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Little Drum Mountains, An Early Tertiary Shoshonitic Volcanic Center In Millard County, Utah, Stephen H. Leedom

Theses and Dissertations

The Little Drum Mountains represent a deeply eroded Eocene-Oligocene volcano, consisting of a vent complex which erupted mafic flows and flow breccias, accompanied by lahars. Flows are dominated by members of the shoshonite suite and contain up to 3.95 percent K₂O, mainly occult in K-rich glass, with K₂O/Na₂O ratios greater than 1.0. In a few interbedded flows, apparently of the calc-alkaline series, pyroxene with varying amounts of plagioclase in a fine-grained groundmass of plagioclase, mafic minerals, and interstitial glass. An ash-flow tuff of the Oligocene Needles Range Formation unconformably overlies the volcanic sequence. Contemporaneous …

Latest Cenozoic Stratigraphy Of Lake Sakakawea Area, Northeast Mercer County, North Dakota, Donald Kieth Sackreiter

Theses and Dissertations

The latest Cenozoic in northeast Mercer County, North Dakota, is represented by five formations. They are, from bottom to top: the Charging Eagle Formation, the Medicine Hill Formation, the Snow School Formation, the Coteau Formation, and the Oahe Formation.

The Charging Eagle Formation is mainly fluvial sediment. Most of the sediment was derived from the west with only minor amounts from the northeast. It contains the first evidence of glaciation in the area.

The lower Medicine Hill Formation is mainly sediment deposited by a northeast-flowing ancestor of the Missouri River and by melt-water streams. The upp.er Medicine Hill Formation is …

Description And Origin Of Carbonate Minerals In The Upper And Lower Cherty Members Of The Biwabik Formation, Minnesota, Leslie R. Honeyman

Theses and Dissertations

This study was done for the Erie Hining Company after periodic problems with the quality of pellets from taconit2 of the Biwabik Formation had been linked to the presence of carbonate minerals. The carbonates found in the cherty members of the Precambrian Biwabik Formation are predominantly siderite, ankerite, and calcite. Siderite is the only primary carbonate mineral and occurs in three forms: nicrogranular, granular (oolitic), and crystalline aggregates (recrystallized). Ankerite is a secondary mineral occurring as crystalline aggregates and alteration rims on granular siderite. Calcite is found only in fractures and fault zones. Siderite formed from the original precipitate and …

Stratigraphy And Sedimentary History Of Middle Cenozoic (Oligocene And Miocene) Deposits In North Dakota, William J. Stone

Theses and Dissertations

Middle Cenozoic (Oligocene and Miocene) continental deposits of North America have been most studied in southwestern South Dakota and western Nebraska where the White River Group constitutes a fairly complete Oligocene record, and the Arikaree Group of early Miocene age is commonly the sole remaining record of that epoch. Isolated outcrops in adjacent states also offer opportunities for studying the middle Cenozoic history of the Midcontinent but disagreement as to the physical stratigraphy of such deposits has hindered further work in these areas. The main purpose of this study is to present a viable stratigraphic framework for the middle Cenozoic …

High- And Low-Sinuosity Stream Deposits Of The Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene) Mckenzie County, North Dakota, Victor B. Cherven

Theses and Dissertations

High-sinuosity channel deposits in the Sentinel Butte Formation occur as elongate, tabular beds of sand that fine upward from an erosional base. The sand beds contain epsilon cross-stratification, within which stratification changes upward from large-scale trough crossstratification to horizontal stratification and small-scale crossstratification, indicating upward decrease in flow regime due to accretion of laterally-migrating point bars. Inset in the sand beds are channelplug deposits that are narrow and arcuate in map view and asymmetrically trough shaped in cross-section, and consist of sandy silt and clay. Lowsinuosity channel deposits occur as elongate, trough-shaped sand beds that fine upward from a deeply-channeled …

Quaternary Geology Of Sargent County, North Dakota, Dennis N. Neilsen

Theses and Dissertations

Sargent County, in southeastern North Dakota, was glaciated during the Pleistocene Epoch. Objectives of a study of Sargent County were to (1) describe the surface sediment and interpret its origin, (2) correlate, where possible, this sediment with that of adjacent areas, and (3) recon struct the general geologic history of the county for the Quaternary Period.

A geologic map of the county was prepared using field data, topo graphic maps, aerial stereopairs, and soil maps. A map showing surface sediment origin was subsequently made using the available field and laboratory information.

