Earth Sciences Commons^™

Petrology Of Sandstones From The Bullion Creek And Sentinel Butte Formations (Paleocene), Little Missouri Badlands, North Dakota, Mark A. Steiner

Theses and Dissertations

The mineralogy and petrology of sandstones of the Paleocene Bullion Creek and Sentinel Butte Formations were studied from exposures in the Little Missouri River Badlands in Billings, Golden Valley, and McKenzie Counties, North Dakota. Field work was conducted in the summer of 1977. Stratigraphic sections were measured and described from eight localities. Sandstones were sampled at 47 levels, and three samples were collected from each level. Fifty-one samples were collected from the Bullion Creek Formation and 90 from the Sentinel Butte Formation.

Thin-sections were prepared from plastic grain-mount blocks containing disaggregated sand grains, and 200 points per thin-section were counted, …

The Rhame Bed (Slope Formation, Paleocene), A Silcrete And Deep Weathering Profile, In Southwestern North Dakota, Barbara D. Wehrfritz

Theses and Dissertations

The Rhame Bed is a unit at the top of the Slope Formation (for merly part of the "Ludlow Formation") in the Fort Union Group deposited during Paleocene time.

The Rhame Bed was mapped in western Slope County and north central Bowman County. The bed outcrops on the tops of buttes, at the present groJnd surface in large level areas, or in steep slopes. Although the bed is laterally discontinuous, it is a clearly mappable unit.

The Rhame Bed typically consists of two dominant lithologies: siliceous rock and white sediment. The siliceous rock is hard, gray, and made of silt-sized …

Depositional And Paragenetic Controls On Porosity Development, Upper Red River Formation, North Dakota, Kipp W. Carroll

Theses and Dissertations

The upper Red River Formation in North Dakota comprises a subtidal/intertidal facies overlain by three evaporitic sequences of four lithologic units each, labeled "P," "R," and "F" in stratigraphic order. Four porosity zones are recognized in the upper Red River: the subtidal/ intertidal facies forms one porosity zone, and each evaporitic sequence contains another. Each unit in a sequence, as well as the sequence itself, is thinner and less widespread than its preceding counterpart. All strata are laterally continuous across the main part of the Williston basin in North Dakota, but, the porosity zones eventually disappear to the east as …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Setting Of The Carrington Shale Facies (Mississippian) Of The Williston Basin, Peter F. Bjorlie

Theses and Dissertations

The Carrington shale facies is a radioactive illitic lagoonal shale, apparently deposited behind lime mudstone banks (Waulsortian bioherms), along the eastern margin of the Williston basin during Early Mississippian time.

The Scallion subinterval, which is the basal subunit of the Bottineau interval of the Madison Formation in North Dakota, is divisible into six lithologic facies, one of which is the Carrington shale facies. West of the shale facies, on the basin-shelf hinge line, is the lime mudstone facies. Basinward of this facies is the interbedded shale-limestone facies. Stratigraphically above the latter two facies is the sand-silt-shale facies. Overlying a portion …

Geology Of The Flathead Formation (Middle Cambrian) On The Perimeter Of The Bighorn Basin, Beartooth Mountains, And Little Belt Mountains In Wyoming And Montana, Joel A. Degenstein

Theses and Dissertations

The Flathead Formation, which is 4 to 60 metres thick in the middle and northern Rocky Mountains of Wyoming and Montana, contains cross-bedded and parallel-bedded, quartz sandstone. The formation contains marginal-marine and shallow-marine sediment that was deposited unconformably on Precambrian crystalline and sedimentary rock by an eastward-transgressing sea during middle Cambrian time.

This field study of the Flathead Formation on the perimeter of the Bighorn Basin, Beartooth Mountains, and Little Belt Mountains reveals that the formation consists of three intervals. The lower interval contains medium to very coarse, pebbly, cross-bedded sandstone and conglomerate. The middle interval contains medium to coarse, …

Certain Edaphic And Biotic Factors Affecting Vegetation In The Shadscale Community Of The Kaiparowits Area, Vane Orlan Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

A study area on the southern extensions of the Great Basin cold desert (Kaiparowits Basin, Utah) was selected which has had varying amounts of disturbance. Areas with similar slope and exposure in the Shadscale community were sampled. At each site, soil samples were collected and percent sand, percent clay, percent silt, soluble salts, and hydrogen ion concentrations were measured. Cluster analysis based on percent frequency of the perennial species showed that eight groups or sub-communities were definable within the area sampled. Patterns within the vegetation were shown to be independent with the use of cluster analysis. Discriminant analysis on soil …

