gray to red
sandstone. In the Sandia Mountains the group has been divided
into the Sandia formation below and the Madera limestone above.
Although the lower part of the Magdalena generally contains much
sandstone the stratigraphic position of the sandstone beds and the
transition from one member to the other differ at different localities.
Locally the group can be divided into three or four formations,
some of them separated by apparent unconformities. No faunal
distinctions have been established in these formations, although
eventually the fossils may indicate desirable subdivisions.

In the uppermost portion of the Magdalena group, or perhaps the
basal portion of the overlying Abo sandstone, near Rio Salado, west
of the Ladrone Mountains, D. E. Winchester ' found plants which
David White regards as probably Permian. The material is fragmen-
tary but includes Odontopteris probably 0. obtusa Brongniart, Neu-
rofteris aff. N. gUichenoideSj Sphenopteris sp., CaUipteris cf . C. lyraH-
folia J TaeniopteriSfSaportaeaf, WalcltiapinThaeformis, WalchiagracUiSy
Oomphostrobus hijidus, AraucarUes, Trigonocarpon sp., and other frag-
ments less clearly identifiable. Mr. White says: "Notwithstanding
the insuflEiciency of much of the material for the specific and in part
the generic identification of the types, the evidence in hand points
very strongly to the Permian age of the flora, and there is little room
for doubt that the collection of material more adequate for satisfac-
tory determination will prove conclusively that the containing shale
is Permian."

In the overlying bed of limestone, 4 feet thick, presumably at the
base of the Abo sandstone, though not certainly, as the overlying
beds are hidden by terrace deposits, fossils were collected which
were it not for the evidence of the fossil plants G. H. Girty would
regard as Pennsylvanian. They are as follows:

Lophophyllum profundum.
Fifitulipora sp.
Crmoid stems.
Fenestella sp.
Fiimatopora sp.
Polypora sp.
Stenopa carbonaria.
Derbya robusta.
Productus nebraskensis.
Productus cora.
Productus semireticulatus.
Marginifera?
Compoeita subtilita.
Chonetes vemeuilanus.

Pustula semipunctata?
Pustula nebraskensis.
Pugnax osagensis.
Dielasma bovidens.
Spiriferina kentuckyensis.
Spirifer cameratus.
Spirifer rockymontanus.
Squamularia perplexa.
AmboGoelia planiconvexa.
Cliothyridina orbicularis?
Platyceras parvum?
Griffithides? sp.
Fish tooth.

> Personal communication.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCrUKE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 181

PERMIAN ''red beds'' (mANZANO GROUP).

Abo sandstone. — ^The Abo sandstone, diflferentiated by W. T. Lee,'
is the basal formation of the Manzano group. It has been found to
be continuous throughout New Mexico but apparently thins out near
the Texas line, in the south-central part of Otero County. It has
very distinctive characteristics at most places and a uniform strati-
graphic position between the Magdalena group andChupadera forma-
tion. These features are both lost, however, in the Chama Basin and
along the Rocky Mountain uplift north of Mora, where the formation
may perhaps be undistinguishable from the adjoining red strata. In
most places the Abo formation appears to be unconformable to the
Magdalena, but in other places there is an apparent gradation
between them. The few data available on which to class the formar
tion place it in the Permian. It lies immediately on or includes at
its base the 4-foot limestone member overlying the plant-bearing beds
of supposed Permian age west of the Ladrone Mountains referred to
on page 180. Plants obtained by Lee, Stanton, and White near
Canyoncito and Glorieta are regarded by David White as Permian,
and there can be no question that the beds yielding them belong to
the Abo. Fossils collected by me in 1902 in the basal beds of the
formation in the axis of the Lucera anticline, in sec. 36, T. 6 S., R.
3 W., were identified by G. H. Girty as follows:*

Bakewellia? sp.

Myalina penniana.
Myalina perattenuata.
Aviculipecten cf. A. whitei.

Bulimorpha near B. nitida.
Spirorbis sp.

Mr. Girty regards these fossils as indicating the Permian age of
the beds.

Chupadera formation. — ^The name Chupadera is here introduced for
the upper part of the Manzano group, which Lee** divided into the
Yeso formation and San Andreas® limestone. In mapping these
deposits it was found that while Lee's subdivisions were discernible in
places, it was impracticable to separate them generally. Although
limestone is the conspicuous feature of the San Andres limestone,
much of that subdivision consists of thick beds of gypsum and sand-
stone which are not well exposed in the type localities. In the future,
wherever Lee's subdivisions can be recognized they will be treated as
members of the Chupadera formation, instead of as distinct forma-
tions. The new name is taken from Chupadera Mesa, in central

* Lee, W. T., and Oirty, O. H., The Manzano group of the Rio Grande valley, N. Hex.: U. S. Geol.
Survey BuU. 380, p. 12, 1909.

* Darton, N. H., A reconnaissance of parts of northwestern New Mexico and northern Arizona: U. S.
Oeol. Survey BuU. 435, p. 37, 1910.

>Lee, W. T., and Olrty, 0. H., The Manzano group of the Rio Grande valley, N. Mcx.: U. S. GeoL
Survey BuU. 389, pp. i:&-17, 1909.

* NowspeUed San Andres.

60210^—22 2

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182 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

New Mexico, a prominent topographic feature consisting of a very
extensive capping of the formation 1,500 feet or more thick. (See
PI. XXXIX, B, p. 220.)

The limestones of the formation carfy many fossils of the well-
known Manzano fauna described by G. H. Girty,' originally regarded
as late Pennsylvanian but now believed to be Penman. The Chu-
padera formation overlies the Abo sandstone, which as above shown
also presents evidence of Permian age, and I have traced it con-
tinuously southward into the Capitan and Delaware Mountain lime-
stones of the Guadalupe Moimtains of Texas, which are imquestion-
ably Permian. The Gym limestone* of the Lima Coimty region
represents a part of the Chupadera formation.

In the Nacimiento uplift and Chama Basin it has not been prac-
ticable to recognize the Chupadera formation in the succession of
red beds lying between the Magdalena group and the Poleo sand-
stone (Triassic), so that for the present at least these beds in that
region are treated as ''Permian undivided," although they doubtless
include a representative of the Triassic Moenkopi formation. Bones
of Permian animals, however, occur a short distance below the Poleo
sandstone near Coyote.

In a previous report • I mapped the red shales in the northwestern
part of New Mexico as the Moenkopi formation, Shinarump con-
glomerate, and Leroux formation, the last capped by the Wingate
sandstone of Dutton, of supposed Jurassic age. Later work by
Gregory *° extending into part of the same region showed the desir-
abihty of changing the name Leroux to Chinle. The Moenkopi was
supposed to be Permian, but fossils foimd by B. S. Butler" in its
probable extension into Utah are of Triassic age.

The recognition of these subdivisions farther east in New Mexico
has not been entirely satisfactory so far. The Shinarump con-
glomerate appears to be represented in the Nacimiento-Chama-Cobre
region by a massive sandstone which Huene" has called the Poleo
sandstone, from Poleo Mesa, of which it forms the surface; and
although to me this sandstone strongly suggests the sandstone of
Glorieta Mesa (which belongs to the Chupadera formation), it con-
tains Triassic plants at the old Cobre copper mine, near Abiquiu, as

I Lee, W. T., and Qlrty, Q. H., op. clt., pp. 41-136.

B Darton, N. H., OeoLogy and underground water of Luna County, N. Hex.: U. 8. Geol. Survey BuU.€lS»
p. 35, 1916.

* Darton, N. H., A reconnaissance of parts of northwestern New Mezioo and northern Arisona: r. S.
Geol. Surrey BuU. 435, p. 12, 1910.

10 Gergory, H. E., Geology of the Navajo country: U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 93, pp. 42-48, 1917.

" Emery, W. B., The Green River Desert section, Utah: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser., vol. 46, p. seo, 191S.

" Hucne, F. von, Kurze Mitteilung fiber Perm, Trias und Jura in New Mexico: Neues Jahrb., Beilagi
Band 32, pp. 730-739, 1911.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 188

described by Newberry" and by Fontaine and Knowlton." Triassic
bones near Coyote have been described by Williston and Case."
Above this Poleo sandstone, as I shall term it in this paper, are red
shales supposed to belong to the Chinle formation, extending to the
base of what is unmistakably the Wingate sandstone. Underlying
the Poleo are red shales and sandstones about 1 ,000 feet thick, which
doubtless include strata representing the Moenkopi, Chupadera,
and Abo formations but in which so far I have not found distinctive
features in this region to enable me to separate them.

Farther east in the State, east of Glorieta Mesa and the Hills of
Pedemal, the strata overlying the Chupadera formation consist of
800 feet or more of red shales and sandstones representing the
Dockum group, including near the bottom a resistant massive sand-
stone which is prominent in the mesas of Guadalupe Coimty and
along Pecos River at Santa Rosa. This sandstone appears to occur
at about the horizon of the Shinarump conglomerate, but no definite
correlation is possible, and I here propose for it, tentatively at least,
the name Santa Rosa sandstone. Case" has found in it, as well as
in overlying strata, bones of Triassic age. I found supposed Unios"
in beds immediately above it 1 mile north of Santa Rosa. The
underlying shales are of undetermined age and may be either Tri-
assic or Permian. Near Carthage and 17 miles northeast of Socorro
shales at about this horizon carry Triassic vertebrates," and 12
miles northeast of Socorro some red conglomQrate just above the
Chupadera formation yielded Permian bones." It appears likely,
however, that most of the shales overlying the Chupadera forma-
tion are of Triassic age. In the Pecos Valley region in Eddy and
Chaves counties the overlying series is several hundred feet thick,
and its outcrop extends from the east bank of Pecos River to the
edge of the Staked Plains. No satisfactory evidence has been found
as to the age of these beds. This question has been discussed by
Beede,^® who showed that they are above the Guadalupe group of
limestones (Permian), which near Carlsbad are in places upltfted
and bared in broad, low anticlines. These overlying beds are prob-
ably of Lower Triassic age.

u Newberry, J. S., Geological report, in Report of expedition from Santa Fe, N. Mex., to the jtmcttoa of
the Orand and Oreen rivers in 18&5 under Capt. J. N. Macomb, 1876.

14 Fontaine, W. M., and Knowlton, F. H., Notes on Triassic plants from New Mexico: U. S. Nat. Mua.
Proc., vol. 13, No. 821, pp. 281-285, pis. 22-26, 1890.

1* Williston, S. W., and Case, E. C, The Permo-Carbonlferous of northern New Mexico: Jour. Geology,
v(d. ao, pp. 1-12, 1912; Fermo-Carboniferous vertebrates firom New Mexico: Carnegie Inst. Pub. 181, 81 pp.,
1913.

M Case, £. C, The Red Beds between Wichita Falls, Tex., and Las Vegas, N. Mex., in relation to their
vertebrate fiftuna: Jour. Geology, vol. 22, pp. 243-250, 1014.

17 Determined by T. W. Stanton.

^ Case, E. C, Personal letter; also Science, new ser., vol. 44, pp. 706-709, 1916.

» Case, E. C, Science, new ser., vol. 44, p. 70fl, 1916.

* Beede, J. W., The correlation of the Guadalupian and the Kansas sections: Am. Jour. Sci., 4th ser.,
vol. 90, pp. 131-140, 1010.

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184 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAKT H.
LA PLATA OBOUP (jURASSIc).

Wingate sandstone. — The Wingate sandstone, the lowest forma-
tion of the La Plata group, with all its highly characteristic features,
relations, and associates, has been found to continue eastward
across northern New Mexico, being unmistakable at least as far
east as the longitude of Las Vegas.

TodiUo formation, — The characteristic very thin bedded Todilto
limestone, in places very sandy, overlies the Wingate sandstone in
northern New Mexico as far east as this formation was traced, to
longitude 105^. In the Nacimiento and Sandia uplifts it is well ex-
posed, with characteristic outcrops, as far east as points 8 miles
east of Canjilon and 2 miles northwest of Abiquiu. It appears
near Lamy and 5 miles southeast of Galisteo and extends along
the south face of the Canadian escarpment southeast of Las Vegas.
It is also prominent around the Zuni uplift and in the central eastern
part of Valencia County.

A thick deposit of gypsum overlies the limestone of the Todilto
formation in the Chama Basin and Nacimiento uplift, the San Jose
Valley southwest of Albuquerque, the Sandia uplift east of Albu-
querque, and the uplift west of Cerrillos. As this gypsum bed is
overlain by the Navajo sandstone, which also overUes the typical
Todilto limestone, the gypsum is regarded as a local development
of the upper part of the Todilto limestone.

Navajo sandstone. ^^The Navajo sandstone of Gregory, the upper
formation of the La Plata group, extends for some distance east-
ward in New Mexico and is conspicuous in the eastern part of Va-
lencia County, where the massive gray sandstone that constitutes
much of it is widely exposed about Laguna, Acoma, the Mesa
Gigante, and the west side of CeboUeta Mesa. Its outcrop zone
extends around the Zuni uplift. It was not recognized east of the
Rio Grande, and if present in the Nacimiento uplift it is represented
by chocolate-colored sandstone between the gypsum bed in the top
of the Todilto formation and the greenish-gray clays that are be-
lieved to represent the Morrison formation.

MOBBISON FORMATION (CRETACEOUS?).

Light-colored massive shales with local sandstone members
underlying the Dakota sandstone in northern New Mexico
are beheved to represent the Morrison formation, of sup-
posed early Cretaceous age. The McElmo formation, in part at
least equivalent to the Morrison, has been mapped by Gregory in
the northwestern part of the State, and the typical Morrison beds of
Colorado have been traced far southward in the eastern counties.
The pale greenish-gray clays near Laguna, in the Nacimiento uplift
northwest of Albuquerque, west of Cerrillos, near Lamy and Las

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 185

Vegas, in San Miguel, Union, Mora, and Quay counties, and near
Fort Stanton probably will all prove to be Morrison.

LIMESTONES AND SANDSTONES OF COMANCHE (LOWEE
CRETACEOUS) AGE.

In Grant and Luna counties and at Las Comudas, northeast
of El Paso, occur limestone, shale, and sandstone that contain
Comanche fossils. The Sarten sandstone, north of Deming, is also
of Comanche age. Similar sandstone with Comanche fossils crops
out along the north edge of the Staked Plains and in the outlying
mesas to the north, and the Purgatoire formation, underlying the
Dakota sandstone in the northeastern part of the State, is of
Comanche age.

DAKOTA SANDSTONE (UPPER* CRETACEOUS).

The sandstone at the base of the Upper Cretaceous series is re-
garded as Dakota, and in places it yields plants of that age. In
Union and Mora counties it is spread out widely in a great plateau
which terminates to the south in the high Canadian escarpment.

MANCOS SB[ALE AND CONTEMPORANEOUS UPPER CRETACEOUS
FORMATIONS.

The thick body of shale lying between the Dakota sandstone and
the coal-bearing sandstones in northwestern New Mexico is called
the Mancos shale, for apparently it is a stratigraphic unit. It com-
prises part of the Pierre shale of the Montana group and all of the
Colorado group, which to the east is diflferentiated into the Niobrara
formation and the Benton shale. In the north-central and north-
eastern parts of the State these Upper Cretaceous deposits are still
further subdivided, as shown in the table on page 176. Sandstones
occur at several horizons in the Mancos, differing in position in differ-
ent regions and locally carrying coal beds. Without detailed study
it is difficult to separate the upper coal-bearing sandstones from
the overlying Mesaverde group. I offer no new light on this problem.
It was foimd that coal-bearing sandstones of Mancos age extend
far south in the Rio Grande valley, the southernmost point being
on the east line of T. 20 S., R. 3 E., 20 miles northeast of Las Cruces.
The composition of the Mancos is favorable for the generation of oil.

MESAVERDE GROUP AND CORRESPONDING AND YOUNGER
CRETACEOUS ROCKS.

The thick series of sandstones with coal beds that make up the
Mesaverde group, of Montana age, is well represented in northwest-
em New Mexico, especially in the San Juan Basin, west of the Naci-
miento upUft, where it is divided into three formations, named, in

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186 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

ascending order, the Point Lookout sandstone, Menefee formation,
and Cliff House sandstone. Coal-bearing rocks of Mesaverde and
Mancos age are also present in the Cerrillos Basin and in the broad,
shallow basin extending southward from Gallup, past Zuni, to the
head of the Salado and Alamosa drainage basins, also in the small
basins of Carthage, Tijeras, the White Mountains, and Engle.

In northeastern New Mexico the Montana group is divided into
three formations, known, in ascending order, as the Pierre shale,
Trinidad sandstone, and Vermejo formation. The relations of the
Trinidad sandstone and Vermejo formation to the Mesaverde have
not been definitely determined. The fossil plants of the Vermejo
formation suggest correlation with the Mesaverde, but the inverte-
brates and some of the stratigraphic data indicate that the Vermejo
is younger than the Mesaverde and probably corresponds more closely
with the Fox Hills.

The thick body of marine shale of Montana age (Lewis shale) that
overlies the Mesaverde group in southern Colorado extends far
southward in New Mexico but in some places diminishes greatly in
thickness.

The succession of latest Cretaceous rocks in the San Juan Basin
formerly designated "Laramie" has been subdivided into the Pic-
tured Cliffs sandstone, Fruitland formation, Kirtland shale, and
Ojo Alamo sandstone. Details regarding these formations, whidi
overlie the Lewis shale, are given by Bauer.^

EARLY TERTIARY (eOOENE) DEPOSITS.

In the San Juan Basin there is a broad area filled with a succes-
sion of clays and sands comprising, in ascending order, the Puerco,
Torrejon, and Wasatch formations. These beds lie imconform-
ably on a somewhat uneven surface of Upper Cretaceous forma-
tions and overlap southward into the west slope of the Nacimiento
uplift. The Galisteo sandstone, a reddish sandstone overlying
the coal measures in the Cerrillos coal field, is thought to be early
Tertiary. The Raton formation, which occupies the Raton coal
basin, is also of that age." Early Tertiary sandstones or conglom-
erates overlie the Upper Cretaceous rocks in the Valle de la Parida,
northeast of Socorro; along the west side of Miller Arroyo southeast
of Socorro, about Carthage, in the Elephant Butte r^on; and in
T. 20 S., R. 3 E., 20 miles northeast of Las Cruces.

LATER TERTIARY DEPOSITS.

The later Tertiary deposits in New Mexico comprise great accumu-
lations of volcanic materials, including tuff, volcanic ash, agglomerate,

» Bauer, C. M., Stratigraphy of part of the Chaco River valley: U. S. Oeol. Survey Prof- Paper 9S»ppL
260-278, 1916.

» Lee, W. T., Qeology and paleontology of the Raton Mesa and other regions In Colorado and New Meodeo:
U. S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 101, pp. 56-€l, 1917.

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GBOLOGtG STRXTCTtJRE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 187

and lava flows, and also the Santa Fe formation, a deposit of loam,
silt, sand, and gravel of Miocene and Pliocene age, occupying the
Rio Grande basin in Taos, Rio Arriba, Santa Fe, Sandoval, and
Bernalillo counties and extending southward for an unknown distance.
These deposits cover a very large area in the State and conceal the
structure of the sedimentary rocks, which no doubt underlie them in
greater part. Some of these recent beds are tilted in various direc-
tions, but the structure which they might indicate should not be
expected to continue downward in the underlying older rocks.

QUATEENARY DEPOSITS.

Sand, gravel, and clay of Quaternary age constitute 'the surface
in many parts of New Mexico, especially in the river valleys and
wide desert basins. Their thickness varies greatly, but iii the wide
area west of El Paso, about Deming, and in other similar valleys
farther west they aggregate several hundred feet. Other broad areas
are in the Tularosa Basin, the Jornada del Muerto, and the Plains of
San Agustin. The "White Sands'' west of Alamogordo consist of
granular gypsum of Quaternary age, and other deposits of loose sand,
mostly silica, occur in the same and other basins. Alluvial deposits
occur along most of the streams, notably in the broad flood plain of
the Rio Grande. Some of the valleys are also occupied by Quaternary
lava flows, mostly lying on sand and gravel. The ''Malpais" (bad-
land) in Tularosa Basin west of Carrizozo is an example.

GENERAL STRATIGRAPHIC CONDITIONS.

Petroleum occurs in rocks only under certain favorable conditions
of origin and storage, and naturally there are in New Mexico many
districts in which the conditions are wholly unfavorable. The entire
State is imderlain by a basement of granite, gneiss, quartzite, and
similar crystalline rocks which are barren of oil. These rocks in
which it is hopeless to look for oil are uplifted to the surface in several
areas, such as the Rocky Moimtains, the San Andres Mountains, the
Sierra Nacimiento, and the Hills of Pedemal. At other places they
are overlain by limestones, sandstones, shale, red beds, volcanic rock,
sands, and gravels, locally 5,000 feet thick. In texture, composition,
and organic contents some of these strata are likely to be favorable
for the development of oil, but although some porous beds are
suitable for oil storage many such beds are far removed from any
promising source of oil. Oil is believed to be produced from organic
matter laid down with sands and clays in the original deposition, and
in some of the beds in New Mexico there was never suflScient organic
matter to produce any notable amoimt of oil. The ''Red Beds,''
with thick bodies of red sandstone and shale and with deposits of
gypsum, are nearly barren of organic matter and are not regarded
by geologists as likely to contain oU unless the oil has migrated into

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188 CONTBIBUnONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

them and there found a suitable porous reservoir. In the very
thick series of red beds the sandstones, however porous they may be,
are thought generally to be too far above or below the mother rocks
to have been reached by such oil as may have been generated in the
beds containing more carbonaceous matter. Texture is a most
important condition controlling oil accumulation, and the shales
consisting of fine clay, the compact limestones, and some of the finer-
grained sandstones have but little capacity for oil. Sand and gravel
of the younger formations, valley fill, and slope talus are naturally
very unfavorable materials. The volcanic rocks which cover a wide
area in New Mexico should not be expected to carry oil, but in most
areas these rocks are underlain by sedimentary strata of various
kinds whicjti may be reached by the drill.

Of the sandstones in New Mexico those believed to be most likely
to yield oil are members in the Mesaverde, Malicos, Chupadera, and
Magdalena formations. The Bliss sandstone (see PL XXXI, A), 50
to 150 feet thick, at the base of the sedimentary succession, underUes
the southern third of the State and does not contain much organic
matter. Moreover, it is probably too much altered to contain oil.
Sandstones in the Magdalena group, especially those in the lower
part, are enveloped by strata that teem with remains of organic life
and are not far removed from other beds that contain considerable
carbonaceous matter. Some of the oil in Oklahoma and Kansas
occurs in the eastward extension of this group. The sandstones in
the Chupadera formation (see Pis. XXXI, B; XXXII, A; XXXIII,
B) present stratigraphic conditions somewhat similar to those in the
Magdalena group, though carbonaceous beds are but little in evi-
dence. The oil at Dayton occurs in beds of the Chupadera far above
the base of the formation. These sandstones are of wide extent
under New Mexico, especially its eastern part, but to the north the
amount of oi^anic material in the associated strata is less, and in
some of the central eastern area the formation is probably too near
the surface to retain oil.

The red sandstones of the Navajo and Abo formations (see Pis.
XXXI, B; XXXII, B; XXXIV) and the Wingate sandstone (PL
XXXIII, A) carry very little organic matter and are not closely
associated with carbonaceous strata. The Dakota sandstone (see
PI. XXXV, B, p. 196) where it lies under a cover of the Benton or
Mancos shales, which contain much organic matter, appears to be
favorable as a reservoir but has never been definitely proved to be oil-
bearing in any region. In many portions of the State it lies at too
shallow a depth, and in most areas it is saturated with water. The
sandstones of the Mancos and Mesaverde formations are included in
strata containing a very large amount of oiganic matter of various
kinds, including coal. The oil at Seven Lakes is probably in the

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V. a. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 72G PLATE XXXI

A. BLISS SANDSTONE, S\N ANDRES MOUNTAINS. IN BENNETT
CANYON. NORTHEAST OF LAS CRUCES, N. MEX.

6. Contnct of Bliss sand.slonn and KI Pnso limoAtonn.

B. COYOTE BUTTE, 12 MILES NORTHEAST OF SOCORRO. N. MEX.
Limestone, sandstone, and gypsum of Chupadera formation.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEV BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXXII

A. BLUEWATER CANYON, N. MEX.
Limestone and Hamlslonc of Chupadcra formation.

B. lNSCRH>riON ROCK, N. MEX.
Navajo t<andstone on southwest slope of Zuni Mountains.

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IT. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXXIII

A. WINGATE SANDSTONU: AT RITO, N. MEX.
Shows limcsloiie and gypsum of Todillo formalion; Navajo saudslone in the background.

B. SANDSTONE OF GLORIETA MESA, NEAR LA CUESTA, N. MEX.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXXIV

SAMDSTOISliS AT ISAVAJO CHUHGH, N. MEX.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

189

Mesaverde formation. The capabilities of the Cretaceous sandstones
above the Lewis shale as oil reservoirs can only be surmised. Some
of the associated shales carry considerable organic matter.

STRUCTURAL AND STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONS.

NOBTHEASTEBN COUNTIES.
QENEBAL RELATIOKS.

In the northeast comer of New Mexico, east of the Atchison,
Topeka & Santa Fe Railway, in Union County and the eastern parts

FlouBB Id.— Map showing the mi^Jor stmctore of northeastern New Mexico by contours at the snrftce of
the Dakota sandstone in Colfax, Union, Mora, and San Miguel coonties. Contour interval, SOOfeet.
As butUttle of the area has been sunreyed topogtaphically,many of the elevations are only approximate.
A-B, Line of section in figure 17.

of Colfax and Mora counties, the sedimentary rocks are uplifted
in a broad dome or elongated arch with its highest part near Capulin
Mountain and the Sierra Grande. To the west in Colfax County is
the deep basin of the Raton coal field, from which the. strata rise
steeply to the Rocky Mountain front range, beyond. The broader
features of the structure of this region are shown in figures 16 and 17.

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190 COKTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

Doubtless a detailed investigation of the
region will reveal many minor irregularities
of structure, such as local domes, anticlines,
or terraces of the types in which oil and gas
are found in other regions. Those situated
on the crest or slopes of the broad arch are
probably more promising than those farther
down in the basins.

A large part of the smf ace of Union County
consists of the Dakota sandstone, sloping
eastward, covered to the east by Tertiary
3 sands and gravels and to the north and west

g by sheets of lava. The deeper canyons cut

Hj through to underlying red beds. In Colfax

Jq and Mora counties the Dakota sandstone

passes beneath the Benton and overlying
shales, and in the Raton coal basin it is cov-
ered by several thousand feet of Cretaceous
and early Tertiary beds. To the south, how-
ever, the strata rise somewhat, and the deep
canyons of Canadian and Mora rivers reveal
Triassic red shale (Dockmn group).

STSATIQ&APHY.

The succession of rocks beneath the Da-
kota sandstone in northeastern New .Mexico
comprises sandstones and shales of Lower Cre-
taceous age and a thick body of red shales
and sandstone (Triassic and Permian), prob-
ably including limestones in their lower part.
In most places the Dakota is about 100 feet
jsj thick and the underlying gray shales and

brown sandstones 1 25 fee t thick. The deeper
canyons cut through these rocks and also
through a white to gray massive sandstone
( Wingate sandstone) that imderUes the area.
Only the upper parts of the Triassic red sand-
stones and shales (Dockum group) are re-
vealed in the walls of such canyons as the Dry
Cimarron and Canadian, so that the deeper
undergroimd conditions can be judged only
from ex postures of the up tinned edges of the
rocks in the front range of the Rocky Moim-
tains. These exposures are so distant that
there may be considerable change in the

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OP PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 191

character of the materials in the interval. A section measured by
Lee^ not far north of the Colorado State line is as follows:

Oeologic jKction measured on the south fork ofPurgatoire River in sontfiem Colorado,

Feet.

Sandstone (Dakota) massive, quartzitic. 95

Shale, fine grained, sandy, dark (Purgatoire formation) 3

Sandstone, conglomerate (Puigatoire formation) 50

Not exposed 50

Shale and sandstone (Morrison formation), variegated; red agates

near base 150

Not exposed [probably gray and red sandstones and red shale —

N. H. D.] 632

Sandstone, conglomeratic with some shale (red beds) ; many coarse

conglomerate, pebbles up to 8 inches or more in diameter, of

crystalline and metamorphic rocks 11, 537

Sandstone, dark red, more or less quartzoee, much harder than the

red beds above. Small pebbles and conglomerate in places 2, 506

Crystalline rocks [pre-Cambrian].

15,025

Ten miles farther north Lee found shale and limestone at the base
of this series, and several limestone and dark shale members were
included. As these beds are represented by limestone and dark shale
in Kansas, probably in Union County a considerable amount of this
material will be found when the formation is penetrated by wells.
The total thickness of beds below the Morrison formation will probably
prove to be less than 4,000 feet.

In the Raton coal field the Dakota sandstone is overlain by 5,000
feet or more of shale and sandstone of later Cretaceous age (Benton
to Pierre) and by the Raton formation, of early Tertiary age. That
the shales from the Benton to the Pierre are more. than 2,500 feet
thick is shown by the failure of deep holes at Raton and Vermejo
Park to reach their base. A 3,000-foot hole at Raton began about
300 feet below the top of the Pierre shale and was entirely in shale,
apparently not reaching the base of the formation. A hole at the
Bartlett ranch, in Vermejo Park, began about 230 feet below the
top of the Pierre shale and penetrated about 2,300 feet of shale,
apparently all Pierre. The Niobrara and Benton shales are doubt-
less morQ than 1,000 feet thick and include two thin beds of limestone.
A small amoimt of sandstone may also be included, possibly the
equivalent of beds which carry oil in Colorado, Wyoming, and some
other States. These shales are absent in Union County except for
a few small thin outliers in some of the western townships and a
small area at Moses. In Mora County they cap the ridge east of
the Canadian Canyon and occupy a basin west of that canyon which

> Lee, W. T.. Geology of the Raton Mesa and other regions In Colorado and New Mexico: U. S. Qeol.
Survey Prof. Paper 101, p. 41 ,1917.

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192 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

may be 600 to 800 feet deep west of Nolan. The north end of
another basin enters the county south of Golondrinas, but it does
not contain more than 450 feet of the shales.

The stage of carbonization (incipient alteration) of the lower group
of coals in the Raton coal field makes it appear probable that oil in
commercial amounts will not be found in the Vermejo coal-bearing
formation or in underlying formations near Fishers Peak and possibly
not in Vermejo Park, though gas is likely to be found in the local
domes and anticlines. Information is lacking as to the degree of
carbonization of the carbonaceous matter of the rocks farther south
toward Turkey Mountain and Las Vegas.

LOCAL STRTTCTUHS.

The main anticlinal fold is a broad dome elongated to the northeast
and southwest, whose axis passes a short distance ea^t of Folsom
and which flattens out in the northeastern part of Mora County.
To the north it extends some distance into Colorado, with relations
that have been shown in a previous report.** In the highest part of
the dome, near Folsom, the surface of the Dakota sandstone reaches
an altitude of about 7,200 feet. From this place westward the dips
are to the west at a very low angle and, as shown in figure 17, the
Dakota sandstone passes under shales which at Raton are more
than 3,000 feet thick.

To the southwest the shale covering decreases in thickness, owing
to erosion, and the Dakota sandstone is exposed in the Canadian
Valley as far north as Taylor. Near Springer it is only a few hundred
feet below the surface. The sandstone comes up again in Ocate
Park, apparently in a low, flat anticline, and it is sharply uptmned
in the Turkey Mountain dome, which reveals the "Red Beds."

The Vermejo Park anticline or dome, as shown in figures 16 and
17, rises on the west slope of the Raton coal basin. At Vermejo Park,
which is on its eroded crest, the Pierre shales are exposed, and the
cliffs encircling the park consist of Trinidad sandstone and overlying
strata. The uplift amounts to several hundred feet.

A small uplift in the '* Red Beds '' under the Exeter sandstone is
revealed in the canyon of the Dry Cimarron, 6 miles east of Valley.
An anticline of considerable prominence extends northward across
the valleys of the Dry Cimarron and Travesser Creek, in R. 32 E.
During 1919 the United Oil Co. has been boring a test well on this
anticline. The record to a depth of 2,725 feet is given on pages 193-194.

DBSP BOBnra&

A number of deep holes have been bored in northeastern New
Mexico, mostly for water. A 2,530-foot hole at the Bartlett ranch,

M Darton, N. H., The structure of parts of the ceatral Great Plains: U. S. Geol. Survey BulL <KU,pp>
1&-21, pi. 1,1918.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTTJRE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

198

in Vermejo Park, was entirely in shale, probably all Pierre, because
the Timpas and Greenhorn limestones were not reported. The Dakota
sandstone may be several hundred feet below the bottom of this
hole.

A 2,700-foot hole at Raton had a similar record.

It was reported in 1918 that a test hole for oil or gas had been
started north of Des Moines and another one on the Dry Cimarron,
in the extreme northeast comer of the State, but no reports of
progress have been received. The latter hole was on or near the
crest of a local anticline or dome in the ** Red Beds."

At Solano, on the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad, a hole was
bored to a depth of 926 feet by the railroad company for water,
without success. The record showed brown sandstone to 221 feet,
sand and shale from 221 to 276 feet, and hard rock and white sand-
stone from 276 to 307 feet, below which there is blue clay and
doubtless several hundred feet of ''Red'Beds."

The boring of the United Oil Co. in T. 31 N., R. 33 E., has a depth

of 2,725 feet. Samples of drillings to a depth of 2,337 feet were

furnished by R. S. Shannon and aid somewhat in interpreting the

record.

Record of boring of United OH Co, in NW. \ sec. 6, T, SI N., R. SS K,

Union County, N. Mex.

Feet.

Sand and sandy shale, blue 0-68

Sandstone 68-108

Shale, blue or brown 108-159

Shale, sandy, red 15^179

Sandstone, coarse '. 179-193

Sandstone, red 193-227

Shale, red; some limestone 227-269

Limestone and sandstone, red 259-271

Shale, red, sandy 271-293

Limestone, red, and blue shaly sandstone 293-319

Shale, red, and limestone 319-363

limestone 363-383

Limestone and red shale 383-400

Shale, red, sandy ; some limestone near 470 feet 400-574

Limestone, sandy, hard 574-595

Shale, red, and limestone (dolomite) 595-615

Shale, blue; some gray dolomite and sandstone 615-652

Sandstone, shale, and limestone 652-680

Sandstone 680-700

Sandstone and blue shale ; some dolomite 700-720

Sandstone, mostly gray 720-760

Shale, blue, sandy 76(^778

Limestone and sandstone alternating 77^-847

Sandstone; some red sandy shale 847-880

Sandstone, mostly red; some limestone • 880-945

Sandy shale , red 945-960

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194 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

Feet.

Sandstone, red 960-970

Sandy shale, red 970-990

Sandstone, red ; some dolomite near 995 feet 990-1, 015

Sandy shale, red 1, 015-1, 053

Limestone, red, hard 1, 053-1, 121

Sandstone, soft 1, 121-1, 161

Sandstone, red, and pandy clay, red 1, 161-1, 205

Limestone, hard, and sandstone 1, 205-1, 211

Limestone, red 1, 211-1, 240

Sandstone, limestone, and shale, red 1, 240-1, 260

Sandy shale, mostly red 1, 260-1, 312

Sandstone, red, and limestone 1, 312-1, 342

Sandstone, red, hard 1, 342-1, 357

Sandy shale, red, and limestone 1, 357-1, 372

Limestone, hard 1, 372-1, 398

Limestone, hard, and sandstone 1, 398-1, 430

Sandy shale, red. 1, 430-1, 513

Red rock, hard ^ 1, 513-1, 700

Sandstone, red, coarse 1, 700-1, 760

Bedrocks 1,760-1,960

Limestone, hard, sandy, red 1, 960-2, 040

Limestone, hard, sandy, white 2, 040-2, 080

Limestone, hard, sandy, red 2, 080-2, 104

Sandstone, red, soft; water 2, 104-2, 123

Sandstone, red, hard 2, 123-2, 597

Limestone, sandy 2, 597-2, 647

Sandstone, gray 2, 647-2, 654

Sandstone, pink 2, 654-2, 670

Sandstone, red 2,670-2,725

It is said that granite was found at the bottom.

A hole drilled for oil in the NW. i sec. 32, T. 20 N., R. 31 E., pene-
trated red beds to a depth of about 2,200 feet. It found nothing but
a strong flow of noncombustible gas.

CENTRAL EASTERN COT7NTIES.
OEITBRAL RELATIONS.

The area comprising Guadalupe, De Baca, and Quay counties and
the part of San Miguel County lying below the Canadian escarpment
is mostly in the valleys of Canadian and Pecos rivers. To a large
extent the strata in this area dip eastward, but the inclination is so
slight that it is imperceptible to the eye. Several shallow basins
and low arches or domes ^^ have been found in- this area, and it is
probable that careful scrutiny will reveal others.

The general structural relations are shown in the accompanying
cross section (fig. 18).

» Attention was called to some of these domes in U. S. Oeol. Survey Press Bulletin 413, June 25, 1919.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

STRATIQBAPHT.

The rocks that crop out in the area are red
shales and sandstones of Triassic age (Docknm
group) in the lower lands and the Purgatoire
and Dakota formations in the adjoining mesas.
Just west of Tucumcari these sandstones descend
into a structural basin and occupy its center for
dome distance.

The Triassic red shales and sandstones are
about 800 feet thick and include near their lower
part a prominent bed of gray sandstone which
comes to the surface at Santa Rosa and is ex-
posed widely in plateaus to the Vest, north, and
south of that place. Small amotmts of asphalt or
dried-up petroleum, occur in ledges of this sand-
stone on the banks of Pecos River 8 miles north-
northwest of Santa Rosa, and it is possible that
oil will be found in the sandstone east of this
place, where it is from 50 to 550 feet below the
surface. Next below this sandstone are some red
shales^ and then limestones, sandstones, and
gypsum deposits of the Chupadera formation,
which crop out in the southwestern part of Gua-
dalupe County, the eastern part of Torrance
Cotmty, and the southwestern part of San Miguel
County. This formation, which is 1,000 to 1,200
feet thick, contains beds of sandstone that may
yield oil in places where the structural conditions
are favorable. The red sandstones of the Abo
formation underlying the Chupadera formation
are probably 800 feet thick and are not likely
to be oil bearing. They are underlain by lime-
stones and shales of the Magdalena group, which
is 1,200 feet or more thick in the Rocky Moxmt-
ain and Sandia uplifts and which lies on a floor
of pre-Cambrian granite, schist, and other crys-
talline rocks. The 2,013-foot hole sunk in the
Esterito dome, 25 miles northwest of Santa Rosa,
apparently found but Uttle if any of the Magda-
lena group lying on the granite.

195

LOCAL DOMES.

One of the most marked structural features
in central eastern New Mexico is the £sterito
dome (fig. 19), just east of Dilia, in the middle

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196 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

of the Anton Chico grant; about 25 miles northwest of Santa Rosa.
It is in a region of '' Red Beds '' and brings to the surface on its eroded
crest the top limestone and upper sandstone of the Chupadera for-
mation. (See section, fig. 20.) The area of exposure of these beds
is only about 3 square miles. The upturned edges of the red beds
crop out on the flanks of the dome. Further details of this dome are
shown by figure 19, constructed from a contour map kindly furnished
by Mr. J. R. Gardner, of Tulsa, Okla., based on a detailed survey by
Messrs. Newby, Garrett, Crabtree, and Wright. In 1918-19 a hole
was bored by the Gypsy Oil Co. in sec. 30, T. 11 N., R. 19 E., to test

R.I9E.

