Geology Commons^™

Depositional Environments And Diagenesis, Interlake Formation (Silurian), Williston Basin, North Dakota, Charles L. Lobue

Theses and Dissertations

The Interlake Formation is a succession of Silurian carbonates of large areal extent found in the Williston Basin. The Interlake attains a maximum thickness of about 1,100 feet in western North Dakota and thins to an erosional edge in eastern North Dakota,

The main purpose of this study was to interpret the depositional and diagenetic history of the Interlake Formation. Approximately 2,400 feet of Interlake core and 300 thin sections were studied, The Interlake was then divided into twelve lithotypes representing deposition in low-energy sublittoral, high-energy sublittoral, littoral, and supralittoral epeiric sea environments. In addition, paleosols are present,

Rocks that …

Depositional Environments And Diagenesis Of The Ratcliffe Interval, Madison Group (Mississippian), Williston Basin, North Dakota, Diane M. Catt

Theses and Dissertations

The Ratcliffe interval in North Dakota is a log marker-defined unit in the Williston Basin. It is Mississippian in age and crosscuts the lower Charles and upper Mission Canyon Formations of the Madison Group. Study of cross-sections, well core, and thinsections show that the Ratcliffe is comprised of six major facies: 1) brachiopod-bryozoan-echinoderm wackestone/packstone, 2) peloid packstone/wackestone, 3) oolite-peloid packstone, 4) laminated mudstone, 5) quartz siltstone packstone, and 6) anhydrite-dolomite mudstone. These facies were deposited in a regressive setting.

The initial deposition consisted mainly of marine limestones. The environment gradually became more restricted and deposition of large amounts of anhydrite …

Carbonate Bodies Within The Basal Swift Formation (Jurassic) Of Northwestern North Dakota, Tina M. Langtry

Theses and Dissertations

The carbonate bodies of the basal Swift Formation (Upper Jurassic) occur as anomalous deflections on a relatively uniform mechanical well log section. The areal distribution, stratigraphic relationships, and genesis of the carbonate bodies were determined by using the gamma ray log, the spontaneous-potential log, the resistivity log suite, and megascopic and microscopic core analysis.

The carbonate bodies of the basal Swift Formation are coarsening upward sequences composed of predominantly sand-sized, recrystallized mollusk grains. These grains were transported by strong bottom cur rents across the irregular sea floor of the shallow epicontinental Jurassic sea, and were deposited under agitated water conditions …

Depositional Environment And Diagenesis, Birdbear Formation (Upper Devonian) Williston Basin, North Dakota, Peter T. Loeffler

Theses and Dissertations

The Birdbear Formation is a subsurface unit that is present throughout North Dakota except where truncated by post-depositional erosion. An angular unconformity is present between the Birdbear and younger strata in areas where the Three Forks Formation does not overlie the Birdbear. An isopach map of the Birdbear, constructed from drill-hole log data, indicates that the formation generally thickens gradually from the erosional limit to a maximum of 119 feet north of the center of the Basin. A structure map o~ the top of the Birdbear shows a basin that reaches 9000 feet below sea level.

The Birdbear is predominantly …

Paleocene Coal-Bearing Sediments Of The Williston Basin, North Dakota : An Interaction Between Fluvial Systems And An Intracratonic Basin, Laramie M. Winczewski

Theses and Dissertations

Outcrop and test hole data for 225 sites in a 33,700-km² area of southwestern North Dakota were examined. Seven sedimentation intervals were identified for the Paleocene Bullion Creek and Sentinel Butte Formations. The intervals extend from the top of the Harmon coal (lower Bullion Creek) to the top of the Twin Buttes coal (upper Sentinel Butte). Each interval consists of medium and fine elastics underlying a persistent lignite coal, or some other lithology at the stratigraphic position of the coal. Clastics are finer-grained upwards within intervals and within both formations to the upper Sentinel Butte.

Sand-rich zones align northwest-southeast, …

Glacial Geology And Stratigraphy Of Southeastern Pierce And Southwestern Benson Counties, North Dakota, Arthur W. Schnacke Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

The study area includes 220 square miles in southeastern Pierce and southwestern Benson Counties, North Dakota (T. 152 N. through T. 154 N., R. 70 W. through R. 73 W.).