Glacial Stratigraphy Of Southeastern North Dakota, Michael Camara

Theses and Dissertations

Seven lithostratigraphic units are recognized in the glacial sediment {till) of southeastern North Dakota. Five of these units are not formally named; eventually most of these units will be correlated with formations in surrounding regions. Two of these units, Gardar and Dahlen, are formations recognized in northeastern North Dakota {Hobbs, 1975). The seven lithostratigraphic units are differentiated and correlated using the percentage of the sand, silt, and clay fractions of the till and using the proportion of igneous and metamorphic rock fragments, limestone and dolomite fragments, and shale fragments in the very-coarse-sand fraction (1 to 2 mm) of the till. …

Western North Dakota Lignite Strip Mining Processes And Resulting Subsurface Characteristics, Laramie M. Winczewski

Theses and Dissertations

Data on subsurface conditions obtained prior to strip mining is useful in planning effective mining and reclamation procedures as well as predicting the subsurface characteristics after reclamation. The redistribution of the overburden sediments is less predictable, however.

Through field observations, the major mining factors controlling subsurface structure and overburden sediment redistribution were determined. These include the geometry of the coal body, pit sequence, pit curvature, overburden thickness and managerial input. At a given location, however, the detailed structures and distribution of sediment types within a waste bank were observed to depend upon the dragline cutting pattern, distance between dragline positions, …

Petrology Of The Alaskites Of The Boulder Batholith, Montana, Kenneth C. Malick

Theses and Dissertations

The Boulder batholith outcrops in the Northern Rookies of western Montana. It is exposed over an area of 5700 km^2 and extends about 112 km along the continental divide from Mullen Pass on the north to 32 km south of Butte. The Boulder batholith represents an invasion of the upper zones of the crust by a large volume of fluid granodioritic quartz monzonitic magma emplaced at the close of a main orogenic episode during late Cretaceous and Paleocene time.

Eight alaskite bodies were chosen for sampling from previous field experience and from geologic maps published by the U.S.O.S. Textural descriptions, …

The Late Cenozoic Geology Of West-Central Minnesota From Moorhead To Park Rapids, Roderic L. Perkins

Theses and Dissertations

Based on lithostratigraphic and geomorphic information, the Quaternary history of an area bounded by the Red River of the North, 95°00' west longitude, 47°00' and 46°45' north latitude in west central Minnesota, includes seven geologic episodes:

Glacial advances and retreats over all or part of the study area occurred during the first six geologic episodes. The glaciers advanced either southward across northern Minnesota, entering the study area from the northeast; or across eastern North Dakota and southwestern Manitoba, entering the study area from the northwest. As a result of these glacial events the sediment of Unit A, Sebeka Formation, New …

Stratigraphy And Paleontology Of The Upper Cretaceous Morden Member (Vermilion River Formation) In The Outcrop Area, Northeastern North Dakota, Fredrick D. Wosick

Theses and Dissertations

The Late Cretaceous Morden Member is the oldest exposed bedrock unit in North Dakota, cropping out in eastern Cavalier County in the northeastern part of the state. The Morden overlies the Greenhorn Formation and underlies the Niobrara Formation. The Canadian Morden Member of the Vermilion River Formation is used in lieu of the Carlile Formation because of the lithologic similarity and proximity to the Morden type area, and the distance from the Carlile Formation type section in southeastern Colorado.

Three principal sections were measured and sampled at 2-meter intervals for microfaunal and lithologic analysis. A single well was used for …

Paleozoology Of Cores From The Tyler Formation (Pennsylvanian) In North Dakota, U.S.A., James C. Grenda

Theses and Dissertations

A well-preserved fauna from the Tyler Formation was studied in cores from 34 wells drilled for oil in Billings, Golden Valley, McKenzie, Slope, and Stark Counties. Forty-four species of invertebrates, eleven form-species of conodonts, at least three types of fish, and at least four genera of plants· are present. Invertebrate species include 1 bryozoan, 15 brachiopods, 14 bivalves, 2 gastropods, 2 cephalopods, 2 annelids, 2 branchiopoda, at least 2 ostracodes, 2 malacostracans, 1 insect, and 1 echinoderm. Chordates include 1 "nonmarine" shark, at least 1 paleoniscoid fish, and 1 possible crossopterygian fish. A new genus and species of eocarid malacostracan …