, . Outcrop of sandstone beds

In the Triassic above

Chupadera formation

Ftouse 19.— Map of Esterito dome, Guadalupe County, N. Hex.

the resources of this dome. It was finally discontinued in granite
at a depth of 2,013 feet. The strata penetrated, according to the log
on pages 198-199, kindly furnished by Mr. G. C. Matson, are sandstone
and limestone from the surface to probably about 1,045 feet, the Abo
sandstone from 1,045 to 2,000 feet, and granite from 2,000 to 2,013
feet. The Magdalena group appears to be absent, although possibly
it is represented by some of the red rocks with two thin beds of lime-
stone between 1,575 and 2,000 feet. The character of the Chupadera
formation in this region is indicated by strata below 675 or 580 feet,
in the record of the 1,003-foot hole 15 miles east. (See p. 198.) Two
domes of moderate prominence are indicated by outcrops of lime-
stone of the Chupadera formation in Canyon Blanco, 10 miles south-
west of Anton Chico.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PtiATE XXXV

A. NAVAJO AND DAKOTA SANDSTONES AT ATARQUE, N. MEX.
Unconformity shows just above the trco tops.

B. DAKOTA SANDSTONE ATBLUEWATER FALLS, N. MEX.. LOOKING WEST.

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X
X

z
z

z s

i i

M Z

Z ^

^
5

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 197

A small but well-defined dome is exhibited ^

near the center of T. 8 N., R. 19 E., in Pmtada |
Canyon a mile east of San Ignacio post oflBlce.
It brings to the surface limestone and gypsum
at the top of the Chupadera formation. The
relations are shown in figure 18 and Plate
XXXVI, A. Another dome appears in this
canyon 3 miles above Pintada post office, but

its crest is not sufficiently elevated to expose |
the top of the Chupadera formation, which,

however, is not far below the bottom of the g

canyon. ^

lliere is a slight doming of the strata a short g
distance east of Santa Rosa and at several other s;
places in the extensive region of red beds in the ^
southeastern part of San Miguel County and o
the northeast comer of Guadalupe County- |
No details of the structure have been deter- «
mined. A shallow synclinal basin east of ^|
Montoya extends across the western part of | o
Quay County and the southeast comer of San « |
Miguel County, as shown in figure 18. On the S. I*
east side of this basin east of Tucumcari the S o
strata rise on a low arch that extends some |^
distance north up Ute Creek v^ey and some Z "^
distance soulh, probably as far as the rise to S| g
the Staked Plains. In this arch the sand-
stones of the deeply buried Chupadera forma-
tion, probably 800 to 1,000 feet or more ^
deep, should be tested, and possibly the un- |
derlying Abo sandstone and Magalena group. g*
Minor domes were observed east and south of «
Tucumcari. I

DEEP BOBINOS. o

Very few deep holes have been bored to test >:

the strata in east-central New Mexico. Several »

years ago a hole was bored for oil on the Perea |

grant, on Pecos River 7 or 8 miles above Santa |

Rosa, but no facts as to depth or record were p

obtainable. In 1916 a 1,003-foot hole was g

bored on the Preston Beck grant, 12 miles |

north-northeast of Santa Rosa. It pene- g

trated the Chupadera formation for some dis- |

tance but was not in an area of favorable |

. 60210*»— 22 3 3

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198 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.

structure and was not deep enough to test all the strata. The fol-
lowing record is made up from drillers' logs and my own tests of
samples of the borings:

Record of boring on Beck grants 12 miles north-northeagt of Santa Rosa, N. Mex,

Feet.

Sandstone, gray Q-140

Sandstone and blue shale 140-195

Sandstone; some "water 19&-205

Shale, blue 205-215

Sandstone, gray; much water at top 215-255

Sandstone, with limestone in lower part 255-345

Shale, red, sandy 345-380

Shale, blue, part limy 380-405

Shale, red, brown, and gray 405-425

Shale, blue, and limestone 425-450

Shale, red; some gray 450-490

Shale, blue 490-510

Shale, red : 510-525

Shale, blue 525-535

Shale, brown to red 535-550

Sandstone, gray; water 550-500

Shale, red, on gypsum 560-580

Limestone, dark shale, and gypsum 580-680

Gjrpsum, anhydrite, limestone, and black shale 680-800

Sandstone, gray 80O-915'

Limestone and shale 915-935

Sandstone 935-955

Gypsum and limestone •. 955-975

Sandstone; some bracldsh water » Q75-l,003

The hole bored in 1918-19 by the Gypsy Oil Co. m the Esterito
dome; in the Anton Chico grant, northwest of Santa Rosa, had the
following record, suppUed by Mr. G. C. Matson:

Record of hole bored by Gypsy Oil Co. in theSW.i sec. SO, T. 11 JV., R. 19 E., QvadaUip^

County, N. Mex.

Feet.

No record 0-187

Sandstone i 187-380

Sandstone, dark 380-425

Sandstone, gray 425-500

Sandstone, black 500-520

Shale and sandstone, red 520-1,025

Limestone 1,026-1,045

Bedrock 1, 045-1, 06&

Sandstone; lower part white 1, 065-1, 108:

Red rock .' 1,108-1,155

Sandstone 1, 155-1, 175

Shale, red 1,175-1,195

Shale, blue 1,195-1,200)

Bedrock 1,200-1,265.

Sandstone; water 1,265-1,287/

Limestone, red 1,287-1,299)

Sandstone, red and gray, alternating 1, 299-l,,576/

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 199

Feet.

Sandstone; water 1,575-1,588

limeetone 1, 588-1, 600

Shale, red 1, 600-1, 660

Limestone 1, 660-1, 675

Red shale and sandstone 1,675-1,800

Bedrock 1,800-1,870

Sandstone 1, 870-1, 990

. Norecord 1,990-2,000

Granite 2,000-2,013

The heavy sandstone of the Chupadera formation extends to a
depth of 520 feet, and doubtless some of the miderlying red beds are
basal members of the formation, including, perhaps, the limestone at
1,026 to 1,045 feet. The Abo sandistone may extend to the granite,
or some of the lower beds from 1,588 to 2,000 feet may represent
the Magdalena group, but they include only 27 feet of limestone.

A 857-foot well for water at Pastura passed through 180 feet of
alternating beds of limestone and compact gypsum, 15 feet of sand-
stone, 25 feet of hard dark limestone, 50 feet of sandstone, 60 feet
of gypsum, and 280 feet of limestone and gypsum to sandstones of
light color at 520 feet, which yielded considerable hard water.

A 3,200-foot hole 5 miles south of Buchanan penetrated alternat-
ing beds of red shale and limestone with much gypsum between 200
and 600 feet, also 200 feet of salt between 2,105 and 2,460 feet.

In 1919 several borings were being made in the eastern part of
the area to test the strata for oil. One known as the McGee well,
in the southeast comer of sec. 27, T. 10 N., R. 31 E., about 9 miles
southeast of Tucumcari-, had the following record:

Log of McGee boring, in sec, n, T, 10 N,, R. SI E., Quay County, N. Mex.

Feet.

Sandstone, gray 0-^

Shale, red 3(M70

Water eand, salty 470-600

Shale, red, with 10 feet of sandstone at 666 feet 600-760

Water sand 760-783

Shale, blue 783-796

Water sand 796-800

Shale, red 800-905

Shale , blue 905-940

Water sand 940-070

Shale, red 970-1,100

Rock salt 1,100-1,135

Shale, red 1,135-1,400

Sandrock .' 1,400-1,430

Rock salt 1,430-1,455

Shale, red 1,455-1,625

Limestone, gray 1, 625-2, 000

Shale, brown 2,000-2,200

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200 CONTRIBUnONB TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAKT II.

Feet.

Limestone, dark; salt at 2,372-2,377 feet 2, 200-2, 550

Shale, brown 2, 550-3,- 200

Limestone, black 3, 200-3, 220

Salt 3,220-3,225

Shale, brown 3, 225-3, 325

Limestone and sandstone, red 3, 325-3, 340

Shale, brown 3, 340-3, 505

Limestone, dark 3, 505-3, 520

Sandy shale, red 3,520-3,550

Limestone, blue 3, 550-3, 575

Shale, blue 3,575-3,595

Shale and lime, red 3, 595-3, 685

Sand, brown 3,685-3,730

Partly limy 3, 730-3, 820

Shalp, blue • : 3,820-3,825

"Red lime with granitic sand" 3,825-3, 854

Limestone, black 3, 854-3, 859

Shale, blue 3,859-3,869

Limestone, gray to brown 3, 869-3, 953

Shale 3,953-3,958

Limestone, brown 3, 958-4, 014

A hole in sec. 7, T. 11 N., R. 36 E., was in progress in 1920. Blue
shale was the prevailing material to 1,500 feet and limestone from
1,500 feet to 2,300 feet; red shale was entered at about 2,500 feet.
A hole in sec. 25, T. 13 N., R. 32 E., on Canadian River 15 miles north-
east of Tucnmcari, had reached a depth of 1,210 feet. Sandstones
and red shales predominate to a depth of 905 feet, below which are
gray limestones with a few beds of brown and gray shale.

BOCEY MOtTNTAINS.

The great uplift of the Rocky Mountains extends far southward
into New Mexico as a series of high ridges consisting largely of granite,
schist, and other crystalline rocks of pre-Cambrian age, overlain by
limestones and sandstones of Carboniferous age. The range is rela-
tively narrow, having a width of about 25 miles in Taos County
and 35 miles east of Santa Fe. The principal structural feature
is an anticline or series of anticlines. Two typical sections are given
in figure 21.

Many of the details of the structure of the Rocky Mountains in
New Mexico have not been determined, especially the relations of
the faults and minor flexures. The uplift pitches steeply toward the
south, and the crystalline rocks and limestone pass underground in
the vicinity of latitude 35° 30^ or near the line of the Santa Fe
Railway. The prolongations of the anticlines, however, are traceable
for some distance farther south in the Glorieta and other mesas in
the southwestern part of San Miguel County and the southeastern
part of Santa Fe County, described on page 202. The principal sedi-
mentary rocks in the Rocky Mountain uplift are those of the Magda-

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GEOLOGIC STKUCTTJRE OF PABTS OF NEW MEXICO.

201

lena group, which consists of limestones and sandstones, the latter
predominating in the upper and later portions of the formation.
These rocks arch over most of the higher parts of the range, but in
some areas they have been removed by erosion and the underlying
granites, schists, etc., are revealed. These limestones and sandstones,
lying high on the mountain slopes, with so little cover, are not likely
to contain oil or gas.

FiouBS 21.— Generalized sections across the Rocky Moontains In New Mexico. A, From Taos eastward;
S, eastward from a point 6 miles north of Santa Fe. Cm , Magdalena group; K, Cretaceous sandstone and
shale.

EAST-CENTBAL PLATEAU BEGION.

OEHEBAL BXL ATZOKS.

The east-central plateau region comprises the southeastern part oi
Santa Clara County, the western part of San Miguel County, and the
eastern part of Torrance County. From the south end of the Rocky
Mountains there extends southward a broad plateau which in the
northern part of Lincoln County merges into the Sacramento Cuesta
and in the southern part of Torrance County merges into the Chupa-
dera Mesa. Glorieta Mesa is at the north end of t]}e plateau, and it
slopes eastward into the valley of Pecos River. The surface is
sandstone to the north and limestone to the south, but from Pedemal
Mountain to Pinos Wells the pre-Cambrian crystalline rocks appear,
in places rising considerably above the general level.

STBATIG&APHY.

The sedimentary strata underlying the east-central plateau region
are shown in the following table:

Formations in the east-central plateau region of New Mexico.

Formation.

Characteristics.

Thickness
(feet).

Chupadera formation.

Massive gray sandstone to north: altemating limestone, gray
sandstone, gypsum, and soft red sandstone to south.

1,000-1,100

Brown-red sandstone and red sandy shale; some gray sandstone.

700^800

Magdalenagroap.

shale in lower part.

1,100-1,200

Granite, schist, etc.

With thick mass of gray quartzite in Pedemal region.

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202 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

The strata most favorable for oil or gas, if these materials are pres-
ent, are the sandstones included in the Magdalena group, which lie at a
depth of about 2,000 feet in most parts of the plateau area. Possibly some
^ of the coarser, more porous

%^% sandstones of the Abo may

I I " also be favorable, but the

^ J iteo sandstone of the Chupa-

i -^ I S dera formation apparently

III has little cover, some of the

«gg canyons cutting into or

||| »i^ through it. The Magda-

%^% ^ lena group and Abo sand-

it% stone are absent in an area

I c^ I of considerable extent ad-

di| i oining Pedemal Mountain

I '^ g and the associated quartz-

ite ridges, which probably
continue underground as
far north as T. 10 N.

LOCAL STBTrCTTTRE.

The main structural fea-
ture of this district is an
bti anticline or a southward

r B ^ prolongation of part of the

Rocky Mountain uplift,
with a low dip to the east
and steeper dips on the
west, notably in the r^on
east of Lamy. The sec-
tions in figure 22 show the
^ §* i chief structural features.

;; S The strata dip down

- ^ I under Estancia Valley and

3 ? the Galisteo Basin, where

I B the Chupadera is overlain
^ • by later formations. To

I I the east, in the southwest-
? ^ em part of San Miguel
1 1 County, the larger valleys

f^ § J^ cut through to the imder-

o lying red Abo sandstone.

5- 1 Toward the south the pre-

^ • Cambiian quartzite of the

Pedemal r^on rises as an old ridge in the midst of the later Carbonif-
erous sediments. How far north this quartzite extends is not known,
but it may constitute the center of the uplift for some distance
north of Pedernal Mountain, cutting out the lower formations.

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GEOLOGIC STfttrCTCntB OF FARTS OF ITEW HCITXICOw 20S

Dssp BOBnros.

The most notable deep boring in this region is one sunk in 1918 for
oil and gas near the Pankey ranch, on the Eaton grant, south of
Lamy. The following record of the hole was kindly supplied by the
Toltec Co., which made the boring:

Record of hole onEatonranchf 7 miles south of Lamy, N. Mex., approximately in see, t,

T.IS N.^R.IOE.

Feet.

Satidstone, buff, coarse 0-40

Shale, blue, gritty 40-100

Sandstone 100-150

Shale 150-165

Sandstone, chocolate-colored 165-185

Shale, chocolate-colored 185-215

Limestone, dolomitic, fine grained 215-250

Shale, sandy, chocolate-colored to red 250-300

Sandstone, fine, white 300-^360

Gypsum (?), white, sandy 360-400

Limestone, gray, and sandstone 400-580

Sandstone, fine, gray 580-600

Gypsum, limestone, and shale 600-630

Sandstone, white 630-640

Shale, sandy, chocolate-brown 640-775

Sandstone, white 775-780

Shale, red 780-820

Shale, chocolate-colored 820-880

Shale, sandy, limy 880-890

Sandstone, fine, white 890-940

Shale, blue 940-1,003

Shale, chocolate-colored, sandy 1,003-1,035

Sandstone, red 1,036-1,070

Shale, chocolate-colored; some sand 1,070-1,100

Sandstone, fine, light red 1,100-1,150

Shale, greenish 1,150-1,200

Shale, with some sand, chocolate-colored at top 1, 200-1, 300

Shale, sandy and limy 1,300-1,400

Limestone, gritty (?) 1, 400-1, 455

Shale, limy to sandy, chocolate-colored 1, 455-1, 590

Shale, more sandy 1,590-1,640

Sandstone, red, and chocolate-colored shale 1, 640-1, 715

Conglomerate 1,715-1,720

Shale, dark; somesandy 1,720-1,865

Limestone, blue. 1, 865-1, 920

Limestone, dark gray 1, 920-1, 980

Sandstone, dark red 1, 980-1, 994

Schist and quartzite (probably pre-Gambrian) 1, 994-2, 165

Samples of the materials from various depths were furnished and
tested in the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey. The
sample at 1,895 feet was limestone, those at 1,910, 1,930, and
1,950 feet calcareous shale, at 1,994 feet quartz, at 2,012 feet schist,

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204 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

at 2,080 feet quartzitic schist, at 2,090 feet quartz, an9 at 2,150 feet
schist.

The record does not give the characteristics of all the beds pene-
trated, so that the position of the Chupadera formation is not appar-
ent, but the base of the Abo appears to have been reached at 1,400
feet, below which to 1,950 feet the boring was in the Magdalena group.
A conglomerate with granite fragments from 1,720. to 1,725 feet was a
notable feature. The material from 1,994 feet to the bottom appears
to be quartzite and schist of pre-Cambrian age, the bedrock basement.
As shown in section Ay figure 22, the hole is in a monocline just east of
a large fault, and the structural conditions are not favorable for oil
or gas.

The State well in sec. 8, T. 8 N., R. 13 E., about 6 miles north of
Pedemal Moimtain, had the following record:

Record of well in sec. 8, T. 8 N., R. IS E., Torrance County, N. Mex.

Feet.

Clay, yellow 0-14

Limestone 14-29

Sandstone, yellow 29-90

Sandstone, red, with shale beds 90-160

Limestone and gypsum 160-170

Sandstone, yellow 170-180

Sandstone, red, with thin beds of shale 180-^90

Shale, hard, blue 590-598

Limestone 598-608

Shale, hard, blue 608-645

Sandstone, hard, white 645-665

Limestone, blue 655-670

A 528-foot boring in sec. 8, T. 8 N., R. 14 E., about 2 miles south-
west of Palma post office, in Torrance Coimty, had the following
record:

Record of State well No, 2, in sec. 8, T.8 N., R. 14 E., Torrance CourUy, N. Mex,

Feet.

Limestone (?) and yellow clay 0-30

limestone and gyx>sum (?) 3(^90

Sandstone, yellow 90-470

Sandstone, red 470-480

Sandstone, cream-oolored 480-624

Shale, yellow to reddish 524-528

This well evidently was in the Chupadera formation, throughout.
A 615-foot boring for water in sec. 2, T. 2 N., R. 16 E., had the
following record:

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTUBE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 205

Record of boring in sec. ;?, T. £ N,, R. 16 E,

Feet.

Soil and clay 0-60

Limestone •. 60-140

Limestone and gypsum 140-210

Sandstone 210-290

Limestone 290-300

Sandstone 300-^60

Gypsum 360-380

Sandstone, soft from 410 to 420 feet; some water at 575 feet, 20

gallons at 612 feet; hard water 380-615

A deep hole sunk for water by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe
Railway Co. at Chapelle had the following record:

Record of well of Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co, at Chapelle.

Feet.

Loam ; 0-52

Sandstone, brown 52-^

Sandstone, gray 56-72

Sandstone, white 72-82

Sandstone, yellow • 82-122

Sandstone, alternating white and yellow 122-340

Limestone 340-345

Sandstone, white 345-360

Sandstone, red 350-355

Limestone 355-385

Not given 385-460

Conglomerate, sandy 460-465

Shale and sandstone, red, 465-605

Sandstone, red 605-897

Sandstone, red, With some white 897-960

The sandstones of the Chupadera formation extended to a depth
of 350 feet or possibly to 465 feet, where characteristic red strata of
the Abo sandstone were encountered. The hole was discontinued in
this formation, probably about 300 feet above the top of the Mag-
dalena beds.

A 350-foot well at Lucy passed through 125 fegt of gravel to a thin
bed of hard white sandstone. Below this were alternating red shale
and gray limestone of the lower part of the Chupadera formation.
At Pedemal Siding the white marl (80 feet) and conglomerate (40
feet) of the valley fill were f oxmd to be underlain by 70 feet of red
shale with Umestone beds (Chupadera formation), lying on granite,
which was penetrated from 190 to 270 feet. At Negra a 500-foot
boring was in mica schist and quartzite below 150 feet. The over-
lying beds were red shale and red sandstone, including a 10-foot bed
of Umestone at 110 feet.

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206 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

ESTANCIA VALIiEY.

The Estancia Valley is a wide, flat-bottomed basin occupying
the central part of Torrance County and most of the southern part
of Santa Fe Coxmty. Its length from north to south is about 50
miles, and its average width about 25 miles. Many data relating
to the geology of this area are given in a report by Meinzer.** The
greater part of the surface is covered by sand and gravel several
hundred feet thick, which hide the structural relations. In general
the strata He in a monocline that dips at low angles to the east, but
along the east side some of the strata rise again with westerly dip
on the flank of the anticHne of the southern prolongation of the
Rocky Mountain. (See fig. 22, p. 202.) To the south there appear in
the axis of this ridge extensive exposures of pre-Cambrian quartzite
constituting Pedemal Mountain and the Hills of Pedemal, and
farther south, in the vicinity of Lucia and Rattlesnake Hill, schists
are exposed. On the west side of Estancia Valley are long slopes of
eastward-dipping limestones of the Magdalena group, -which in thB
vicinity of Manzano and Punta pass under red sandstones of the
Abo formation. (See fig. 26, p. 219.) To the south is a high wall of
the Jumahes Mesa, at the north end of the Chupadera Mesa, con-
sisting of red beds overlain by limestone of the Chupadera formation.
In the slopes of the Galisteo Basin just north of Estancia Valley are
exposures of Cretaceous rocks, mostly the Mancos shale, which
doubtless extend for some distance southward, possibly as far as
Stanley or Otto. Cerrito del Lobo is an outlying mass of pre-Cam-
brian quartzite, and it is stated that this rock was found in the SE. i
sec. 17, T. 6 N., R. 12 E., at a depth of 40 feet and in the SE. i sec.
32, T. 5 N., R. 11 E., at a depth of 145 feet. A well 232 feet deep
in the NE. i sec. 14, T. 7 N., R. 11 E., did not find quartzite. It is
evident from these facts that under the center of the southern part
of Estancia VaUey there is an overlap of the later Carboniferous
rocks on the slope of an old ridge of quartzite, which reaches the
present surface in tne HiUs of Pedemal.

Many shallow wells have been sunk for water in Estancia Valley,
but no suitable tests have been made for petroleum, and although
the prospects, structural or stratigraphic, appear not to be promising,
still it is possible that oil might be found in the Magdalena group in
the west half of the vaUey. Owing, however, to the cover of super-
ficial materials the structural relations are hidden in the greater
part of this region. In the area to the west where the limestone
constitutes the surface there are several domes and anticlines,
notably in the ridges east of Chilili, but the structure of these features

M Meinzer, O. E., Oeolo^y and water resources of Estancia VaUey, N. Mex: U. S. QeoL Survey Wat«f^
Supply Paper 275, 1011.

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GEOLOGIC STRTJCa?XJBE OF PABTS OF NEW MEXICO. 207

has not been unraveled in detail. The Magdalena group appears
to be about 1,200 feet thick, and though it consists mainly of lime-
. stone, it includes several beds of sandstone, notably in its lower
portion.

SACBAMBNTO CTJESTA.
OEHEBAL BELATIOSB.

The Sacramento Mountains form the highly elevated portion of
the western margin of the great Umestone cuesta that extends from
the east side of the Tularosa Basin to the Pecos Valley. (See PL
XXXVI, Bf p. 197.) This cuesta attains an altitude of more than
9,000 feet south of Cloudcroft and slopes down on the east to an
altitude of about 3,200 feet in the Pecos Valley in Eddy County.
To the south the high cuesta continues into the Guadalupe Moun-
tains, which extend to the southern margin of New Mexico and to
El Capitan Peak, in Texas, where the altitude is 8,690 feet. The
principal structural features of this region are shown in the cross
sections in figure 23. In the northwestern portion of the region
there is a deep basin of Cretaceous and overlying igneous rocks, and
to the north, in Capitan Mountain, the strata are cut by a large
mass of later Tertiary intrusive rock. In the greater part of the
region there is a general uniform dip to the east, with a few local
variations and some faults. The details of structure in this region
have not yet been investigated, and it is probable that when detailed
surveys are made domes, anticHnes, and terraces will be found on
the monocUne.

STBATia&APHY.

The rocks underlying this cuesta consist of a thick mass of the
Chupadera formation, the red Abo sandstone, and 2,500 feet or more
of limestones, shales, and sandstones of the Magdalena group and
older formations. It appears probable that this succession includes
some beds that may be favorable as sources or reservoirs of oil or gas,
especially toward the east. Moreover, it is in the Chupadera forma-
tion that the oil at Dayton occurs; and althou^ the pool in that
place appears to be of small area it is not unlikely that the conditions
of occurrence may be dupHcated, possibly on a much larger scale,
in other portions of the region. To the west the higher sandstones
of the Chupadera formation are deeply trenched by the stream
valleys, but to the east they pass under cover and storage conditions
may be more favorable. Probably in the underlying red beds of the
lower half of the Chupadera formation and in the 500 to 1,000 feet
of sandstones that constitute the Abo formation the prospects for
oil are very poor. On account of the more favorable composition of
tlie beds the prospects may be belter in the sandstone of the under-
Ijring Magdalena group, which are from 2,000 to 3,000 feet below the
surface in this region.

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208 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

„ ir r if if

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF KEW MEXICO. 209

LOCAL STBUCTT7&E.

The Sacramento Mountains are due mainly to an anticlinal uplift
which in the higher portion of the range for a few miles southeast of
Alamogordo is probably broken by a fault. North of Alamogordo,
as shown in section B, figure 23, the arch is complete, at least in the
Magdalena group, and southeast of Alamogordo the uplift is well
exposed in Alamo Creek. The arch rises so high in Agua Chiquita
Canyon that the pre-Cambrian granites appear for a short distance
in the west foot of the mountain. A fault passes into the mountain
front 4 miles southeast of Alamogordo. At La Luz the westerly dips
are pronounced. Anticlinal structure appears again to the south
in and south of T. 20 N., as shown in section D, figure 23, and the
fold is well marked east and southeast of Orogrande, where it finally
continues into the Hueco Mountains in Texas. (See also section F in
fig. 28.) Just west of High Rolls there is a second anticline, whose
western limb is steeply upturned and somewhat faulted. The

Figure 24.— Sketch section of anticlines and fault between Alamogordo and High Rolls, N. Mex.

Magdalena group appears in both anticlines at^this place, with an
intervening basin of the Abo sandstone, as shown in figure 24.

In the broad cuestas on the east slope of the Sacramento Moun-
tains there are local deviations from the uniform eastward dip, notably
below Elk, where a small anticline appears. Domes are reported
near Tinnie and Picacho. In the southern extension of the range
there are many undulations of the strata, notably between Sacramento
River and Crow Flat, where the limestones of the Chupadera forma-
tion are somewhat flexed, as indicated in section D, figure 23.

In the northwestern extension of the Sacramento Cuesta in Lincoln
Coimty the strata bend down into a basin which is occupied by an
extensive area of Cretaceous shales and sandstones and Tertiary
igneous rocks of the Sierra Blanca. East of this basin is an anticline
of considerable prominence, which, as shown in section A, figure 23,
passes a short distance west of Lincoln. Its axis is in the outcrop
of the Chupadera formation, which is underlain by the Abo sandstone
and Magdalena group in regular ord6r. This uplift passes northward
through the Jicarilla Moimtains and dies out in the plateaus northeast

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210 CONTBIBimONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1021, PART H.

of Ancho. A minor dome on its east slope has its crest near the
center of T. 7 S., R. 16 E., not far east of the Block ranch (Richardson
post office). In places along the slopes near Lincoln the lower shaly
and gypsiferous beds of the Chupadera formation are considerably
crumpled, presenting nmnerons arches and basins. This deformation
is due mainly to the great intrusive mass of Capitan Mountain, not
far north. The more massive upper beds are not much affected.

BORIHa.

A 2,199-foot hole in sec. 21, T. 11 S., R. 18 E., near Picacho, pene-
trated shale with thin beds of limestone and gypsum at 113 to 445
feet, red clay and gypsima at 445 to 530 feet, limestone (mostly) at
530 to 770 feet, sandstone at 770 to 921 feet, red clay at 921 to 968
feet, limestone, shale, and sandstone at 968 to 1,670 feet, including
35 feet of rock salt at 1,109 feet, and granite at 1,670 to 2,199 feet.

PECOS VALLEY IN CHAVES AKD EDDY COXTNTDSS.
aSHXAAL ILELATZOKS.

As stated above, the cuesta of the Sacramento Mountains slopes
down eastward to the Pecos Valley, east of which the limestones of the
Chupadera formation are overlain by red shales of probably Lower
Triassic age. The large supplies of underground water obtained
at Roswell and farther south originate in the sandstones included
in the Chupadera formation. The cross sections in figure 23 show
the structure of this region in the vicinity of Roswell, Lake Arthur,
Dayton, and Carlsbad and indicate the general structure of a large
part of the valley. The predominating feature is a monocline
dipping eastward at a very low angle, which east of Pecos River
carries the Chupadera formation to a moderate depth.

ST&ATIG&APHY.

The surface rocks in the Pecos Valley in Chaves and Eddy counties
are limestones, red shales, and gypsum beds at the top of and over-
lying the Chupadera formation. North of Lakewood there is a
broad cover of sand and gravel, especially on the west side of the
vaUey. Several deep borings show the character of the rocks under-
ground to a considerable depth. The records of some of these holes
are given on pages 212-215.

It will be seen from these records that the region is underlain by
a thick succession of limestone, sandstone, anhydrite, and gypsum,
including thick deposits of salt.^^ It is probable that none of these
borings reached the base of the Chupadera formation, which there-
fore has a thickness of more than 3,000 feet under the Pecos Valley.

^ For further information regarding the salt deposits and associated strata see Darton, N. H., Permian
aalt deposits of thesoutb-oentral United States: U. 8. Oeol. Survey BuU. 715, pp. ao&-233, 1921.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW BIEXIOO. 211

Next below the Chupadera are the red sandstones of the Abo for-
mation, probably at least 700 feet thick, and then the limestones
and sandstones of the Magdalena group, 2,500 feet thick, which may
either extend to the pre-Cambrian basement or be separated from
the crystalline rocks by older limestones and shales.

East of Pecos River there is a long irregular upgrade to the foot
of the Llano Estacado. This slope consists of red beds overlying
the Chupadera formation and in general having the same low dip
toward the east. The rocks are mainly red shales and sandstones,
with beds of limestone and gypsum not unlike those constituting
part of the Chupadera formation. The total thickness of this series
of deposits from the east bank of the river to the foot of the rise to
the Llano Estacado is between 600 and 700 feet. A boring 25
miles east of Roswell penetrated the lower half of the series and then
continued deeply into the Chupadera formation. The record given
on pages 214-215 shows the beds penetrated.

LOCAL STBUOTirBB.

The Pecos Valley in Chaves and Eddy counties is in general an
eastward-dipping monocline, in which the dips at most places are very
low. No special scrutiny was given to the details of structure, and
probably there are minor domes and anticlines which might possibly
present favorable conditions for the accumulation of oil or gas. A
short distance southwest of Roswell there appears to be a feature of
this sort, and others occur west and northwest of Carlsbad. In
much of the area along the river and extending far up the slopes to
the west there is a mantle of sand and gravel which hides the rocks,
so that the structure can not be determined by observations at the
surface.

OIL.

The only occurrence of oil in notable amount in the Pecos Valley
in New Mexico is in a few weUs near Dayton.'^ These wells are in
sees. 25, 15, and 26, T. 18 S., R. 26 E. The largest yield of petro-
leum reported came from the Brown well, simk in 1909 to a depth
of 950 feet. The amoimt which this well was capable of produc-
ing was reported to be about 25 barrels a day between 911 and
926 feet. Small quantities of gas and oil were obtained from the Belt
well, in the NW. i sec. 25, about 1,000 feet deep, and considerable
gas was struck in the Piatt well, in the SW. i sec. 26, at a depth of
869 feet. These wells were all in a sand-covered plain, and no
information could be obtained as to the structural conditions. A
niunber of test borings sunk in. the same vicinity failed to obtain
oil. Whether the failure was due to unfavorable structure or to the
small extent of the oil-bearing sands could not be ascertained. The

« RJobardson, G. B., Petroleam near Dayton, N. ]£qz,; U. S. Qeol. Siurvey 6qU. Ml, pp. 2^27, 1014.

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212 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GBOLOOY, 1921, PART H.

beds are in the Chupadera formation, and they underlie a wide
area of the Pecos Valley at about the same depth as in the wells
that yield oil. It is not unlikely that these beds will be found to con-
tain oil at other localities, especially if favorable structure exists.

In testing for oil in Pecos Valley it is desirable not only to pene-
trate all the beds of the Chupadera formation but if no oil is found to
sink through the Abo sandstone into sandstones of the Magdalena
group. Unfortunately, however, the Magdalena beds lie at a depth
approaching 5,000 feet, which will make the cost of test wells rather
too high to undertake unless favorable structure can be found.

DEEP BORINGS.

The deep boring 13 miles northeast of Roswell was undoubtedly
in the Chupadera formation throughout. Probably, however, the
top of the Abo sandstone was not far below its bottom. The follow-
ing record was kindly furnished by the Toltec Co.

Record of boring in sec. 31, T. 8 S.y R. 24 E., IS miles north-northeast of Roswell, N. Mez.

Feet.

Dolomite 0-90

Sandstone on dolomite 90-110

Gypsum and dolomite 110-140

Limestone 140-165

Dolomite 165-250

Limestone and dolomite 250-390

Sandstone 390-396

Limestone; some sandstone at 518-600 feet 396-620

Limestone and dolomite 620-710

Sandstone 710-770

Dolomite 770-860

Shale, dark 860^64

Sandstone, red and pink 864-1, 033

Salt on dark shale 1, 033-1, 052

Gypsum 1, 062-1, 067

Dolomite 1, 067-1, 076

Anhydrite 1,076-1, 123

Dolomite on thin gypsum 1, 123-1, 168

Salt 1, 168-1, 200

Gypsum 1, 200-1, 230

Dolomite 1, 230-1, 280

Shale, dark 1, 280-1, 295

Dolomite 1, 295-1, 3 18

Shale, red 1, 318-1, 349

Dolomite 1, 34^1, 366

Sandstone 1, 366-1, 380

Anhydrite 1,380-1,386

Salt •. 1, 386-1, 449

Sandstone, red, with 15 feet of gypsum 1, 449-1, 504

Salt 1,504-1,565

Dolomite on shale 1, 565-1, 582

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 218

Feet.

Sandstone, red 1, 582-1, 620

Salt 1, 620-1, 645

Dolomite, gray to brown 1, 645-1, 730

Sandstone, red 1, 730-1, 771

Salt. 1, 771-1, 800

Anhydrite 1, 800-1, 858

Dolomite 1, 858-1, 906

Salt 1,906-2,010

Shale, gray 2, 01O-2, 025

Salt 2, 025-2, 050

Dolomite, with two beds of gypsum 2, 050-2, 154

Salt 2,154-2,205

Dolomite on sandstone 2, 205-2, 268

Salt 2, 268-2, 310

Dolomite 2, 310-2, 317

Anhydrite 2, 317-2, 335

Dolomite 2, 335-2, 375

Gypsum 2, 375-2, 435

Salt. 2,435-2,455

Sandstone, red, on pink shale 2, 455-2, 507

Dolomite on red sandy clay 2, 507-2, 530

Shale, dark, and dolomite 2, 530-2, 548

Sandstone, red .* 2, 548-2, 625

Gypsum 2, 625-2, 685

Salt 2, 685-2, 710

Anhydrite, 9 feet, on dolomite 2, 710-2, 730

Sandstone 2, 730-2, 740

Salt 2, 740-2, 750

Anhydrite 2, 750-2, 770

Sandstone, red 2, 770-2, 800

Anhydrite 2, 800-2, 805

Dolomite 2, 805-2, 830

Salt 2,830-2,860

Gypsum ; 2, 860-2, 950

Dolomite 2, 950-2, 971

Gypsum and sandy clay 2, 971-3, 025

Sandstone, red, dolomitic below 3,063 feet 3, 025-3, 120

The following record of a deep boring for oil near Carlsbad shows
a great thickness of salt and anhydrite in the Chupadera formation:

Record of boring in the NE. i sec. 4, T. tt S., R. 28 E., near Carlsbad, N. Mex.

Feet.

. Gypsum 0-14

Sand, red 14-120

Limestone, soft 120-175

Clay, light, sandy 175-300

Anhydrite 300-485

Salt 485-618

Anhydrite. 618-660

Salt 650-1,118

Anhydrite 1, 118-2, 380

Limestone and anhydrite 2,380-2,490

Sandstone, hard 2,490-2,600

60210*>— 22 4

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214 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

Feet.

Limestone 2, 500-2, 555

Sandstone 2, 555-2, 630

Limestone 2, 630-2, 700

Sandstone, mostly fine 2, 700-2, 810

Limestone 2, 810-2, 820

Rea^of bonng of Dayton Petroleum Co., in the NW. iNW.itec.BS, T.18S., R.26 E,

[April, 1913.] Feet.

Sand and gravel 0-25

Gypsum 25-65

Shale, blue to gray 65-^350

Sand 350-355

Shale , gray 355-434

Sandstone, hard 434^436

Shale, blue, on gravel and sand 436^468

Gypsum 46&-482

''Concrete" 482-488

Shale, gray and blue... 488-630

Red sand on red sandy shale 630-685

Clay and red sand 685-699

Hard rock 699-715

Red sand and shale 715-750

Limestone, some soft, and red shale 750-879

Gypsum 879-894

Limestone and red shale; * * oil at 930-935 feet " 894-957

Limestone, with 5 feet of white sand 957-1, 126

Record of boring on Arroyo ranch of Southspring Ranch & Cattle Co., in the NW. \
NE. \ sec, 5, T. 11 S., R. 28 E., Chaves County, about 25 miles east ofRoswell.

Feet.

Clay, sand, and gravel 0-75

Sandstone, red 75-150

Sandstone, red, and shale 150-300

Red rock and ''lime shells " ; gas at 435 and 460 feet 300-600

Shale, pink, and "lime shells" 600-640

Shale, red 640-700

Limestone, hard 700-710

Red rock and "Ume shells" 710-750

Pink rock 750-800

Sandstone, red, limestone, and 2 feet of salt 800-850

Pink rock 850-900

Limestone, white 900-91 5

Pink and red rocks 915-990

Sandstone, red 990-1,010

Red rocks and white limestone 1, 010-1, 125

"Lime shell" and red sandrock 1, 125-1, 140

Sandstone, red, and shale 1, 140-1, 350

Sandstone, red, with "lime shells" 1,350-1,400

Shale, Ted 1, 400-1, 450

Sand, red and gray 1, 460-1, 4S5

Sand, red, and white limestone 1, 485-1, 540

Limestone and pink rock 1, 540-1, 625

Limestone, light and dark 1, 625-2, 098

Sand, brown, "showing of oil" 2, 098-2, 118

Limestone, sandy, brown 2, 118-2, 150

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 215

Feet.

Limestone, light and dark 2, 150-2, 766

Pebbly sand, white, with 4 feet of red sandstone 2, 756-2, 800

Limestone, light and dark 2, 800-2, 850

day and blue shale 2^850-2,943

Record of Tarmehill well, 7 miles northeast of Roswclly N. Mez,

Feet.

Gypsum and clay 0-60

White sand 60-140

Clay and gypsum 140-280

Red sand 280-330

Clay 330-340

Water rock 340-390

Limerock 390-4 10

Red cave 410-415

Water rock 41 5-n510

Loose clay rock : 510-565

Black lime 565-620

Water rock 620-650

Black lime 650-740

White lime 740-775

Sandstone 775-810

White lime 810-850

Black lime 850-900,

Gray and white lime 900-1, 050

Sandstone 1,050-1,175

Limestone 1, 175-1, 205

Shells and mud 1,205-1,360

Limerock and salt 1, 360-1, 385

Red rock 1,385-1,405

Limestone , 1, 405-1, 510

Blueshale 1,510-1,520

Limestone 1, 520-1, 600

Mud and lime shells 1, 600-1, 670

Limestone 1, 670-1, 805

Red mud 1,805-1,850

Limestone 1, 850-1, 925

Salt 1,925-1,940

Blue lime 1,940-1,970

Black lime 1,970-2,005

Blueshale 2,005-2,008

Limestone 2,008-2,030

Blueshale 2,030-2,037

Black lime 2,037-2,060

Shale 2,060-2,080

Late in 1920 borings were in progress at the following places in

Pecos Valley in Chaves and Eddy counties:

SE. J sec. 15, T. 12 S., R. 25 E., 10 miles southeast of Roswell.

SW. J sec. 15, T. 15 S., R. 26 E., 2\ mUes northeast of Lake Arthur.

Sec. 15, T. 24 S., R. 27 E., 6 mUes east of Carlsbad.

NE. i sec. 18, T. 22 S., R. 27 E., IJ miles south of Carlsbad.

Sec. 10, T. 20 S., R. 25 E., 15 miles northwest of Carlsbad.

Sec. 27, T. 19 S., R. 23 E., 30 miles northwest of Carlsbad.

Sec. 16, T. 19 S., R. 26 E., IJ miles north of Lakewood.