,

Field mapping and subsequent analyses were attempted to differentiate the drifts of the Leeds and Souris lobes, to determine the sequence and duration of events during and subsequent to glaciation, and to aid in correlating the drifts. Landforms of the area include: ice marginal ridges, ground moraine, proglacial plains, abandoned river channels, and sand dunes.

In the laboratory, very coarse sand lithology percentages, till fabric, texture, and gross lithology …

Petrology, Geochemistry And Economic Geology Of Selected Gold Claims In Rocks Of The Wasekwan Lake Area, Lynn Lake District, Manitoba, Canada, Douglas Scott Kenaley

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this investigation was to map and study, both at regional and detailed scales, the units encountered within seven gold claims that were staked by Sherritt-Gordon Mines Limited of Lynn Lake, Manitoba. The claims are located in the wasekwan Lake area, approximately 12. 8 km southeast of Lynn Lake. Regional mapping was conducted at a scale of 1:12000 over a 6.4 km2 area and detailed mapping of potentially economic areas was conducted at a scale of 1:240. Whole-rock geochemistry, microprobe, optical and X-ray diffraction procedures were employed to describe and characterize the rocks. The Aphebian rock units of …

Depositional Environments And Sandstone Diagenesis In The Tyler Formation (Pennsylvanian), Southwestern North Dakota, Stephen D. Sturm

Theses and Dissertations

The Tyler Formation, of Early Pennsylvanian age, in southwestern North Dakota may be divided into upper and lower units, reflecting both a change in lithology and depositional environments. The lower unit is dominated by varicolored, noncalcareous shales and mudstones, siltstones, thin coal beds, and medium-grained sandstones. The upper unit in the areas of the Square Butte to Fryburg fields may be divided into a lower subunit, dominated by dark gray to grayish-black, argillaceous limestones and calcareous shales, and an upper subunit dominated by grayish-red, anhydritic limestones, varicolored to reddish-brown, calcareous shales, and locally, thin anhydrite. In the area of the …

Petrology And Alteration In The Core Of The Bear Lodge Tertiary Intrusive Complex, Bear Lodge Mountains, Crook County, Wyoming, Michael Wilkinson

Theses and Dissertations

The Bear Lodge complex is an elongate, dome-shape uplift about 8.5 km long by 4 km wide, 10 km northwest of Sundance, Wyoming. The study area is centered about Warren Peaks and includes approximately 23 km2. The igneous intrusive core of the complex is mostly alkali trachyte but latite is abundant in the southern portion of the complex. Phonolite, pseudoleucite trachyte porphyry, and carbonatite dikes cut across the core. Precambrian granitic rocks and lower Paleozoic sedi mentary rocks flank the intrusion and occur as xenoliths.

The latite is relatively unaltered and consists mostly of oligo clase, andesine, alkali feldspar, salite, …

Analysis Of Petroleum Source Rocks Of The Bakken Formation (Devonian And Mississippian) In North Dakota, Rick L. Webster

Theses and Dissertations

The Bakken Formation of North Dakota consists of upper and lower, black, organic-rich shales separated by a calcareous siltstone middle member. The formation is a relatively thin unit (maximum thickness of 145 feet) with the lower shale .attaining a maximum thickness of 50 feet and the upper shale a maximum thickness of 23 feet. The shales are hard, siliceous, pyritic, fissile, and noncalcareous. They contain abundant conodonts and tasmanites and have planar laminations accented by pyrite. The upper and lower shales were apparently deposited in an offshore, marine, anoxic environment where anoxic conditions may have been caused by silling of …

Stratigraphy And Depositional Environments Of The Wilcox Group (Paleocene) At The Oxbow Mine Site, Northwestern Louisiana, Richard E. Halle

Theses and Dissertations

The stratigraphy, structure, and depositional environments of the Naborton, Do let Hills, and part of the Cow Bayou Formations (Wilcox Group, Paleocene) at the Oxbow Mine site, Red River, De Soto, and Natchitoches Parishes,. Louisiana, were evaluated from a study of four continuous cores and 466 geophysical logs.