The Glacial Geology Of Mckenzie County, North Dakota, Clark Fulton

Theses and Dissertations

Fourteen lithostratigraphic units composed of windblown, glacial, lake, slopewash, and stream sediment were distinguished in McKenzie County, The units were mapped using aerial photographs, topographic maps, and soil maps combi11ed with field e:xaminations of sediment outcrops. Eight of the units have been formally named and described in earlier studies. Four of them, however, have not been a"~ previously named and formally described .a.nu assigned names in this study. Two other units are described, but because of their limited exposure, are not assigned a formal lithostratlgraphic name. The oldest sediment exposed in the county was deposited during the Paleocene and the …

Geology Of The Western Portion Of The Dogtooth Pluton, Lake Of The Woods Region, Southwestern Ontario, Richard H. Pilatzke

Theses and Dissertations

A 10 km2 portion of a subsolvus, syntectonic or posttectonic grano dioritic intrusion located about 16 km east of Kenora, Ontario was extensively sampled for study by petrographic modal analysis and trend surface analysis. The Dogtooth pluton, the main intrusive body sampled, is part of a granitic batholith known as the Dryberry dome, which is interpreted to have been intruded into supracrustal volcanic and sedi mentary rocks about 2480 million years ago during the Kenoran Orogeny. The Longbow pluton, which was also sampled, occurs at the west margin of the Dryberry dome in contact with the supracrustal rocks to the …

Foraminiferids Of The Cannonball Formation (Paleocene, Danian) In Western North Dakota, William E. Fenner

Theses and Dissertations

In 1974 and 1975 about 2800 samples (of which 265 contained foraminiferids) of the Cannonball Formation were collected from 60 water test wells and two oil wells in Adams, Bowman, Burleigh, Divide, Dunn, Grant, Mercer, Morton, Oliver, Sioux, and Ward Counties in western North Dakota. Fifty species of benthonic foraminiferids and four species of planktonic foraminiferids were identified including eight textulariines, two milio lines and 44 rotaliines. Taxa reported for the first time from the Can nonball include: Reophax sp. (2 species), Ammobaculites expansus Plummer, Spiroplectammina wilcoxensis Cushman and Ponton, Quinqueloculina plummerae Cushman and Todd, Dentalina eocenica Cushman, Lenticulina alabamensis …

Pleistocene Geology Of The Comstock-Sebeka Area, West-Central Minnesota, Curtis A. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a reconnaissance of the surficial geology and a reconstruction of the late Cenozoic history of an area in westcentral Minnesota. The study area extends eastward from the Comstock area (14 miles south of Moorhead, Minnesota) in the Red River Valley to the Sebeka area (13 miles north of Wadena, Minnesota). The area is about 27 kilometres wide and 140 kilometres long.

Surface materials include Pleistocene glacial sediment and Pleistocene and Holocene fluvial, lacustrine, eolian, and bog sediment.

Four geomorphic districts are recognized. The flat Lake-Plain District is underlain by sand, silt, and clay that was deposited as …

The Effect Of Recreational Uses On Vegetation And Soil In The Buffalo Campground, Targhee National Forest, Island Park, Idaho, Susan Daines Foster

Theses and Dissertations

The effect of trampling on vegetation and soil, as a result of recreational pressure, was studied in the Buffalo campground of the Targhee National Forest, Idaho. Site deterioration was most evident in the forty-two year old site. The tree stand had matured, but there were few young trees and tree reproduction had been reduced to ten seedlings per acre for Pinus contorta. Only two shrub species were sampled with a combined population of eight individuals per acre. Most of the grass species had been seeded; forbs provided 20% of the ground cover, 13% was bare ground and 71% litter. The …

Use Of Selected Macroinvertebrates As Indicators Of Sedimentation Effects On Huntington River, Utah, Michael Kenneth Reichert

Theses and Dissertations

Benthic macroinvertebrate communities of Huntington River, Emery County, Utah were studied to determine effects of sedimentation from construction of Electric Lake Dam, a state highway, and two bridges. Approximately 900 benthic samples were collected from riffle areas above, in, and below the construction zone from January, 1971 to December, 1973. Two settling basins below construction sites were effective in limiting scouring of downstream communities. Heavy silt deposition was limited to a 1-km stream reach. Number of indicators, density, and biomass were reduced in the construction zone during periods of sediment input. During periods of scouring, density and biomass were reduced; …