SE. J sec. 28, T. 18 S., R. 26 E., in Dayton,

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216 CONTBIBTJTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H. "

The hole IJ miles south of Carlsbad penetrated red beds to 300 feet;
anhydrite, 302 to 406 feet; rock salt, 460 to 744 feet; limestone,
black in lower part, 744 to 1,748 feet; and sandstones and shales,
1,748 to 2,071 feet. The hole near Orchard Park, 10 miles south of
Roswell, penetrated beds predominantly red to 534 feet, limestones
and red clays to water sand at 810 feet and limestones, from 810 to
2,295 feet. A 2,966-foot boring northeast of Lake Arthur penetrated
red shales with gypsum to 534 feet, below which limestone was the
principal material. A large artesialn flow was found at 1,205 feet.

STAKED PLAINS BBGION.

In the Staked Plains region, the high plateau east of Pecos Valley,
the beds lie in a general monocline with eastward dips at very low
angles. Doubtless, however, there are many local irregularities in
the amount and direction of dip, and there may be low domes and
archfes and shallow basins. The region is covered by a mantle of
Tertiary sand and gravel 100 feet or more thick which conceals the
imderlying red beds. These rocks, however, are exposed all around
the edges of the plateau and have been penetrated by borings. They
are mostly red shale with thin layers of limestone and deposits of
gypsum. They are imderlain at moderate depths by a thick suc-
cession of older red beds and limestones containing widespread de-
posits of salt, anhydrite, and gypsiun. To the north and possibly
locally in other areas thin masses of earlier Cretaceous sandstone lie
between the red beds and the overlying mantle of Tertiary deposits.
The succession and structure in the red beds have not been ascertained.
In 1920 wells prospecting for oil were in progress at Kenna, at a point
4 miles southeast of Garrison, and 10 miles southeast of Portales.
In the last a depth of 900 feet was attained, all in red beds.

CBBBILLOS BASIN.

The Cerrillos coal basin is a syncline that contains coal measures
of Mesaverde age, overlam by the Galisteo sandstone, of supposed
early Tertiary age. The axis of the basin extends east and soutiieast
across the west-central part of Santa Fe County. Cerrillos is on its
north slope, and the coal-mining town of Madrid is near its center.
Most of the structiu'al features have been presented by Johnson *^
and Lee.^ . To the south, north, and east the strata are cut by thick
masses of early Tertiary igneous rock and penetrated by munerous
dikes. To the west the basin is cut off by a fault, the coimtry to the

» Johnson, D. W., Geology of the Cerrillos Hills, N. Mex.; School of Mines Quart., vol. 24, pp. 173-246,
8(»-350, 456-500; vol. 25, pp. 60-98, 1903.

» Lee, W. T., Stratigraphy of the coal fields of northern New Mexico: Ged* See. America Bull., vol. 23,
pp. 571-686, 1912; The CerrUlos coca field, Santa Fe County, N. Mex.: U. S. GeoU Survey BolUsai, pp.
285-312, 1913.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF iTEtV MEXICO. 217

northwest is covered by a recent lava sheet, to the northeast there is
a heavy covering of the Santa Fe fonnation, and to the south and
southwest lies the laccolithic igneous mass of Ortiz Mountain. The
rocks below the Mesaverde fonnation rise in regular succession to the
northwest, the lowest formation exposed being the top of the red
beds. (See PL XXXIX, A, p. 220.) To the east there is a similar rise
to the long monoclinal slope east of Oalisteo. No subordinate domes
or anticlines were observed. Several deep holes have been bored in
the basin in a search for coal, and no gas or oil was reported in them.

TJPPEB BIO aBANDE VALLEY.

The valley of the Rio Grande in Taos, Rio Arriba, and Santa Fe
counties is occupied by thick deposits of the sands, loams, and gravels
of the Santa Fe formation (Miocene and Pliocene) , overlain in part
by lavas that have flowed down the valley in relatively recent geo-
logic time. The imderlying rocks are probably very largely pre-
Cambrian granites and schists similar to those which constitute the
adjoining Rocky Mountains on the east and appear, in the scattered
outcrops in the high ridges on the east side of Rio Arriba County.
These rocks do not offer any prospects whatever for oil or gas. It is
probable that some portions of the bottom of the basin are underlain
by limestones and sandstones of the Magdalena group, which appear
so extensively in the Rocky Mountains to the east. From Santa Fe
"to Truchas these rocks dip under the valley, but how far they extend
in that direction can not be determined without test borings. Pre-
Cambrian schists appear in the bottom of the valley at Glenwoody,
and along the west side of the valley granite or schist extends down
to the great lava flow at Tres Piedras, Petaca, and Ojo Caliente.

SANDIA AND MAN2AN0 MOUNTAINS AND SIEBBA DE LOS PINOS.

OENEBAL BELATIOirS.

The Sandia Mountains, which lie on the east side of the Rio Grande
east of Albuquerque, mark an uplift of considerable magnitude which
is continued southward in the Manzano Mountains and the Sierra de
los Pinos, extending into the central eastern portion of Socorro
County. This series of ranges presents a continuous exposure of
granite, schist, quartzite, and other pre-Cambrian crystalUne rocks
along its steep west face, as shown in Plate XXXVII, and long slopes
of limestones of the Magdalena group on its east side, which extends
to Estancia Valley. Along part of its west face there is considerable
faulting, with the downthrow on the west side, but the relations in
this direction are obscured by the heavy cover of sand and talus that
slopes to the Rio Grande valley. Sections 1 to 3 in figure 26 show
the principal structural relations of this series of ranges.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

218 coin?RiBxmoNs to economic geology," 1921, part n.

The monocline on the east side presents a' gradual, nearly regular
easterly dip for many miles, but locally there are minor flexures, anti-
clines, and domes, which may possibly present conditions favorable
for oil or gas. One of the most notable of these is the faulted anti-
cline north of Tijeras, some features of which are shown in figure 25.
At the north end of the range, a few miles northeast of Algodones,
the general anticline of the Sandia Mountains pitches gradually
beneath the surface, and this may prove to be a favorable struc-
tural condition for oil or gas if these materials are present. The

R.5E.

R.6E.

t-f---!'--,H fSf—/-V

34 I

^ShI

Coal measures

Coa I mine or prospect

Strike and dif^

Fiousx 25.— Map ahowing relation of antidtne in Tijoras coal field, on east slope of Sandia Mountains, east
of Albuquerque, Bernalillo County, N. Mex.

Magdalena group, which lies directly on the granite and other crys-
talline rocks, is about 1,500 feet tUck and comprises extensive de-
posits of sandstone in its lower portion and massive limestone in its
medial and upper portions. Although there is no direct evidence
that there is oil in this formation, it may be desirable to drill test
holes in the domes near Chilili, as well as in the northward-pitching
anticline at the north end of the uplift. In this anticline the Permian,
Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous rocks pass over the axis, and pos-
sibly they include some strata favorable for the occurrence of oil or
gas. The anticline north of Tijeras may also merit testing, for it
includes a thick mass of Cretaceous strata. (See fig. 25.)

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•J

i s

a o

< 'I

2 §

t §

< -1

1 1

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GEOLOGIC STBUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.
DSEP BOBIHGS.

219

Test wells sunk several years ago on Tonque Creek 10 miles east of
Algodones were unsuccessful, but they were situated on the eastward-
dipping monocline east of the main Sandia axis. A boring in prog-

^.■•^•;.'::

MJi^m.

^^-.

viiinT

w''

^ac

tfi

ress early in 1919 about 2 miles west of Eastview is also on the
eastward-dipping monocline and will have to penetrate 900 feet or
more of the Abo red sandstone before reaching the Magdalena group.
The structural conditions in the vicinity of this well are shown in sec-
tion 6, figure 26. A hole 1,100 feet deep bored at Abo siding by the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. obtained considerable

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220 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

saline water.^ The material penetrated was sandstone and shale,
nearly all red and representing almost the full thickness of the Abo
sandstone; here dipping at a low angle to the east. This hole shows
practically the same conditions as those at Eastview, except that at
the latter place there is a thick cover of gravel and sand.

If oil pools are developed in the Pecos Valley, it is likely that well-
located test holes will be drilled in the region just described.

BIO aBANDE VALLEY IN CENTBAL NEW MEZIOO.

South of the Valle Grande Mountams and White Rock Canyon
the valley of the Rio Grande widens greatly, and from Bernalillo
County nearly to Socorro, a distance of 60 miles, it is 30 miles wide.
This broad valley is floored by a thick body of loam, sand, and gravel
of the Santa Fe formation, largely covered by talus from the adjoin-
ing slopes and alluvium in the valley bottom. The underground
structure has not been determined, for the few borings that have been
made are not sufficiently deep to reach the hard-rock strata and the
relations exposed in the adjoining ridges do not indicate the struc-
ture. As shown in figure 26, the entire west front of the Sandia and
Manzano mountains and the Sierra de los Pinos consists of granite,
schist, and other pre-Cambrian rocks, with a few small showings of
westward-dipping limestones of the Magdalena group at the foot of
the range. Near La Joya and on the east slope of the Sierra Ladrones
granite appears, which may indicate that this rock underlies a con-
siderable portion of the valley. Along the west side of the valley
are areas of the Magdalena group and some of the immediately
overlying sandstones and limestones, but they are cut off by a
fault, so that the relations to the east are not indicated. Along the
valley of Rio Puerco in most of Bernalillo County the Mancos and
overlying higher Montana rocks are exposed, but they also are cut
off to the east by a fault. It seems probable that although the west
side of the Sandia-Manzano-Pinos uplift is marked by a fault of consid-
erable amount, the dropped westward-dipping limb of the anticline
lies west of this fault, and that there is a continuous series of west-
ward-dipping sedimentary formations extending along the east side
of the valley in Valencia, Bernalillo, and Sandoval counties. The
valley is therefore probably a basin underlain by a regular succession
of sedimentary strata from the Magdalena group to beds high in the
Cretaceous, some of which come to the surface in the Puerco Valley
west of Albuquerque. It is of course possible that a syncline of this
character might be interrupted by domes or anticlines or other
structural features favorable for the accumulation of oil or gas.
Owing, however, to the heavy covering of the young formations in
the valley it is not possible to advance any definite opinion in this

» The railrood chemist reported that water from a depth of 1,045 feet contained 1,710 grains per gaQoa of
saline materials, comprising about i sodium chloride, A sodium sulphate, ^ sodium oarbonate, and A
eaLdum carbonate escpreesed in these probable combinationa.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY

BULLETIN 726 PLATE XXXIX

A. DAKOTA SANDSTONE ON WEST SLOPE .OF CERRILLOS BASIN, N. MEX.

Two miles east of Rosario elation, Atchison. Topcka & Santa Fe Railway. Thick bed of
gypsum of Todilto formation io lower slofM.

B. WEST FRONT OF CHUPADERA MliSA, N. MEX.. LOOKING NORTH.
Limfistone and gyfisum of Chuimdera formulion.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 221

regard. In places the sandstones of the Santa Fe formation dip
in various directions, but this structure should "not be expected to
continue downward into the Cretaceous and underlymg rocks, to
which the Santa Fe formation is entirely unconformable.

The only deep borings reported in this area are two 500-foot holes
for water at Becker and Bodega. The hole at Becker penetrated
red clay with *' gravel'' intercalated to 375 feet and solid red clay
below. The hole at Bodega, which is 10 miles southeast of Belen,
was in sand to 290 feet, light clay from 290 to 340 feet, and red clay
from 340 to 500 feet. The formations represented by these materials
are not identified. They may all be either Pleistocene or late
Tertiary.

CHTTPADEKA MESA.
OBNERAL RELATIOHS.

Chupadera Mesa is a high plateau covered with limestone that
occupies the eastern part of Socorro County and extends northward
into Mesa Jumanes, in the southern part of Torrance Coimty. Its
higher portions in the high escarpment 6 miles south of Moimtainair
reach an altitude considerably above 7,500 feet. In greater part
the strata in the mesa have a general monoclinal structure, with a
slight nearly muform dip to the east and southeast. The mesa
presents on the north and west high cliffs of sandstone and limestone, '
as shown in Plate XXXIX, B,

STBATIGRAPHT.

The entire surface of Chupadera Mesa has a thick capping of lime-
stone, but some of the canyons expose underlying . sandstones and
lower limestone members. All these beds are part of the Chupadera
formation, which in this area has a thickness of about 1,400 feet.
It is underlain by the red sandstone of the Abo formation, nearly
1,000 feet thick, which in turn lies on 1,200 to 1,500 feet of limestones
with included beds of shale and sandstone belonging to the Magdalena
group. The lower beds of the Magdalena group, which lie on granite
and schists, are largely sandstone.

LOCAL STBVCTirBZ.

The principal structural features and relations of Chupadera Mesa
are indicated in the sections in figure 27. The higher part of the
mesa consists of a monocline dipping gently to the southeast on the
east slope of the Oscura anticline. Careful inspection of the area,
however, may reveal some irregularities in this structure. On the
west side of the mesa there is a prominent anticline which marks the
northern continuation of the uplift of the Sierra Oscura. (See fig. 27.)
This arch pitches down to the north and passes into the mesa in T.
1 N., where it appears to merge into the general monocline. In
Tps. 1, 2, 3, and 4 S., however, this anticline presents favorable

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222 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

ale

feeao

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTUKB OF PAKTS OF NEW MEXICO. 223

structural conditions; and oil or gas, if they are present in this region,
may possibly be found in the Magdalena group at depths of 1,000 to
2,000 feet. A small dome on the east slope of the mesa, with its
crest in T. 6 S., R. 9 E., shown in section C, figure 27, may also be of
importance.

TULABOSA BASIN.
OZHZBAL BZI.ATI0V8.

Most of the surface of Tularosa Basin from Carrizozo southward
is covered by sand, lava, and wash, but data obtained at intervals
along its edges indicate that the general structure is syncUnal. There
t is some faulting along the edges and possibly also in its central part,
toward the south. The idea sometimes advanced that it is simply a
down-faulted block is erroneous. In Plate XL and figure 28 are
shown the principal structural features. Near Carrizozo there is a
thick eastward-dippmg succession from Chupadera limestones on
the west to Cretaceous rocks as high as coal measures of Mesaverde
age on the east. Near Alamogordo a great thickness of eastward-
dipping limestones and sandstones constitute the high Sacramento
Mountains. On the west side of the basin is the east face of the San
Andres Moimtains, with westward-dipping Paleozoic limestones
surmoimting steep slopes of granites and schists, and to the northwest
are the eastward-dipping cuesta of the Sierra Oscura and Chupadera
Mesa. An anticlinal arch crosses the basin diagonally southwest of
Carrizozo and west of Oscuro, passes imder the eastern part of Ala-
mogordo, rises in the west face of the Sacramento Mountains, and
continues southward into the Hueco Mountains. The structure west
of this anticline to the foot of the San Andres Mountains is con-
cealed by the valley fill.

BTBATIOBAPHT.

The rocks in the Tularosa Basin region comprise strata ranging
from Cambrian to late Cretaceous in age, on a basement of pre-
Cambrian granite and schists* A considerable thickness of gravel
and sand occupies the center of the basin, and volcanic rocks are
abundant, including an older porphyry and a thick succession of late
Tertiary fragmental and effusive sheets, dikes, and stocks of various
kinds. A long, narrow recent lava flow, " the Malpais," is conspicu-
ous in the center of the basin. The following table shows the prin-
cipal features of the strata, mainly as exhibited in the adjoining
Sacramento and San Andres mountains. The rocks from Cambrian
to Carboniferous age have been described in considerable dettiil in a
previous report.**

n Darton, N. H., A comparison of Paleozoic sections in southern New Mexico: U. S. Gegl . Survey Prof.
Paper 108» pp. 31-65, 1917.

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224 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.
Sedimentary /oTTnations in TvJarota Basin and adjoining ridges.

Age.

Group and formation.

Character.

Thinness
(feet).

Mesavefde (?) forma-
Uon.

fi»

Upper Crataceoas.

Manoos (?) shale.

Shale; some sandstone; Umastone in lower
part.

90O

Dakota (?) sandstone.

Sandstone, masslTe, hard, gray to boil.

150

Triasslc.

stone'and limy concretions.

. 310

Pemian.

Chupadera formation.

Upper part limestones and gray sandstones;
then limestones and gypsum.

120D-1G0O

Abo sandstone.

Brown-red sandstones and red sandy shales;
thin toward the south.

500-800

Pennsylvaalan.

Magdalena group.

Limestones with beds of shale and sand-
part.

2200-2SOO

Mississippian.

Lake VaUey limestone.

Coarsely crystalline limestone and limy shale.

0-150

Percha shale.

Gray shale.

0-19S.

BUurian.

Fusselman limestone.

Limestone, massive, dark above; weathers
white below.

0-aoo

Ordoylcian.

Montoya limestone.

Massive limestone, cherty above, dark be-
low, sandy at base.

o-aoo

El Paso limestone.

Limestone; weathers lig^t gray, slabby in
part.

0-350

Cambrlim.

Bliss sandstone.

Sandstone, massive, gray.

0-125

Pre-Cambriaii.

Granites, schists, and quartdtes.

The Bliss sandstone is coarse and porous. The overlying lime-
stones present considerable variety in character. Some of them are
compact, some are mixed with considerable clay and sand, and some
are cherty. The Fusselman limestone, which is especially massive
and compact, thins out not far north of latitude 36°. The base of
the Montoya is a sandstone at most places, and locally this member
is 10 to 20 feet thick. The Percha shales are dark and carbonaceous
and should be tested. The basal portion of the Magdalena group
includes much coarse gray sandstone, and layers of sandstone occur
at intervals higher up in the formation^ These sandstones would
afford suitable reservoirs for oil. It is not known, however, whether

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

225

the carbonization of the organic d6bris in these formations has pro*
ceeded so far as to preclude the occurrence of oil in commercial
amounts, though gas may be present.

GBrriioMttt .

08CuraA«ts

^^^^;S^^#^

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San Andres Hti

ObI

;H!i«'.''.'.'.r.w.'.w.'.«
r{ ' -, { 81'; .'.' Structurt unknomt. probebiy syndinrnt

IbiaroMFIc

!^toirLr:rf>

^ San Andres Mts j

Cc Oai

* ^Z,\'/\^^\\\\' Structure unkffoim.prt>bmi>^ »yncfin»f '■^^a^^'?*?§J

V-'jl^^ 1 ' I ' ' - "l 1*1' »' >' \\

Jbrilia Ht»

jp Sen Andres Hts

VAWAy.W.WWJJMWWM.JMAllJMWlWAVJJJJ.ll^

^jgr>;- Structure unknoMm,prot96^^ne/ttmt ^^"'^^^^.^rr^^

Horizontal acal«
?

Cc r*

\4rtkal scale

FiOTJBB 28.— SectioDS across TuJarosa Bastn, N. Mex. Tor lines of sections and ezplanation of symbols

see Plate XL.

The red sandstones of the Abo formation appear not to be favor-
able sources of oil, but owing to their porosity they might serve as
reservoirs. In the Chupadera formation there are alternations of

Digitized by VjOOQIC

226 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

massive, compact gray limestone, thick gypsmn beds, red sandstone,
and porous gray sandstone. The gray sandstones may prove to be
oil bearing in some portions of the area. They are known to underlie
the upper part of the basin and are believed to extend far southward
imder it, as shown in the cross sections in figure 28.

LOCAL STRVCTVRE.

The anticline of the Sacramento Moimtain front is first mani-
fested in an anticline or dome west of "the Malpais" (recent lava
flow), 15 miles northwest of Carrizozo. Its axis crosses the basin
west of Oscuro, where it is marked by a dome of limestone of the
Chupadera formation in T. 8 E., R. 9 S., and appears in the Phillips
HiUs, which present a complete arch of the Chupadera formation
along their western slope. Limestone at the top of the Magdalena
group rises on this axis a short distance southeast of Tularosa, and
the upUf t is well exposed from La Luz to High RoUs, where there are
two arches and an intervening basin containing the Abo sandstone.
(See fig. 24, p. 209.) The anticline is well defined east of Alamogordo
and in Alamo Canyon. South of the latter place the beds on the
axis rise rapidly, and near the center of T. 19 S., R. 11 E., the base-
ment of granite is brought up at the foot of the west front of the
moimtain. Doubtless in this region for some distance the west limb
of the uplift is faulted, with the dropped block on the west side. A
diagonal fault passing into the Sacramento Mountain front is well
exposed 5 miles south-southeast of Alamogordo. South of Escondida
the anticline pitches down again to the south, and its wide, low arch
is well exhibited southeast of Turquoise, as shown in section 6,
figure 28.

Limestone of the Chupadera formation (the same as that on top
of the mountain at Cloudcroft) is exposed in scattered outcrops
along the desert, forming Cerrito Tularosa, Tres Hermanos, and some
of the ridges of the Jarilla Range west of Turquoise. In the Jarilla
Range and in the eastern part (One Butte) of Tres Hermanos this
formation is cut by igneous rocks. In these outlying exposures the
beds lie nearly horizontal or dip to the west at a very low angle.

West of these small outcrops there are no rock exposures imtil the
east slope of the San Andres Mountains is reached, a distance of
22 to 25 miles. This range is an anticline, and outcrops along the
east foot of the northern part of the range indicate the eastward-
dipping monocline on its east slope. In the higher eastern ridges
of this range, especially at its north and south ends, the anticline is
considerably faulted, both longitudinally and transversely. (See
section 3, fig. 28.) In T. 20 S., R. 5 E., there are several small
exposures of eastward-dipping rocks at the foot of the mountains,
and where the east front of the range bears toward the east a^aiu

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GEOLOGIC STBUCTURB OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 227

for a few miles in Tps. 9, 10, and 11 S., similar featm'es are exposed,
indicating very clearly that the east front of the momitain is part of
an anticline. This being the case, the east limb of the uplift doubt-
less forms the west limb of a syncline, in which Chupadera limestone
is exposed in the Jarilla Hills; Tres Hermanos, Cerrito Tularosa, and
Phillips Hills. It is quite likely that this syncline holds Triassic
''Red Beds'' and a thick body of Cretaceous shales and even the
coal measures and overlying early Tertiary deposits. Originally
the wide Tularosa Basin was much deeper, its bottom being exca-
vated in the softer rocks, which have later been covered by sand and
gravel from the adjoining mountains. « Minor structural featiu*es in
or adjoining the Tularosa Basin are found in the r^on north of
Oscuro and Carrizozo. The beds 'of Chupadera limestone are arched
in an elongated dome in the Phillips Hills and in an oval dome in
the western part of Tps. 6 and 7, R. 9 E. Both these domes are on
the anticline above referred to. A small dome of similar character
exists in the northeastern part of T. 9 S., R. 8 E., and another has
its apex in the center of T. 5 S., R. 12 E., about 5 miles southwest of
Ancho. In these uplifts the gray sandstones of the Chupadera
formation are at no great, depth and may yield oil, but in the 800 to
1,000 feet of red sandstones of the Abo formation next below the
prospects are less promising. In the still lower Magdalena group
there are several beds of sandstone, especially near its base. The
thickness of this group is somewhat more than 2,000 feet. In the
northern part of the area it lies on the pre-Cambrian granite and
schist, but to the south Mississippian to Ordovician limestones inter-
vene. These limestones are 600 feet thick in the west face of the
Sacramento Mountains southeast of Alamogordo.

DEEP BOBnros.

Several deep borings have been made in the Tularosa Basin.
During 1918 a hole was being bored for oil 10 or 15 miles southwest
of Alamogordo, but nothing has been learned as to its record. Two
holes half a mile north of Dog Canyon station, in the NE. { sec.
14, T. 18 S., R. 9 E., were 1,235 and 1,800 feet deep. The record
furnished by the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad Co. showed "red
clayey material *' with deposits of sand and gravel 20 to 25 feet thick
every 300 or 400 feet. From the record it is impossible to recognize
the formations penetrated; the material may be all valley fill, but
it is not unlikely that the lower part of the Chupadera formation
and possibly abo the Abo sandstone were penetrated. A 1,004-foot
bole bored by the railroad company about 1^ miles west of Alamo-
gordo, in the NW. i NE. i sec. 26, T. 16 S., R. 9 E., was reported
to have penetrated 10 feet of limestone at a depth of 130 feet, lying
on 85 feet of yellow clay and clay stone, 250 feet of red clay, alter-

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228 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

nating yellow, red, blue, and yellow clay at 450 to 500 feet, and
" clayey material " from 500 feet to the bottom. This record doubt-
less represents the same conditions as in the Dog Canyon hole. A
960-foot hole at Orogrande passes through ''granite" (porphyry) and
similar igneous rocks to a depth of 590 feet, where the Carboniferous
limestone (probably Chupadera) was entered. Near the south
margin of sec. 3, T. 22 S., R. 8 E., a shaft 250 feet deep with a 160-foot
drill hole in its bottom revealed 235 feet of limestone underlain by
"granite'' (porphyry). An 800-foot hole borod by the railroad

Well Na4
•Feet

Well No. I

Qayandercvef

Sand and clay
Umettone [doubtful 1

tso

260

j"Bie vviin COM bed

Sandstone
Shale with coal

Sandstone and shale

Shak.tXacJi

310
J35

Shale with coaly tafVt

Sandstone and «hal«

470

Shale. Mack

SCO

.Shale, sand/

Shale

Sandstone.wMta

615

Sandstone and shale

Shale.sandy

Limestone

Shale.blacJ.
Sandstone

Shale

Limestone
Sandstone

720
7*0

eio

Shale

Shale and sandsto^

Sandstone .

Shale,sandy

9S5

Shale,blach.com|Met

FiouBB 20.— Log of deep boring at
Oscuro, N. Mex.

1.1 25

Fiquhe 30.— Logs of two railroad wells at Carrizozo, N. Mei

company at Temporal is reported to have penetrated 185 feet of
wash, 20 feet of pink clay, and 595 feet of alternating gravel, sand,
clay, and conglomerate.

A hole drilled for oil in sec. 34, T. 13 S., R. 7 E., about 12 miles
northwest of Tularosa, is said to have reached a depth of 1,600 fe<?u

Two wells sunk by the railroad company at Oscuro are 965 and
489 feet deep. The log of the deeper one is given in figure 29. The
strata are apparently all Cretaceous and lie below ^the coal measures
that crop out a short distance northeast of Oscuro.

The El Paso & Southwestern Railroad Co. sunk several wells a:
Carrizozo, and one of them reached a depth of 1,125 feet and obtained

Digitized by VjOOQIC

1-3
1-3

2 4

•5

«M

>«!;

•3

•<

z
o

PQ Z

> U1

o
o

1.3

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO, 229

excellent water. The logs of the two deeper ones are given in
figure 30. The strata penetrated appear to be Cretaceous and
possibly include also the underlying Triassic red shale and Chupadera
formation.

An 850-foot well bored by the railroad company 2 miles east of
Ancho penetrated alternating red and blue clay to 340 feet, red
shale from 340 to 415 feet, sandstone from 415 to 425 feet, red clay
from 435 to 715 feet, including a 50-foot bed of gypsima, red sand-
stone from 715 to 795 feet, and red clay and shale from 795 to 855
feet, presumably all beds above the Chupadera formation or possibly
including the upper member of that formation.

BAlSl ANDBBS MOUNTAINS.

The San Andres Mountains form a long, narrow ridge that extends
through the northern part of Dona Ana County and the southeastern
part of Socorro County and separates the Tularosa Basin on the
east from the Jornada del Muerto on the west. As shown in cross
sections 3, 4, 5, and 6, figure 28, and sectioils 3, 4, and 5, figiu*e 31,the
ridge consists mainly of a monocline of limestones and red beds dip-
ping to the west and passing under the Jornada del Muerto. The up-
lift in general, however, is an anticline, and eastward-dipping strata
are exposed at its foot toward the north and south ends of the ridge.
For many miles along the steep eastern face of the mountains there are
exposures of pre-Cambrian granites and schists capped by the
westward-dipping Ordovician to Pennsylvania!! limestones. The
Pennsylvanian limestone constitutes most of the simunit and higher
western slopes of the range and finally passes beneath the red sand-
stones of the Abo, and these in turn under the sandstones and lime-
stones of the Chupadera formation (see PI. XLI), which slope down to
the desert at the western foot of the range. As the structural condi-
tions in a mountain range of this sort are entirely imf avorable for oil
or gas, no further consideration will here be given to the details.

JOKNADA DEL MTTEKTO.
GBHXHAL BXULTIOHS.

The name Jornada del Muerto (Spanish, journey of the dead) is
applied to the long, wide desert valley extending through the eastern
part of Socorro County and southward across the eastern part of
Sierra County into Dona Ana County, a distance of 125 miles. To the
east rise the high San Andres Mountains and Sierra Oscura and
Chupadera Mesa, and along the western margin of the valley flows
the Rio Grande. Its remarkably smooth and nearly level floor
consists mostly of sand or loam which in an area southeast of San
Marcial is covered by a large sheet of recent lava. In most places

60210^—22 5

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230 CONTRIBUTIONB TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT n.

the deposit of sand, loam, and gravel is so thick that the rocks
are not exposed, but the general structure is plainly indicated by
the relations of the formations in the adjoining ridges, and some
additional data are afforded by records of a few widely scattered

FiouBK 31.~Seotioos across the Jornada and del Muerto, N. Max. For lines of sections and ezplanatioii

of symbols see Plate XLII.

wells. The principal data and their interpretation are shown in
Plate XLII and figure 31. The chief feature is along, moderately
narrow syncline, which is not very deep, for the dips appear to be
gentle at most places.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCrURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 231

LOCAL STRUOTUBS.

Local 'anticlines or domes may occur in this valley, but except for
those on the margin no evidence can be obtained as to their existence
until numerous borings are maxie. It appears unlikely that many
such features are present. The anticline at Carthage and Prairie
Springs and the prominent plunging anticline at the north end of
the Oscura uplift, in Tps. 2, 3, 4, and 5 S., R. 6 E., are outside of the
main basin. In the valley of Arroyo Chupadera, at the north end
of the Jornada syncline, the shallow basin of limestone of the
Chupadera formation contains a thin remnant of Triassic red shales,
mostly hidden by loose sand. The basin deepens gradually toward
the south, and in T. 4 S. Cretaceous shales and sandstones appear in
regular order. These rocks are extensively exposed about Carthage,
where the higher sandstones carry a coal bed that is extensively
mined. The structural relations from Prairie Spring to Carthage
are described on page 238. Early Tertiary conglomerate crops out
south and east of Carthage, and this formation may extend widely
under the basin to the south. The Cerro Colorado in this vicinity
is a mass 'or group of masses of igneous rocks of the Tertiary volcanic
series. Probably these rocks are not of wide extent imderground.
The eastward-dipping limestone of the Magdalena group in the ridge
in T. 6 S., Rs. 4 and 6 E., appears to be cut oflp by a fault on its west
side, for Cretaceous sandstone crops out a short distance southwest
of its foot, and wells 250 and 300 feet deep in this vicinity are in
sandstone that is reported to be coal bearing and to show traces of
oil. The higher part of the west face of the Sierra Oscura, in which
granite and other old crystalline rocks rise 1,5Q0 feet or more above
the Jornada, is doubtless due to a fault, but it is probable that
westward-dipping rocks occur not far west of the foot of these moun-
tains. This structure is indicated by outcrops of Cretaceous sand-
stone (Mesaverde?) in the southeast comer of T. 8 S., R. 4 E., and
by outcrops of westward-dipping Dakota ( ?) sandstone in the northern
part of T. 11 S., R. 3 E., and the southeastern part of T. 1 1 S., R. 2 E.
In a well in sec. 36, T. 10 S., R. 2 E., an 18-inch bed of coal was
reported at a depth of 320 feet, indicating the presence of the higher
sandstones of the Cretaceous (Mesaverde ?) , and a similar occurrence
is reported in wells in the center of T. 11 S., R. 2 E., where the sand-
stone lies imder 60 to 70 feet of wash. A well in the east-central
part of T. 10 S., R. 1 E., penetrated sandstone reported to carry coal
streaks and "oil indications." In Tps. 9 and 10 S. limestone of the
Chupadera formation dips gently to the west on the west slope of
the San Andres Mountains and rises again on an east dip on the east
slopes of the Fra Cristobal and Caballos mountains, thus forming a
synclinal basin, as shown in sections 3 and 5, figure 31. A fault
along the west side of the basin is traceable along the east side of the

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232 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART 11.

Caballos Mountains. The basin flattens and spreads to the west
n^ar Engle and Elephant Butte, as shown in section 4, figure 31.

Wells in the Engle and Carthage regions penetrated sandstone,
presumably in the Cretaceous coal-measures (Mesaverde?). The
300-foot well 3 miles northeast of Engle is reported to have passed
through about 100 feet of wash into hard dark-gray sandstone with
a 3-foot bed of coal at 300 feet. In the Hickox well, sunk 6 miles
southwest of Engle early in 1915, the Cretaceous sandstone began
near the surface and a thin bed of coal with ''oil indications" was
reported at about 120 feet. A 1,200-foot boring was made by the
Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway Co. a short distance north-
west of Engle, and a 600-foot hole was sunk by the Victorio Cattle
Co. 4 miles east of Engle, but no records have been obtained. A
well in sec. 15, T. 14 S., R. 3 W., 5 miles west of the Hickox well,
penetrated 250 feet of sandstone and found a 4-foot bed of coal.
The 365-foot well at Engle is all in hard dark-gray sandstone except
a few feet of wash. Similar sandstones have been penetrated in
several wells in the Jornada south of Cutter, and there is every
reason to believe that Cretaceous sandstone and shales occupy the
basin as far south as Las Cruces. In the Point of Rocks area, San
Diego Mountain, and the Dona Ana Hills the Tertiary agglomerate
and lavas overlie these Cretaceous rocks, which are doubtless inter-
rupted by dikes and other intrusive bodies of the igneous rocks.

LOWER BIO OBANDB VALLEY.

The Jornada del Muerto extends to the lower Rio Grande valley
between Rincon and. Las Cruces. From Las Cruces southward the
valley of the Rio Grande consists of a long down slope from the
mountains on the east, a trench occupied by the river, and a higher
plain or mesa which extends far to the west across Dona Ana and
Luna counties. This plaili, the valley trench, and the slope on the
east are all underlain by a thick deposit of sand and gravel which
completely hides the underlying rocks over wide areas, so that their
character and structure can not be determined. Ridges and knobs
consisting of igneous rocks or limestone rise above the plain in
places, and portions of the plain south of Afton and Aden are covered
by lava flows.

A few deep holes that have been bored along the Southern Pacific
and El Paso & Southwestern railroads in southern Dona Ana County
throw light on the character of the underlying rocks. One at Strauss
is 1,330 feet deep. Down to 120 feet the material is sand and clay
on a bed of ''cemented sand''; from 120 to 360 feet are yellow clay,
sand, and red clay of unknown age; the material below is not refK>rt<?d.
Three holes at Noria are 565, 600, and 1,000 feet deep. The deepest
one went through 160 feet of sand, clay, and gravel; the material from

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 233

160 to 220 feet was not reported; from 220 to 1,000 feet were sand,
shale, and shells alternating. The 565-foot hole was reported to
have penetrated 375 feet of sand, clay, and gravel, 100 feet of shale
with red clay at the top and bottom, and 90 feet of alternating shale,
"pack sand," and red clay.

A hole 515 feet deep at Momit Riley siding was reported to have
penetrated clay to 80 feet, alternating clay and sand from 80 to 240
feet, silt from 240 to 275 feet, and clay, gravel, and rock from 275 to
515 feet. Another one 715 feet deep was reported as follows: 0-170
feet, clay and sand with streaks of white rock; 170-280 feet, clay;
280-300 feet, clay and sand; 300-325 feet, water sand; 325-715 feet,
clay, sand, gravel, and boulders, in part cemented.

A 950-foot well sunk by the Southern Pacific Co. at Lenark had the

following record :

Record of deep well at Lenarh, N. Hex.

Feet.

Red soil 0-13

Chalky clay 13-15

Sandrock, hard 16-78

Cemented stones 78-125

Red cl ay 1 25-186

White sand 186-204

Sandy clay 204-214

Sand 214-226

Red clay 226-252

Sand 252-290

Cemented sand, hard 290-294

Red clay, hard 294-336

Yellow clay 336-382

Sand 382-396

Red clay, hard 396-428

Quicksand 428-446

Cemented sand 446-452

Clay 452-456

Sand 456-562

Red clay 562-590

Yellow clay 590-640

Sandstone, soft 640-666

Sandstone, hard 666-668

Yellow clay 668-700

Sand 700-710

Sandy clay 710-730

Clay 730-750

Sand 750-775

Clay, hard 775-781

Yellow clay 781-800

Sand 800-810

Sandy clay 810-840

Sand 840-870

Sandy clay 870-892

Clay 892-900

Sandy clay 900-950

Digitized by VjOOQIC

234 CONTBIBUnONB TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT It.

A 1,077-foot hole at Kenzin siding; Dona Ana County, had the
following record:

Record of deep well at Kenxxn^ Dona Aria County , N. Mex.

Feet.

Soil and sand 0-60

Clay and sand 50-140

Cement, clay, and eand alternating « 140-324

Solid rock 324-326

Sand, cement, and clay, with gravel 326-395

Clay 395-515

Clay and rocks; water 515-550

Solid rock 550-802

Conglomerate ;. 802-807

Solid rock 807-827

Solid rock, lava (?), and conglomerate 827-844

Solid rock and conglomerate alternating 844-1, 027

A 445-foot well at Malpais siding passed through 108 feet of clay,
262 feet ol lava, and 75 feet of sand and clay.

It is difficult to interpret the records of these borings. They
indicate that a diversity of rocks underlie the wide plains of southern
Dona Ana County. To the south the sandstones and limestones of
Comanche age may be extensively distributed, for they appear at
El Paso and near Montoya and apparently were penetrated by the
holes at Nona, Strauss, and Lenark.

EASTERN SOGOBBO COTTNTT.
GEHEBAL RELATIOITS.

The ridges lying between Socorro and the north end of the Jornada
del Muerto consist of limestones, sandstones, and red shales presenting
somewhat complex structural relations. The dominant features are
the southward prolongation of the anticline of the Sierra de los
Pinos, compUcated by faults and minor flexures, the northern exten-
sion of the Jornada del Muerto, and the eastern face of Cbupad^^a
Mesa. Plate XLIII and the cross sections of figure 32 show the
principal structural features. It will be seen from these sections
that nearly all the anticlines to the west are cut oflf by faults, whicli
might have an imf avorable effect on the migration of oil if that sub-
stance is present. On the other hand, these faults might afford the
oil an outlet from one horizon to another.

LOCAL BTRirCTUBX.

CerriUos del Coyote to Cartilage. — ^The series of high limestone
ridges that begin about 5 miles east of Socorro occupy a narrow belt
about 18 miles long extending from Cerrillos del Coyote nearly to
Carthage. They are in greater part in Rs. 1 and 2 E. The structure
is in the main anticlinal, being a continuation of the uplift of the
Sandia and Manzano mountains and the Sierra de los Pinos. There

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF .NEW MEXICO.

235

are many faults and minor flexures, most of them longitudinal to the
main Une of uphft — that is, with trend nearly north. Some of the
faults, however, are transverse to this course, and the flexures have

8
S

M
I

i
I

much pitch. Some general features are shown in the sections in flgure
32. The formations presented are the Magdalena, Abo, Chupadera,
Triassic, and Upper Cretaceous, with more or lees overlap of Tertiary

Digitized by VjOOQ IC

236 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

and Quaternary deposits and Tertiary igneous rocks* The under-
lying pre-Cambrian granite is exposed in the axis of two small uplifts
about 6 miles east of Socorro.

The Cerrillos del Coyote consist of a small group of buttes (see
PL XXXI, By p. 188) of limestone lying on massive gray sandstone,
with soft red sandstone, gypsum, and thin liinestone on the lower
slope, all belonging to the Chupadera formation. The beds dip west
and are traversed by faults, as shown in section 2, figure 32. To the
south the underlying Abo beds appear; to the north the limestone
passes imder red shale of Triassic age, and in places some Tertiary
agglomerate abuts against it. On the east side th^ fold brings up
limestone of the Magdalena group, which constitutes an extensive
series of ridges to the south, where its outcrop continues to the Arroyo
de las Canas, in the southeastern part of T. 3 S., R. 1 E. The Magda-
lena outcrop is wide in the southeastern part of T. 2 S., R. 1 E.,
where, as shown in section 2, figure 32, it presents an anticline (see
PL XLIV, -B), a syncline, and a broad anticline. On the east side
of the anticline lies a basin of the Abo sandstone along the west side
of R. 2 E., east of which is Umestone of the Magdalena group, brought
up again by a fault of considerable throw. South of Arroyo de los
Pinos the anticline in the Magdalena beds rises gradually, and in the
northeastern part of T. 3 S., R. 1 E., the underlying granite appears.
Another parallel exposure of granite occurs in another anticline
lying a short distance to the west. The axis of this anticline passes
just east of Ojo del Amado (see PL XLIV, 5), and the uplifted rocks
are mostly buried under Tertiary and later deposits. The granite
appears in several other arroyos in this vicinity. The rdations
along the eastern axis are well exposed near the old fire-clay pits 6
miles east of Socorro. Here, as shown in Plate XLIV, -4, there is a
fault which repeats the outcrop of the granite and the overlying
quartzite and fire clay. Eastward up the arroyo a regular monocline
exposes a complete section of beds of the Magdalena group and above
them all the overlying Abo beds and the lower members of the
Chupadera formation.