Most of Sargent County is typical rolling prairie underlain …

Quaternary Stratigraphy Of The Lake Sakakawea Area, Mclean County, North Dakota, James H. Ulmer

Theses and Dissertations

The Quaternary stratigraphy of central North Dakota is best exposed along the nearly continuous, 20-meter-high, vertical bluffs of Lake Sakakawea in the Missouri River trench. The following lithostratigraphic units (in ascending order) are exposed just north of Riverdale, North Dakota, and can be correlated for tens of kilometers along the bluffs: (1) Sentinel Butte Formation (lignite-bearing sediment of Paleocene age), (2) lower Medicine Hill Formation (fluvial sand and gravel), (3) upper Medicine Hill Formation (massive pebble loam with silt and gravel inclusions> glacial sediment), (4) lower Horseshoe Valley Formation (fluvial sand and gravel), (5) upper Horseshoe Valley Formation (jointed pebble-loam, …

Ordovician Corals Of The Williston Basin Periphery, Frank P. Caramanica

Theses and Dissertations

Tabulate and rugose corals are described from the Ordovician Red River) Stony Mountain, and Stonewall Formations in southern Manitoba and the Ordovician Bighorn Formation in northern Wyoming. Fifty-four species, 12 of which are new, are distributed in 20 genera. The Flower Model of coral evolution, based on wall microstructure of colonial corals, is extended to include the septa! Microstructure of colonial and solitary corals. "Primitive" corals are characterized by non t-rabeculate walls and septa whereas "advanced" forms are characterizedby trabeculate walls and septa. "Mid-range" corals are those with intermediate stages of trabecular development in walls .and septa. Corals in the …

Pleistocene Stratigraphy Of The Red Lake Falls Area, Minnesota, Kenneth L. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

Seven formations are present along a 50-mile stretch of the Red Lake River in Pennington, Red Lake, and Polk Counties, Minnesota. Five formations are largely glacial, sediment, and two are largely lacustr1ne sediment deposited during phases of Lake Agassiz.

The Gervais Formation (pre-Wisconsinan or early Wisconsinan) is mostly fluvial or lacustrine sediment modified by glacial ice of unknown source. The Marcoux Formation (pre Wisconsinan or Wisconsinan) is largely sediment deposited by glacial ice that advanced from the northeast over the Canadian Shield. The St. Hilaire. Formation (Wisconsinan) is mainly sediment deposited by glacial ice that advanced from a western or …

Depositional Environments Of The Lower Tullock Formation (Paleocene), Slope County, Southwestern North Dakota, William K. Hickey

Theses and Dissertations

The lower Tullock Formation (Paleocene), which consists of a section 5 to 30 feet thick, was studied in Slope County, southwestern North Dakota to determine its depositional environments. The lithol ogies present are sand, silt, clay and lignite. A bed of lignite or yellow silt marks the base of the Tullock Formation throughout the study area.

The silt beds are interpreted as having been deposited as natural levees because they are wedge-shaped and contain climbing ripple cross-stratification, interbedded sand lenses and lignitized paleo-raot systems. Well-drained swamp deposits are difficult to distinguish, but are probably located in the silt beds.

There …

Hydrogeology Of A Sanitary Landfill, Mandan, North Dakota, Raymond D. Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The data from this study can be applied to much of southwestern North Dakota because the geologic and climatic conditions are similar.

The Mandan landfill is on the Heart River floodplain and next to the river on the north and steep valley wall on the south. The sanitary landfill bas been used for over 20 years.

The only pre-Pleistocene unit exposed is the Cannonball Formation, which is interbedded sand, silt, and clay. Quaternary units consist of till, fluvial sand, silt, clay, and gravel, and eolian sand and silt.

A local flow system recharges on the upland next to the valley …

Heavy Minerals Of Glacial Sediments In The Area Of Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, Howard Hobbs

Theses and Dissertations

Pleistocene lithostratigraphic units containing glacial sediments in the Red Lake Falls, Minnesota, area and adjacent areas were studied to determine their heavy-mineral assemolages. Seventy-two samples of fine sand were studied by optical grain-count methods and 77 samples of fine sand were studied by x-ray diffraction methods. Most formations contain a hornblende-garnet-pyroxene-epidote assemblage; the Gervais Formation contains a pyroxene-hornblende assemblage. The mean proportion of the constituent minerals is different in each formation; however, there is overlap in the ranges of heavy mineral proportions among the formations. The Red Lake Falls Formation can be subdivided on the basis of garnet abundance.

Depositional Environments Of The Upper Part Of The Sentinel Butte Formation, Southeastern Mckenzie County, North Dakota, Robert Post Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

The depositional environments of a 40 meter thick interval in the upper part of the Sentinel Butte Formation in southeastern McKenzie County, North Dakota have been determined from the sedimentary structures, geometry, distribution of grain· sizes, and stratigraphic relations of cyclic lithostratigraphic units. The top of the study interval is the top of the upper yellow marker bed.

An elongate, tabular sand bed was studied in detail. It is 12 meters thick and 3 kilometers wide and it is interpreted to have been deposited by lateral accretion in a high-sinuosity stream. Paleo current indicators are parallel to the long axis …