Geology Of The North Beulah, Center, And Glenharold Lignite Mines In Mercer And Oliver Counties, Southwestern North Dakota, Roy E. Kulland

Theses and Dissertations

The geology of the North Beulah, Center, and Glenharold lignite mines in Mercer and Oliver Counties, southwestern North Dakota, were examined. Stratigraphically, all mines lie within the Sentinel Butte Formation. The North Beulah Mine lies 70 m below the top of the Sentinel Butte Formation and the Center and Glenharold Mines lie about 80 m above the base of the Tongue River Formation.

Four sedimentary types are recognized arid common to all mines; these are: silt and clay, silty sand, sand, and lignite. The silt and clay were deposited in floodbasins and shallow lakes occupying the lowest parts of the …

Late Pleistocene And Holocene Geology Of The Moe Site, New Town, North Dakota, Richard W. Kornbrath

Theses and Dissertations

Eight stratigraphic units of Late Cenoioic age are present around the Moe Archeological Site near New Town, North Dakota. Unit Zero is a layer of glacial sediment consisting of grayish brown pebbly clay loam. Unit One consists of fluvial and beach sand and gravel. Unit Two consists of light yellowish brown, offshore lake silt that was deposited into a glacial lake in Late Wisconsinan time. Unit Three is a layer of glacial sediment consisting of grayish brown pebbly clay loam (Late Wisconsinan). Unit Four consists of fluvial sand and gravel (Late Wisconsinan}. Unit Five is a layer of slough sediment …

Petrography Of Precambrian Iron Formation, Pembina County, North Dakota, Ronald E. Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

In October of 1964 the Topographic Branch of the United States Geological Survey reported difficulties in using magnetic compasses while mapping in the areas of Akra and Hensel, Pembina County, North Dakota. University of North Dakota geologists located anomalies of 67,500 gammas 1.6 lon east of Akra and 71,500 gammas 4 km east of Hensel, the normal magnetic field in this area being about 60,000 gammas. The rock bodies producing the magnetic anomalies were drilled and examination of diamond drill core showed them to consist of oxide and silicate facies iron formation interlayered with quartz-biotite schist of Precambrian age. The …

Pleistocene Geology Of The Grand Forks-Bemidji Area, Northwestern Minnesota, Kenneth L. Harris

Theses and Dissertations

This is a report of a reconnaissance study of the Quaternary geology of an area in northwestern Minnesota. Surface geology was studied in an area extending from Grand Forks, North Dakota, in the northwest to Bemidji, Minnesota, in the southeast, an area of 10 723 square kilometres (4140 square miles). Near-surface stratigraphy was studied in the area of surface study and an adjacent area of equal size to the south.

Surface materials mapped range in age from Pleistocene to Holocene and include glacial, glaciofluvial, lacustrine, bog, eolian, and alluvial sediments.

Sixteen power-auger test holes, two measured sections along the Red …

Stratigraphy Of The Upper Part Of The Fort Union Group In Southwestern Mclean County, North Dakota, Leroy A. Hemish

Theses and Dissertations

Southwestern McLean County is an area characterized by glacial topography and glacially-modified bedrock topography, with limited exposures of bedrock. Outcropping bedrock formations include the Cannonball, Tongue River, and Sentinel Butte Formations, all in the Fort Union Group of Paleocene age.

The Cannonball Formation crops out only in the southeastern part of the area studied (at Washburn), where 18 feet of laminated, gray-brown sandy mudstone is exposed. A yellow-brown, cross-bedded sand unit directly overlies the mudstone. I have tentatively selected the base of this sand unit, which is present in the subsurface throughout southwestern McLean County and reaches thicknesses of more …

Glacial Stratigraphy Of Northeastern North Dakota, Howard Hobbs

Theses and Dissertations

Seven lithostratigraphic units (formations} composed dominantly of glacial sediment have been recognized in northeastern North Dakota. Three formations, the Falconer Formation (Harris and others, 1974}, the Dahlen, and Gardar Formations (Salomon, 1975). Have been previously recognized. Four formations, the Hansboro, Vang, Tiber and Cando Formations are newly recognized. Uncorrelated units of glacial sediment are described but not named. The formations are differentiated and correlated primarily by the proportion of crystalline (igneous and metamorphic rock fragments), carbonate, and shale grains in the coarse sand fraction (1 to 2 mm) of the glacial sediment. The proportion of shale grains was. Found to …

The Keller Plan In College Introductory Physical Geology : A Comparison With The Conventional Teaching Method, Robert G. Walsh Sr.