The ridges in the eastern part of T. 3 S., R. 1 E., consist of an
eastward-dipping succession of limestone on gray massive sandstone,
representing the upper members of the Chupadera formation, repeated
somewhat by faulting, as shown in section 3, figure 32. East of
these ridges the upper limestone passes beneath red shale (Triassic)
and there is a fault which in the vicinity of the Armijo ranch, in the
center of T. 3 S., R. 2 E., lifts the lower part of the Abo sandstone to
the level of the upper limestone of the Chupadera formation. To the
east are lower beds of the Chupadera formation — soft red sandstone,
limestones, and gypsum beds. In sec. 25, T. 3 S., R. 2 E., these beds

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. 8. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XLIV

A. BASE OF MAGDALENA GROUP 8 MILES SOUTHEAST OF SOGORKO, N. MKX..

LOOKING NORTH.

Reds lie on Kranile in fore^rround. Fire-clay mine and fault to riKht.

Ji. UPTURNED MAGDALENA BEDS AT OJO DE AMADO. 7 MILES EAST-NORTHEAST

OF SOCORRO, N. MEX.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 720 PLATE XLV

A. MESA DEL YESO, 15 MILh:S NORTHEAST OF SOCOHRO, N. MEX., LOOKING NORTH.
Limestone and gypsum of Chtipadcra formation.

B. SIERRITA MESA, NACIMIENTO UPLIFF. N. MEX., LOOKING NORTHEAST.
Todilto limestone and f^psum lo left.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 237

are upturned sharply and cut off by a fault along which appear the
Abo sandstone^ standing nearly vertical, and in due order to the west
the Magdalena beds. West of the Magdalena is a small showing of
overlapping Tertiary agglomerate.

In sees. 31 and 32, T. 3 S., R. 3 E., two anticlines bring up the Abo
sandstone in the midst of an outcrop of lower beds of the Chupadera
formation, and some of the higher sandstones and limestones of the
Chupadera are dropped by a fault in the western part of sec. 31.
At the south end of this area there is a continuous zone of high ridges
of the upper limestone and sandstone of the Chupadera formation
extending nearly to Carthage and having the structure shown in
section 3, figure 32. There is considerable faulting but in general a
regular succession from the Magdalena on the west to Triassic red
shale and the Dakota ( ?) sandstone on the east. A strong cross fault
in the center of T. 4 S., R. 2 E., gives some complexity to the structure.
South of this fault there is a general downward pitch to the south,
the Triassic outcrop widens, and finally the Cretaceous rocks extend
across the anticline in the coal basin of Carthage. Overlying the
Cretaceous beds is a conglomerate of early Tertiary age, which also
appears at intervals to the north, in Tps. 2 and 3 S., R. 3 E. On the
east side of this part of the Tertiary area, in the western part of sec.
1, T. 5 S., R. 2 E., there is a well-defined anticline or elongated dome
of Cretaceous coal measures. On its west side is the main fault, which
extends far north from the eastern part of Carthage. *

Cibola Cone syndine ani fault. — ^The southern prolongation of the
anticline of the Sierra de los Pinos, pitching downward, bears on its
eastern slope in T. 1 S., R. 3 E., and farther south a thick wedge-
shaped mass of the Chupadera formation. On its east side the wedge
is cut off by a fault with upthrow on the east that brings into view
the top limestone of the Magdalena group. The resulting topographic
features are strongly marked, as the hard limestone and sandstone
of the Chupadera formation give rise to a prominent ridge culminating
in the very conspicuous butte long known as Cibola Cone, and east of
the fault the uplifted Abo sandstone presents to the west a high red
escarpment. Some of these features are shown in section 1 , figure 32.
The Chupadera and Abo formations in the area do not present any
unusual features.

VaUe del Ojo de la Parida. — Structurally the Valle del Ojo de la
Parida is a syncline with a regular succession of Cretaceous to Penn-
sylvanian rocks rising in its east side and an overlap of Tertiary
igneous rocks on its west side. Possibly the igneous rocks are cut off by
a fault at the Joyita Hills and farther south, along the prolongation
of the east side of the Joyita uplift. A heavy covering by Santa Fe
and later deposits in and south of T. 1 S. hides the structural relations.

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288 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1021, PART H.

Part of the valley is floored with sand and gravel, but ridges and
slopes show Triassic and Cretaceous rocks along its center, and the
outcrop of the Cretaceous widens greatly in the southern part of
T. 1 N., R. 2 E. The structure of the principal features of the valley
and adjoining ridges is shown in section 1 in figure 32. The Mesa
del Yeso, a prominent butte of the Chupadera formation^ rising in the
center of the area, is shown in Plate XLV, A.

Taylor coal hasin, — ^The Cretaceous rocks occupy a trough of con-
siderable extent along the valley of Taylor Creek and the adjoining
slopes. As shown in section 2, figure 32, they lie in a regular suc-
cession on red shales of Triassic age and dip at low angles to the west.
To the south they are overlain by a thick mass of Tertiary igneous
rocks, in places at least with an intervening conglomerate (Eocene ?),
which is well exposed northwest of the Cox ranch and west of the old
coal pit 4 miles north of Taylor's ranch. This basin is cut off by a
fault on its west side. In the higher beds near this fault there is a
thin coal bed which has been prospected at several places. Probably
this basin underlies a wide area of the Jornada del Muerto south of
Taylor's ranch, but owing to the cover of sand and gravel and the
absence of borings nothing is known of its character or relations in
that area.

Prairie Spring anticline. — ^Rising from the Jornada del Muerto near
Prairie Spring is an anticline which is expressed in the wide area of
ridges of limestone and other rocks of the Chupadera formation
extending to the mesas east of Rayo and beyond. In the center of
this area, or near the middle of T. 2 S., R. 4 E., the red Abo sandstone
is exposed for about a square mile along the axis of the anticline.
The line of ridges east of the old auto road in that vicinity consists of
limestone of the Chupadera formation dipping eastward into the
basin of Arroyo Chupadero. The Sierra del Venado consists of the
same limestones dipping west on the west side of the axis. Between
these limestone ridges is a wide area of lower beds of the Chupadera
formation.

Just west of Prairie Spring is a small local anticline or elongated
dome on the west slope of the main anticline. It is shown by lime-
stone of the Chupadera formation dipping on all sides below red
shale of Triassic age. The spring is on the southwest end of this
minor uplift.

A few other local irregularities were noted, but the details of
structure were not ascertained. One remarkable local twist of the
strata is exposed under the edge of the lava cap from Pyramid Crater,
an old cone in the southwestern part of T. 2 S., R. 4 E. The beds
are red sandstone and gypsum in the lower part of the Chupadera
foimation and evidently were contorted before the extrusion of the
lava, which lies on a smooth plain.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 239

Basin of Arroyo Chupadero, — ^The valley of Arroyo Chupadero is in
a broad syncline (see section 2, fig. 32), which is a northern extension
of the basin of the Jornada del Mjuerto. It rises to the north and is lost
in the tablelands of southern Torrance County. The sides are broad
outcrops of the Chupadera formation, and in the center, in Tps. 2 and
3 S., are red shales of lliassic age, largely covered by dune sand.
In the center of T. 4 S., R. 4 E., the overlying Cretaceous strata
appear, cut by some igneous intrusive rocks. Farther south are the
wide sandy flats of the Jornada del Muerto.

Oscwra anticline. — ^The prominent anticline which has produced
Oscura Mountain extends far north of the northern termination of
the mountains, probably to the Torrance-Socorro County line. The
limestones of the Magdalena group pitch down rapidly in the north-
em part of T. 5 S., R. 6 E., and there is considerable faulting for some
distance in the southwest comer of the township. Northward for 8
or 9 miles there is a broad anticline of the Abo sandstone flanked on
both sides by the Chupadera formation. On the west side of the axis
this formation constitutes ridges of moderate prominence, and on
the east it constitutes the western slope of Chupadera Mesa. The
dips are low, especially those on the east side. Near the center of
T. 4 S., R. 6 E., the Abo sandstone pitches down to the north, and
for 15 miles or more the uplift is expressed in Chupadera beds. The
west limb of the anticline, where the dips are mostly from 5° to 10°,
is marked by a north-south ridge of the limestones of the Chupadera
formation. The dips on the east side are very low, and, as shown in
section 2, figure 32, the limestones cap Chupadera Mesa. In general
the anticline is fairly regular, but there are a few local irregularities.
One of the most notable of these is a subordinate syncline and anti-
cline with steep dips in and near the western part of T. 4 S. and the
northwestern part of T. 3 S., R. 7 E.

Joyita HiUs.—The Joyita Hills, which lie mostly mT. 1 N., R. 1 E.,
present a prominent anticline with pre-Cambrian granite exposed
for a distance of about 3 miles along the center of its north-south
course. Some of the features are shown in section 1, figure 32.

At the north end of the area the limestone of the Magdalena group
is exposed, pitching down into the Abo sandstone, but at the south
the relations are hidden by sand and gravel. On the east there is a
broad belt of the Tertiary igneous rocks, which overlap on the gran-
ite unless, perhaps, there is a separating fault. The cross section in
figure 33 shows some of the local details of structure.

The central ridge of granite is the highest topographic feature, and
next west of it are slopes of limestone of the Magdalena group. A
fault separates this limestone from granite. The red sandstone of
the Abo formation, about 800 feet thick, forms a line of ridges or

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240 COKTRIBtmOKB TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

knobs, just west of which are soft beds of the lower member of the
Chupadera formation. These lower beds comprise 400 feet of red-
dish shales and soft red sandstones with some included limestone
beds but no gypsum. Next above are soft red sandstones that grade
up into massive gray sandstone, mostly hard, with one or two thin
beds of limestone. This sandstone is overlain by limestone, the usual
top member of the Chupadera formation. These upper sandstones
and limestones, about 700 feet thick in all, constitute a line of ridges
and knobs of considerable prominence extending all along the west
side of the uplift. The Abo sandstone, shown at the left end of the
section in figure 33, is in an uplifted block, which crops out only for
a short distance and west of which are agglomerate, a bed of lime-
stone conglomerate, and igneous rocks, all of Tertiary age.

On its east side the granite ridge is flanked by limestone of the
Magdalena group, dipping steeply to the east. To the south these
rocks show only in places, as the Tertiary igneous succession extends
to the foot of the ridge, but to the north the limestone area widens

r^sao'

FiGiTBE 33.— Sketch section across the Joyita Hills, In T. 1 N., R. 1 E., Socorro County, N. Hex. Qai.
Alluvium; a. andesite; b, basalt; agl, agglomerate; c, conglomerate; Co, Chupadera formation; Ca.
Abo sandstone; Cm, Magdalena group; gr. granite; i, lava, etc.

and reveals a pitching anticline. As the anticline pitches down to the
north the limestone area widens, and it passes across the end of the
uplift, as shown in Plate XLIII (p. 234). In this locaUty a deep
canyon cut by a small arroyo reveals the limestone of the Magdalena
group overthrust locally upon the red Abo sandstone, apparently by
an extension of the fault shown to the right of the center of the sec-
tion in figure 33. The limestone dips to the north and northwest,
and the Abo sandstone to the west. The limestone extends north to
Arroyo Qbola, where it pitches below the Abo sandstone, and this
in turn is covered by sand, gravel, and the Tertiary igneous succession.
There is no evidence of its extension in Agua Torres, and the isolated
knob of granite 6 miles east of La Joya is due to a separate uplift.

Socorro and Lemitar mourUains. — The Socorro and Lemitar moun-
tains are parts of a westward-dipping succession of Tertiary igneous
rocks on a platform of limestone of the Magdalena group underlain by
pre-Cambrian rocks. The pre-Cambrian is exposed in a very small
area low in the east slope of the Socorro Moxmtains, but granite is a
prominent feature f or6 miles along the east slope of the Lemitar Mounr
tains.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 241

East of these mountains are the long sand and gravel covered
slopes extending to the Rio Grande and in part underlain by tilted
sandstones, etc., of the Santa Fe formation, which are well exposed
near the north end of the Lemitar Moxmtains. To the west, as well
as on the north and south ends of the range, lies a thick body of the
Tertiary igneous rocks, which extend to the wide vaUey separating
these ranges from the Magdalena Mountains. At the south end of
the Socorro Mountains is a deposit of fuller's earth overlain by a
sheet of basalt.

On account of the eastward-dipping limestone on the east side of
these ridges, it is believed that they are of anticlinal structure through-
out and that probably under the plain east of them there is a regular
succession of Abo, Chupadera, Triassic, and Cretaceous rocks in a
syncline. Ladrones Peak is on a northern continuation of the anti-
clinal axis. There is no evidence that the moxmtains are fault
blocks, and the only fault noted is in the middle of the Lemitar
Mountains, where the displacement is 500 feet or ^lore, with the drop
on the east side.

NACIMIBNTO TJPIJFT.
GZVS&AI. BXULTZOSrS.

In the north-central part of Sandoval County there is a promi-
nent arch which gives rise to the Nacimiento Range and San Pedro
Mountain. The beds are uplifted so high that in the central por-
tions of the ridges the pre-Cambrian granites and schists appear.
On the west side of this uplift the strata are upturned very steeply,
constituting the east or southeast margin of the wide San Juan
Basin. (See PI. XLV, 5, p. 237.) On the east side the dips are
gentler, and limestones of the Magdalena group and overlying red
shales and sandstones are spread out considerably and pass under
the great pile of volcanic materials of the Valle Grande eruptions.
The principal structiu-al features are shown in figure 34.

STRATZd&A!PHT.

The rocks exposed in these mountains are granites and schists;
limestones and sandstones of the Magdalena group; and red shales
and gray sandstones of the Permian and Triassic, which extend
across the range in a depression of the anticline east of Senorito.
Overlying strata as high as coal measures of the Mesaverde forma-
tion and early Tertiary deposits extend along the west slope of the
mountains. The limestones on the east slope of the Sierra Naci-
miento are extensively exposed in the deep canyons of the Rio de la
Yaca and Jemez Creek, and on the intervening high mesas there is an
extensive thick capping of tuffs and lavas of the Valle Grande vol-
canic area.

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242 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

LOOAL STKUGTUBE.

A short distance north of Jemez Springs a local anticline brings
up the entire thickness of the Magdalena group, and the underiying
granites are exposed in a small area in the bottom of the canyon. As
the conditions in this area appear to be unfavorable for oil or gas,
the minor details of flexure and faulting need not be presented here.
At the south end of the mountains, however, south of Rio Salado, the
strata pitch down, and although a profound fault cuts the east side of
the uplift the arch is continued far southward in the Cretaceous

5ttn Psoro Ircn ^

.'//^ ;.•";.' :.;''i-GrBnittJ«tc.'-/Vv/'*'V-V

Cur«k8 Mesa

Horizontat ecale

FiovBE 31.— Sections across San Pedro Moantain and the Nadmlentq Range, in Sandoval and Rio Arriba
coanties, N. Mex. T, Tertiary; Ts, Santa Fe formation; K, Cretaceous; J, Jurassic; Jw,Wingate sand-
stone; "Kp, Pcileo sandstone; "^s, red shale; Cm, Magdalena group.

strata. This anticline is well exhibited through R. 1 W., from T. 15
N. to T. 13 N., and appears to extend still farther southwest, but the
geology of the district has not been explored.

CHAHA BASIN.
OEHXaAL BBLATIOirS.

In the region above Abiquiu Rio Chama flows in canyons and
broad valleys cut in a wide plateau on the northeast flank of a
northern extension of the Nacimiento uplift. Above El Vado for
many miles there is a broad valley in the Cretaceous shales, but
below that place the Dakota sandstone is deeply trenched and

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GEOLOGIC STRUCrURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

248

finally the underlying "Red Beds" are widely bared. In the greater
part of the area the strata dip at very low angles; to the west they
descend steeply into the San Juan Basin, and to the east they are
cut oflF by faults and a steep uplift which brings up the pre-Cambrian

Brazos Peak

FiG^'SE 35.— Map showing structure in part of Rio Arriba County, N. Mex. Represented by contour lines
at the top of the Dakota sandstone. Broken lines indicate areas trom which the Dakota sandstone has
been eroded. A-B, Line of section shown in figure 36.

crystalline rocks in the Brazos Peak district. Some of the broader
.structural features are shown by contours in figure 35, and the cross
section, figure 36, shows the relations in the plateaus southwest of
Canjilon, from T. 26 N., R. 1 W., to a point not far north of Abiquiu.

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244 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.

STBATiaaAPHY.

The principal formations in the Rio Chama basin are given in ihe
following table:

Formations in southeastern part of Rio Arriba County^ N, Mex,

Age.

Group and formation.

Cbaracteristics.

Thicknen

(feet).

Mesaverde formation.

Sandstone and shale, with coal beds.

800

Upper Cretaceous.

Mancos shale.

Shale and sandstone.

SOO-1,000

Dakota sandstone.

Sandstone, massive, hard, gray to buff.

150-250

Cretaceous (7). j Morrison formation.

Shale, massive, greenish gray, buff, maroon;
some sandstone.

. * 100-1«

Navajo (?) sandstone.

Sandstone, chocolate-brown.

loO

Todilto formation.

f Ovpsum member

Juraaaic.

Vlimestonein thin layers, locally very sandy . .

4-12

Wingate sandstone.

Sandstone, very massive, fine grained; red
below, white and buff at top.

aoo

Chinle (?) formation.

Red shale.

250

Triassic.

Poleo sandstone.

Sandstone; maker of prominent ridges,
plateaus, and cliffs.

so-m

Red shale and red and brown sandstone.

250-^0

Pennsylvanian.

Magdalena group.

Limestone mainly; sandstone at base and top.

«M50

Pre-Cambrian.

Granite.

Of the sandstones in the region east of the Mesaverde ridge those
which possibly contain oil if oil is present in this area are the
Dakota, which lies at moderate depth in the Chama Valley above
El Vado; the Navajo, 100 to 180 feet below the Dakota; the Wingate;
the Poleo; and some sandstones in the Magdalena group. The
Navajo(?) sandstone is in the midst of a series poor in carbonaceous
sediments. The Poleo and Magdalena sandstones are at consider
able depth below the valley in the El Vado-Amarillo region, but they
crop out toward the south, the Magdalena rocks being exposed on
the slopes of the San Pedro Mountains.

LOCAI, ST&U0TX7RE.

As shown in figure 35, part of the area is a flat-bottomed synclinal
basin, and although doubtless there are local domes and anticlines
in this basin surveys have not been sufficiently detailed to locate
them. Gallina Mountain and Capulin Mesa are anticlines or elon-
gated domes of considerable prominence, but they are to be r^arded
as northern extensions of the Nacimiento uplift. They will in due
course probably receive the attention of the wildcat driller. Care,
however, should first be taken to ascertain whether the carboniza-
tion of the carbonaceous debris has advanced so far as to preclude
the survival of oil in the formations in which the oil is sought.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 245

The Cobre Creek uplift, which lies east of |

the fault shown in figure 35, is an anticline or 1 1 1

uTegular dome bringing up the lower red beds ? ^ 8

and cut by several faults. The details of its 3^ g»

structure were not determined, but the main g^l |

features are shown in figure 36. I 5 §

VALLB GRANDE ABEA. I|&

The Valle Grande Mountains, in the north- » 1 1

east comer of Sandoval County, attain an | I S.

altitude of 11,200 feet in Redonda Peak. They ^Ig

consist of late Tertiary volcanic flows and tuffs ^ >.

which extend far down the slopes in every di- J i

rection, reaching the level of the Rio Grande f g

in the White Rock Canyon, west of Santa Fe. | I

This great cover of volcanic products, in |]z;

places thousands of feet thick, completely hides* S g

all the structural relations of the sedimentary ?* ^

rocks in the northeast comer of Sandoval iP

County and the southeastern part of Rio Arriba | f

County. To judge from the structure in the 3 %

Jemez River basin, to the north, and the re- | j

lations on the east slope of the Nacimiento i |

uplift, it is not imlikely that the region is | |

underlain by sedimentary rocks ranging from | [^

Cretaceous to Pennsylvanian in age, but the ^ 3

distribution and structure of these rocks can 1, |

not be ascertained. It is probable also that | s

many of the rocks have been greatly altered | |

by heat and heated waters, so that if they 1 1

ever did contain oil or gas most if not all of ® 2

those products would have been destroyed or p ^

dissipated. 1 1

SAN JUAN BASIN. t^

OEHS&AL RELATZOVS. S g

Most of the northwestern part of New Mex- f^ I

ico consists of a broad, shallow basin occupied g I

by a thick sedimentary succession including | s

a widespread deposit of liocene sandstones | *

and clays. The Eocene beds constitute the I 3

surface in the western half of Rio Arriba County ^ q

and most of the eastern part of San Juan '^|

County; the Mesaverde and overlying later %,^

Cretaceous sandstones and coal measures crop g |

60210**— 22 6

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246 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

out in a broad area to the west and south and in a narrow zone along
the east margin of the basin. To the west is the Defiance anticline;
to the east is the western limb of the Nacimiento uplift, steeply
upturned for most of its course; and to the south is the broad anti-
cline of the Zuni Mountain uplift. (See fig. 39, p. 255.) In the wide
basin area the strata present very low dips, mostly 1° to 2** or even
less, an inclination which is hardly perceptible to the eye. There is
gradual deepening of the basin to the north. The general strati-
graphic succession and relations are shown in figure 37, taken from
Bauer's report ^ on part of the basin. There is a finely developed
dome with its apex in the north-central part of T. 15 N., R. 6 W.

OIL.

Petroleum is present in this general region, locally at least, as a
small amount jvas found several years ago in relatively shallow wells
at Seven Lakes, and oil seeps are reported near Baker's trading post

• I ! 1 S I f "-•

Figure 37.— Section along San Juan River from the Great Hogback to tbe bluff opiXBlte FamxingtGa,
San Juan County, N. Mex. By C. M. Bauer.

and in Chaco Plateau. The first of these wells was one sunk for
water in 1912 in sec. 18, T. 18 N., R. 10 W., in which considerable
gas and oil were reported. Six other wells bored later found gas
and some of them small amounts of oil at depths of 350 to 6(X) feet
in Mesaverde beds. Whether or not this oil comes from a deep source
and might be found in larger amounts at suitable depths where tht
strata are arched or domed can not be known until test borings are
made.

It is generally beUeved that the structure in this region is not
favorable for extensive reservoirs, but it is probable that detailed
mapping of the structure will reveal somewhere in the region faint
anticlines or donies in the Mancos and Mesaverde beds which maj
deserve testing.

A moderate amount of oil occurs in the sandstone of the Goodridgt
formation (probably equivalent to the Chupadera) in the canyon o:
San Juan River at Goodridge, Utah, 50 miles west of the northw»?sr

H Bauer, C. M., Stratigraphy of a part of the Chaco River valley: U. S. Qeol. Survey Prof, l^per ^
flg. 27, p. 275, 1916.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTUBE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 247

comer of New Mexico. There are several productive wells, and the
oil is of excellent quality. This formation lies far below the surface
in the San Juan Basin, being probably almost 3,000 fe6t below at
Ship Rock post ojffice, 4,500 feet at Farmington, and 4,000 feet at
Seven Lakes, but it comes to the surface in the Zuni Mountains.

It is claimed also that oil was found in some of the deep borings
nea?" Farmington, Fruitland, and Flora Vista.

LOCAL BTBirCTTTBE.

Although the rocks in the greater part of the San Juan Basin
appear to dip regularly into a wide basin, there are doubtless many
local irregularities and reversals of dip due to domes, anticlines,
and terraces. Only a small portion of the great area has been
surveyed with care, and in the central part there is a widespread
covering of early Eocene deposits, which conceal the structure of
the underlying Cretaceous rocks. Figure 38 shows some struc-
tural features in the southeastern part of the basin.

One of the most notable structural irregularities in this area is the
dome in Tps. 16 and 16 N., Rs. 6 and 7 W. The vertical uplift is
more than 250 feet, and the dome brings to the surface the lower
sandstone of the Mesaverde. The strata on the slopes have dips
of 1° to 9®. Several faint domes occur farther west along the
Mesaverde outcrop zone, and J. B. Reeside has noted one in the
Navajo Indian Reservation about 12 miles west of Hunter's store.

According to Schrader" the coal-bearing rocks in the upper part
of the beds of Montana age are uplifted in a low dome on Hosta
Butte-

The hogback ridge that forms a- prominent topographic feature
extending from southwest to northeast across the western part of
San Juan County is due to steeply uplifted sandstones of the
Mesaverde group. San Juan River cuts through it in a gap. In
this ridge the strata dip steeply southeastward along a zone 45
miles long. According to plats made by L. S. Gillett, of the General
Land Office, there is behind this hogback, in the southern part- of
the Southern Ute Reservation, an anticline of considerable prom-
inence in which the Mancos shale is bared for 15. miles or more.
Apparently this anticline flattens out in the area east of Ship Rock
post office, for it has not been noted near San Juan River. The
dips are 8° to 10® on the southeast side of the flexure and very low
on the northwest side, where there are southward-facing cliffs of
sandstone of the lower part of the Mesaverde group.

** Scbrader, F. C, The Duiango-Oallup coal field of Colorado and New Mexico: U. S. Oeol. Survey Bull.
285, p. 253, igOO.

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248 (CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

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GEOLOGIC STRUOTTJRE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 249

DBSP BOBIHaB.

Several deep holes have been bored for oil in the San Juan Basin.
The deepest one was sunk in 1913 by the Farmington Oil & Gas
Co. on the Blake farm, near Farmington, in sec. 15(?), T. 29 N., R
13 W. The record was as follows:

Record of deep well in sec. 15 (f\ T. 29 N., R. IS TT., near Farmington, N, Mex.

Feet.

Soil and cobblestones 20

Sand 21

Sandy shale 81

Shale, light 215

Sand; gas 240

Shale, light 280

Sand, gray 285

Shale - , 320

Sand 325

Shale; gas 387

Sand; gas 394

Shale 425

Sand 432

Shale, light ...- 582

Shale, brown ; gas at 730 and 790 feet 797

Shale, dark 1,075

Sand; gas 1,160

Shale, light.! 1,185

Sand 1,220

Shale, brown 1, 370

Sand, gray 1,375

Shale, brown 1, 710

Sand, dark 1, 780

Shale, sandy, light 1, 830

Shale, sandy, dark 1, 940

Sand, dark :. 1,965

Shale, sandy, dark/ 2, 045

Sand, white, fine 2, 050

Shale, sandy; dark shells 2, 205

Sand, hard 2, 210

Shale, sandy; dark shells; salt water at 2,300 feet 2, 310

Sand, dark 2, 430

Sand , white 2, 435

Sand, dark gray * 2, 495

Sand, white 2, 580

Sand, gray; coal at 2,620 and 2,640 feet 2, 610

Shale, sandy 2, 640

Sand, white, hard 2, 655

Coal. .'. 2, 658

Sand and shale; strong flow of water over top of casing 2, 678

Sand, red-brown; some oil (pit asphaltum or maltha) 2, 685

Sand, gray, with specks of coal; water from well dark brown, cooler

and less salty 2, 695

Sand, gray-white 2, 725

CJoal and shale 2, 730

Shale, tough; water milky.

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250 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

It is suggested by Mr. Reeside, who kindly furnished the record,
that the hole penetrated the Eartland shale at 16 to 797 feet, the
Fruitland formation at 797 to 1,075 feet, the Pictured Cliffs sand-
stone at 1,075 to 1,370 feet, the Lewis shale at 1,370 to 1,940 feet,
the Cliff House sandstone (top formation of Mesaverde group) at
1,940 to 2,610 feet, and the Menefee (or middle formation of the
Mesaverde group) at 2,610 to 2,730 feet, where the drill stuck.

A well in progress in sec. 2, T. 30 N., R. 12 W., was reported to
have reached a depth of 2,900 feet in December, 1920. Some gas
was reported in sands at 2,100 to 2,250 feet and at other horizons,
and coal, one bed of which was 14 feet thick, between 1,700 and
2,085 feet.

A hole sunk in sec. 16, T. 30 N., R. 15 W., by the San Juan Basin
Oil & Gas Co. to a depth of 2,080 feet had the following record:

Record of deep well in sec. 10, T. SO .V., R, 15 PT., about 5 miles north of Fruitlarvd, N. Mejc.

Feet.

Record lost; thin coal at 84 feet 0-400

Blue mud 450

Shale, sandy 470

Shale, blue ! 524

Sand; showing of oil 525

Shale, blue 670

Lime shell 672

Shale, blue 680

Lime, shell 681

Shale, blue 706

Limestone 710

Lime shells and blue shales 810

Shale, brown 840

Shale and lime shells 965

Sand; salt water 973

Shale, sandy, brown 988

Lime shells and blue shales .' 1, 038

•Softer shales and lime shells 1, 158

Shale, blue 1, 208

Shale, blue, with lime streaks 1, 403

Light shale and lime shells 1, 530

Shale, brown 1, 680

Hard lime 1, 586

Sand; salt water 1, 598

Shale, blue, with lime streaks 1, 615

Hard lime 1, 625

Sand; good showing of oil 1, 640

Sand; salt water 1, 665

Shale, sandy 7 1, 690

Sand; salt water 1, 720

Shale, gray, with strata of lime 1, 900

Shale with lime streaks 1, 980

Lime with biunt formation 2, 010

Shale, black, with lime streaks 2, 070

Hard sandrock with artesian salt water, which ran over casing in
small stream , 2, 080

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 251

According to Mr. Reeside, who kindly furnished the log, the hole
began in the Fruitland formation, penetrated the Pictured Cliffs
sandstone and Lewis shale from 84 to 965 feet and the Cliff House
sandstone from 965 to 1,580 feet, and ended in the Menefee formation.
Another hole 1,719 feet deep, sunk by the same company in the
adjoining sec. 21, is reported to have struck considerable oil, but
owing to breaking of tools the well was abandoned. It is said that
the well passed through a thin bed of coal with salt water at 83 feet
and found fresh water at 113 feet and at 740 feet. Shale, presum-
ably the Lewis shale, began at 200 feet, and. the first indications of
oil were at 1,715 feet. These two holes near the center of T. 30 N.,
R. 15 W., appear to have been in some small anticlinal crumples on
the slope of the main hogback monocline, and unfortunately they
did not test all the Mesaverde strata.

A hole in sec. 16, T. 30 N., R. 12 W., 3 miles northwest of Flora
Vista, reached a depth of 1,512 feet in July, 1920, and reported a
small amount of oil. It penetrated the Wasatch formation and the
Kirtland shale and Fruitland formation. The Mesaverde, according
to Bauer's section, is about 400 feet below. The beds dip to the
east at a low angle, averaging about 1°.

Another test hole 2 miles to the west, in sec. 19^ about 200 feet
higher, was 890 feet deep and is reported to have found a small
amount of oil.

A well 1,111 feet deep at the Pueblo Bonito School, in sec. 30,
T. 17 N., R. 12 W., penetrated alternating sandstone and shale with
fotir thin beds of coal near 700 feet.** Another well, 1,205 feet deep,**
5 miles to the northwest, in sec. 10, T. 17 N., R. 13 W., penetrated
shale and sandstone. Both of these holes were in the Mesaverde and
Mancos formations. A third hole in the same general vicinity, in
sec. 12, T. 18 N., R. 12 W., is 1,030 feet deep and yields a flow of water.
Several wells have been bored for oil recently in the Seven Lakes
district. One m sec. 31, T. 18 N., R. 9 W., reached a depth of 800
feet without success. Below 65 feet continuous sandstone was
reported. A 390-foot hole in sec. 16, T. 17 N., R. 11 W., penetrated
sand and shale with thin layers of lignite.

A well in the center of sec. 18, T. 18 N., R. 13 W., 35 miles north-
east of Gallup, had the following log, according to Mr. Gus Mulhol-
land, of Gallup:

Log of boring 10 miles northwest of Crovm Pointy McKinley County, N. Mex.

Feet.

Sand and mud 0-80

Sandstone, white 80-240

LimeaheU 240-246

Shale 246-476

*4 For records see Gregory, H. E., The Navi^o country: U. 8. Oeol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 380,
p. 181, 191d.

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262 (CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

Feet.

Sandstone, gray; water alkaline 475-^25

Lime shell 52^-535

Sandstone, hafd , gray 536-585

Shale 585-635

Sandstone 63^-^55

rx)al and shale 665-665

Sandstone, white 665-700

Shale, blue 700-725

Sandstone 725-785

Lime shell , 785-805

Sandstone 805-845

Shale 846-1,000

Sandstone; good water 1, 000-1. 030

Shale, sandy 1, 030-1, 050

Sandstone, gray 1.050-1,090

Shale 1.090-1,120

Sandstone, with good flow of water 1. 120-1, 200

Lime shell 1, 200-1, 210

Sandstone, hard, gray 1, 210-L 320

Sandstone; flow of good water at top 1, 320-1, 400

Shale, hard, brown 1,400-1,520

Shale and fire clay; small flow of oil, some gas 1, 520-1, 540

This well penetrated the Mesaverde strata and entered the shales
of the Mancos group.

Record of artesian well 9 miles southeast of Tohachi, N. Afer.

Feet.

Sand and clay 0-80

Fine sand 80-102

Shale 102-104

Tough blue clay 104-112

Shale and shallow layers of rock 112-174

Light-gray sandstone, hard 174-186

Shale and eiate 186-192

Light-gray sandstone, hard 192-225

Shale 225-234

Sandstone 234-236

Shale 236-242

Slate, hard 242-250

Sandstone 250-262

Shale 262-286

Sandstone, extraordinarily hard 285-288

Sandrock, loose 288-298

Coal; water rose within 28 feet of surface 298-299

Shale, tough and sticky 299-332

Shale 232-340

Sandstone 340-342

Slate, very hard 342-356

Sandstone 356-357

Shale 357-398

Sandstone; water rose within 20 feet of surface 398-402

Shale 402-422

Shale, sandstone, and coal 422-426

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTTJRB OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 253

Feet.

Gallup fire clay •. 426-446

Rock, very hard, dark, carrying mineral 446-454

li^t^iray sandstone 454-620

Fire clay 620-622

Light-gray sandstone 622-684

Dark-brown sandstone 684-702

Fire clay 702-722

Light-gray sandstone -. . . . 722-742

Fire clay 742-753

Light-gray sandstone 753-774

Fire clay 774-800

Sandstone; thin layer of coal 800-816

Fire clay 816-906

Light-gray sandstone; water over casing, 90 gallons an hour. 906-943

Coal 943-946

Light-gray sandstone 946-949

Fire clay 949-955

Dark close-grained rock, hard 955-964

Fire clay 964-988

Shale 988-1,001

Close-grained sandrock, hard 1, 001-1, 018

Fire clay, very tough and sticky 1, 018-1, 035

Close-gndned sandrock, very hard 1, 036-1, 050

Li^t-yellow sandrock; water flows 300 gallons an hour 1, 050-1, 058

Light-gray sandrock 1, 058-1, 082

light-yellow sandrock; well flows 2,500 gallons an hour 1, 082-1, 094

Light-gray sandrock; well flows 6,000 gallons an hour 1, 094-1, 108

Shale....". 1,108-1,150

ZUNI HOtTNTAINS.
OEHS&AL RELATIOSrS.

The Zuni Mountains, in McKinley and Valencia counties, are due
to hard rocks uplifted by an extensive anticline or elongated dome.
This uplift has steep dips on its west side, where the strata pass under
the Zuni-Gallup coal basin (see PL XLVII, A), and very gentle dips
on the north and northwest sides into the San Juan Basin (see Pis.
XLVI, A; XLVII, 5). Toward the southeast the flexure flattens
into a broad monocline extending under the Cebolleta Mesa. The
sections in figure 40 show the principal structural features of the
Zuni Mountain uplift, and some general relations are shown in figure
39. As is shown in the cross sections, the uplift is relatively regular,
but the rate of dip varies from place to place, and there is considerable
faulting in part of the area. The pre-Cambrian granite is exposed
by erosion in three areas in the center of the uplift. Well-marked
subordinate structural features such as local or minor domes and
anticlines are rare, although all of the area has not been closely
scrutinized for those features. West of Grant there are a number of
minor domes near the foot of the limestone slopes, and it is possible
that in the wide shale valley extending from Bluewater to the area
northwest of Wingate there may be some local uplifts.

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254 CONTBIBUTIONS TO EOOKOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

STBATIOaAPHY.

The strata exposed in the Zuni Mountain uplift comprise formations
from the base of the Abo sandstone (Permian) to the coal measures
of the Upper Cretaceous. .

Formations in the Zuni Mountain uplift.

Age.

Group and formation.

Characteristics.

Approximate
average thick-
ness (feet).

•

Mesaverde formation.

Sandstone with coal beds.

1,010

Upper Cretaceous.

incos shale.

750

Jcota sandstone.

Sandstones, massive, gray, hard.

120-250

Cretaceous (?).

McEl

Nava
Todil

mo formation.

maroon.

150

|o sandstone.

Sandstone, massive, gray to pink.

300-650

Jaraasic. *

to limestone.

Limestone, mostly very thin bedded.

0-ao

Wlngate sandstone.

Sandstone, fine^^ned, massive, pink, hard«
makhig high cliffs on north side, soft on
south side of uplift.

aODHOD

Chinle formation.

sat

Triaasic.

Shinarump conglom-
erate.

Sandstone, gray to buff, locally conglomer-
atic.

a>-eo

Moenkopi formation.

Shale, mostly sandy and red.

5O(KS50

Pennian.

Chupadera for-
mation.

Limestone and hard gray sandstone above,
soft red sandstone below.

50)

Abo sandstone.

Brown-red slabby sandstone and sandy
shale, with locally basal limestone and
sandstone.

600-70U

Pre-Cambrian.

Granite, etc.

The sandstones in the Chupadera formation and the Shinarump
conglomerate can be reached by borings of moderate depth in the
valleys adjoining the uplift. These sandstones, however, lie very
deep in the basin west of the uplift and under the valley of Mancos
shale to the north.

DEEP BOKDfCW.

Holes of considerable depth have been bored for water at several
points along the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway between
Bluewater and Gallup. At Gallup, which is in the basin west of th^
uplift, the borings obtain artesian water from the Dakota and ove^

Digitized by VjOOQrC

U. fl. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XLVI

A. PYRAMID HOCK. 10 MILES EAST OF GALLUP, N. MEX.

Red cliffs of Wingate saudsLoiie in foreground; Navajo saudstone and higher beds on ridge and

pyramid.

B. IJPLirr AT ATARQUE. SOUTHWESTKRN VAI.EMCIA COUMTY, N. MEX.,
LOOKING NORTHEAST.

Dakota Handstoiie lying unconformably on Navujo sandstone.

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U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 726 PLATE XLVII

A. WEST SLOPE OF ZUNI UPLIFT AT NUTRIA, iN. MEX.. LOOKING SOUTHE\ST.
Navajo and Wingate sandstontvs.

B. NORTH Wi:ST SLOPE OF ZUNI UPLIFT EAST OF GALLUP, N. MEX.. LOOKING

NORTH.

Dakota and overlying sandslones.

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GEOLOGIC STBUCTURE OF PARTS OP NEW MEXICO.

255

lying sandstones. None of these holes except possibly the wells at
Gallup and Bluewater have been sunk in places where the structure
would be favorable for oil accumulation, and, moreover, none of them

Contour interval 500 feet
Orium it sm hv9t

FiouKB 39.~Map showing structure of part of northwestern New Mexico. ZV, ZunI uplift; N, Nad-
miento uplift; D, Defiance uplift; OC, Ojo Caliente uplift and fault; Z, Zunl. Contours represent
top of Chupadera formation, which, however, is absent on the higher uplifts.

are sufficiently deep to reach the sandstones of the Chupadera for-
mation. No traces of oil or gas were reported. The well at Blue-
water had the following record:

Record of boring at Blttewater Hation, N, Mex.