Overlying 40 feet {12 m) of silty Porters Creek shale is the Naborton Formation composed of 130-195 feet (40-59 m) of sand, silt, clay, and lignite. There are three lignites in this formation and their average total thickness is 13.5 feet (4. l m), or about 10% of the formation thickness. The …

Stratigraphy And Sedimentology Of The Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene) Near Lost Bridge, Dunn County, West-Central North Dakota, Bradley D. Nesemeier

Theses and Dissertations

The Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene) near Lost Bridge, Dunn County, west-central North Dakota, is 190 meters thick, and is charac terized by four main lithologies: sand, silt, clay, and lignite. The study interval is ISO meters thick, and lies between the basal sand of the formation and the Bullion Butte lignite bed, neither of which are exposed in the immediate study area. Sand, gray to yellow, makes up about 3S% of the interval studied. It occurs in tabular beds 2-18 meters thick. It is fine to very-fine, angular, and composed largely of quartz, feldspar, rock fragments, with minor amounts of …

Petrology Of The Cenozoic Phonolites And Related Rocks Of The Houston Creek Area, Bear Lodge Mountains, Wyoming, Frederick S. O’Toole

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to map and study the characteristics and origin of the Cenozoic phonolites and related rocks of the Houston Creek area, located on the southwestern flank of the Bear Lodge Mountains, 10 km northwest of Sundance, Wyoming. Mapping was conducted on a 2 1:10,000 scale over a 16 km area. Microprobe, optical, and x-ray diffraction procedures were employed to observe and describe petrographic and chemical characteristics of the rocks.

The Cenozoic igneous rocks of the Houston Creek area are classified as phonolite, phonolite porphyry, trachyte porphyry, sodalite-bearing phonolite and altered felsite. These hypabyssal rock types …

The Geology And Environment Of Deposition Of The Kinneman Creek Interval, Sentinel Butte Formation (Paleocene), North Dakota, Katherine J. Logan

Theses and Dissertations

To date, most environmental reconstructions of lignite bearing formations in western North Dakota have been done on a formational scale. The objective of this study was to investigate one of the non-lignite intervals, the Kinneman Creek Interval, directly above the strati graphically lowest lignite in the Paleocene Sentinel Butte Formation. The Kinneman Creek Interval has been recognized in the Sentinel Butte Formation throughout most of western North Dakota.

The field area is located in west-central North Dakota in Mercer, Oliver, and McLean Counties and is bisected by the Missouri River. Excellent exposures are provided in the highwalls of Baukol-Noonan, North …

Kaolinitic Weathering Zone On Precambrian Basement Rocks, Red River Valley, Eastern North Dakota And Northwestern Minnesota, Lynne Irvine Kelley

Theses and Dissertations

A suite of 26 drill cores recovered from the Red River Valley Drilling Project has provided new information on the Precambrian basement of eastern North Dakota and northwestern Minnesota. Basement rocks in this area consist of intermediate to felsic coarse-grained massive or gneissic rocks, and intermediate to mafic metavolcanic and metasedimentary schists. The Precambrian rocks of the region are interpreted to be a buried extension of the Superior Province of the Canadian Shield, and are divided into terranes of granitic rock and mafic schist, on the basis of drill-hole samples, patterns seen in Superior Province rocks which crop out to …

Postglacial Ostracod Distribution And Paleoecology, Devils Lake Basin, Northeastern North Dakota, James B. Van Alstine

Theses and Dissertations

Sediment cores were taken from Main Bay and Creel Bay of Devils Lake (in 1975 and 1976) and East Devils Lake (in 1978), within the Devils Lake basin, and from Red Willow Lake (in 1979), a control lake outside of the Devils Lake basin, northeastern North Dakota. The cores were sampled, for the recovery of the ostracods, at 10-cm intervals. Fifteen species of ostracods were present in the studied cores: 8 candonids, 1 cyclocyprid, 3 cyprids, and 3 limnocytherids. Two distinct faunas are recognized. The Devils Lake-East Devils Lake fauna consists of Candona lactea, C. rawsoni, Cyprinotus glaucus, Potamocypris smaragdina, …

Petrology Of The Cenozoic Igneous Rocks Of The Lytle Creek Area, Bear Lodge Mountains, Wyoming, Stanely F. White

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to map and study the petrology of the Cenozoic igneous rocks that crop out in the Lytle Creek area located in the southwestern Bear Lodge Mountains of northeastern Wyoming. Petro graphic and chemical data is used to interpret the Cenozoic phonolite trachyte rock association.