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to compare the learning and attitudinal changes that took place in a college introductory physical geology class between a self-paced method of instruction called the Keller Plan and the conventional lecture-laboratory method.

The sample population was 56 students enrolled in Earth Science 120, an introductory physical geology course at Minot State College ·~ during the fall quarter, 1973. An experimental section of 20 students experienced the Keller Plan treatment and two control groups consisting of 18 students each received the conventional method of instruction.

Four specific areas of investigation were tested: (1) knowledge of …

Quaternary Geology Of The Southern Part Of The Grand Forks And Bemidji Quadrangles, Donald K. Sackreiter

Theses and Dissertations

Northwestern Minnesota is an area at the southwestern edge of the Canadian Shield that is mantled by thick Pleistocene sediment. The Pleistocene material included a variety of glacial, shoreline, offshore, fluvial, and eolian sediment.

The lithology of the glacial sediment reflects the rock and sediment over which the depositing glacier flowed. Glaciers that advanced from the northeast (Canadian Shield) deposited sandy, granitic-rich material. Glaciers that advanced from the north· (Manitoba Lowland) deposited loamy, calcareous-rich material. Glaciers that advanced from the northwest (eastern North Dakota and southwestern Manitobal deposited clayey, shale-ridt material. A variety of fluvial and lacustrine sediments are typically …

Stratigraphy Of Offshore Sediment Of Lake Agassiz, North Dakota, Michael B. Arndt

Theses and Dissertations

Lake Agassiz occupied the Red River Valley between about 13,800 and 9,000 years ago. The Late Wisconsinan ice sheet that covered the Red River Valley retreated far enough to expose the drainage divide in northern South Dakota and south-central Minnesota sometime after 14,000 B.P. and meltwater ponded behind this divide in Richland County. Before 13,800 the ice readvanced over this area and then retreated again. As the ice margin retreated northward, deposition of the Argusville and Wylie Formations took place. Sometime before 12,800 the ice advanced again into the Red River Valley as far as Traill County; the terminus of …

Natural Science Of The Great Plains As It Relates To The American Indian : A Syllabus And Sourcebook, Mary E. Bluemle

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation, which includes a sourcebook of pertinent reference materials, sample lesson plans, and natural science roadlogs, is an initial attempt at providing an Indian Studies field course in natural science. It also includes a syllabus which stresses natural science processes and serves as a unifying factor for field work, lecture, and course discussions. The dissertation stresses geographical and ecological concepts, climatic and geological processes, and the natural habitats of North Dakota. It includes discussions of North Dakota vertebrates and early man and his relation to his environment; discussions of_ the geologic features, geologic history, vegetation and animal life of …

Petrology And Geochemistry Of The Killdeer Carbonates, John J. Delimata

Theses and Dissertations

The strata of the proposed Killdeer Formation (Stone, W. J., 1972) in the Killdeer Mountains of Dunn County, North Dakota is composed of a sequence of tuffaceous, calcareous, dolomitized and silicified flat lying sedimentary rocks of Tertiary age. It is the purpose of this report to describe and integrate the petrology and geochemistry of these sediments.

Fieldwork was conducted during the summer of 1972. Forty-three stratigraphic sections were measured and representative samples of each were collected for further analysis. Seven section were selected as representative of the area, and samples from these were studied in thin section with the petrographic …

The Benthic Communities Of The Eastern Rocky Shore Areas Of Goshen Bay, Utah Lake, Thomas Whitney Toole

Theses and Dissertations

Information about the benthic macroinvertebrate populations along the eastern shore of Goshen Bay, Utah Lake, Utah, can be used, in part, to determine future management of the lake. In the project herein reported, cement artificial substrate samplers were used to sample two types of substrate: rubble and compacted calcareous tufa. Monthly samples were obtained from each type of substrate from March 1972 to May 1973. An amphipod, Hyalela azteca and a chironomid, Dicrotendipes fumidus were the dominant organisms in numbers and tiomass. Amphipod numbers were dependent upon the amount of algal standing crop. Elimination of this area could affect the …