Feet.

Lava, two beds (?), with thin bed of tuff and red clay between 0-90

Clay, red 90-169

Clay, blue 159-260

Sandfltone, gray, soft 260-263

Clay, blue 263-270

Sandstone, gray, hard above, red below 270-291

Limestone, hard, with hard dark sandstone at 439-447 feet 291-455

Sandstone, white; water in small amount 455-^575

Sandstone, red; bad water 575-735

This hole passed through clays in the lower part of the Moenkopi
formation to 291 feet, limestones and sandstones of the Chupadera
formation to 575 feet, and lower red beds at the base of the Chupa-
dera, possibly reaching the top beds of the Abo sandstone, to the
bottom.

An artesian well at North Chaves, 707 feet deep, doubtless draws
its supply of excellent water from the Shinarump conglomerate.

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256 C^ONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOOY^ 1921, PART II.

til

r'8

' <

o
>

z
-1
>

„,w

u»

oO
-o>

-*-r

€

"^S

•n

■5

•

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GEOLOGIC STBUCTUSE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 257

which rises to the surface on the dip not far south of the raiboad.
The following record is given:

Record of well at North Chaves siding, McKMey County, N. Hex,

Feet.

Clay, sand, and gravel. 0-62

Sandstone, gray 52-195

Clay , red 1 95-530

Clay, blue 530-570

Sandstone, gray 570-595

Sand, black 595-600

Sandstone, gray 600-700

A 600-foot hole at Guam penetrated the following strata:

Record of boring at Guam^' N. Mex.

Feet.

Sand, clay, and gravel 0-55

Sandy clay, with petrified wood at base 55-76

Shale, blue, compact 76-92

Sandstone, soft, white 92-103

Shale, red 103-108

Sandstone, red, hard 108-135

Shale, red 135-145

Sandstone and conglomerate; small supply of water 145-155

Sandstone, gray 1 55-210

Shale, blue, compact 1^10-410

Shale, soft 410-540

Sandstone, red, hard '. 540-560

Shale, red, hard 5GO-600

These strata are all in the Chinle formation, but the Shinarump
conglomerate was not far below and no doubt would have yielded
a satisfactory water supply.

GALLUP-ZTTNI BASIN.
GBHXBAL BXIATX0V8.

West of the Zuni uplift there is a basin of considerable extent
which holds a wide area of Cretaceous coal measures at Gallup and
extends southward for 60 miles or more into Valencia County. The
succession of rocks in this basin comprises strata from late Cretaceous
probably to Pennsylvanian. As shown in the cross sections of figure
41 the principal structural features are the steep descent of the strata
along the west side of the Zuni uplift; the wide, flat-bottomed basin
to the west; and the gradual reappearance of the Cretaceous and
Jurassic beds as the strata rise and the country drops toward the
west. West of the axis of the basin the strata dip east at very low
angles, in most places appearing to be practically horizontal. In this
part of the area there are low domes and structural terraces, but
only a few of the features of this character have been investigated.

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258 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

todi

z
n

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GEOLOGIC STBUCTTJRE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 259

STRATIGRAPHY.

The formations underlying the GaUup-Zuni Basin are set forth in
the following tabic :

Formations in Gallup-Zuni Basin.

Age.

Group and formation.

Character.

Thickness
(feet).

Mesaverde formation.

l,000i:

Upper Cretaceoas.

Mancofl shale. ^'SFwtfy ih?^^^^ *"'' '*^^*^' ^'''^^' ^^^

000

Dakota sandstone.

Sandstone, massive, gray to buff.

60-100

Navajo sandstone.

Sandstone, gray to pink, massive.

450-600

Jurassic.

Todilto limestone.

Limestone, thin bedded.

15-25

Wingate sandstone.

Sandstone, pink, massive and hard to north.

280-400

Chinle formation.

Shale, red, gray, and purple.

850-900

Trlassic.

Shinarump conglom-
erate.

Sandstone, partly conglomeratic.

60-80

Moonkopl formation.

o Chupadera for-
^Sci mation.

Shale, gray to red, part sandy; thickens to
southwest.

500-900

Permian.

Limestone and gray sandstone.

m±

^ Abo sandstone.

Brownish-red slabby sandstone.

8Q0±

Pennsylvanian.

Magdalena group.

Limestone. (Probably present.)

(7)

Pre-Cambrian.

Granite, etc.

These rocks present the same features that they have in other
portions of western New Mexico. The Magdalena group is not
exposed, but on account of the thickness of Umestones of Pennsyl-
vanian age farther west it is beUeved to be present. Sandstones
texturally favorable for oil or gas, if these materials are present,
are those in the Mesaverde, which is at or near the surface throughout,
the Mancos, which is 600 feet or more deep in places, the Dakota
sandstone, the Shinarump, and especially the massive gray sand-
stone in the Chupadera formation. The Dakota sandstone, however,
is usually full of water,

LOCAL STBTTOTintE.

A well-defined anticline or dome at Defiance switch, 8 miles west
of Gallup, brings up the sandstone at the top of the Mancos shale
in a small area. (See section A, fig. 41.) The extent of the flexure

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260 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.

was not determined. In 1918 a 1,155-foot hole was bored on this
anticline by the Carter Oil Co., with the record given on page 261.
There is a broad terrace or doming of the strata near Zuni pueblo.
North of Zuni Buttes a prominent arch which extends to and beyond
the valley of Whitewater Creek brings to the surface the Chinle
formation in an area of moderate extent. In 1919 a test hole was
bored near the crest of this anticline by the Carter Oil Co.; the
strata penetrated are given on page 262.

A pronoimced doming of the strata in the eastern part of Gallup
is indicated by the altitude and relations of the coal measures.
The vertical uplift is several hundred feet, but no precise measure-
ments have been made. The dome pitches down to the north, and
in the vicinity of the coal mines at Gibson it is also considerably
faulted. The anticlinal structure appears to continue for some dis-
tance south of Gallup. The 1,112-foot artesian well at Gallup draws
from the Dakota sandstone near the crest of this dome. This sand-
stone appears to have been reached at a depth of 940 feet.

In the vicinity of Ojo Caliente there is a well-marked anticlinal
uplift, cut off on the west side by a fault, which brings the Mancos
and Chupadera formations into contact, as shown in section B, figure
41. At the axis of this uplift a small area of the top limestone of the
Chupadera formation is exposed. This uplift extends southeastward
to Atarque, where it is exhibited in a low arch of the red Navajo
sandstone. (See PL XLVI, 5, p. 254.) Whether or not the fault
extends as far southeast as this locality was not determined. The
structural conditions at Atarque, Ojo Bonito, and Ojo Caliente
appear to be favorable for the acciunulation of oil or gas provided
those materials are present in the strata. At all these points the
strata that may prove to be oil bearing are sandstones in the Chupa-
dera formation, which are at a very moderate depth, or sandstones
or limestones of the Magdalena group, which may underlie the area.
The Chupadera formation and the Magdalena group are separated
by about 800 feet of the red sandstones of the Abo formation, wliicli
is not promising as a source of oil or gas.

DEEP BORnras.

A few deep holes in the southern part of the basin have not revealed

any evidence of oil or gas. A 1,112-foot well at Gallup furnishes

a flow of excellent water from the Dakota sandstone. Its record is

as follows: ^

Record of city artesian well at Gallupy N. Mex.

Upper part of Mancos shale: Feet.

Wash 0-75

Sandstone 75-95

Shale 95-128

Sandstone 128-136

Shale 136-141

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 261

Lower part of Manoos shale: Feet.

Sandstone 141-195

Shale 195-226

Sandstone 22&-296

Sandy shale 296-309

Shale 30^798

Sandstone and shale 798-814

Sandstone 814-856

Shale 856-908

Sandstone 908-912

Shale 912-940

Sandstone (Dakota), with 20 pounds pressure, 15-gallon flow. 940-1, 112

A 1,155-foot hole sunk on the anticline at Defiance switch, in the
SW. i sec. 29, T. 15 N., R. 19 W., 8 'miles west of Gallup, found an
artesian flow of water and ended in the upper part of the Navajo
sandstone. If boring had continued 1,500 feet deeper the drill
would have tested the Shinarump conglomerate. The sandstone
in the Chupadera formation lies about 800* feet still deeper. This
well was drilled in 1918 by the Carter Oil Co. The following record
made by the driller was kindly supplied by the Atchison, Topeka &
Santa Fe Railway Co. :

Record of boring at DeJUmee tiding , McKinley County, N. Mex.

Feet.

Soil 0-6

Quickaand 6-200

Shale 200-203

Sandstone, light 203-235

Sandstone, in part conglomeratic; water 23&-251

Shale, blue 251-252

Sandstone, white; water 252-290

Shale, blue 290-295

Sandstone, light 295-330

Shale, light 330-380

Sand, light brown 380-385

Shale, blue 385-403

Sandstone, white; artesian flow 403-535

Shale, sandy 535-555

Sandstone 555-567

Sandstone, red .' 567-570

Sandstone, white 570-600

Sandy shale 600-765

Sandstone, white 765-885

Sandstone, gray; artesian flow at 1,030 feet, 25 gallons a

minute 885-1, 125

Sandstone, pink, hard 1, 125-1, 156

It is dijScult to recognize strata in this record, because the sandy
component of the material has been exaggerated. Shales of the
Mancos formation extend to a depth of 765 feet, where the Dakota
sandstone was entered. Doubtless the Dakota extends to 885 feet,
where the drill entered the Navajo sandstonct. It is unfortunate
e0210»— 22 7

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262 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

that this hole was not continued through the Wingate sandstone
and underlying red beds to test lower strata — the Shinarump,
Chupadera, and Abo.

Several deep holes have been sunk in the coal measures near Gibson
and Clarkville, north of Gallup. One of these at the Heaton mine,
1 mile northeast of Gibson, was 1,033 feet deep, and one at Gibson
was 935 feet deep. Both were in Mesaverde and Mancos beds.

The test well sunk by the Carter Oil Co. in 1919 in the SW. i sec.
17, T. 11 N., R. 19 W., about 30 miles southwest of Gallup, reached
a depth of 1,980 feet. The boring began not far below the top of the
ChitJe formation and was discontinued in the Abo sandstone. The
following strata were reported by Mr. Nesselrode, the superintendent;
the identifications of the formations are my own:

Record of well in the SW. i sec. 11, T. It N., R. 19 W., N. Mex.

Chinle, Shinarump, and, Moenkopi formations: Feet.

Shale, aU red 0-1,006

Sandstone, gray to white 1, 006-1, 010

Shale, red 1,010-1,070

Ghupad era formation :

Limestone 1, 070-1, 100

Sandstone, gray 1,100-1,355

Shale, red 1,35&-1,630

Abo sandstone:

Limestone, very hard, some grit 1, 630-1, 660

Shale, red 1, 650-1, 080

Boring was discontinued mainly because it was supposed that the
hole had nearly reached the base of the sedimentary succession. The
report that this hole reached granite is doubtless a mistake. It
is likely that the Abo formation is at least 800 feet thick at this place,
in view of the probable thickness from the Zuni Mountain uplift to
the outcrops of corresponding strata in eastern Arizona, and that a
considerable thickness of the underlying Magdalena is also present.
The Magdalena is apparently absent in the Zuni Mountain uplift, but
its equivalent is prominent not far west in Arizona.

EAST-CENTBAL VAUBNCIA COT7NTY.
GEHXBAL BEIATZOHS.

The region extending from Cebolleta Mesa to the Sierra Lucero is m
general a broad basin, whose west side rises to the faulted zone on
the western margin of the Rio Grande basin. The principal structural
features of the eastern part of this region are shown in the cross sec*
tions on Plate XTJX, and the distribution of formations is shown
in Plate XLVIII.

Although in general this region is one of widespread moaocdines.
there are irregularities in dip which may indicate the presence of
low domes, anticlines, and structural terraces that might possibly be
favorable to the accumulation of oil or gas.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

EXPLANATION

SEDIMENTARY ROCKS

Sandstone and shale of Mon-
tana and Colorado ages;
Dakota sandstone at base

Morrison shale
(Light-cohred mataive thale)

\'j'n.;

Navajo sandstone

(Mamive mtuUtow, in greater

part gray; red at base)

Todilto formation
(LimettoM with tkiek bed nT
gypgum at top to northed)
on Wingate sandstone

(Mo§tly pink tandgtone)

\ t f t t € I en

Chupadera formation

(lAmtsiim, eandstont^

andgypntm)

Abo sandstone
(Red oandatone and nndy shale)

Magdalena group
(iloeayl-

IGNEOUS AND
METAMORPHIC ROCKS

Lava flows
(BaaalO

':^:\t<^^-

Granite, gneiss, etc
Fault

Strike and dip

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 263

ST&ATZOaAPHY.

The strata in this region extend from a horizon high in the Mesa-
verde to the base of the Magdalena group, which lies on pre-Cambrian
granite in the Sierra Ladrones. The following table shows the prin-
cipal features and thickness of the formations:

SedirnenUsryf<mnation8 in the eastern half of Valencia County, N, Mex.

Age.

Group and fonnation.

Character.

Thickness

(feet).

Miocene.

Santa Fe fonnation.

Silt, clay, sand, and gravel, locally con-
solidated.

100+

Mesaverde fonnation.

800+

Upper Cretaceous.

Kanooe shale.

Shale with several beds of hard gray to bofl
sandstone.

1400+

Dakota sandstone.

Sandstone, gray to boil, hard, partly massive.

80-iaO

Crataeeousa).

Morrison formation.

thins out to south.

IfiO

Navajo sandstone.

lower member gray; thins out to south.

360

Jurassic

TodiUtofcnnation.

Oypsum, white, massive; underlies north-
eastern part of county.

0-60

Limestone, very thin bedded; thins out to
south.

0-15

Wingate sandstone.

Sandstone, massive, mostly pink; tUns out
to south.

0-160

Triassic.

600+

Permian.

Id.

Chupadora for-
mation.

Limestone, gray sandstone, gypsum, and
soft red sandstone.

laoo

Abo sandstone.

Sandstone, brown-red, slabby.

800

PennsytvanJan.

Magdalena groap.

Limestone, with some sandstone and shale,
especially in lower part.

1200+

Misslsslppian.

Lake VaUey limestone.

Limestone, coarse, white; ends in Sierra
Ladrones.

0-25

The strata that may possibly contain oil in this succession are the
sandstones of the Mesaverde and Mancos formations, which, however,
are all cut through by the valleys, and the sandstones in the Chupa-
dera and Magdalena formations, which in part of the area lie at con-
siderable depth. A few deep borings made in this district for water
have not found any indications of oil, but apparently they have not

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264 OONTRIBUTIQJJS TO ECONOMIC GBOIiOGY, 1921, PART II.

been sunk in places where the structural conditions are favorable.
One deep hole is a mile southwest of Suwanee, and another is 11
miles west of that place. In both of these holes there is a small
flow of highly mineralized artesian water. The depths are not known
but are stated to be somewhat more than 1,000 feet.

LOCAL STBTrCTTJBE.

The Lucero or Ladrones anticline rises against the main fault in
the vicinity of Mesa Lucero and, as shown in section 2, Plate XLIX..
finally presents a complete arch of the Chupadera and the underlying
Abo sandstone and Magdalena group. The top of the Magdalena is
exposed on Arroyo Carrizo, 7 miles southwest of Rio Puerco station,
where the overlying Abo beds dip gently westward on the west side
of the axis and steeply eastward on the east side. This form is
typical of the anticline with a steep eastern limb on which the
higher beds are cut off by the main fault. A short distance west of
Garcia siding the anticline is cut off by a fault trending northwest,
with the drop on its north side, and the down-faulted block, still
presenting anticlinal structure, is split by several north-south faults
and cut off on the west by the Mesa Gigante fault, all well exposed
north of the Rio San Jose north and east of Suwanee station. The
relations in this vicinity are shown in section 1, Plate XTJX. Mesa
Redonda is an outlying mass of Cretaceous sandstones preserved bj
a cap of old lava.

The broad valley of the Arroyo Colorado contains much sand,
gravel, and lava, which hide the nearly level Triassic red shales, but
local terraces and arches are likely to exist. Westerly dips occur in
the high plateaus of the divide between Arroyo Colorado and Arroyo
Acoma, carrying the beds into the wide, shallow basin that underlies
the Cebolleta Mesa region. This monocline is up-arched by a long,
low anticline just north of Acoma, which exposes the Todilto lime-
stone along the arroyo and lower slopes. There are also low domes
in the sandstone slopes south of Laguna.

DEBP BORDTOS.

A number of deep holes have been bored in this region, but they
have not been located where the structure is favorable for oil. Thej
were sunk for water, and some of them obtained satisfactory results.
At Rio Puerco station a hole 1,015 feet deep is reported to be entirely
in clay and gravel but probably penetrated Cretaceous strata. Very
salty water was obtained.

At North Garcia, a siding 7 miles northwest of Rio Puerco, as
855-foot hole obtained only salt water. The record disclosed red and
blue clays to 412 feet, then 20 feet of "gravel, below which lieas rd
sandstone 100 feet, white sandstone 73 feet, and blue clay 250 feet/

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^Ufj^AJ»anji

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 265

The hole starts in the valley fill east of the main fault, and it is not
possible to recognize the strata penetrated.

Three holes, 235, 225, and 480 feet deep, bored in the upper red
beds southwest of Suwanee found flows of salty water.

Three borings, 275, 382, and 853 feet deep, 8 miles south of Laguna
were sunk in red beds in the wide flat adjoining the west fork of
Arroyo Colorado. Artesian flows of salt water were found. The
record of one of these wells is as follows:

Record of boring in see. 17, T. 8 N., R. 5 TT., 8 m/Ues south of Laguna, Valencia CouTUy,

K Mex.

Feet.

Red clay, sancbstone, and gravel 0-80

Sandstone , gray ; water 90-160

Clay, red and brown; with gray clay at 290-410 feet 160-^560

Sandstone and shale, red; salty water at 610 feet 560-700

Sandstone, hard, brown; much salty water 700-705

Shale, red, with sandston*) layers; ealty water at 737-853 feet... 705-853

Apparently all the strata are the red beds overlying the Chupadera
formation, and it is unfortunate that the drilling did not continue
to the base of that formation.

A 942-foot hole at Armijo, after passing through a bed of lava,
penetrated red sandstone and shales and at the bottom 42 feet of
gray sandstone, ail Triassic beds (Chinle to Moenkopi ? formations)
ithat overlie the Chupadera formation.

NOBTH-OENTBAIi SOGOBBO COT7NTY.
OBHB&AL BELATZ0V8.

There are extensive exposures of limestones, red beds, shale, and
coal measures in the valleys of Rio Salado and Alamosa Creek, in
north-central Socorro County. To the south and southwest, however,
these rocks are unconformably overlain by the thick mass of frag-
mental and effusive igneous rocks of the Datil, Gallina, and Bear
mountains.' In general the strata in this region dip at low angles
to the south and southwest, toward the mountains, but there are
numerous local variations in the amount and direction of dip and
several faults. The principal features are shown in Plate L, which
is compiled from observations made by D. E. Winchester in a detailed
survey of the coal measures.'" Some imderground relations are shown
iQ the cross section, figure 42.

BTBATIOItAPKT.

The sedimentary rocks in north-central Socorro County comprise
strata from the Lake Valley (Mississippian) limestone to coal measures
in the Upper Cretaceous, and also gravel, sand, travertine, and other

^ WlncheBter, D. E., Geology of Alamosa Creek valley, Socorro County, N. Mex.: U. 8. Oeol. Survey
Boll. 710, pp. 1-16,1030.

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266 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC 'GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT II.

deposits of late Tertiary and Quaternary age. The following table
gives the principal characteristics and thickness:

Sedimentary fonnations in narUhcentral Socorro County, N. Mex.

Age.

Qroup and formaUon.

Chanoteristios.

Thkknees

(feet).

Meeaverde fonnatioQ.

Sandstone, with ooal beds.

1,800

Upper Cretaceous.

Kancoe shale.

2,000

Dakota aandstone.

Gmy sandstone, hard.

O-90

Tilasiio.

Red shale.

ooo

PflnnwPT

Chupadeia forma-
tldoT

Upper beds, limestone, gypsom, and gmy
sandstone; lower beds, soft red sandstone,
with thin gypsum and limestone beds.

1,200

Abo sandstone.

shale.

800

Pennsylvaniazi.

Limestone and shale, with auidstone in
lower part.

800-900

lussissippiBii.

Lake Valley llmestODe.

Limestone; thins oat to north.

PTe-GBmbrlan.

Onnite.

Among the more porous rocks in this succession are the sandstones
in the Mancos, Dakota, Chupadera, and Magdalena formations. The
Mesaverde sandstones probably do not lie at sufficient depth and in
much of the area the massive sandstone of the Mancos formation
also is too near the surface to be suitable as a reservoir, even where
the structure may be favorable.

LOCAL STBirOTUBB.

The best-defined anticline in the area extends northward from
Burley post office. It brings up the Triassic red shale in an outcrop
area about 10 miles long, cut off on the east side by a fault Vith a
displacement of several hundred feet. A smaller uplift, with a similar
fault on the east side, occurs 5^ miles west of Burley. A small faulted
dome brings up red beds again 3 miles southeast of La Cruz Peak.
Some fainter structural disturbances appear in the center of T. 4 N..
R. 7 W., and 3 miles southwest of Puertocito, extending southeast-
ward nearly to La Cruz, possibly connecting with the dome above
mentioned 3 miles southeast of that peak.

BOBOrOS.

The only boring reported in the region is a test for oil or gas made
at a point about 3 miles east of La Jara Peak. It had reached a. depth
of about 300 feet in 1916.

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t^^t

l-*«i

H>t2

H«OZ

HM2

^'-i

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GEOLOGIC STRXJCTtJUE OP PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 267

WB8T-0ENTBAL VOLOANIO ABBA. g

^ _ 3

The central and western parts of Socorro ^

County, the northwestern part of Sierra 1

Coimty, and the northern part of Grant |

County are occupied by a large area of §

Tertiary volcanic rocks which appear to |

mask the underlymg formations completely. 5

These volcanic rocks consist of widespread |

sheets of agglomerate and tuff, interbedded |

with extensive flows of latite, andesite, |

rhyolite, and basalt, lying mostly level but p |

locally tilted and faulted to a greater or less jj o

extent. Very few data have been obtained 1 1

as to the succession or structure of these |?

rocks, and they present no possibility „^

whatever for oil or gas. It has been stated | s

that underlying Cretaceous sandstone ap- p ^

pears near Reserve, but this statement gs?

has not- been verified. To judge from the ||

complex faulting and flexing of the strata g"^

in the Silver City-Hanover region, it ap- ||

pears likely that the sedunentary rocks, ^?

which no doubt underlie the igneous rocks, I ^

may present many complexities of stnic- ? g

ture, especially to the south. At the north 1 1

end of the area, however, in the vicinity a ^

of Salt Lake and in the valley of Ala- |§

mosa Creek, in the northern part of | •

Socorro County, the Cretaceous rocks pass g> |

imder the northern edge of the volcanic '^1

series in a widely extended, gently south- %p

ward-dipping monocline. How far south g g

this structure or these relations extend | |

can only be surmised. If borings are 1^.

simk in the great area of igneous rocks S

and specimens of the borings are pre- .^

served it may be possible to ascertain 3

some of the structural and stratigraphic |

conditions, but until this is done no oil i

predictions will be justified in the area I

indicated. |

In 1920 a boring was in progress in sec. g

17, T. 3 N., R. 14 W., about 16 miles north- ^

east of Quemado. |

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268 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.
PLAINS OF SAN AGTTQTIN.

The Plains of San Agustin occupy an area of about 300 square
miles in the central part of Socorro County. Their average width is
about 12 miles. On nearly all sides are ridges and mountains of
igneous rocks. The general altitude of the remarkably level valley
floor is about 6,850 feet.

Very little has been ascertained as to the structural relations in
this area, but the rocks of the adjoining ridges lie nearly horizontal,
and although there are many faults the plains are not bounded by
them and apparently consist of much younger beds, which comprise
several hundred feet of loam, sand, and gravel derived from the ad-
joining mountains and partly filling an old valley between them.
Several wells have been sunk in this filling, apparently without
reaching bedrock.

The following data, supplied by Dean E. Winchester, are all that
are available:

Data on toelU in Plains of San Agtutin, Socorro County, N. Mex.

Location.

Depth
(feet).

Results.

Northeastern part of T. 1 S., R. 8 W

300
171
292
335
280

125

SonthwostcomerofT. 2 8.,'R. 7 W

Plmty of good water.

Soatb-central part of T. 3 S. , R. 7 W

Northeastern part of T. 3 S., R. 6 W

Centeroft. 3^., R. 9W....'

Plenty of Eood water; 100 feet of gravel

then red. claj and pebbles.
Plenty of gooa water.

CenterofT. 4 8., R. 11 W

In 1920 a boring for oil was in progress in sec. 8, T. 2 S., R. 8 W..
about 10 miles east of Datil.

FAIBVIEW TO LAKE VALLEY.

Limestones and sandstones of Carboniferous to Cambrian age
crop out at intervals along the east slope of the Black Mountms
and Mimbres Range, and the pre^ambrian granite appears near
Hillsboro Peak. The rock outcrops are separated by an extensive
overlap of talus and other younger formations, and there is much
faulting, so that the structural relations are difficult to ascertain.

The section in figure 43, by C. H. Gordon, '• shows the complex rela-
tions in the Hillsboro region. East of Fairview I found an eastward-
dipping succession of limestone of the Magdalena group, red Abo
sandstone, and limestones and sandstones of the Chupadera forma-
tion, and on Palomas Creek, 10 miles southwest of Chuchillo, the Abo
sandstone reappears. At Hermosa there are very extensive exj>osure5
of the Magdalena group underlain by the Lake Valley limestone so^
Percha shale. The greater part of the high mountains west of ihest

» U. S. OeoL Survey Prof. Paper 68, fig. 16, p. 224, 1910.

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 269

places consists of the Tertiary igneous succession described on page
186; and the igneous rocks also appear in a zone of ridges extending
through the eastern parts of Tps. 10 to 17 S., R. 7 W. At Lake
Valley there appears in the center of this ridge zone an eastward-
dipping succession of rocks of Ordovician to Mississippian (Lake
Valley) age. Owing to the complexities of structure and interrup-
tions of outcrops by igneous rocl^ and superficial deposits it was not
possible to ascertain the structural conditions. Locally there may
be anticlines and domes in which oil or gas could accumulate if they
were present.

MimbTMMU ,

' » •* *^^"''''5S^^3lH

QL. _ Ai ^

__iAk._

^[^

rff^

HJlteboro I

^^^^^

^!*^

^^^

D^^Sl^^^^

^E^^^j^G^

fwfi^i"

/ ^^

^^^^1^1

//*

Itouu 43.— SectioQ bom the Mimbres Mountains eastward throagh Kingston and HlUsboro, N. liez.
(After Qordon. ) iJt Oranite; b , Bliss sandstone; e-f , Mimbres limestone [El Paso, Montoya, and Fussel-
man limestones]; p, Percha shale; is, Lake Valley limestone; mg, Magdalena groap; m, Manzano
en>up; pg, Palomas gravel; bs, basalt sheet; a, andeslte; ry, rhyoUte; d, dike.

SOTTTHWESTBItN COUNTIES.
OBirxaAL BSI^TIONS.

Luna, Grant; and Hidalgo counties consist of detached ridges
made up lai^ely of volcanic rocks, with wide desert valleys con-
taining thick deposits of sand and gravel. The structure of many of
the ridges has been determined," but the conditions under the wide,
flat-floored deserts between them are not known, and few borings
have been deep enough to reach the bedrock. The sedimentary
rocks of the region range from Cambrian sandstone (BUss) to late
Cretaceous and Tertiary deposits and have an aggregate thickness
at several thousand feet. The underlying pre-Cambrian granite and
schist appear in a few places, and large bodies of Tertiary volcanic
rocks, both effusive and fragmental, overlap the other rocks with a
great variety of relations. The sedimentary rocks exposed in the
ridges are tilted and flexed and in most places greatly faulted, and
undoubtedly similar flexing and faulting prevails under the deserts and
xinder the wide covers of igneous rocks, most of which were accumu-
lated since the principal flexing and faulting. The igneous masses,
CLre, however, also tilted, flexed, and faulted to a considerable extent.
JJjk many parts of the region there are rocks that might possibly
ooxitain petroleum, and at a few places the structural conditions
ojppear favorable, but no authentic evidence of the existence of oil
ox* gas has been obtained. Li many areas the large amount of fault-

ST YBXg», Sidney, U. S. GeoL Survey OeoL Atlas, SUver City folio (No. 199), 1918. Darton, N. H., idem,
::>0xzi£ag foUo (No. 207), 1917; Geology and underground water of Luna County, N. Max.: U.S. Oeol. Survey
f czJU. 618, 1910.

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270 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

ing and the former heat of igneous rocks may be unfavorable. Deep
borings for oil near Lordsbuig and Columbus appear to have been
located without any consideration of geologic conditions. It is
reported that the hole at Columbus had reached a depth of 1,900
feet early in 1919. Many of the ridges showing sedimentary rocks
are tilted blocks rising out of the desert on one side and showing steep
faces on the other, most of them traversed by numerous faults,
an unfavorable structural condition. A brief description of some of
these mountains may be of interest, especially as the rocks whicli
they represent imdoubtedly underlie some of the adjacent valleys.
Detailed descriptions of the ridges in Luna County will be found in
the two reports above cited.

COOKS RAiraE.

Cook$ Range, a southern extension of the Mimbres Range, is a
conspicuous feature in the northern part of Luna County. It con-
sists of an uplifted block of limestone and sandstone, from Cretaceous
to Cambrian in age, traversed by a large stock of porphyry consti-
tuting- Cooks Peak. The basement of old granite appears in places.
Along the east side and at the north and south ends of the range are
thick bodies of the Tertiary igneous series, consisting of agglomerate,
tuff, and lava flows of various kinds. The fault along the east side
of the range has a drop of about 1,000 feet on the east.

FLORIDA XOXINTAIirS.

" The Florida Mountains are a high and exceedingly rugged ridge a
few miles southeast of Doming. The northern half of the ridge and
the outlying Little Florida Moxmtains consist of agglomerate and
other igneous rocks, and the southern half is pre-Cambrian granite
overlain in the small central area by sandstones and limestones of
Cambrian to Permian age. The rocks are tilted in the same directioii
and traversed by great faults. The principal structural features
are shown in figure 44, introduced here because it shows also the
relations in parts of the adjoining plains.

FLOBmA plahts.

The structural relations under the wide desert plains on each side
of the Florida Moimtains are not known. A few widely scattered
rock outcrops are of very diverse character. The Snake TTilla (see
section, fig. 45), 10 miles southwest of Doming, consist of limestone
(El Paso and Montoya) dipping gently westward, possibly on the
west slope of an anticline, the location of whose crest, however, is
not indicated. On the crest there would probably be only a small
thickness of the El Paso limestone and Bliss sandstone lying on
granite. It may be that the strata on the northwest slope of the
Florida Moimtains are on the east slope of the arch, and under thi^

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

271

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272 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

condition the crest would be granite under the deep valley south of
'Deming. Several deep holes sunk for water in this general region
were entirely in valley fill. One in sec. 20, T. 24 S., R. 8 W., 6 miles
southeast of Deming, was 1,665 feet deep; another in Deming was
980 feet deep; and a third 3^ miles east of Deming was 710 feet deep.
A horing for oil inT. 23 S., R. 10 W., 6 miles northwest of Deming,
had reached a depth of 1,565 feet m 1920. Clay and sand were found
to a depth of 430 feet, then limestone, shale, sandstone, and
''gravel" to 1,430 feet, white limestone to 1,515 feet, and red shale to
the bottom.

Another well 22 miles southeast of Deming, in the SW. i sec. 8, T.
25 S., R. 6 W., is being drilled for oil. The strata reported are

FiouBB 45.~Soctioin through the Snake mils, southwest of Deming, Luna Ooonty, N >lieK a-d , Mootoja
limestone (a. limestone ^ith chert in large bodies; b. chert y members; c, massive dark-gray sandy Ilni»-
stone; d, massive dark limestone at base); e, £1 Paso limestone.

alternations of gravel, clay, and sand. The sand contains a large
amoimt of ^ater. Notable artesian flows were found at 580, 594,
650, and 670 to 700 feet.

OOODBIOHT XOUNTAnrB.

The Goodsight Mountains, which extend southward from Sunday
Cone, in Sierra County, to a point about 10 miles northwest of Cam-
bray, consist entirely of volcanic rocks. The principal feature is a
thick cap of basalt on agglomerate, both tilted to the east at a low
angle.

TBEB HZaXAVAS XOUVTAnTS AXTD ADJOnmO PUUVS.

The prominent peaks of the Tres Hermanas Mountains, in the
south-central part of Luna County, consist of porphyry intruded in
the Gym limestone. This limestone crops out here and there on
the slopes of the ridges, in most places dipping away under the ad-
joining plains. How far it extends imder the plains and what are its
underground relations can not even be suggested. Wells in the
country near Columbus indicate that these plains are underlain by a
thick body of valley fill. The deepest hole reported is one 975 feet
deep on the Shay ranch, in sec. 6 or 7, T. 28 S., R. 7 W. Another
well in sec. 26, T. 27 S., R. 7 W., was 500 feet deep. One in the NE. i
sec. 26, T. 28 S., R. 7 W., is 510 feet deep; one m the SW. i sec. 4, T.
29 S., R. 9 W., is 500 feet deep; and one m sec. 9, T. 29 S., R. 7 W.,
is 500 feet deep. A deep boring for oil in the NW. i sec. 16, T. 29
S., R. 7 W., was unsuccessful. The occurrence of oil in this region is
improbable, and there is no evidence whatever as to the underground
structure.

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GEOIiOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO.

273

OXDA& GBovi MomrrAura avd

The high ridge that extends across the southwest comer of Luna
County and is crossed by the El Paso & Southwestern Raihroad just
west of HermanaS; including the Cedar Grove Mountains and the
Carrizalillo Hills, consists entirely of volcanic rocks in thick sheets.
The sheets dip to the northeast at low angles and undoubtedly under-
lie the plains for some distance toward the Tres Hermanas Mountains
and lola.

BXOVDZXB HILLS.

The small outlying ridge m T. 26 S., R. 13 W., known as the
Klondike Hills, consists mainly of Ordovician limestones, which are
domed as shown in figure 46. This dome, with its granite outcrop

Horizontal Male

Vartical scala
9.7. »P PWtT

FwuBB Hk— Section throogh the Tnondifcn Hflls, Luna County, N. Mex, gr. Granite and gnelar, b^BUas
sandstone; e, El Paso limestone; m, Monto]^ limestone, with sandstone (s) at its base; r, rhyolite.

in the center, is not favorable for oil or gas. Possibly other domes
less uplifted and eroded exist under the wide plains of Luna and
Grant counties, but they are buried by gravel and sand.

vzoTO&io xouir TAnrs,
The isolated group of hills known as the Victorio Mountains lie
just south of Gage, 20 miles west of Deming. The main ridge con-
sists of a sheet of aUdesite dipping 20'^-25'^ NNE. In the h^ just

SECTION A

FiouBE «7w-Se6tk]D8 across the ViotorloMoimtains,8oixl]i of Gage, Lima Coimt7,N.M^ a, Andesite;
Tag, agglomeEate, shale, and aandstone; Cg, Gym limestone; ^, Fossetman limestone; Om, Montoya
limestone; Oe, El PasoUmestone; p, porphyry.

south of it are Ordovician, Silurian, and Carboniferous limestones,
cut by igneous rocks and dipping in various directions. Faulting
also complicates the relations. Thd two sections in figure 47 show
that there is a dome in the center of the area, but the depth to the
granite is very small, and there has been much metamorphism,
mineralization, and faulting, so that there appears to be no chance
for petroleum.

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274 COKTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC QEOU>QYj 1921, PART H.
KIDOBS nr V0RTHWX8T OOEHXR OF LXTNA OOVVTT.

Cow Cone, Grandmother Mountain, Red Mountain, Gray Butte,
and other hills and ridges in the northwest comer of Luna County
all consist of rhyolite of various kinds, with small showings of basalt
and agglomerate. No evidence is revealed as to the nature or struo-
ture of the sedimentary rocks, and moderately deep holes to the
south and near Spaulding and Red Mountain show that the valley fill
is more than 300 feet thick in places.

BIG HATGHBT XOUFTAIBS.

The Big Hatchet Mountains consist of Qrdovician to Carboniferous
formations flexed in various directions and lying on granite, which is
exposed in several places. At the north end of the range there is a
fine dome, in which, however, the underlying granite is lifted so high
that there is no prospect for an oil reservoir. The relations of this
area are shown by the cross section in figure 48. This section is

I 2

1 I I I I I

FiouBE 48^-Sketcfa sectiaii across tbB ncrth end of tlie Big Hatchet Moontaliis, Hidalgo County, N. Mas.
Cb, BlJ^s sandstone; Oe, El Paso limestone; Om,Montoya limestone; Sf, FussebnanUmestaie; Dp,
Percba sbale; Civ, probable Lake Valley limestone; Cm, Hagdakna group.

important in showing for the first time a succession of the strata
constituting the Paleozoic rocks of the r^on. To what extent these
rocks underlie the surrounding basins and the thick accumulations of
volcanic materials in the adjoining ridges is not known. At the
southwest end of the range are thick beds of limestone, sandstone,
and shale of Comanche age, which are also conspicuous in some of
the adjoining ridges, notably in the Sierra Rica and Apache Hills, in
and adjoining the extreme southwest comer of Luna County. These
strata are extensively cut and overlain by a variety of igneous rocks.

LITTLB HATCHZT XOUVTAINS.

The Little Hatchet Mountains, 6 to 12 miles west of Hachita,
present a considerable variety of rocks and structural conditions.
Only a portion of the range was* examined. At Old Hachita there
are exposures of light-colored limestones of Comanche age forming
an anticline or dome, and these beds, with associated shales and
sandstones, are extensively exposed in some of the ridges to the
southwest, notably in the Sylvanite mining district. They are cut
by igneous rocks and overlain by tuffs, agglomerates, and lava flows
of various kinds. The general dip is to the southwest, and the

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE OF PARTS OF NEW MEXICO. 275

structural relations are complex. In places the strata are consider-
ably altered by the igneous rocks.

AHIMAS XOinfTAIir AND SAH LUIS RAkOE.

The wide, high ridge known as Animas Mountain, extending from a
point near the El Paso & Southwestern Railroad in the southwestern
part of Hidalgo County 40 miles southward to the Mexican line, so
far as examined consists mainly of Tertiary igneous rocks, with some
limestones and shales of Comanche age on the central eastern slope.
These sedimentary rocks appear in an irregular dome faulted on
several sides just south of Gillespie Mountain, and although they
may be wholly included in igneous rocks they may possibly be imder-
lain by 1,800 feet or more of Paleozoic limestone. Some portions of
the adjacent San Luis Range are limestone, and limestones are
reported at the north end of Animas Mountain.

PELONGILLO XOnHTAmS.

The high range of the Peloncillo Moimtains, extending southward
to the Mexican boundary from the gap through which the El Paso
& Southwestern Railroad passes west of Pratt, apparently consists
entirely of Tertiary igneous rocks, and nothing is known of the
underlying beds. The southern continuation of the range past Pratt
and Steins Pass shows a variety of rocks, mostly volcanic but includ-
ing Paleozoic limestones and supposed pre-Cambrian granite, all very
greatly disturbed and faulted. Granite Gap evidently marks an
east-west fault with granite on the north side and lower Paleozoic
limestones on the south. Gilbert^ reported that limestones and
sandstones of probable Paleozoic age, in which Carboniferous fossils
were noted, occur in Gabilan Peak. "The strata dip at a high angle
toward both flanks of the range, and upon their upturned edges
rests the granite which constitutes the peak." On account of tibis
relation and much metamorphism of the strata the granite was
regarded as igneous.

The only hole reported in this region is one on the plain 10 miles
west of Lordsburg. It attained a depth of 700 feet — the first 340
feet in clay and gravel and the lower part in blue clay, gravel, and
''cement" of imknown age.

PYBAKm xoinfTAms.

The irr^ular high ridge area extending northward from Little
Pyramid Peak to Lordsbutg shows only Tertiary igneous rocks.
Possibly there is an underlying core of sedimentary beds, but the
nature of these beds and their relations and structure under the
adjoining valleys can not be determined.

■• Gilbert, G. K., U. S. Geog. and Geol. Surveys W. lOOth Mer. Rppt., vol. 3, p. 614, 1876.

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DEPARTMENT OP THE INTERIQ

Albest B. Fall, Secretary

United States Geological Sur

Gbobgb Otis Suth, Director

BoDetiii 726— F

GEOLOGIC STRUCTURE AND

OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS OF A PART OF

JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLAHOMA

HEATH M. ROBINSON

Contrlbatlons to economie geology, 1921, PftH II

(Pages 277-M2)

PabHohod Doeembor 20, 1221

WASHINGTON

OOYEBNMBNT PBINTINO OFFIOS
1021

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CONTENTS.

Introduction 277

Area and location 277

Accessibility 277

Water available for drilling 277

Previous geologic work in this and adjacent areas 277

Field work 27S

Acknowledgments 278

Stratigraphy 278

Exposed rocks 278

Age 278

''Red Beds" 279

Wichita formation 279

Definition 279

Correlation 279

Local details 280

Trinity sand (?)..- - 283

Tertiary (?) residual deposits 284

Sand dunes and alluvium of Quaternary age 285

Unexposed rocks 285

Character aa shown by surface studies 285

Character as shown by a study of well logs 286

Structural features 297

Regional structure 297

Local structure 298

General conditions 298

Seay anticline 299

Grogan anticline 299

Red Creek anticline 299

Other folds 299

Suggestions to prospectors 900

General rating of the area 300

Recommendations 301

Conclusions 302

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate LI. Index map of Oklahoma 278

LII. Map showing the geologic structure in a part of Jefferson County,

Okla 284

Figure 49. Diagram showing principal sandstone and conglomerate beds that
were found serviceable in mapping the structure of a part of

Jefferson County, Okla 281

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GEOLOGIC STRUCTUBE AND OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS OF
A PART OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLAHOMA.

By Heath M. Robinson.

INTRODUCTION.

Area and location. — ^The area described in this report embraces
about 175 square miles in the southern part of Jefferson County,
Okla. Its precise location in the State is shown on Plate LI. As
shown on Plate LII the mapped area is bounded on the north by the
northern boimdary of T. 6 S., on the east by the eastern boimdary of
R. 5 W., on the west by the western boimdary of R. 7 W., and on the
south by Red River.

Accessibility. — ^The Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway crosses
the western part of the area. The towns of Ryan and Terra! are on
this raiboad and are distributing points for all parts of the area. All
the roads shown on Plate III have been traveled with an automobile,
and as the country is characterized for the most part by gentle slopes,
the roads have very few steep grades and heavy loads may be trans-
ported to practically any locality without great difficulty. Most of
the country is open prairie in which it is possible to do rapid and
efficient geologic mapping with the plane table and telescopic alidade.
Water avaUaUe for drilling. — ^The principal streams that contain
water throughout the year within and adjacent to this area are Red
River, Beaver Creek, Fleetwood Creek, Red Creek, and Bird Baker
Creek. Water for drilling may also be obtained from ponds, " tanks ''
(artificial reservoirs in which surface water is collected), or shallow
water wells.

Prevums geologic work in this and adjacent areas. — ^The area treated
in this report is just southeast of a part of the area in Jefferson
County mapped and described by C. H. Wegemann.* A bulletin of
the Oklahoma Geological Survey gives a description of Jefferson
County, with particular reference to its oil and gas prospects, and
states the conclusion* that "Taking everything into consideration,
Jefferson County is in favorable territory, and it is probable that in
future drilling new fields may be discovered."

1 AntfdJnal structure In parts of Cotton and Jefferson counties, Olda.: U. S. Geol. Survey BuIL 008, 1915.
a Sbannon, C. W., and others, Petrolflom and natural gas in Oklahoma, Part U: OMaboma Oeol. Survey
BnU. 19, pt. 2, p. 2a, 1917.

277

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278 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

Fritz Aurin ' discusses the general structure of the area covered by
the ''Red Beds." J. A. Udden and D. McN. Phillips* treat in a
general way of the country in Texas southwest of JeflFerson County,
Okla. C. H. Gordon,^ in a report on the geology and underground
waters of the Wichita region of north-central Texas, includes a
geologic map that covers the area just south of Jefferson County,
Okla., and a very good bibliography on the geology of north-central
Texas. Hager* cites a number of tests for oU and gas near Red
River, which have penetrated Ordovician limestone and in some places
granite. According to the map with his pap^r this uplift of the older
rocks includes southern Jefferson County, Okla.

Fidd vxyrk. — ^The field work on which this report is based was done
by the writer, who was assisted during a part of December, 1917, by
H. R. Mann, and in June and July, 1918, by Lewis Mosburg.

A 15 by 15 inch plane table and telescopic alidade were used in
mapping the structure over that part of the area in which traceable
beds of sandstone and conglomerate were found. The land lines
form the basis for the areal control of the map (PI. LTI), and the
elevations on the rock outcrops were obtained either by direct level
readings or by the use of vertical angles. The elevations were
checked among themselves by means of a system of iriangulatioQ
and also with the Government bench marks that have been estab-
lished in the area, which are shown pn the Montague and Addington
topographic maps published by the United States Geological Survey.

Acknowledffmenis. — ^Thanks are due and are extended to the field
assistants for their willingness and efficiency in their work and to
the oil companies and individuals who generously supplied oopies of
the logs of tests and other information. The writer is also indebted
to his colleagues of the United States Geological Survey for helpful
suggestions and criticisms.

STKATIGRAPHY.

EXPOSED BOCKS.

AGE.

The oldest rocks exposed in the area are probably of Permian age,
though possibly the top of the Pennsylvanian is present. The great
bulk of the exposed rocks are Permian, a part of the area is covered
by imconsolidated sediments which are tentatively classed as lower
Cretaceous, and the youngest rocks are deposits of alluvium and sand
dunes of Quaternary age. The hard rocks of the section m&v be

* Geology oi the Red Beds of Oklahoma: Oklahoma Geol. Survey Bull. 30, 1917.

* A reoonnaissanoe report on the geology of the oil and gas fields of WIohttaaadGtey ooontiaewlfes^
Texas Univ. Bull. 246, 1912.

' U. 8. Geol. Survey Water-Supply Paper 317, 1913.

* Bed River uplift has another an^ 00 and Gas Joor., Oct. 17, 1919.

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ipei

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OIL A3in> GAS PBOSPECTS IN JBPFEESOF COtTKTY, OKIA. 279

conveniently described under the heading "Red Beds/' for their
predominant color is red and it is a term that is in very common use.

The " Red Beds " of north-central Texas were originally divided by
the Texas Geological Survey into three formations, in descending
order the Double Mountain, Clear Fork, and Wichita. Of these only
the Wichita formation is present in the area described in this report.

WICHITA FORMATION.
DEFINITION.

The Wichita formation was named from its typical exposures in
Wichita County and along Wichita River, Tex. As originally de-
fined'' it overlies the coal measures (Cisco formation), imderlies
the Clear Fork formation, and consists of fossiliferous sandstones,
sandy shales, clays, and a peculiar conglomerate.

The eandstones and sandy shales are red, gray, and variegated, often containing
laige oval concretiojis, ranging m size from one-quarter of an inch to several feet in
diameter. The sandstones are often shaly in structure but in places are masive.
They are frequently ripple marked and in places have a cross-bedded structure.
The concretions are very hard and retain the peculiar structure of the sandstone in
which they occur. The days are red and bluish. In the red days are nodular masses
of clay, iron, and lime, which often take the form of geodes, filled with tabular lime-
spar in the center. The bluish day is copper bearing in many places. The con-
glomerate is composed of rounded pieces of clay or day ironstone cemented together
by iron.

CORRELATION.

In the area described in the present report the '^Red Beds" above
and including bed A, described beyond (see fig. 49), are referred
without question to the Wichita formation. The. beds below bed A
may possibly be, at least in part, of Pennsylvanian age and referable
to the Cisco formation. The predominant color of the upper part of
the Cisco formation in this region is red, and it is difficult to separate
the Cisco and Wichita formations on the basis of lithology alone.
The boimdary between these two formations is indicated on the map
by Gordon * as intersecting Red River a mile or so west of the Chicago,
Rock Island & Pacific Railway bridge about a mile south of Terral,
Okla. The boundary line is drawn with dotted lines, indicating that
there is doubt about its exact location. The country on the Okla-
homa side of Red River near the railway bridge is covered by allu-
vium, sand dunes, and other unconsolidated sediments, and there-
fore it is impossible to determine the exact location of the boundary
bet^ween the Wichita and Cisco formations in the area discussed in this
■ ' ■ ~ — ^— — — — ^^

7 I>u2nble, E. T., and Cuminins, W. F., Texas Oeol. Sorv^ First Ann. Rept., pp. Ixvli-bdz, 185-180,
1890.
" Oordon, C. H., op. oit, pi. 1.

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280 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1^, PART H.

report. Inasmuch as the Permian is miconfonnable with the under-
lying Pennsylvanian rocks in the vicinity of the Arbuckle Mountains,
and the basal beds of the Permian in that region are more or less con-
glomeratic, it would seem logical to assume, in the absence of other
more conclusive evidence, that the conglomeratic beds of the are^t
imder discussion should be classed as Penman rather than as Penn-
sylvanian. Therefore the boundary between the Wichita and the
underlying Cisco formation is tentatively assumed to be at some hori-
zon bdow the conglomerate described as bed A.

LOCAL DETAILS.

The hard ledges of sandstone and conglomerate in the ''Red Beds''
are the most important beds exposed in this area from the view-
point of the oil geologist who wishes to map the structure of the
region, and for that reason these hard ledges are described somewhat
in detail below.

The outcrops of the principal sandstone and conglomerate beds
are shown on Plate LII by solid lines where they are continuously
exposed and by dashed lines where it is believed the beds would crop
out if the surface material covering them were removed. The strati-
graphic position of these beds and their areal distribution are shown
in figure 49. The principal beds shown in this figure have been
labeled by letters, and the corresponding beds are shown on Plate LIL
similarly lettered. As pictured in figure 49, the sandstone and con-
glomerate beds are very lenticular. This characteristic is purposely
emphasized in the figiu*e by making the vertical scale greater than the
horizontal scale, in order to give a more graphic pictxu'e of the beds
that must be used to map the detailed structure of the area. On an
average these rock lenses are less than 2 miles long, and they attain
a maximum thickness of about 50 feet. Their upper siuf aces are not
even, but the thickness of the individual beds being taken into con-
sideration, it is likely that contours drawn on the tops of these beds wiD
not be in error more than 10 feet. As shown in figxu'e 49 and on
Plate LII some of these individual beds may be traced for 2 miles,
but it is difficult to correlate with certainty one lens with another
where it is impossible to follow their outcrops on the groimd. In
spite of the difficulties, however, it is possible to show very dosely
the structure of the surface beds where the sandstone and condom-
erate beds are well exposed.

A number of these sandstone lenses were found to contain
conglomeratic phases, and the lowest lens, bed A (see fig. 49), is
made up almost wholly of conglomerate. The pebbles in bed A
are composed for the most part of chert, and they have an average
diameter of about three-fourths of an inch, although pebbles a^
thick as li inches were noted. The pebbles are interbedded with

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OIL AJSTD GAS PB03PECTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKIA. 281

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282 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

small stringers of sandstone, and the matrix of. the conglomerate is
made up largely of coa!rse sand and fine-grained pebbles. The con-
glomerate is cross-bedded, ripple marks are common on its upper
surface, and it attains a maximum thickness of about 50 feet.

Bed B (see fig. 49) is probably stratigraphically higher than bed A,
although it was not possible to map the structure between the areas
covered by the outcrops of these two beds. This doubtful correla-
tion is also expressed on Plate LII by means of dotted structure
contours. Where one bed directly overlies the other the intervals
shown in figure 49 are probably very nearly correct, but where one
bed does not directly overlie the other the intervals can be consid-
ered only approximate. As shown in the figure, the top of bed B is
stratigraphically about 70 feet higher than the top of bed A. Bed
B is irregular in shape, and its thickness ranges from a few inches
to almost 30 feet. The top part of the sandstone in many places
weathers into concretionary masses several feet thick, which are
dark brown to dark gray on their surfaces that have been exposed to
the weather. On fresh surfaces the rock is light gray and contains
numerous brown and gray spots. The basal part of the sandstone
in some outcrops is conglomeratic.

Bed C and bed D occupy about the same position in the strati-
graphic column, and probably they should be correlated. It is not
possible, however, to follow the outcrop of bed C where it connects
with bed D. The upper part of this sandstone is light gray on both
fresh and weathered surfaces. It appears to be made up largely of
fairly well rounded quartz grains, and on fresh fractured surfaces it
is sprinkled with small black spots, probably due to stains of 'a man-
ganese mineral. The lower parts of beds C and D are conglomeratic,
and the average diameter of the pebbles is about one-fourth of an
inch. The pebbles are mostly clear quartz and chert. Both the
sandstone and conglomeratic phases are cross-bedded, and the maxi-
mum measured thickness of the bed is less than 15 feet.

Bed E is shown in figure 49 to occupy about the same stratigraphic
position as beds C, and D, but this correlation is tentative only. Bed
E is a nonconglomeratic sandstone which in many places weathers
into black concretionary masses and attains a maximum thickness
of about 15 feet.

The top of the sandstone called bed F is about 40 feet above the
top of bed C and the maximum thickness observed is 10 feet. In
some outcrops the sandstone of bed F was f oimd interbedded with
small layers of roimded fragments of limestone, but in general the
bed is gray on fresh surfaces and dififers in no material way from the
sandstones described above.

Bed O is stratigraphically about 40 feet above the top of bed F.
It is light to dark gray on weathered surfaces, but on fresh surfaces

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OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS IN JEFFEESON COUNTY, OKLA. 283

it contains numerous dark specks, which often weather into small
concretions or hard masses that are stained by iron or manganese
minerals. It is cross-bedded, and the greatest thickness observed was
about 12 feet.

Bed H is a sandstone which in some outcrops is conglomeratic.
On fresh surfaces it is light gray and resembles many other sandstones
found in this area.

Bed I is a sandstone that is about 10 feet thick in mosf exposures.
It contains stringers of conglomerate with pebbles as much as one-
fourth of an inch in diameter and in general resembles the sandstones
described above. Stratigraphically its top is shown in figure 49 to
be about 40 feet above bed H, although this interval must be con-
sidered approximate only.

From the above descriptions it will be seen that on the whole
there is little to diflFerentiate one sandstone or conglomerate from
another, so that the only reliable means of correlation is by tracing
out exposures on the ground.

The sediments between the sandstones and conglomerates consist
for the most part of red clay, which is interbedded with variegated
clays and shales and thin friable sandstones. An outcrop of car-
bonaceous shale about 6 inches thick was found in the vSW. i sec. 18,
T. 7 S., R. 5 W., about 8 feet above bed A. This is mentioned be-
cause it is the only carbonaceous bed found exposed in the area.
Exposures of red clay and massive sandstone were foimd in an in-
terval of about 100 feet below the top of bed A in the river bluflFs in
sec. 19, T. 7 S., R. 5 W. The thickness, color, and other charac-
teristics of the individual clay and shale beds are so diverse that
it is believed to be impossible to use these beds for purposes of cor-
relation except in a broad and general way.

TEINTTY SAND (?).

An area embracing about 8 square miles northeast of the town of
Terral is covered with loose sand, which is tentatively correlated with
the Trinity sand, of Lower Cretaceous age. The area covered by
this body of sand is shown on Plate LII. The sand is apparently
associated with scattered pebbles, but no well-cemented beds of
conglomerate were observed, and it is possible that the pebbles may
be of later age than the loose sand. The contact between the sand
and the imderlying older beds dips toward the southeast, at the rate
of about 25 feet to the mile. The contact is over 950 feet above sea
level in sees. 22 and 23, T. 7 S., R. 7 W., and a little over 850 feet
above sea level in sec. 6, T. 8 S., R. 6 W. Although this sand body
is fairly close to the river, it does not seem to be connected with the
sand dunes just north of the river in this locality, and the inclined
contact would argue against this being a terrace deposit. The
a2221°— 21 2

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284 OONTBIBUTIOKS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

topography of the area covered by this sand body is not particularly
flat, as would be expected if the deposit were due to the deposition
of sand on an old terrace of Red River. In a few localities the
wind has scooped out small basins in the sand, which are represented
by depression contours on the topographic map of the Montague
quadrangle. These basins are similar to the forms foimd in any
very sandy area where the sand is loose enough to be shifted by the
wind into dimes.

At present it is impossible to determine the age of this sand body
definitely, because no fossils were found in it, and no conclusive
lithologic criteria were discovered by which it might be correlated
with formations of known geologic age. In Uthology, however, it
resembles the Trinity sand, which is exposed about 20 miles to the
east. The Trinity sand in the southwest comer of Carter County,
Okla., consists of a fairly clean quartz sand that makes traveling
difficult for an automobile or wagon, a characteristic which is equally
well shown by the sand northeast of Terral. The elevation of the
base of the Trinity sand in T. 5 S., R. 3 W., about 20 miles northeast
of the sand body in the area mapped, is about 900 feet above sea level
The contact between the sand and the imderlying beds about 2
miles northeast of the town of Terral (see PI. UI), southwest of the
locality just mentioned, is also about 900 feet above sea level. As
the normal strike of the base of the Cretaceous in this general r^on
is southwest, this outlier of sand is in the place where one would
expect to find it with a normal dip of the Cretaceous rocks. Further-
more, the rate of dip of the base of the Cretaceous in the vicinity of
T. 5 S., R. 3 W., is similar to the rate of dip of the base of the deposit
of sand outlined on Plate LII. As both the lithologic and structural
evidence point to the correlation of this sand deposit with the lower
part of the Trinity sand, of Lower Cretaceous age, it is tentatively
assumed that this correlation is correct.

TERTIABY (?) EESIDUAL DEPOSITS.

In many localities in the area treated in this report the sm^ace of
the ground is covered with loose pebbles, from 1 to 6 inches in
diameter, most of which are made up of vein quartz, quartzite, chert,
and fine-grained conglomerate. They were not foimd consolidated
into a conglomerate at any locahty and hence must be considered
residual deposits, representing either a conglomerate that once cov-
ered the surface or old stream gravels that have never been consoli-
dated into a conglomerate. They might easily have been derived
from a conglomerate equivalent in age and similar in character to
the Grandfield conglomerate, described by Munn." These pebbles

• Mann, H. J,, Beeoonaiflsonoe of tbe Ora&dfield district, OUs.; U. 8. Geo!. Barmy Bull. 647, p^ a»-
00,1014.

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JSandy/imeston*

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6iL A»D GAS PBOSPECT?S IN JEFFEBSON COUNTY, OKLA. 285

I are not thick enough to obscure the hard ledges in the ''Red Beds/'
and consequently they are of little importance in determining the oil
and gas prospects of this area.

SAND DUNES AND ALLUVIUM OF QUATERNABY AGE.

A belt of country 1 to 2 miles wide that is covered by alluvium
and sand dunes borders a large part of the north bank of Red River
in this area. The alluvium is made up chiefly of sandy red clay and
silt, and the sand dunes are composed of sand that has been carried
from the dry part of the bed of the river and deposited on the land
near by. The tops of some of these sand dunes are more than 50
feet above the level of the surrounding country. Both the sand
dunes and the alluvium serve as a blanket that effectively conceals
the underlying ''Red Beds/' and they are important in pointing out
to the oil geologist those areas where it is not possible to find out-
crops of the older rocks, which are necessary in order to map the
structure accurately. The soil over much of the area that has not
been dissected by streams contains more or less of the finer wind-
blown material, which is more pronounced near Red River and less
pronounced and finer in texture northward from the river.

UinSXPOSED BOCKS.

Information concerning the rocks beneath the surface of the area
under consideration may be obtained in two ways — ^by a study of
these older beds in other localities where they are exposed, and by a
study of the well logs in this and near-by areas.

GHABACTEB AS SHOWN BY 8UBFACE STUDIES.

The Pennsylvanian rocks of north-central Texas are briefly de-
scribed by C. H. Gk)rdon *® as follows, in descending order:

Section of Penntylvanian formations in Wichita region, Ttx.

Cisco foimation (day, shale, cooglomeiate, and sandstone, with ^^^
some limestone and coal ) 800

Canyon formation (alternating beds of limestone and day, with
some sandstone and conglomerate) 800

Stiawn formation (alternating beds of sandstone and day, with
some conglomerate and shale; the lower 1,000 feet consists of
blue and black day locally containing beds of limestone, sand-
stone, or sandy shale and a coal seam at the top) 1,900

3,600

The Wichita formation, classed as Permian, overlies the Cisco for-
mation (Pennsylvanian) and is exposed over the greater part if not
the whole of the area treated in this report. It constitutes at least

M QatdoDf C. H., op. dt., p. 14.

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286 CONTEIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1^21, PART H.

the upper and probably the major part of the ''Red Beds" pene-
trated in the test holes which have been drilled in this area. Accord-
ing to Gordon " the upper part of the Cisco formation is red in the
vicinity of Red River, and the boundary between the Cisco and the
Wichita formations can be located only approximately where these
formations crop out farther south, in Archer and Montague counties,
Tex.

From surface studies only it could be forecast that a test well in
southern Jefferson County would probably pass through several
hundred feet of ''Red Beds'* belonging to the Wichita formation
and possibly at the base to the Cisco formation, then into several
hundred feet of blue and gray shales and sandstones belonging to the
Cisco formation, and then into the underlying Canyon and Strawn
formations.

CHARACTER AS SHOWN BY A STUDY OP WELL LOGS.

Although it is possible to get many useful data concerning the sub-
surface formations by a study of these formations at their outcrop,
more detailed information can be obtained by a study of the loga of
test holes that have been drilled in or near the area under study, if
enough holes have been drilled and if good records have been kept.
In the area treated in this report nine test holes have been drilled for
oil and gas. They are indicated on Plate LII and for convenience in
description are nimibered.

The available information concerning these holes is given below.
The well records are given just as they were reported by the drillers,
and it is probable that careful examination of the drill cuttings
would give somewhat different logs. However, the records as given
can be used for general purposes of correlation.

Test hole No. 1, near the center of sec. 28, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., is
reported to have been drilled with cable tools to a depth of 2,091 feet.
It was a dry hole at this depth. The following is a copy of the driller's
log of this test :

1. Driller* 3 logo/B.B. Jones well^ on Oscar Stay farm.

Feet.

Surface 0-20

Sandrock 20-25

Bedrock 2^-15

Sand; water 45-65

Light shale 65-90

Red rock 90-205

Sand; water 205-237

Red rock 237-260

Blue shale 260-273

" Gordon, C. H., op. cit., p. 19.

Feet.

Bedrock 273-300

Blue shale 300-^15

Sand; water 315-330

Bedrock 330-345

Blue shale 345-350

White slate 350-365

Blue shale 365-380

Black slate 380-390

Sand; water 390-400

Digitized by VJOOQIC

OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLA. 287
1. Driller's log of B. B. Jones well, on Oscar ^Seoy /arm— Continued.

Feet.

Bedrock 400-425

Sand; water 425-455

White shale 455-466

Red rock 466-475

White clay : 475-485

Sand, brown; water 485-515

Red rock 515-565

Ligh t slate 565- 5 7 5

Red rock 575-680

Blue shale 680-700

Sand 700-710

Hard rock 710-713

Sand 713-725

Blue slate 725-745

Sand; water 745-765

Lime 76&-770

Blue slate 770-775

Sand 775-795

Blue slate 795-818

Sand; water 818-835

Flint 835-890

Light shale 890-893

Sand, hard 893-899

Brown shale 899-901

Lime and sand 901-914

Blue shale 914-1,014

Lime shell 1, 014-1, 019

Blue shale 1,019-1,095

Red rock 1,095-1,105

Light slate 1, 105-1, 130

Feet.

Red rock 1,130-1,140

Blue shale 1,140-1,150

Lime shell 1, 150-1, 155

Blue shale 1, 155-1, 195

Bedrock 1,195-1,220

Pink shale 1, 220-1, 240

Sandy lime 1, 240-1, 243

Blue shale 1, 243-1, 245

Sand; water 1, 245-1, 270

Blue shale 1,270-1,420

Sand, water 1,420-1,435

Blue shale 1,435-1,500

Whjtemud 1,500-1,540

Shell 1,540-1,542

Brown shale 1, 542-1, 570

Sand; water 1, 570-1, 580

White shale 1 , 580-1, 610

Sand; water 1,610-1,635

Blue shale 1,635-1,795

Shell 1,795-1,797

Sandy shale 1, 797-1, 845

Blue shale 1,845-1,850

Blue shale 1,850-1,900

Bro\*Ti shale 1 , 900-1 , 930

Blue shale 1,930-1,950

White shale 1, 950-1, 973

Hard lime 1,973-2,010

Blue shale 2,010-2,020

JBEardlime 2.020-2,091

Test hole No. 2, in the SW. i SW. i sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., is
reported to have been drilled with cable tools to a depth of 3,358 feet
and abandoned. The following is a copy of the log of this test:

2. Drillers' log of Oscar Seay well No. 1.

Sou

Clay, yellow

Shale, blue

Sand

Rock, red; fresh water.

Shale

Lime

Shale

Sand

Rock, red

Shale

Rock, red

Shale

Rock, red

Shale

Lime

Shale

'^I'itii'^p"'-

Feet.
10
40
50
32
70
63
20
10
25
20
23
30
87
172
325
227
21
77

Feet.
10
50
100
132
202
265

2sr>

295

320

340

363

393

480

652

977

1,204

1,228

1,305

Sand

Shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Shale

Lime

Shale, blat k
Shale, bit 10.
Sandy shah*.
Slate, black.
Sandy shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Lime, black.

Thick-
ness.

Depth.

Feci,

Feet.

I,3rh5

l,3S5

1,403

1,438

1,463

1,478

1,490

1,195

1,515

1,575

1.598

1,675

1,6S0

100

1,780

1,805

1,820

1,835

1,840

62221°— 21-

Digitized by VjOOQIC

288 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART U.
2. Driller's log of Oscar Seay well No. 1 — Continued.

Sand

Shale

Sand

Sandy lime.

Sand

Sandy shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Shale

Sand

Lime

Sand

Lime

Hard sand. .

Shale

Lime

Shalea

Sand

Sandv shale
Sand'.

Thick-
ness.

Depth.

Feet.

2«

60 '

001

Shale

Sand

Sandy lime ,

Lime ,

Sand

Lime

Sand

Shale

Sand

Sandy shale

Sandy lime

Shale

Broken lime ,

Sand

Sand, white: dry ,

Sandy lime

Sand; dry ,

Lime ,

Sand; showing of gas . . .

Lime

Sand; water ,

Lime, blue

Broken lime and shale.

Thick-

Feet.

18
20
18

5
22
87
10

5
18
22

7
33
39
356
20
12

8
137

5
53
58

DeptiL

FttL
2,«B
2,430
2,4»
2,43
2,463
2,485
2,572
2,582
2..5S7
2,605
2,627

2,637
2,G70
2,709

o Last shale horizon. From this point down the drill cuttings show continuously a sand formaUtn;
most of the cuttings nm 80 per cent sand and 18 to 20 per cent lime; sand grains are very small, cemented
by CaCOa.

Test hole No. 3, in the SW. J sec. 3, T. 7 S., R. 5 W., was drilled io
a reported depth of about 2,350 feet and abandoned. A copy of the
log of this hole to a depth of 2,207 feet follows:

3. Drillers log of Seay well No. 2, Empire Gas d: Fuel Co,

Feet.

Soil (M3

Sand 6-38

Blue shale 38-70

Water sand 70-99

Red rock 99-105

Blue shale 105-150

Gritty shale 150-155

Sand 155-175

Shale 175-178

Sand 178-200

Shale 200-230

Sand 230-250

No record 295-300

Blue shale 250-202

Sand 262-295

No record 205-300

Red rock 300-323

Blue shale 32.V326

Shale 326-330

Red rock 330-392

Blue shale 392-396

Red mud 396-422

Blue shale 422^30

Red mud 430-443

Feet.

Blue shale 443-466

Red rock 466-474

Blue shale 474-510

Water sand 510^15

Red rock 51&-520

Blue shale b2(y-9iO

Gray shale 540-oW

Blue shale 564-^*^

Sand .• 59(M5f

Lime 620-6:^^'

Water sand 630-66>

Bhie shale 668-71'^

Hard sandy lime 710-71^

Blue shale 71^^

Shell SO^-v^JT'"

Blue shale 807-^>

Shell 82^S:5'

Blue shale 830^ !^75

Water sand 975-1, iV^^

Lime 1, 004-1. Ci..

Blue shale 1, 032-1,(1^

Sand 1, Orn^l. 1:1

Shale 1, 121-\.Vi

Blue shale 1, 12G-1, l>^

Digitized by VjOOQIC

OIL AND GAS PBOSPECTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLA. 289

3. Driller* 8 log of Seay well No, 2, Empire Gas <fc Fuel Co. — Continued.

Feet.

Sand 1,180-1,183

Sand l,18a-l,208

Blueshale l,2Qj&-l,234

Hard shell 1, 234-1, 247

Blue shale 1, 247-1, 280

Dark shale 1, 280-1, 335

Shale 1,335-1,345

Sand 1, 345-1, 370

Dark shale 1, 370-1, 450

Lime shell 1,450-1, 455

Shale 1,455-1,482

Sand ; little water 1, 482-1, 487

Shale 1, 487-1, 490

Blue shale 1, 490-1, 535

Sandy shale 1, 536-1, 545

Shale, light 1, 545-1, 581

Lime shell 1, 581-1,582

Shale 1,582-1,602

Sandy shale 1, 602-1, 614

Water sand 1, 614-1, 642

Shale 1, 642-1, 662

Sand, hard 1, 662-1, 680

Shale 1,680-1,690

Sand, hard 1, 690-1, 697

8andy shale 1, 697-1, 714

Shale 1,714-1,718

Water sand, soft 1, 718-1, 723

8and 1, 723-1, 740

Shale 1, 740-1, 744

Feet.

Sandy lime, hard 1, 744-1, 750

Lime 1, 750-1, 810

Break, shale 1,810-1,812

Lime, dark 1, 812-1, 823

Blue shale 1,823-1,852

Lime, pink 1, 852-1, 895

Blue shale 1, 895-1, 900

Sandy shale 1, 900-1, 920

Shale, blue 1, 920-1, 930

Shale, sandy 1, 930-1, 955

Shale, blue 1,955-1,965

Shale, sandy 1, 9G5-1, 985

Sand, water 1, 985-2, 005

Shale 2, 005-2, 010

Lime shell 2,010-2, 012

Sandy shale 2,012-2,017

Blue shale 2, 017-2, 030

Water sand, white 2, 030-2, 040

Sandy shale 2,040-2,060

Water sand 2, 060-2, 075

Water sand. . ., 2, 075-2, 100

Blue shale 2, 100-2, 105

Sandy shale '2, 105-2? 1 20

Sandy shale 2, 120-2, 125

Blue shale 2, 125-2, 130

Lime, white, hard; stopped

in this limestone at about

2,350 feet 2,14O-2,350±

Test hole No. 4, in the SE. i sec. 14, T. 7 S., R. 6 W., was reported
as being drilled in October, 1920.

Test hole No. 5, in the SW. J sec. 3, T. 7 S., R. 6 W., is reported to
have been drilled with a rotary to a depth of 1,592 feet and abandoned.
Shows of oil and gas were reported at 665 and 1,568 feet. A copy of
the log of this hole follows :

5. Driller's log of test hole in the SW. i sec. S, T.7S., R. 6 W.

Sand, hard

Shale, red, sandy.
Sand and shale. . .

Sand

Shale

Sand

Red gumbo

Shale, mixed

Sand

Shale, mixed

Shale

Feet.

0-81

81-91

91-126

126-133

133-157

157-163

163-165

16:)-171

171-189

189-192

192-198

198-203

Shale

Sand, hard.

Shale

Sand

Sand, hard.

Gumbo

Sand, hard.
Sand, liard.
Blue shale..

Gumbo

Sand

Gumbo

Feet.

203-314

314-322

322-337

337-366

366-391

391-407

407-438

438-490

490-518

518-536

536-540

540-566

Digitized by VjOOQIC

290 (CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

5. Driller* 8 log of Ust hole in the SW, i sec. S, T.7 S., H.6 IF.— Continued.

Foet.

Shale 566-590

Sand, hard 590-604

Sand, hard 604-616

Blue gumbo 616-664

Oil Band (light showing) 664-680

Shale 680-710

Sand, hard 710-724

Blue gumbo 724-810

Shale 810-866

Sand, hard 866-884

Sandy shale 884-900

Blue gumbo 900-937

Gumbo 937-941

Sliale 941-961

Sand, hard 951-963

Blue gumbo 963-975

Shale 975-986

Sand, hard 986-1,017

Blue gumbo 1,017-1,038

Oil sand 1,038-1,046

Gumbo, blue 1,046-1,052

Sand, hard 1,052-1,163

Bluegiumbo 1,163-1,178 I

Feet.

Sand, hard 1, 178-1, 1S4

Bluegumbo 1, 184-1, 2-i2

Sand, hard 1,222-1,224

Bluegumbo 1,224-1,248

Shale 1, 24^1, 252

Bluegumbo 1,252-1,272

Blue shale 1,272-1,287

Sand, hard 1,287-1,293

Blueshale 1,293-1,313

Sandy shale 1,313-1,324

Sand, hard 1,324-1,326

Shale 1, 326-1, 3o8

Sand, hard 1,358-1,376

Black shale 1,376-1,388

Blue sliale 1,388-1,449

Sand, hard 1,449-1,471

Limerock 1,471-1,499

Blue gumbo 1, 499-1, 51 7

Sand, hard 1,517-1,541

Bluegumbo 1,541-1,551

Black shale 1,551-1,561

Limerock 1,561-1, 567

Gas and oil sand 1,567-1,592

Test hole No. 6, in the SW. \ NW. \ sec. 10, T. 7 S., R. 6 W., is
reported to have been drilled with cable tools to a depth of 2,000 feet
and abandoned. A show of gas was reported at 1,525 feet. A copy
of the log follows:

6. Driller* 8 log of Marion Oil & Gas Co,*s well No. i, on Samuel Wray/ann,

Cellar

Sandrock....

Red rock

Sand; water.

Red rock

Sand; water.

Red rock

Sand; water.

Red rock

Sand; water.

Red rock

Blueshale...

Red rock

Sand, dry —
Blue shale. . .
Sand; water.

Red rock

Blue shale. . .
Sand; water.
Red rock

Feet.
0-18
18-21
21-130
130-140
140-170
170-180
180-210
210-225
225-300
300-340
340-380
380-410
410-430
430-445
445-505
505-525
525-600
600-640
640-680
680-740

FMt.

Sand; water. , 740-760

Red rock 760-820

Sand; water 820-840

Red rock 840-900

Blueshale 900-1,000

Sand, dry 1,000-1,010

Blueshale 1,010-1,030

Sand; water 1, 030-1, aw

Brown shale 1, 050-1, 065

Sand, dry 1, 065-1, 075

Blueshale 1,07^1,100

Sand, dry '. 1,100-1,110

Blueshale 1,110-1,120

Sand; water 1, 120-1, 140

Sandy lime 1, 140-1, 160

Blueshale 1,160-1,165

Sand, hard; gas; water 1, 165-1, 250

Blueshale 1,250-1,375

Sand; water 1, 375-1, 395

Blueshale 1,395-1,495

Digitized by VjOOQIC

OIL AND GAS PEOSPECTS IN JBFPEESON COUNTY; OKLA. 291

C DHller^a log of Marion Oil & Gas Co.'s well No. i, on Samuel Wray /arm— Contd.

Feet.

Sand; water 1,850-1,925

Blue shale 1,925-1,930

No record 1, 930-1, 950

Blue shale 1,950-1,965

Sand; water 1, 965-1, 990

Blueshale 1,990-2,000

Feet.

Sand, dry 1,495-1,505

Blueshale 1,505-1,535

Sand; gas (8 to 10 million cu- 1, 535-1, 560
bic feet).

Blueshale 1,560-1,615

Sand; water 1, 615-1, 640

Blueshale 1,640-1,850

Gas sand found from 1,535 to 1,560 feet carried water in the bottom, which was
dnlled into and was unable to get water shut of! and could not be saved for gas well.

Test hole No. 7, in the SE. i sec. 5, T. 8 S., R. 6 W., is reported
to have been drilled to a depth of 1,450 feet.

Test hole No. 8, in the southeast comer of the SW. i sec. 3,
T. 8 S., R. 7 W., is reported to have been drilled to a depth of 1,040
feet and abandoned.

Test hole No. 9, in the NE. J SW. i sec. 9, T. 6 S., R. 7 W., is
reported to have been drilled to a depth of 1,735 feet and abandoned.
A copy of the log of this test follows:

9. Driller's log of Ryan City Oil Co,* 8 well.

Gumbo, red

Rock, red

Gumbo, red

Gumbo, blue

Rock, red, sandy

Gumbo, red

Sand, white, dry

Gumbo, blue

Rock, red, sandy

Gumbo, blue

Pack sand, reddish

Rock, brown sand

Rock, sandy . red

Gumbo, reddish

Rock, brown

Shale, blue

Sand, white; gas showing.

Gumbo, blue

Pack sand, reddish

Gumbo, red

Rock, sandy, red

Thick-
ness.

Depth.

Feet.

130

136

189

196

2.58 ;

331 1

415

452

500 '

517 '

585 '

608

60S

707

764

807

879

892

Sand, brown

Gumbo, blue

Rock, brown

Oumoo. blue, brown

Rock, lune mixtm*e.

Gumbo, blue

Rock, blue and red

Sand, wliite; water

Gumbo, blue

Giunbo, reddish ,

Rock sand, red ,

Gumbo, brown

Gumbo, blae ,

Rock,limish ,

Sand, white; gas showing

Gumbo, blue ,

Sandrock, reddish ,

Gumbo, blue ,

Rock, brown, lime; casinjg set. . ,
Sand, brown-white; gas showing.

Thick-
ness.

Feet.

18
73
47
81

6
62
20

8
48
73
27
35
83

7
13
96
34
93

4
15

Depth.

Feet.
910
983
1,030
1,111
1,117
1,179
1,199
1,207
1,255
1,328
1,355
1,390
1,473
1,480
1,493
1,588
1,623
1,716
1,720
1,735

A number of deep test holes that have been drilled in the territory
surrounding the area mapped give valuable information concerning
the structure and the character of the rocks below the surface.

A test hole 5 miles north of Myra, Cooke County, Tex., and about
35 miles southeast of the Oscar Seay test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S.,
R. 5 E., Okla., is reported" to have found black shale from 1,590 to
1,640 feet and lime from 1,640 to 2,675 feet. Hager states that
the hole was drilled to a depth of about 3,000 feet and that lime was

M IJagor, Lee, Oil and Gas Jour., Oct. 17, 1919, p. Gl.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

292 ooimaBunoiTS w econoi^c geology, 19Si, part n.

found between 2,675 and 3,000 feet. He also says that "Dr. XJdden
has identified samples from this well as of Ordovician age.'*

In the same paper is given a condensed Ic^ of the test hole kxiown
as the Producers Oil Co.'s Byers No. 36, which is in the Petrolia oil
and gas field, in northern Clay County, Tex. This field is about 18
miles west of the western boundary of the area shown on Plate LH.
Hager reports that Ordovician fossils were found in samples from
the drill cuttings of this test hole.

Byers No. 41, drilled by the same company near Petrolia, Tex.,
is a very deep hole. Although it is outside of the area described in
this report, it is important in the matter of correlating subsurface
beds between the Petrolia field and the beds found in the test holes
drilled in southern Jefferson County, and consequently the detailed
log is published and discussed below.

Driller's log of Texas Co.'s Byers No. 41 v>ellj in the southeast comer of block 29, ByerM
suhdiviaiony W. R. Gaston survey A-191, near PetroUoy Clay Countyj Tex.

Foet.

Gray weteand 1,38&-1,390

Hard white lime, dry 1,390-1,393

Hard blue shale, dry 1, 393-1, 710

Softredshale 1,710-1,735

Blue shale, dry, soft 1, 736-1 , 753

Hard dry gas sand 1,753-1,758

Blueshale l,7»r-l,780

Hard blue shale and slate. .. 1, 780-1, 820

Blueslate 1,820-1,845

Sand, wet; hole full 1, 845-1, 975

Blue hard sandy shale 1, 975-1, 990

Wet sand; hole full 1,990-2,010

Hard blue lime and sand ... 2, 010-2, 040
Hard sand; big water sand ... 2, 04O-2, 080

Gray sandy lime, wet 2, 080-2, 090

Hardwetsand 2,090-2,105

Gray sandy lime 2, 105-2, 125

Wetsand 2,125-2,170

Hard dry sand 2,170-2,175

Hard white dry lime 2,175-2,195

Wetsand 2,195-2,205

Gray lime 2,205-2,250

Wetsand 2,250-2,275

Blue shale 2, 275-2, 281

Wetsand, hard 2,281-2,300

Dry gray lime 2,300-2,330

Wetsand 2,330-2,340

Hard blue shale 2,340-2,344

Wetsand, hard 2,344-2,355

Hard gray lime 2,355-2,370

Hard blue shale 2,370-2,390

Hard sandy lime, dry 2, 390-2, 420

Elard blue shale 2,420-2,423

Feet.

Clay 0-68

Wet sand 68-78

Clay, red 78-175

Dry sand, gray 175-190

Red shale 190-280

Brown shale 280-300

Red shale 300-565

Brown shale 565-635

Gray wetsand 635-660

Blue hard shale 660-690

Hard gray wet sand 690-703

Soft blue shale 703-715

Red and blue shale 715-723

Soft red shale 723-795

Brown shale 795-820

Soft red shale 820-900

Hard brown shale 900-945

Hard brown sandy shale 945-965

Red shale 965-970

Hard gray wet sand 970-980

Soft blue shale 980-1,016

Hard blue sandy shale 1, 016-1, 036

Soft blue shale 1,036-1,110

Hard gray wet sand 1,110-1,128

Soft blue shale 1, 128-1, 140

Hard blue shale 1,140-1,160

Soft blue shale 1,160-1,195

Hard gray sand 1,195-1,215

Hard blue shale 1, 216-1, 230

Soft red dry shale 1,230-1,265

Soft blue dry shale 1, 255-1, 350

Hard gray dry sand 1,360-1,360

Blueshale 1,360-1,385

Digitized by VjOOQIC

OIL AND GAS PEOSPECTS IJir JBFFEBSON COUNTY, OKLA. 293

kUler^s log of Texas Co.^s Byers No, 41 wellt in the southeast comer of block 19, Bycrs
subdivision, W. R. Oaton survey A-291f near Petrolia, Clay County^ Tex. — Contd.

Feet.

lard sandy lime, dry 2,423-2,460

lard sandy lime 2,460-2,480

lay lime 2,480-2,496

Hue lime 2, 496-2, 610

aaylime 2,610-2,536

Hue shale 2, 636-2, 538

fray lime 2,638-2,600

'eUowlime 2,600-2,625

}ray lime, hard, sandy 2, 626-2, 670

rraylime 2,670-2,685

frayeandylime 2,686-2,746

Hiite sandy lime 2, 746-2, 780

liaylime 2,780-2,935

llueshale 2,935-2,940

rraylime 2,940-3,000

}ray flint lime 3,000-3,010

tray lime 3,010-3,050

lard gray sandy lime 3,050-3,070

fray lime 3,070-3,180

Hue shale, soft 3, 180-3, 182

rraylime 3,182-3,205

flueshale 3,205-3,270

tluelime 3,270-3,360

tlueshale 3,360-3,365

Uue lime 3, 366-3, 383

Jlue shale 3, 383-3, 395

Feet.

Hard blue lime 3,395-3,400

Blue shale 3, 400-3, 420

Gray lime 3,420-3,436

Blue slate 3, 436-3, 480

Gray lime 3,480-3,510

Blue shale 3, 510-3, 555

Gray lime 3,556-3,660

Blue shale 3, 560-3, 585

Blue lime 3, 586-3, 630

Blue shale 3, 630-3, 710

Blue shale and lime shells. . 3, 710-3, 748

Gray lime 3,748-3,776

Blue shale 3, 776-3, 780

Blue lime 3, 780-3, 860

Gray lime 3,860-3,870

Gray sandy lime 3, 870-3, 910

White lime 3,910-3,921

Gray lime 3,921-4,015

Gray sandy lime 4, 016-4, 020

Gray lime 4,020-4,106

Blue shale and lime 4,106-4,136

Gray lime 4,136-4,160

Blue shale and lime shell. . . 4, 150-4, 210

Water sand, hard 4,210-4,240

Red lime (granite) 4,240-4,289

The following is a copy of a letter from Mr. P. V. Roundy, of the
Jnited States Geological Survey, to the writer, describing samples
rem this test:

In regard to the Byers No. 41, Clay County, Tex., I wish to state that I have
xamined under a binocular microscox>e the well cuttings from 2,700 to 2,905 feet and
m unable to find any fossils. Unfortunately the horizons above 2,700 feet are repre-
mted in our collections by only one sample, so I am unable to contribute any infer-
lation concerning that part of the weU.

LithologicaUy the sixteen samples from 2,700 to 2,820 feet consist of white lime-
»ne, white chert, fragments of dear quartz crystals, and pyrite. Except for a slight
ariation in the relative amounts of these constituents, the samples are practically
Ike. All samples show considerable iron stain.
2,820 to 2,830 feet is not represented in our collections.

The thirteen samples from 2,830 to 2,905 feet consist essentially of the same mate-

als as in the samples above, but there is a greater variation in the relative amounts.

n the whole there is much lees superficial iron stain. The limestone also varies in

>lor, some pieces having a faint gray to browmsh-gray cast.

I consider that the samples from 2,700 to 2,905 are probably from one formation;

3rtainly those from 2,700 to 2,820 are from a single lithologic unit. Without the aid

: fossil evidence definite age determinations are of course impossible. I am inclined,

3. purely lithologic grounds, to consider that these samples all come from rocks of

re-Carboniferous age. If they were from the north-central Texas regioii, I would

>xifiider them as coming from the Ellenburger limestone.

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294 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

In a letter to the Director oif the United States Geological Surver,
Mr. Lee Hager states that samples from the Byers No. 41 show the
rocks from the bottom of the test hole to be red granite; that at
2,800 feet Ordovician rock was encountered; and that samples
obtained above 2,800 feet indicate rocks of Carboniferous age.

It will be noted that Mr. Roimdy found that the samples from a
depth of 2,700 feet resembled Ordovician rocks, but that Mr. Hager
classified the rocks to a depth of 2,800 feet as Carboniferous. It is
probable that the contact between the Carboniferous and the Ordo-
vician rocks is an imeven one and does not parallel the lower Car-
boniferous beds. For this reason a test hole drilled in southern
Jefferson County might encounter the top of the Ordovician at a
different depth relative to the overlying beds than one drilled in the
Petrolia field. It may be concluded that the contact between the
Carboniferous and Ordovician rocks in Byers No. 41 is between the
depths of 1,919 and 2,800 feet and probably above 2,700 feet.

A test hole drilled on the Halsell lease, 6 miles southeast of Henri-
etta and about 18 miles southwest of Petrolia, Tex., reached a depth
of 3,985 feet without encountering Ordovician rocks.

The log of the test hole drilled on the Oscar Seay farm (No. 2,
PI. LII), in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., shows a great predominance of
limestone in the basal 650 feet and a predominance of sandstone and
limestone in the 1,000 feet directly overlying the 650 feet of lime-
stone. The section below 1,780 feet is thus made up largely of lime-
stone and sandstone with only a small amount of shale.

From the data at hand it is impossible to establish definitely the
exact age of the rocks found in the test holes drilled within the area
shown on Plate LII, but it is possible to draw certain conclusions
that are of interest to the oil or gas operator who contemplates
drilling in this area.

In a zone extending from north-central Cooke County, Tex.,
across northeastern Montague County, Tex., and southern Jefferson
County, Okla. (including the area discussed in this report), and
through the Petrolia oil and gas field, in northern Clay County, Tex.,
thick bodies of limestone, sandy Umestone, sandstone, and granite
have been encountered at relatively shallow depths in the deeper
test holes. The data given above show that thick beds of limestone,
sandstone, and sandy limestone were encountered in central Cooke
County at 1,640 feet and in Byers No. 41 at Petrolia at 2,010 feet.
In southern Jefferson County in the test hole drilled in sec. 35, T.
6 S., R. 5 W. (No. 2, PL LII), the rocks below 1,865 feet are made up
largely of Umestone and sandstone, with shale practically absent
from the section below 2,630 feet. Granite has been reported from
a few test holes drilled within this zone below the thick bodies of
limestone.

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OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLA. 295

In the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W. (No. 2, PL LII) a little
less than 900 feet of rocks were found between the base of the ' 'Red
Beds," at 977 feet below the surface, and the top of the predominant
limestone-sandstone series, at 1,865 feet. Over three-fourths of this
interval is composed of shale; it contains a number of sands that
are between 5 and 60 feet thick, a few thin limestones, and several
black shales and limestones. This association of thick sands with a
predominance of shale and with a few beds of black shale or black
limestone is about the combination that the oil geologist ordinarily
looks for in a prospective oil and gas field. The beds between 977
and 1,865 feet in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., therefore
constitute the critical part of the section, which should be carefully
tested in drilling for oil or gas within the area outlined by Plate LII.
The log of this same test hole shows some shale between 1,865 and
2,709 feet, and test holes drilled in Montague County, Tex., to the
south, show black shale closely associated with sandstone as deep as
2,500 feet. Therefore, this part of the section also should be tested,
but the sands are not as promising as they are in the overlying beds
described above. Below a horizon corresponding to the top of the
thick limestone found at 2,709 feet in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S.,
R. 5 W., the chances are believed to be too poor to warrant drilling
these beds, and it is recommended that futiu'e test holes in this area
be drilled to a depth corresponding to this horizon but not below it.
The beds below 2,709 feet in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W.,
are probably of Ordovician age; they contain no shale but are made
up largely of siliceous limestone.

Although it is particularly difficult to make long-distance correla-
tions in this area because of the imusual subsurface conditions and
the likelihood that the formations below the surface here are different
in thickness and character from their surface exposures, it is still
possible to make certain tentative correlations that may be used
until detailed examination of the fossils which may be found in the
drill cuttiugs or other evidence makes these or other conclusions
more certain. The PetroUa oil and gas field, in northern Clay County,
Tex., is the nearest producing field to the area outlined on Plate LII,
and this field has been studied and described by both the United
States Geological Survey and the Texas Geological Survey. Gener-
alizing the logs at Petrolia and in southern Jefferson County causes
certain characteristics to stand out that are common to both localities.
At PetroUa the base of the ''Red Beds" is found in many logs at
about 1,200 feet below the surface, the principal oil and gas sands
are usually found between 1,500 and 1,750 feet, and the top of the
thick limestone series is about 275 feet lower. In southern Jefferson
County the test holes drilled near Red River show the base of the
''Red Beds" to be close to 1,000 feet below the surface; between

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2d6 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

1,300 feet and 1,600 feet there are a number of thick sands which are
associated with black shales and which have produced shows of gas
in a number of test holes, shown on Plate LII, and the top of a thick
sandstone-lunestone series in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., B. 5 W..
is taken to be at 1,865 feet below the surface.

The interval between the base of the ''Red Beds'' and the top of
the series producing oil sands at Petrolia is in round numbers 300
feet, and this same figure may be used for the interval between the
base of the '' Red Beds " and the series of sands associated with black
shales encountered in the test holes drilled in southern Jefferson
County. The interval between the base of the series of producmg
sands at Petrolia and the top of the thick limestone-sandstone series
is about 250 feet, and the interval between the base of the sandstone
series associated with black shales and the top of the thick limestone-
sandstone series found in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., is 267
feet. It should be recognized that the base of the '' Red Beds " is not
a clean-cut horizon, but it can be used for correlation by grouping
together a nimoiber of well logs in a locality and determining a general
depth at which this horizon is reached. It shoidd also be rec<^nized
that even though these intervals agree fairly well, it should be possi-
ble to make more conclusive correlations through the study of fossils
that may bjB found in the samples of the drill cuttings.

From the data at hand the most plausible correlfttion between the
logs in the Petrolia field and the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W..
is as follows:

Depthj in feet J of certain horizons at Petrolia^ Tex., and in Jefferson County ^ Oik.

Petrolia, Tex. (generalized section).

Test bote
in sec, 3^

T. 6 S.

OkU.

Base Of "Red Beds"

Top of series of most promising sands .
Base of series of most promisixik sands

Top of limestone-sandstone series

Top of Ordovldan

1,200± i l,C0b

1,500 1,300

1,760 • l,60e

2,010 I,*

Between 2,600 and 2,800T 2.7tKr'

As no determinations of fossils or studies of samples from the te*.
hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W., have been made, the correlation d
the thick limestone found at 2,709 feet with the Ordovician rock?
reported in the Petrolia field must be considered at present que>-
tionable.

According to Udden and Phillips " the principal oil sands in tb-
Petrolia field (1,500 to 1,750 feet below the surface) are of Cisco ar
and therefore if the above correlation is accepted the sands and shal^-^

u Udden, J. A., and Phillips, D. McN., Geology of the oil and gas fields of Texas: Texas VJnte. Bu& >^
p. 90, 1912.

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OIL AKD GAS PBOSPECTS IN JEFFERSOK COUNTY, OKLA. 297

between 1,300 and 1,600 feet in the test hole in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5 W.,
are also to be assigned to the Cisco. As the top part of the Cisco is
red the line between tbe Wichita and the Cisco would be at some
horizon between the surface and 1,000 feet bielow the surface. The
age of the rocks between 1,865 and 2,709 feet can not be established
until more detailed fossil determinations are made, and they are ten-
tatively classified here as probably representing rocks of Canyon and
Strawn age. The rocks below 2,709 feet are tentatively assigned to
the Ordovician. The log of the test hole drilled in sec. 35, T. 6 S., R. 5
Wm is graphically shown on Plate LII for use as a type log in this
district.

STRUCTUBAIi FBATURES.

The structure of a prospective oil and gas region is of great economic
importance, because it is generally conceded that certain structural
features such as anticlines and domes serve to trap the oil and gas in
pools where the sand is uniform and other conditions are favorable.
The determination of the structure in a region which is known to be
underlain by formations that carry oil in other locaUties but in which
there has been very Uttle drilling is particularly desirable, because in
such a region the structure is the dominating factor in the selection
of locations of test weUs for oil and gas.

BEQIOKAL STBUCTUBE.

It is difficult to say what is the normal or regional dip of the surface
rocks in southern Oklahoma south of the Arbuckle and Wichita
mountains. A due to this is given by Aurin,^^ who has shown the
depth to the base of the ''Red Beds" over central and western
Oklahoma. Although it is known that the base of the rocks that
are red is not parallel to a stratigraphic horizon* it is probable that
this contact between red and nonred rocks follows in a general way
the major structural features of central and western Oklahoma. As
shown on Plate I in Aurin's paper this contact dips north in the
southern part of JeflFerson Coimty and southwest in the northern part.
It is probable that this is a close approximation of the general struc-
ture of the region, for in general the rocks of Pennsylvanian age dip
toward the south and southwest from the Arbuckle and Wichita
mountains on the southern flanks of these mountains, and in northern
Texas the normal dip of the Pennsylvanian rocks is toward the north-
'^'est.

Another factor that is of interest in the consideration of the general
structure of this region is the reported occiurence of Ordovician rocks
stud granite in the zone extending across southern Jefferson County,
Okla., and into northern Clay and Cooke counties, Tex* From the evi-

^* Aurin, Fritz, Oklahoma Geol. Survey BulL 30, 1917.

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298 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLrOGY, 1921, PART TI.

dence at hand it looks as if there is a buried ridge of older rocks along
this zone, for deep test holes drilled to the north and south of it have
reported neither Ordovician rocks nor granite. As this is an economic
paper and as it is believed that more detailed studies of the fossils in
the drill cuttings should be made before sound conclusions can be
reached, this feature is discussed here only in so far as it has a bearing
on the oil and gas possibilities of the area under consideration. A
buried ridge of rocks made up of such rigid materials as limestone and
granite, on which younger and less rigid sediments were uncon-
formably deposited, should exert a strong influence on the folding of
these younger bed3 when they were subjected to the stress^ that
produced folding. It might be logically assumed that local folding
would be concentrated along this zone and that the general structure
of this zone of local folding in the younger rocks would be that of an
uplift. This might be classed as favorable general structure for the
accumulation of oil and gas. The Petrolia field appears to be in this
zone, and the Burkbumett and Electra fields may possibly be along
parallel zones of folding, slightly offset from the zone in which the
PetroUa field lies.

It might be argued that the ridge of older rocks represents an up-
lifted zone in these older rocks and that movements along old lines of
uplift have produced folds in the overlying Pennsylvanian and Per-
mian rocks that parallel the old lines of folding in the Arbuckle
Mountains. It would be very reasonable to assume that an uplift
of the magnitude of that which produced the Arbuckle Mountains
would be paralleled by other uplifts, perhaps of lesser magnitude, and
it would not be surprising to find these uplifts arrayed en 6chelon or
in parallel arrangement, sUghtly offsetting one another. It may be
concluded that the la^rea outlined on Plate LII is in a region where it
would be reasonable to expect to find antichnes and domes favorable
for the accumulation of oil and gas, provided proper subsurface con-
ditions exist.

LOCAL STBUCTTJBE.

GENERAL CONDITIONS. .

It was impossible to map the structure of the "Red Beds" over
the entire area treated in this report, because in many places there
are no hard ledges exposed that could be traced. Tlie absence of
exposures of the hard ledges in the "Red Beds'' is due partly to the
fact that these beds are in places covered by more recent deposits,
such as the deposits of sand northeast of Terral and the dune sand
and alluvium bordering Red River, and also to the fact that over
much of the area the ground is not dissected enough to produce very
good outcrops of these hard ledges. All exposiires of hard ledges
that could be followed for a reasonable distance were mapped, and

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OIL AND GAS PROSPECTS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY, OKLA. 299

the direction and amount of dip of these beds are shown on Plate LII
by means of structure contours. These contours have an interval
of 10 feet and in the eastern part of the area are so drawn as to show
the elevation above sea level of a theoretical bed 350 feet below the
top of bed C (fig. 49 and PL LII). The contoius based on conclusive
field evidence are drawn as soUd lines; if the evidence is inconclusive
the contours are dashed; and the dotted contours are not based on
field evidence but are sketched in between areas, where the dip is
known.

In classifying the locaUties in an area as to their relative prospec-
tive oil and gas value the localities where the rocks have been locally
folded into anticlines and domes should receive first consideration if
the other factors are equal. Therefore, the anticlines shown by
structure contours on Plate LII are briefly described below.

SEAY ANTICUNE.

The Seay antichne is in the south-central part of T. 6 S., R. 5 W.,
and the north-central part of T. 7 S., R. 5 W. The east dip of this
antichne amounts to more than 170 feet within a distance of a httle
over 2 miles, and fairly well defined dips have been mapped on its
northern and western flanks. No dips to the south from the crest
of this antichne are shown on Plate LII, and therefore the antichne
is not known to be closed.

GROGAN ANTICLINE.

The Grogan anticline covers parts of sees. 18 and 19, T. 7 S.,
R. 5 W., and parts of sees. 13 and 24, T. 7 S., R. 6 W. The western
flank of the anticline has a relatively very steep dip toward the
southwest, showing on Plate LII a drop of 160 feet within half a
mile. The dips on the eastern and northern flanks of the anticline
are relatively gentle, and there is a suggestion of a structural nose
on its eastern flank. Toward the northwest, in sees. 13 and 14, the
rocks are not well enough exposed to establish structure contours.

RED CREEK ANTICLINE.

The axis of the Red Creek anticline has a northeasterly trend and
roughly bisects sec. 26, T. 6 S., R. 6 W. On the whole the dips of
this anticline are rather poorly defined, but there is enough field
evidence to show a well-defined northwest dip, a poorly defined
south or southeast dip, and a fairly well defined souUiwest dip.

OTHER FOLDS.

East of the town of Ryan the rocks appear to be bowed up into
A broad structural arch. On the whole the field evidence is rather

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800 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

poor, and on Plate LII many of the structure contours are dotted
and dashed, indicating doubt as to the correct interpretation of the
structure over part of the area. Sees. 15, 16, 21, and 22 probably
coven the crest or top of this broad anticlinal feature.

Over much of the area here considered it was impossible to nu^
the structure, as is represented by the lack of structure contours in
parts of Plate LII. With regard to that part of the area where the
structure has been mapped it may be stated that the structure is
either favorable or not favorable for the accumulation of oil or gas,
but with regard to the area where the structure is unknown the
geologist must confess his inability to classify the different localities
as to their relative prospective oil and gas value and can only give
the general rating of the entire region.

SUGGESTIONS TO PROSPECTORS.

GENEBAL BATING OF THE ABEA.

Anyone who contemplates investing funds in a prospective oil and
gas area wishes to know whether the area as a whole is a '^likely oil
country," and if it is he wishes to know what part or parts of the area
give the greatest promise for oil and gas production.

The most obvious factor in classifying an area is its distance from
and geographic relation to productive oil and gas pools. Other con-
ditions being equal, an area that is relatively close to and surrounded
by producing oil and gas pools gives greater promise than an areA
that is not so geographically located or one that is relatively far from
producing territory. The area treated in this report is about 18
miles southwest of the Healdton oil field, Okla., 25 miles southeast of
the producing oil and gas wells near Walter, Okla., and about 18 miles
due east of the Petrolia oil and gas field, Tex. No commercial pro-
duction of oil or gas has been reported within a reasonable distance
south or east of the area.

A factor that is more important than the geographic location is the
relation of the rocks below the surface in the area under discussion to
the rocks in the near-by oil and gas fields. It is probable that the
same beds which carry oil and gas in the Petrolia field, to the west,
imderlie the surface in southern Jefferson County at depths that can
be easily reached by the drill. Although no attempt has been made to
correlate the oil sands of the Healdton and Walters fields with the
subsurface rocks in southern Jefferson County, the oil sands in these
producing fields are probably represented in southern Jefferson County
by beds of the same age which are not too deep to be reached by the
drill.

To summarize briefly, the area outlined on Plate LII is underlain
by beds at relatively fallow depths which carry productive oil and

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OIL AND GAS PBOSPECTS IN JEFFEBSON COUNTY, OKLA. 301

gas sands in other areas near by, aud the general structure is favorable,
but the area is not very close to any commercially productive oil and
gas field. It might properly be classed as a promising prospective
oil and gas area in which there are good speculative chances but in
which the business risk is relatively high compared to that involved
in drilling within a mile or so of producing wells in an area of favorable
structure. On the whole, the parts of anticlines recommended below
should be classed as good risks, and as there is no good reason to
condemn, absolutely any part of the area there is « chance that,
owing to irregular sand conditions, oil or gas may be obtained from
a test hole drilled at any other point within the area. The difference
is that tests on the recommended anticlines are good risks, but tests
at random are not; consequently the importance of properly locating
test wells on these anticlines is obvious.

BECOMMENDATIONS.

Four anticlines are shown on Plate LII and described above — the
Grogan anticline, the Seay anticline, the Red Creek anticline, and a
poorly defined anticline east of the town of Ryan. The territory
covered by these anticlines should be regarded as the most promising
prospective oil and gas territory within the area mapped, and of the
four the Grogan anticline should receive the highest rating. That
part of the Seay anticline shown by structure contours on Plate LII
has probably been tested, but it is possible that the top part of this
anticline or dome is still farther south and has not been tested. The
Red Creek anticline is not so large or so well defined as the Grogan
anticline,* and consequently it should be given a lower rating. On
the meager evidence in hand, the anticline east of the town of Ryan
should be regarded as only slightly more promising than the sur-
rounding country and much less promising than the other anticlines
described.

The Grogan anticline is well worthy of a test to a depth of 2,800
feet, and the test hole should be drilled a quarter of a mile south and
300 feet east from the northwest comer of sec. 19, T. 7 S., R. 5 W.
This anticline is believed to be distinctly promising because (1) it
represents the highest area structurally within the boundaries of
the area shown on Plate LII according to the available information;
(2) there is an unusually large gathering ground around it; (3) the
shape of the contours suggests that the structural top of the anticline
may be very close to the recommended location. The most promising
sands should be encountered between 1,300 and 1,700 feet below the
surface, but other sands that may produce oil or gas may be found to
a depth of 2,800 feet.

As two dry holes have been drilled on the Seay anticline deep enough
to test the most critical sands, additional tests on the anticline as

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802 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

mapped on Plate LII hardly seem warranted. As water was reported
in several of the deep sands m the test hole drilled in sec. 3, T. 7 S.,
R. 5 W., it seems likely that the dips indicated on the map are part
of an anticlinal nose that plmiges to the north. If they are, the
structm*al nose may open into a structural dome toward the soatli,
or the dip may change into a monoclmal dip. In any event no new
tests on this anticline are recommended unless new developmeQl
changes the general rating of the region or additional information is
obtained on the structure to the south.

As the structure of the Eed Creek anticline is rather poorly defined
it is difficult to determine definitely whether the dips to the northeast
close this fold. From the information at hand the highest part
structurally of the anticline is about 1,500 feet north of the center ot
sec. 26, T. 6 S., R. 6 W. and this should be the location of the first
test well, if this anticline is drilled. The most promising sands should
be expected between 1,500 and 1,800 feet below the surface, but if
commercial quantities of oil are not found at a lesser depth the hole
should be drilled to a total depth of 2,900 feet. Although the
structure is rather poorly defined and the reverse dip is not very
large, this reverse dip to the south and southwest is believed to be
strong enough to justify a test at the location recommended above,
unless future drilling changes the general rating of this region. U
should be remembered that this anticline has a lower rating than the
Grogan anticline.

The anticline east of Ryan is not recommended for testing, but if
this area should be drilled a test should be made near the southeast
corner of sec. 16, T. 6 S., R. 7 W. The chance of obtaining com-
mercial quantities of oil or gas here, however, would be only slightly
better than in the surrounding country.

CONCIiUSIONS.

It should be emphasized that the recommendations in this paper
do not guarantee that oil or gas will be found at the localities de-
scribed. Experience has proved, however, that the chance of failure,
particularly in regions far removed from producing wells, is materiaDy
reduced if the localities for tests are selected according to recois-
mendations made after careful study of the available geologic in{o^
mation.

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DEPARTMENT OF
Ai;bebt B. Fall,

United States Geolo

Gbobgb Otis Smith,

BnUetin 726—0

THE LAGASA AREA, RANGER DISTRIGT
NORTH-GENTRAL TEXAS

CIARENCE S. ROSS

Contriballons to economle geology, 1921, Put II
(PlAgea S0S-S14)

^bliflhed December 23, 1921

WASHINGTON

GOVERNMENT PBINTINa OFFICE
1921

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CONTENTS.

Introduction 3(6

Stratigraphy 3D4

Genend character of exposed rocks 304

Keybedfl 306

Names 306

Ranger limestone 306

Ilome Creek limestone 306

Gonzales limestone 307

Bunger limestone 306

Structural features 308

General structure 308

Areas of favorable structure 309

Hagaman terrace 309

Veale anticline 309

Adams anticline 310

Gonzales dome 311

Atkins anticline 311

Areas of unfavorable structure 312

Wells 313

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Plate LIU. Map showing geologic structure in Lacasa area, Tex SOS

LIV. Selected well records in Lacasa area, Tex 314

FiGUBB 50. Key map of north-central Texas showing location of Lacasa area. . 303

51. Ck)lumnar section of rocks exxM)6ed in Lacasa area, .Tex 306

52. Key map of I/acaaa area, Tex., showing locations of wells whose

logs are given in Plate LIV 312

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THE LACASA AREA, RANGER DISTRICT, NORTH-CENTRAL

TEXAS.

By Clarence S. Ross.

INTRODUCTION.

The area 6 miles square described in this report lies in the Ranger
)il district, in the southeastern part of Stephens County, Tex., its
louth Une corresponding approximately with the south border of the
5ounty and its east line lying 6 miles west of the east border of the
jounty. (See fig. 50.) The village of Lacasa, after which it has been
lamed, is near its northeast comer. Strawn, on the Texas & Pacific

FiGXTBE M.-*Key map of north-eentral Texas showing location of Lacasa area.

Railroad, is about 10 miles east of its east border, and Ranger, on
the same road, lies 4 miles south of the south border. Caddo Creek
drains the eastern part of the area and flows in a general northeasterly
direction, crossing the north line not far from the village of Lacasa.

660W— 21

303

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304 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PABT H.

Gonzales Creek and its tributaries drain the western part of the i

area and flow in a northwesterly direction, leaving the area near its
northwest comer. The country is gently rolling, and the maximum
relief is about 320 feet. The eastern and northern parts are the most
rugged, and the southern part is characterized by high sand flats.
About one-third of the area is covered by timber, in which scrub oak
predominates.

The field work was done during April and May, 1919, by the writer,
assisted by W. G. Argabrite. Locations and elevations for working
out the geologic structure were determined by plane table and
telescopic alidade.

For convenience in reference the Lacasa area has been arbitrarily
divided into 144 blocks by 12 north-south coordinates and 12 east-
west coordinates, as shown on Plate LIII. Beginning at the upper
left-hand comer of the area the blocks are numbered consecutively
toward the east and lettered consecutively toward the south. Thus
K-5 designates a block 11 units south and 5 units east from the
northwest comer of the area, or, as each block is half a mile square,
5^ miles south and 2^ miles east from the northwest comer.

STRATIGRAPHY.
GBNEBAL CHABACTEB OF EXPOSED BOCKS.

The rocks exposed at the surface in the Lacasa area, having an
aggregate thickness of about 600 feet, are illustrated graphically
in figure 51. The oldest are Pennsylvanian; above these are Cre-
taceous- rocks; and still younger beds are probably Tertiary. Local
unconformities occur within the Pennsylvanian, and profound uncon-
formities between the Pennsylvanian and Cretaceous and between
the Cretaceous and the Tertiary(?).

Pennsylvanian rocks are exposed in the northern and eastern part
of the area, those in the northern and northeastern parts belonging
to the Cisco formation and those along the eastern border, to the
Canyon formation. The Canyon formation is characterized by
massive limestones with intervening shales and sandstones. Shales
predominate in the Cisco formation, but thin limestones are present
and massive sandstones form considerable part of the formation.

After the deposition of the Pennsylvanian beds they were sub-
jected to profound erosion, and after the lapse of a long period of
geologic time the Trinity sand, of Lower Cretaceous age, was deposited
unconformably upon them. The Trinity consists of conglomerates,
sandstones, unconsolidated sands, siltlike material, clay, and some
siliceous limestones, the whole very much cross-bedded. The
pebbles of the conglomerate consist partly of such local material as
limestone, sandstone, and shale, but most of them are foreign quartz-
ite, vein quartz, or chert. Where the conglomerate has withstood

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LACASA AKEA, BANOEB DISTRICT, TEX.

305

EXPLANATION

tOC^

nor

Conglomerate

Sandstone

Shale

Limestone

the disintegrating action of weathering the spaces between the
pebbles are filled with fine sand, which is firmly cemented with
calcium carbonate. Over most of the area where the conglomerate
is present, however, it has broken down into a mass of loose sand
with pebbles and cobbles scattered through it, and the original nature
and appearance of the indurated bed must be determined from small
fragments that have .^

withstood disintegration
and from a few good ex-
posures where the Cre-
taceous rocks are pro-
tected by a resistant
layer of more recent
material.

The conglomerate that
caps the hills over much
of the area and lies un-
conformably above the
Cretaceous beds contains
silicified wood, but no
fossils have been found
that permit a definite
determination of its age.

It has been provision-
ally assigned to the Ter-
tiary, but it is possibly
of the same age as beds
that have been called
"Lafayette*' in other
parts of Texas.^ It is
made up of quartzite,
quartz, and chert sand
grains and pebbles reach-
ing maximum dimen-
sions of several inches.
The only fragments of
local rocks that have
been recognized are
roimded boulders of Trinity conglomerate. These materials are
similar to those of the Trinity and no doubt have been de-
rived in part or wholly from that formation, thus making it dffi-
cult to distinguish the two conglomerates. The Trinity has a
cement of calcium carbonate, but the later conglomerate has a cement
of chalcedony which gives it great resistance to weathering. The
pebbles from the Trinity are waterwom but are not well rounded.

1 Udden, J. A., Baker, C. L., and Bitee, Emil, Texas Univ. Bull. 44, p. 91, 1916.

jjo Fcer

FiouBE 61.— Columnar section of rocks exposed in Lacasa
area, Tex.

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806 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART H.

Those from the later conglomerate show a greater degree of attritioii,
and 90 per cent of the pebbles over an inch in diameter are dreikanters
or show other evidences of wind erosion, thus presenting clear evi-
dence that these beds were deposited under desert conditions.

KEY BEDS.

The beds that have been useful in mapping the geologic structure
of the Lacasa area, named in the order of their deposition, are the
main and upper benches of the Ranger limestone, the base and top
of the Home Creek limestone, the Gonzales limestone, a fossil-bearing
zone just above it, and the Bunger limestone. The sandstones have
proved to be of little value in working out the geology, as they have
very indefinite tops and can not be traced continuously.

Names. — So far as possible the names given to the beds have been
those used by Frederick B. Plummer, geologist of the Roxana Petro-
leum Co. Mr. Plummer presented a preliminary paper ^« on the stra-
tigraphy of the Pennsylvanian formations of north-central Texas
before the American Association of Petroleum Geologists at Dallas,
Tex., in March, 1919, and has submitted a later unpublished paper
to the United States Geological Survey for suggestions. In the later
paper the names proposed by Drake' for the Colorado coal field
have been used wherever suitable and where definite correlations
have been possible. The bed which Mr. Plummer called '' Eastland
limestone'' in the preliminary paper has now been correlated with
the Home Creek limestone of the Colorado coal field. North-central
Texas is the type area for all the other beds described in the present
paper, and local names have been used by Mr. Pliunmer. The name
Gonzales limestone is here given by the writer to the limestone
exposed in the bed of Gonzales Creek.

Ranger limestone, — In the southeastern part of the Lacasa area
occurs the Ranger limestone, the lowest bed appearing at the surface
in the area. The main bench of the Ranger is a light-gray massive
limestone 50 feet thick, forming a distinct and easily traceable scarp.
The topmost ledge is a thin-bedded buff limestone 4 feet thick lying
16 feet above the main bench, from which it is separated by 12 feet
of shale.

now£ Creek limestone. — The Ranger limestone is overlain by about
70 feet of shale containing several thin-bedded calcareous sandstones
and lenticular limestones. The only prominent lens of limestone
forms a ledge lying 39 feet above the top of the Ranger. In the
northern part of the Lacasa area it is 3 feet thick, but it thins toward
the south and is entirely absent at the southern border. A series of
alternating limestones and shales extending from 70 to 110 feet above

la Plummer, F. B., Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists Bull., vol. 3, pp. 132-146, 1919.

s Drake, N. F., Report on the Colorado coal field: Texas Geol. Survey Fourth Ann. Rept., pp. 357-446,

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LACASA AREA, BANGER DISTRICT, TEX. 307

the top of the Ranger lunestone and locally known as the ''Caddo
lime" has been correlated with the Home Oreek limestone by Plum-
mer. Drake did not interpret the Home Creek as the top of his
Canyon division in the Colorado coal region, but the top of the
Home Creek appears to be the dividing line between the Cisco and
the group of heavy limestones to which Cummins * gave the name
Canyon in his report on the geology of the northern coal region, of
which this area is a part. In the southeastern part of the Lacasa
area the lowest limestone of the Home Creek member forms a con-
tinuous scarp about 76 feet above the top of the Ranger. Above
this ledge are several benches of fine-grained light-gray limestone
without fossil-bearing beds that can be used as horizon markers.
No good section of the upper part of the Home Creek can be measured
in this region, but by comparison of the structure contours the top is
foimd to be about 110 feet above the top of the Ranger.

Gonzales limestone, — Above the Home Creek limestone lies a series
of shales about 96 feet thick, which in the Lacasa area have been cut
away by Caddo Creek to form a large valley. The east side of this
valley is the alluvium-covered dip slope of the Home Creek limestone.
The west side is a scarp capped by a limestone, which is also ex-
posed along the headwaters of Gonzales Creek, and from these
exposm*es it is herein named the Gronzales limestone member of the
Cisco formation.

^ The Gonzales limestone occupies a position in the geologic section
corresponding closely with that of a bed occurring in the vicinity
of Jacksboro, to which Plummer has given the name Jacksboro
limestone, and both beds are characterized by unusual numbers
of CampophyUum. Plummer states that the Jacksboro thins toward
the south and disappears 10 to 15 miles southwest of Jacksboroj and
the writer finds that the Gonzales thins toward the north and disap-
pears near the north border of the Lacasa area, leaving an interval
of nearly 40 miles over which neither bed has been traced. For this
reason a local name has been used for the limestone found in the
Lacasa area.

Although the Gonzales limestone is thin or entirely missing in the
northern part of the area it thickens rapidly toward the south and
reaches a maximum thickness of about 4 feet. It is a coarse-grained
dark-gray limestone containing large numbers of CampopliyUum, and
locally a thin shaly limestone carrying many specimens of Myalina
svhquadrata lies 8 feet above it. The interval between the top of
the Home Creek limestone and the top of the Gonzales limestone
can not be measured directly in this region but is about 100 feet.
The top of the Gronzales is marked by a slight unconformity. In
most of the area it is overlain by only a few inches of shale, above

» Cununins, W. F., Geology of northwest Texas: Texas Geol. Survey Second Ann. Rept., p. 374, 1890.

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308 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

which lies a very massive bed, the base of which is an intrafonnaUonal
conglomerate containing ferruginous clay pebbles. This grades into
a conglomerate composed of light-<5olored chert pebbles with quartz
sand filling the interstices, and this conglomerate in turn grades into
a normal sandstone whose top is about 20 feet above the top of the
limestone. A second bench of sandstone slightly less massive thao
the first lies about 22 feet higher still. All the sandstones thicken
from the northern to the southern part of the region. Shales pre-
dominate in the succeeding 31 feet, but a thin-bedded calcareoos
sandstone 16 feet above the second bench of sandstone and ridilj
fossiliferous limestone lenses are common in the northern part of
the area. Thin coal bands are locally present near the base of the
shale.

Bunker limestone. — ^About 78 feet above the top of the Gonzaks
limestone lies a very persistent limestone which has been called by
Plummer the Bunger limestone. It is light gray, contains but few
fossils, and forms a bench 2 to 5 feet thick. It makes a low but eas3y
traced escarpment facing toward the southeast in the north-centcel
part of the area and occurs along both sides of Gonzales Creek aad
its tributaries in the northwestern part. Above it is a series of alter*
nating shales and sandstones containing chert conglomerates, and
the highest bed in the Lacasa area is a sandstone lying about 60 fofll
above the Bunger.

STRUQTURAIi FEATURES.

GENEBAIi STBUCTUIIE.

The geologic stracttire described below and portrayed on the ca^
tour map (PI. LIII) is determined by observations on the beds
Pennsylvanian age. Although in some places the attitude of
overlying Cretaceous and Tertiary ( ?) rocks can be determined,
believed that most of the deformation which affected the oil-l><
beds took place before Cretaceous time, and that observations on
Cretaceous and post-Cretaceous beds will not be of assistance
determining the location of deep-lying folds that may be of eeonoi
importance.

The general structure of the Lacasa area conforms to thsLt of
Pennsylvanian beds of north-central Texas as a whole and shows]
normal northwesterly dip averaging about 50 feet to the mile.
structure contours shown on Plate LIII are based for the naost pi
upon observations on beds exposed at the surface; but in tlie so
and central parts of the area rock outcrops are lacking, and iprell
ords have been used wherever available to determine the position
key beds. The structture contours are drawn on the surface of a
oretical bed lying approximately 260 feet below the top of tlxe liigL
bed of the Ranger limestone. The position of the contours sho

Digitized by VjOOQIC

'^M^

, 12

:BunockL

School

TEXAS

Surveyed in 1919
by C. S. Ross

Digitized by VjOOQIC

LACASA ABEA, RANGEB DISTRICT, TEX. 309

by broken lines is open to some doubt, owing to the lack of expo-
sures of Pennsylvanian beds.

A study of the oil production in the Ranger field shows that the
best yields of oil are obtained in areas where the surface beds show
terraces, noses, or dipping anticlines. These surface features com-
monly mark much more sharply accentuated folds in the oil-yielding
beds, and a surface fold that shows no closure may overlie a subsur-
face fold with a large closure.

ABEAS OF FAVOBABUS STBUCTUBE.

In the Lacasa area there is a large pitching terrace in the south-
eastern part, a pitching anticline in the northwestern part, and a
group of three noses or pitching anticlines in the central and northern
parts. These features are described below.

HAGAMAN TEBRAGE.

In the Hagaman terrace, in the extreme southeast comer of the
Lacasa area, the rocks dip to the northwest at only about half their
normal rate. It extends eastward into the Wiles area and south-
ward into the East Ranger area, and in the Lacasa area it covers all
the territory south and east of a line running between squares G-12
and L-9. (See PI. LIII.) It is marked by a pronoimced modera-
tion of the regional dip east of the line mentioned, with correspond-
ingly steep dips west of the line. East of the '^step" of the terrace,
in the Wiles and East Ranger areas, the beds rise sharply southeast-
ward. Such folding as has taken place has been parallel to the strike
of the beds, and there is nothing in the Lacasa area to indicate cross
folding in any other direction.

The terrace had been fairly well outlined by producing wells at the
time the field work was done (May, 1918), and a great many test
holes were being drilled. To judge from conditions known to prevail
elsewhere in the Ranger district, the folding in the oil sands is more
pronounced than that at the surface, and oil will probably be obtained
outside the limits that would be set were surface structure alone con-
sidered. The work of comparing subsurface and surface folding has
not yet been carried far enough to justify positive statements regard-
ing the probable extent of producing area, but it appears probable
that oil will be found farther to the west of the area of low dip than
to the east of it, as in this, particular part of the Ranger district pre-
liminary work indicates that the deep-lying folds are likely to be oflFset
to the west with respect to surface folds.

VEALE ANTICLINE.

In the northeastern part of the Lacasa area alluvium along Caddo
Creek prevents complete mapping of the surface beds, but those that

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310 CONTBIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 19a, PART II.

are traceable indicate a small pitching anticline beginning about a mile
southeast of Lacasa and extending in a northwesterly direction into
the Necessity area, to the north. This fold is here called the Veale anti-
cline. Oil is being produced in commercial amoimts from the Veale
sand at a depth of about 3,800 feet in several wells in this area, and
the reported initial daily production ranges from 80 to about 700
barrels. The probable extension of the field can not be foretold until
the areas to the north and northeast have been mapped, but new wells
can be expected north and west of those now developed. The Veale
sand is within the Marble Falls limestone.

ADAMS ANTICLINE.

The Adams anticline, which runs in a northwesterly direction
across blocks B-6, B-7, A-5, and A-6 (see PI. LIII) into the Necessity
area, to the north, forms one of the most promising undeveloped oil
localities in the region. On the east the anticline is bordered by a
shallow pitching syncline in blocks B-9, A-8, and A-9. On the south-
east it merges into a lai^ge flat. On the south a shallow pitching
syncline separates it from the Gonzales dome. The continuation of
this anticline into the Necessity area has not yet been mapped (July,
1919).

The Adams gas well, in block A-9, on the crest of the anticline,
reaches a gas sand at a depth of 2138 feet, but the deeper sands have
not been tested in this locaUty. Wells drilled east and west of the
Adams well along the north border of the area allow a study of the
subsurface beds in this anticline. The Maxwell well No. 1 of the Texas
& Pacific Co., 1 mile west of block B-1, was dry at a depth of 3,833
feet. The distance between this well and the Adams well is 4^ miles,
and both the surface beds and the subsurface beds show a westerly
dip between these points. Along the axis of the anticline. If miles
southeast of the Adams well, is the Haney well, which was practically
dry at a depth of 3,527 feet. Between these two points the surface
beds show a shght northwesterly dip, and the subsurface beds dip in
the same direction at about the same rate.

The Bradford well, in block A-10, IJ miles northeast of the Haney
well, had not quite reached the producing sands at a depth of 3,490
feet when the field examination was completed. This well and the
Haney well are approximately on the strike of the surface beds, but
the subsurface beds show a northeasterly dip that gradually increases
with increasing depth. The top of the Smitiiwick shale, at a depth of
about 3,050 feet, shows a reversal of dip of about 80 feet in H nules.
The Bobo well, about half a mile south of the Bradford well, in block
B-10, is dry at a depth of 4,140 feet. It is slightly up the dip of the
surface beds from the Bradford well, but at the top of the Smithwick
shale there is a southerly dip of 90 feet in half a mile. The Veale well

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LAC AS A AREA, EANGEB DISTRICT, TEX. 311

is 1 mile east of the Bobo well, and between these two points both the
surface beds and the subsurface beds dip normally to the west.

These data indicate that the subsurface structiu*e of the Adams
anticline is marked by an eastern flank dipping sharply to the east,
beyond which there is a sharp syncline occupying approximately the
position of the syncline trending northwest from the Bobo well that
has been mapped on the surface beds. Favorable locations for test
wells lie along the crest of the anticline north and west of the Adams
gas well.

GONZALES DOME.

Just east of Gonzales Creek in blocks C-4, C-5, D-4, and D-5
(see PI. LIII) lies a low anticline with about 15 feet of closure that
has been called the Gonzales dome. It is separated from the Adams
anticline by a shallow westward-pitching syncline. On the south
is a sharp westward-pitching syncline, and on the east lies a southern
continuation of the flat that lies east of the Adams anticline.

The axis of this fold trends almost due west, diverging a few degrees
from parallelism with that of the Adams anticline. The flexure is
not nearly as extensive in an east-west direction as the Adams
anticline, to the north, and the Atkins anticline, to the south, but
some indication of it can nevertheless be detected IJ miles west of
the center of the dome.

No test holes have been drilled either on or near the axis of this
fold, so its possibilities for oil production are not known. Further-
more, such test holes as were being drilled near by while the field
work was in progress were not located advantageously with respect
to the surface structure, and their failure would not condemn land
nearer the axis of the flekure, although their success would make the
territory that seems structurally more favorable appear particularly
promising. Probably the most favorable location for a test well
Ues in the northeast comer of block C-4.

The outline of the Gonzales dome as shown on the structure map
was controlled largely by elevations on the Bunger limestone, which
furnished a reUable datimi.

ATKINS ANTICLINE.

A pitching anticline extends from blocks F-5 and G-6 westward
toward the Atkins School, in block G^l, after which it has been
named, and crosses into the Gunsight area, to the west, just beyond
that school. The plunging axis trends approximately parallel to
those of the Adams anticline and the Gonzales dome. The dips to
the northwest and southwest are pronounced, but to the east the
anticline merges gradually into the regional monocline.

At the time the examination was made no wells had reached the
beds which elsewhere in this region have proved to be oil bearing.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

312 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PAKT II.

and there is no hint as to the relation which the deep-seated structure
may bear to that exhibited at the surface. However, a test drilling
in block €r-2, almost on the axis of the fold, and one in block F-1, on
its northwest flank, should furnish a reliable indication of what may
be expected in the way of- production. The location of the well
being drilled in block F-5 does not appear to be quite as favorable
as the two mentioned above, but to judge purely from the surface
indications this well should yield oil or gas. A c^omparison of the
records of this well and those farther west will reveal the presence
or absence of an easterly dip in the deep-lying beds. Should such a
dip be present, the probabihty that there is a large anticline in the
Smithwick and Marble Falls formations, underlying the strip covered
by the Atkins, Gonzales, and Adams anticlines, should be considered.
If this proves to be the case the synclinal areas that separate the
surface folds can not be considered imf avorable for oil accumulation.

The outline of the Atkins
anticline was determined by
elevations taken on outcrops
of the Gonzales and Bunger
limestones, which fiunished
reliable data upon which to
base the structure.

ABBAS OF XTITFAVOBABLE
BTBtfCTUKE.

Monoclines are not usually
considered favorable locali-
ties for the accumulation of
oil. In north-central Texas,
however, the subsurface
structure does not exactly
correspond to that shown by the surface beds, and the conditions of
the sand are known to have an important bearing on the accumula-
tion of oil, and for these reasons the monoclinal areas that cover
much of the Lacasa area can not be condemned as barren of oil.

The areas where marked synclines occur must be considered
probably unfavorable for oil. The Bobo well, which was drilled in
one such syncline, failed to yield either oil or gas, and the axis of
this downwarp should be avoided in drilling. The syncline extend-
ing westward from the southeast flank of the Gonzales dome is also
unfavorable. The syncline lying south of the Atkins School is not
as sharp as the one last mentioned, but it is not nearly so favorable
as the Atkins anticline, farther north.

^^— I 7P

:^^7"^ !:

FiQUBi fi2.— Key map of Lacasa ana, Tex., showing loca-
tion of weUs whose logs are given in Plate LIV.

Digitized by VjOOQIC

IsACASA ABBA, RANGER DISTRICT, TBX.

318

WBIjIjS.

The following table shows the names of some of the wells drilled
or beingdrilled in the Lacasa area when it was examined, in May, 1919,
the location of each well as indicated by the coordinates on Plate
LIII, the character or status of the well, the name of the lin^estone
bed nearest to the surface at the well, and the elevation of the well
mouth. The logs of seven of these wells are given in Plate LIV,
and the locations of the weUs whose logs are given are shown in
figure 52.

Wells in Lacasa area, north-central Texas,

Name.

Loca-
tion.

Character or
status.

Limestone bed nearest to
surliBoe.

Elevation

(feet).

Adams No. 1, Texas <& PadflcCo

Adams No. 2, Prairie Oil & Oas Co —

Adams, J. J., No. 1

Barnsley No. 1, Texas & PadflcCo

Beck No. 1

Bobo No. 1. Texas & PadflcCo

Bradiord, E. T., No. 1, Texas & Padflc

Co.
Brown, B. F., No. 1, Texas & Padflc

Co.
Brown, B. F., No. 2, Prairie Oil & Oas

Co.

Bullock School

Collins, Marshall, No. 1. Magnolia Co. . .
I>empsey , Ben, No. 1, Prairie Oil & Oas

Co.
Dempsey, Ben, No. 1, Prairie Oil & Gas

Co.

Denison lease, Bra£os Co

Dupre No. 1, PhiUps Co

Goforth, J. J., No. 1, Texas Co

Goforth, W. H., No. 1, Prairie Oil &

Gas Co.
Graves No. 1, Prairie Oil & Gas Co

HanevNo. 1, Texas & PadflcCo

Higgins No. 1, Prairie Oil <Sc Gas Co. . . .

Hin No. 1, Gladstone Co

HiU No. 2, Gladstone Co

Hill No. 1, Plains Oil Co

Ingram lease, Parker & Monitor

Jennings No. 1, Sun Co

Jennings No. 2, Texas & Pacific Co

Jones, C. P., No. 1, Texas 6i Pacific Co.
Jones, L. G.^No. 1, Texas & PadficCo.

Lane No. 1, Humble Co

Lane No. 2, Humble Co

McCleakey No. 1, Texas & Padflc Co. . .
Pace, J. I., No. 1, Texas & Pacific Co...
Pearce, D. Z., No. 2, Prairie Oil & Gas
Co.

Simmons No. 1, Sinclair Co

Suddarth No. 1, Texas & Pacific Co. . . .

TerriU, C. E., No. 1, Magnolia Co

Turner No. 1, Prairie Oil & Gas Co

Veale No. I, Prairie Oil & Gas Co

Veale No. 1. Texas & Padfic Co

Wells, J. W., Sinclair Co

Works, J. D., No. 1

A-5..
B-5..

G-11.
A-12.

B-10.
A-10.

E-«..

F-0..

L-12.

K-11.

J-«...

1-12..
H-8..
G-10.
1-2...

Gas well

Bei^ drilled.

.'.y/.do'.v.y.'.'.'.

.do..

12 feet above Bunger.

4 feet above Caddo.

Dry hole

Being drilled.

.....do

Abandoned.

2 feet above top of Couzales.

G-2..

C-8..
F-5..
G-10.
G-11.
H-10.
H-12.
C-12.
B-12.
L-6..
I^..
G-IO.
G-IO.
C-8...
B-7..
E-3..

D-2..
C-8...
L-8..
F-1..
D-10.
B-12.
H-11.
h-3..

Bdng drilled.

OUweU

Being drilled.

Oil well

76 feet above Ranger.

Beingdrilled..

Ranger

8 feiet above top of Caddo..

.do-

Being drilled.

OilweU

Being drilled.

.'.'.y.doV.V.'.'.V.

Oil well

Being driUed.
do

OUweU

Bdng drilled.

....do

Oil well

do..

Being drilled.

■"/c

35±3 feet below top of

Bunger.
8 feet below top of Gonzales .

10 feet above top of Caddo..
do

Ranger.
Caddo.
do..

6 feet above top of Caddo. . .
do.

20 feet below top of Gonzales.

73±3 feet below top of

Bunger.
5 feet below top of Bunger. . .
22 feet below top of Gonzales.

31 feet below top of Bunger.

Caddo

76 feet above Ranger .

1,584
1,578
1,471
1,480
1,537
1,450
1,451

1,581

1,500

1,557

1,590

1,484
1,544
1,549
1,622

1,533

1,502
1,582
1,548
1,568
1,566
1,486
1,512
1,494
1,580
1,548
1,554

1,492
1,519
1,484

1,491
1,490
1,609
1,485
1,589
1,501
1,564

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314 CONTRIBUTIONS TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY, 1921, PART II.

. Other wells near this area that were used in determining the
structure are referred to the nearest coordinates on Plate LIII in
the following table:

Wells near Lacaaa area used in determining strujctiare.

Name.

Barker, Charles, No. 1. North Ranger area

Veale No. 1, Sinclair Co., Wiles area

Wiles area ,

Do •.

Loca-
tion.

L-5...
C-12
1-12...
L-12

Character or status.

Being drilled.

Oilviell

Boing drilled.

Elevatkor

(feet:.

1,543

1.304
1, fi»

Note. — In Plate LIV the location of well No. 2 (Adams No. 1, Texas <& Pacific
Ck>.) should be given as 3 miles west of Lacasa, and that of well No. 3 (Haney No. 1;
should be given as Stephens (3ounty, Tex., without more specific designation.

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Digitized

by Google

INDEX.

Paffe.

Abo Bondstooe, dlstdbutloii of, In

New Mexico 181

Abo siding, N. Mez., formatlonB

penetrated at 210-220

Acknowledgments for aid 8,42,

89, 110, 278

Alamogordo, N. Mex., materials pen-
etrated near 227-228

Alamosa Cteek, N. Mex., map show-
ing structure In valley
of 266

Animas Mountains, *J. Mex., fea-
tures of 275

Antelope Spring, Ariz., anticline

near 107

ArmUo, N. Mex., material pene-
trated at 265

Arroyo Chupadero, N. Mex., features

of basin of 289

Atarque, N. Mex., Navajo and Da-
kota sandstones at,

plate showing 196

upUft at, plate showing ,— 254

Badlands in the Fort Berthold
Indian Reservation, N.
Dak., distribution of. 111-112
plates showing 113

Bassier, Harvey, and Reeslde, John
B., Jr., Oil prospects
in Washington County,
Utah 87-107

Bauer, Clyde Max, work of 110

and Herald, Frank A.. Lignite
in the western part of
the Fort Berthold In-
dian Reservation south
of Missouri River, N.
Dak 109-172

Beck grant, N. Mex., record of bor-
ing on 198

Becker, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 221

Belt well, near Dayton, N. Mex.,

gas and oil from 211

Big Hatchet Mountains, N. Mex.,

features of 274

Black Rock Canyon, Ariz., section

in 91

showings of oil in 104-lOS

Page.
Black Rock Mountains, Ariz., domes

near 104

Bliss sandstone, San Andres Moun-
tains, N. Mex., plate

showing 188

Bloomington dome, Utah, descrip-
tion of 102-103

favorable locality for drilling

on 107

Bluewater Canyon, N. Mex., plate

showing 188

Bluewater Falls, N. Mex., DakoU
sandstone at, plate

showing y. 196

Bluewater station, N. Mex., record.

of boring at 255

Bodega, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 221

Bonine, C. A., work of 110

Boulders, glacial, in N. Dak., plates

showing 7, 141

** Breaks," occurrence of 111

of the Little Missouri, near
Hans Creek, N. Dak.,

plate showing 112

Brown oil well, near Dayton, N.

Mex., yield of 211

Buchanan, N. Mex., formations
penetrated south of —

Bunn, Frank, work of

Buttes in North Dakota, plates

showing—

In Squaw Creek valley, N.

Dak., plate showing..

on Hans Creek, N. Dak., plate

showing

199
8

160

161

140

Caddo oil sand, features of ,in the

Cement oil field, Okla. 72

Caddo Petroleum Co., analysis of oil

produced by 74

Campbell, M. R., acknowledgment

to 3,110

Cannonball marine member of the
Lance formation, in
North Dakota, features

of 5-6. 7,^-10

on Heart River, N. Dak., plate

showing 7

Carrlzalillo Hills, N. Mex., features

of 273

Carrizozo, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 228-229

315

Digitized by VjOOQIC

316

ii$n>Ex.

Page.
Carlsbad, N. Mez., formatioiMi pene-
trated aoutta of 216

record of boring near 218-214

Carter OU Co., records of borings

made by 261, 262

Carthage, N. Hex., stmctnre north

of 284-287

Cedar Grove Mountains, N. Hex.,

features of 273

Cement anticline, Okla., description

of 68-66

Cement area, Okla., topography of.- 43-44
Cement dome, Okla., description of. 64
Cement oil field, Okla., deyelopment

of 71-76

development of,* foture direction

of 75-76

drainage of 44

extent of 73-74

geography of 42-46

geology of 46-71

key rockB In 62-68

logs of wells in, plate showing. 72
new oil sands in, probability of

finding 72-78

oil from, grade of 74-76

possibility of oil beyond the

limits of 76

production from 78

reasons for investigation 41

soil and climate of 44

statistics of wells in 77-79

structural map of In pocket.

topography of, partly deter-
mined by structure 69-71

towns and roads In 44-46

unexposed rocks in 66-67

Cerrillos Basin, N. Mex., Dakota
sandstone in, plate

showing ^». 220

features of 216-217

Cerrillos del Coyote, N. Mex., struc^

ture south of 284-287

Chama Basin, N. Mex., stratigraphy

of 244

Structure of 242-248, 244-246

Chapelle, N. Mex., record of boring

at 206

Chaves County, N. Mex., borings In '

progress In 216

stratigraphy and structure

of 210-216

Chupadera formation, nature of. In

New Mexico 181-182

Chupadera Mesa, N. Mex., plate

showing 220

stratigraphy and structure of. 221-228
Cibola Cone syncline and fault, N.

Mex., features of 287

Clapp, F. G., cited 47

Coal, analyses of 17-20

heating value of 21--28

Cobb syncline, Okla., description of. 66-68
Color, changes in, produced by as-
cending solutions 64-66

Pagt

Columbus, N. Mex., material pene-
trated near 272

Comanche limestones and sandstones,
distribution of, In New
Mexico 185

Concretions, log-form. In the Fort
Union formation, plate
showing 140

Cooks Bange, N. Mex., features of.- 270

Coyote Butte, N. Mex., plate show-
ing 188

Crown Butte, near New Salem, N.

Dak., plate showing 26

Crown Point, N. Mex., log of boring

northwest of 261-252

Cutter, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated south of 282

Cyril gypsum member of the Greer
formation, effects of
erosion on, plates

showing , 48.49

features of 48-60

Cyni syncline, Okla.? description of ..66-66

Dakota Products Co., lignite min-
ing by 12, 20, 28, 85-36

mine of, plate showing 26

Dakota sandstone, at Atarque, N.

Mex., plate showing 196

at Bluewater FaUs, N. Mex.,

plate showing 196

in Cerrillos Basin, N. Mex., plate

showing 220

occurrence of, in Union and

Mora counties, N. Mex.. 185

Darton, N. H., Geologic structure of

parts of New Mexico. 173-275

Daw-Bell Development Co., log of

well of 80

Dayton, N. Mex., oil wells near 211

Dayton Petroleum Co., record of

boring by 214

Dean, B, W., analysis by 75

Defiance siding, N. Mex., record of

boring at 261

Demlng, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated near 272

Dips mistaken for structural dips — 52-68

Dog Canyon station, N. Mex., mate-
rials penetrated near.. 22T

Dumble, E. T., and Cummins, W. F.,

cited 279

Eagle's Nest butte, N. Dak., sitoa-

tion of na

Eaton grant, N. Mex., record of bor-
ing on 208-204:

Eddy County, N. Mex., borings in

progress in 216

stratigraphy and structure of- 210-216

Digitized by VjOOQIC

INDBX.

317

Page.
m Paso & Southwestern Bailroad

Co., wells bored by, In

New Mexico. 227-229,232-234
Empire Oaa & Fuel Co., log of well

of, in Jefferson County,

Okla J 288-289

Bngle, N. Mex., materials i>enetrated

at and near 232

Estanda Valley, N. Mex., geology

of 206-207

Esterlto dome, N. Mex., description

of 195-196

record of boring in 198-199

Falrview, N. Mex., geologic features

south of '. 268-269

Farmlngton, N. Mex., record of deep

well near 24^250

Farmlngton Oil & Gas Co., record of

well bored by 249-250

Fath, A. B., work of 110

Flora Vista, N. Mex., formations

penetrated near 251

Florida Mountains, N. Mex., fea-
tures of 270

Florida Plains, N. Mex., features

of 270»272

Fort Berthold Indian Reservation,

N. Dak., drainage of- 112-113

field work in 109-110, 110-111

lignite in, bede of 128^129

beds of, plates showing- 112, 142
sections of, plates
showing. 132, 144, 154, 172
distribution of. 126-127, 12»-172

quantity of 125-126

utilization of 127-128

value of 119, 125

location of 109

map of northern part of In pocket

map of southern part of In pocket

map of southwestern part of-In pocket

physiography of 111-113

rolllnsr upland in, plate show-
ing 153

settlement and industry in 113

stratigraphic sections in, plate

showing 128

stratigraphy of 113-117

structure of 117-119

Fort Union formation, bare buttes
of, on Hans Clreek, N.

Dak., plate showing 140

bluffls of, in North Dakota,

plate showing 153

features of, in North Dakota 5, 6,

8. 10-11
fossil log and stump in, plates

showing 162

log concretions in, plate show-
ing 140

nature of, in the Fort Berthold
Indian Reservation, N.

Dak 114-117

origin of 118-119

Page.
Fortuna Oil Co., analysis of oil pro-
duced by 74

log of well of 80-82

Fortuna oil sand, features of, in the

Cement oil field, Okla- 72
Fossils, occurrence of, in New

Mexico 180, 181, 182

occurrence of, in Fort Berthold
Indiaui Reservation, N.

Dak 116

Froltland, N. Mex., record of deep

well north of 250-261

Gallup; N. Mex., record of dty

artesian well at 260-261

record of well southwest of 262

Gallup-Zuni Basin, N. Mex., records

of borings in. 260-262

stratigraphy of 259

structure of 257-258, 259-260

Gardner, J. R., acknowledgment to.. 196
Gibson, N. Mex., formations pene-
trated at 262

Girty, G. H., fossils determined by. 180, 181
Gladation, effects of, in the Fort
Berthold Indian Reser-
vation, N. Dak 114

Gladstone Oil Co., analysis of oil

produced by i 76

log of well of 88-84

Glorleta Mesa, near La Cuesta, N.
Mex., sandstone of»

plate showing 188

structure of 202

Goldman, M. I., acknowledgement to. 42

Goodrldge, Utah, oil wells at 246-247

Goodsight Mountains, N. Mex., fea-
tures of 272

Gordon, C. H., cited 268, 285

Grafton, Utah, locality favorable for

drilling near 106-107

Greer formation. See Cyril gypsum

member.
Guadalupe County^ N. Mex., record

of boring in 204-205

Guam, N. Mex., record of boring at 257

Gypsy Oil Co., record of hole bored

by 198-199

Hager, Lee, cited 291-292

Hancock, Eugene T., The New Salem
lignite field, Morton
County, N. Dak 1-89

Hans Cre^, N. Dak., sage-brush

flat of, plate showing- 158

Harrlsburg dome, Utah, descrip-
tion of 99-101,107

section of 92

Heald, K. C, acknowledgment to 42

dted 66

Heart River, . N. Dak., valley of,

plate showing 6

Digitized by VjOOQIC

318

INDEX*

Page.

Herald, Frank A., work of 110

Herald, Frank A., Bauer, Clyde Max.,
and; Lignite in tbe
western part of tbe
Fort Berthold Indian
Beseryation south of
Missouri River, N.

Dak 1(»-172

Hurricane fault scarp, Utah, sec>

tion of 91

Inscription Rock, N. Mex., plate

showing X98

Jefferson Conntr. Okla., southern
part, earlier geologic

work in 277-278

southern part, field work In 278

geography of speciaf area

in 27T

Orogan anticline In 299. 801

prospecting in 800-802

" Red Beds " in 278-279

Red Creek anticline in 209,

801, 802

sand* dunes in 286

Seay anticline In 299, 301-802

stratigraphy of 278-279

structural features In 297-800

map showing 284

Tertiary residual deposits

in 284-285

Trinity sand in -288-284

unexposed rocks in 285-297

wells in, logs of 286-297

Wichita formation In 279-283

Jones, B. B., well, Jefferson County,

Okla., log of 286-287

Jornada del Mnerto, N. Mex., geo-
logic features of— 229-280

geoloeric map of 280

structure of 280,231-232

Joyita Hills, N. Mex., geologic fea^

ures of , 239-240

Keeche dome, Okla., description of. 63-^5
Keeche Hllls^ Okla., origin and form

of 43

Keeche Oil & Gas Co., log of well of- 82-83
Kenzin siding, N. Mex., record of

deep well at 234

"Kingman dome," Utah, description

of 103

Kiowa area, Olda., structure of 68-69

structure of, map showing — In iK>cket.

topography of 43

Klondike Hills, N. Mex., features of. 273
Knowlton, F. H., acknowledgment to 110

fossils determined hy 6, 7, 11, 116

Pace.
Lacasa area, Tex., Adams anticline

in 310-311

Atkins anticline in 311-312 I

Bunger limestone In 308 I

gas well in 810,312 ,

geography and mapping of 303-304

Gonsales dome in 311

Gonzales limestone In 307-30S |

Home Creek limestone in 306-307

Hagaman terrace in ._ 309 i

oil wells in 810, 313 I

Ranger limestone in 306

stratigraphy of 304-80S '

structure of 308-312

map showing 308

Veale anticline in 3O9-310

wells and borings in and

near 313-314

plate showing records of 314

Laguna, N. Mex., materials {pene-
trated near.... 266

La Jam Peak, N. Mex., boring east

of 266

Lake Valley, N. Mex., geologic feat-
ures north of 268-268

Lance' formation, features of. In

North Dakota 5,6,7,9

Landslides on Missouri River, N.

Dak., features of 16?-

163, 166
La Plata group, nature and dis-
tribution off in New

Mexico 1^4

Lee, W. T., cited 191

Lemltar Mountains, N. Mex., geo-
logic features of 240-241

Lenark, N. Mex., record of deep well

at 233

Lignite, analyses of 17-20, 120-122

burning of beds of 117

heating power of 128-124

importance of, in North Da-
kota 109

in Fort Berthold Indian Resei^

yation, N. Dak., nature

and distribution of.. 119-172

in New Salem field, N. Dak., na>

ture and occurrence

of 1^-89

sections showing features

of 14

Lincoln, N. Mex., anticline west of. 209-210

Lincoln County, N. Mex., basin in 209

Uttle Hatchet Mountains, N. Mez.,

features of 274-275

Llttie Missouri River, ''breaks** of,

near Hans Creek, N.

Dak., plate showing — 112

features of, in Fort Berthold

Indian Reservation, N.

Dak 112-118

intrenchment of-.-. ....... Ill

Digitized by VjOOQIC

nn>Bx.

319

Pmge.

Log, foBsU, Btandlng In the Fart
Union formation, N.
Dak., plate showing. _ 102

Lordsburg, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated near 275

iMej, N. Mez., formations penetrated

at , 205

McGee boring. Quay County, N. Mex.,

log of 109-200

MeKlnley OH & DrlUlng Co., log of

w«ll of 84-«5

Magdalena group, base of, plate

showing 236

nature and distribution of, in

N. Mex ',. 179-180

upturned beds of, plate show-
ing 286

Malpals siding, N. Mex., materials

penetrated at 284

Mancos shale, features of, In New

Mexico 185

Manzano group, nature and distribu-
tion of, in New Mex-
ico 181-182

Mansano Mountains, N. Mex., geo-
logic map of 218

structure of 217-218

Marion Oil & Gas Co., log of well of,
in Jefferson County,
Okla 290-291

MatBon, G. C, acknowledgmoit to— 196,

198

Mesa del Teso, N. Mex., plate show-
ing 287

Mesayerde group, subdivisions and
distribution of, in New
Mexico 186-186

Missouri Riyer, features of, in Fort
Berthold Indian Reser-
vation, N. Dak 112

from upper margin of the bad-
lands, in North Dakota,
plate showing-' 114

Moccasin Creek, N. Dak., valley of,

plate shewing 114

Mohave County, Ariz., possibilities

of oil In 104-105

Moore, Raymond C, work of 8

Morrison formation, nature and dis-
tribution of, In New
Mexico 184-185

Mount Riley siding, N. Mex., ma-
terials penetrated at— 283
N.

Nadmiento uplift, N. Mex., strati-
graphy of — . 241

structure of 241,242

Navajo Church, N. Mex., sandstones

at, plate showing 189

Navajo sandstone, at Atarque, N.

Mex., plate showing 196

in New Mexico, nature and dis-
tribution of 184

Page.
Negra, N. Mex., formations pene-
trated at 205

New Mexico, conditions favorable
and unfavorable to oil

in 178-175

central eastern, records of bor-
ings in 197-200

stratigraphy of 195

structure of 194,195-197

Colfax County, dome in 189-190

east-central plateau region,

records of borings In 208-205

stratigraphy of 201-202

structure of 202

Luna County, ridges In north-
west comer of 274

map of 174

northeastern, dome in 189-190

formations In 176

records of borings in . 192^194

stratigraphy of 190-192

structure of 192

northwestern, formations In. 177-178
older Paleozoic rocks in, com-
plete exposure of 179

sedimentary rocks in, general

succession of 175-179

southern, formations in 178-179

southwestern, geologic features

of 269-275

Union County, dome In 189-190

west-central volcanic area, geo-
logic features of 267

New Salem lignite field, N. Dak.,

access to 4

early explorations near 3-4

field work on 1, 2, 3

geography of 4-5

geology of 1 5-12

map showing 38

lignite in, chemical properties

of 1&-17, 20, 21

exposures of 25-39

heating value of 21-23

mining of 23-25

origin and distribution of. 12-14

physical properties of 14-15

location of 1, 2

towns in 28,31,34,36,37

upland in vicinity of, plate

showing 6

Noria, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 282-233

North Chaves siding. N. Mex., record

of well at 255-257

North Garcia siding, N. Mex., ma-
terials penetrated at. 264-265

Ofllce of Indian. Affairs, cooperation

by 42

Oil. See Petroleum.

Oklahoma, geologic map of, showing

oil and gas fields 42

index map of 278

Digitized by VjOOQIC

320

INDEX.

Page.

Orchard Park, N. Mex., forsmtioDs

penetrated near 216

Orogrande, N. Mez., materials pene-
trated at 228

Oscura anticline, N. Mex., structural

features of 289

Oscuro, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 228

Parks, B. M., work of i 110

Pastura, N. Mex., rocks penetrated

by well at 199

Pecos Rlyer valley In Chaves and
Eddy counties, N. Mex.,

oil in 211-212

records of borings in 212-216

stratigraphy of 210-211

structure of 211

Pedemal Siding, N. Mex., forma-
tions penetrated at 205

Pelondllo Mountains, N. Mex., fea-
tures of 275

Petroleum, accumulation of, relation

of structure to 61-62

formations likely or unlikely to
contain, in New Mex-
ico 187-189

occurrence of, in the Pecos

River valley, N. Mex. 211-212

Picacho, N. Mex., dome near 209

formations penetrated by boring

near 210

Pierce, O. H., work of 110

Pilot Knob, N. MeXv plate showing.. 228

Pintada Canyon, N. Mex., dome in.. 197

Plains of San Agustin, N. Mex., geo-
logic features of 268

wells bored in : 268

Piatt well, near Dayton, N. Mex.,

gas from 211

Plummer, Frederick B., cited 806

Prairie Spring anticline, N. Mex.,

structural features of 288

Producers Oil Co., log of well of,

near Petrolia, Tex— 292-294

Prosperity oil sand, features of, in
the Cement oil field,
Okla 72

Pueblo Bonito School, McKlnley
County, N. Mex., mate'
rials penetrated near 251

Purgatoire Elver, south fork of, in
N. Mex., geologic sec-
tion on 191

Pyramid Mountains, N. Mex., fea-
tures of 275

Pyramid Rock, N. Mex., plate show-
ing 254

Quaternary deposits, nature and dis-
tribution of, in New
Mexico 187

PagH.
Quemado, N. Mex., boring northeast

of 26*

Raton coal field, N. Mex., formations

present in 191-192

likelihood of oil and gas in 192

"Red Beds," distance of oil sands
below, in Texas and

Oklahoma 295-296

improbability of oil in 187-188

origin of 58

Permian, nature and distribu-
tion of, in New Mex-
ico 181-182

Triassic, nature of, in New

Mexico 182-183

Reeeide, John B., jr., acknowledg-
ments to 250.251

Bassler, Harvey, and. Oil pros-
pects in Washington

County. Utah 87-107

Beeves, Frank, Geology of the Ce-
ment oil field, C&ddo

County, Okla 41-85

Rio CNrande vaUey, in central New
Mexico, geologic fea-
tures of 220-221

in northern. New Mexico, for-
mations in 217

in southern New Mexico, ma-
terials penetrated in.- 232-
284
Rio Puerco station, N. Mex., ma-
terials penetrated at. 264
Rio Salado valley, N. Mex., map

showing structure of. 266
Robinson, Heath M., Geologic struc-
ture and oil and gas
prospects of a part of
Jefferson County,

Okla 277-302

Rocky Mountains, prolongation of,

in New Mexico 202

structure of, in New Bftexico. 200-201
Ross, Clarence S., The Lacasa area.
Ranger district, north-
central Texas 303-814

Rosw^, N. Mex., records of borings

near 212-215

Roundy, P. V., acknowledgment to 42

cited 293

Ryan, Jefferson County, Okla., anti-
cline east of 299-

800. 801, 302
Ryan City Oil Co., log of well of,
in Jefferson County,
Okla 291

Sacramento Cuesta, N. Mex., forma-
tions penetrated by

boring in 210

stratigraphy of — L 207-208

structure of 209-210

Digitized by VjOOQIC

INDEX.

821

Page.
. Sacramento Mountains, N. Hex.,
west front of, plate

showing ., lOT

SagA-bmsh flat of Hans Creek, N.

Dak., plate showing 1S3

St. George, Utah, anticlines near. 103-104
composite section for region near 92-08
San Agnstin plains, N. Mex., geo-
logic features of 268

wells bored in 208

San Andres Mountains, N. Mex.,

geologic features of-. 229
Sandia Mountains^ N. Mex., geo-
logic map of 218

Btmcture of 217-218

west front of, plate showing 218

San Ignacio, N. Mex., dome near,

plate showing 197

San Joan Basin, N. Mex., oU and

gas in 240-247

records of borings in 249-268

structure of 245-246, 247-248

San Joan Basin Oil & Oas Cb., rec^
ords of deep wells

bored by 250-261

San Luis Range, N. Mex., features

of , 275

Seay, Oscar, well No. 1, Jefferson

County, Okla., log of. 287-
288, 294
Seren Liakes, N. Mex., formations

penetrated near . 261

Shea, Edward F., work of 41

Sierra de los Pinos, N. Mex., geo-
logic map of 218

etmcture of— _ 217-218

Sierra Lucero, N. *Mex., sections

across, plate showing- 202
Sierrita Mesa, N. Mex., plate show-
ing 287

Sims, N. Dak., syncline at 12

Smith's Mesa, Utah, section of 90-91

Socorro County, N. Mex., geologic

maps of parts of 284, 202

eastern part, structure of 284r-241

Dorth-central part, stratigraphy

of 266-266

structure of 266, 266

Socorro Monntains, N. Mex., geo-
logic features of 240-241

Southern Pacific Co., records of wells

bored by 282-234

Sonthspring Ranch & Cattle Co.,

record of boring by — 214-215
Springs in Fort Berthold Indian Res-
ervation, N. Dak., fea-
tures of 118,181

Squaw Creek, N. Dak., view on 161

Staked Plains region in N. Mex.,

boring In 216

formations In 216

Stanton, T. W., acknowledgment to- 110

fossils determined by 6, 7, 10, 116

State wells, Torrance County, N.

Mex., records of 204

rage.

Steiger, George, analyses by 74

Stinchecum, C. V., acknowledgment

to 42

Strauss, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated at 282

Stump, fossil, in the Fort Union for-
mation, plate showing- 152

Suwanee, N. Mex., materials pene-
trated near 266

Swanker« Sidney, work of 8

TannehiU well, N. Mex., record of — 215

Taylor coal basin, N. Mex., geologic

features of 238

Tertiary deposits, nature and distri-
bution of in New Mex-
ico 186-187

Texas, north-central, Pennsylvanian

formations in 286

TUeras, N. Mex., anticline north of. 218

Tinnie, N. Mex., dome near 209

Todllto formation, nature and distri-
bution of in New Mex-
ico 184

Tohachi, N. Mex., record of well

southeast of 262-258

Toltec Co., records of borings made

by 208-204, 212-218

Tres Hermanas Mountains, N. Mex.,

featores of , 272

Tularosa Basin, N. Mex., geologic

map of 224

materials penetrated in 227-229

stratigraphy of 223-226

structure of 223, 226-227

United Oil Co., record of boring of,
in Union County, N.
Mex 193-194

Valencia County, N. Mex., geologic

map of part of 262

east-central part, records of bor-
ings in 264-266

Stratigraphy of 263, 264

structure of 262, 264

Talle del OJo de la Parida, N. Mex.,

features of 237-288

Valle Grande area, N. Mex., features

of 245

Ylctorio Mountains, N. Mex., fea-
tures of 273

Virgin anticline, Utah, description

of 99-103

Virgin City, Utah, localities favor-
able for drilling near- 106

oil wells near 93-95, 96

Virgin River, section in narrows of.

Aria . 92-93

Digitized by VjOOQIC

322

INDEX,

Page.
WaBhington Ooanty, Utah, dli&cnl-

tlea of drilling In 106

geology of 89-93

gas In 95

ground water In 106

industry and settlements In 1 87-88

location and geography of 87

oil in, commercial production

of -- 105-106

source of 95,96-97,98

oil prospects in 9^-98

prospecting for oil in 88, 97, 98-99

structure In 98

Washington dome, Utah, descrip-
tion of 101-102

favorable locality for drilling

on 107

Water, force compelling upward

movement of 66

Wells, R. C, aclcnowledgment to 42

White, Bruce, work of 41

White, David, acknowledgment to— 42

fossils determined by 180

Whitehorse sandstone member of
the Woodward forma-
tion, cross-bedding In,
origin of 69-61

Page
Whitehorse, cross-bedding in, plate

showing 60

erosion features of, plates

showing ^ 48, 49

sandstone member of the Wood-
ward formation, fu-
tures of 61-56

types of 52-04

Wichita Mountains, development of. 45

Winchester, Dean E., cited 265,268

Williams, Delbert, work of 3

WIngate sandstone, at Rito, N.

Mex., plate showing.. 18S
nature and dlstllbution of, In

New Mexico 184

Woodruff, B. O., acknowledgment

to 110

Woodward formation. See White-
horse sandstone mem-
ber.-

ZunI Mountains, N. Mex., records of

borings in 254-257

stratigraphy of 254

structure of 253

Zuni uplift, N. Mex., plates show-
ing 255

Digitized by VjOOQIC

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Digitized by VjOOQIC

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