Cenozoic igneous activity in the Lytle Creek area appears to have been a response to the Laramide orogeny 80-40 m.y. B.P. The majority of the rocks were emplaced as laccoliths and sills at the Pahasapa Formation-Minnelusa Formation contact or at the Spearfish Formation Sundance Formation contact. Porphyritic volcanic textures are …

Molluscan Paleontology Of The Pliocene Peace Valley "Beds" And Ridge Route "Formation" (Ridge Basin Group), Ridge Basin, Southern California, Daniel R. Young

Theses and Dissertations

The Ridge Basin, 90 km northwest of Los Angeles, California, lies within the San Gabriel, San Andreas, Liebre, and Clearwater fault zones. The basin is an elongated, wedge-shaped, intermontane, Miocene-Pliocene basin filled with about 12 000 m of marine, lacustrine, fluvial, and alluvial sediment. More than half of the thickness of the Ridge Route "formation" and about one fifth of the Peace Valley "beds" was examined for molluscs along the northeastern side of the basin and more than 600 m of section were measured.

The nonmarine molluscs of the Ridge Route "formation" and Peace Valley "beds" consist of ten species: …

Periglacial Landforms And Processes In The Southern Kenai Mountains, Alaska, Palmer K. Bailey

Theses and Dissertations

The distribution and characteristics of periglacial landforms in the southern Kenai Mountains, Alaska, were investigated during the summer of 1979. The principal area of study was a 1300-metre high mountain mass which stood as a nunatak during the last general glaciation. Periglacial features in the area include gelifluction lobes, nivation hollows, cryoplanation terraces, tors, a string bog, and various for111S of patterned ground such as sorted circles, sorted polygons, earth hummocks, sorted steps, sorted stripes, and small ice-wedge polygons.

Ground temperature measurements indicate that permafrost recently existed in the area but is no longer present. The sorted polygons, cryoplsnation terraces, …

Geology And Petrology Of The Devils Tower, Missouri Buttes, And Barlow Canyon Area, Crook County, Wyoming, Don L. Halvorson

Theses and Dissertations

Field and laboratory investigations were employed to detmine the mode of emplacement and a petrogenetic model for three igneous localities in Crook County, Wyoming: the Devils Tower, the Missouri Buttes, and the Barlow Canyon area.

X-ray fluorescence, microprobe data, and optimal analyses iden tify the Missouri Buttes rock as foid-bearing alkali trachyte and anal cime phonolite and the Devils Tower and Barlow Canyon rocks as analcime phonolite.

Associated alloclastic breccia with a crystal-charged volcanic glass matrix, surrounding depressions representing collapse of igneous material back into the vent, striking similarity to known volcante necks, and the occurrence of other extrusive volcan1S11\ …

Distribution And Origin Of Elongate Sandstone Concretions, Bullion Creek And Slope Formations (Paleocene), Adams County, North Dakota, Michael W. Parsons

Theses and Dissertations

Rectilinear patterns in sandstone are visible on aerial photo graphs of Adams County, North Dakota. These patterns result from the differential erosion of elongate, calcareous, sandstone concretions that have formed in fluvial channel sand units.

The distribution and orientation of the elongate concretions were mapped from aerial photographs. The concretions have a strongly east-west orientation. Averages of paleocurrent measurements of the associated sand and sandstone are also easterly.

The elongate concretions occur slightly above and below the Rhame bed (a white marker zone at the top of the Slope Formation), in sand units at the base of the Bullion Creek …

Authigenic Kaolinite In The Bear Den Member (Paleocene) Of The Golden Valley Formation, In Southwestern North Dakota, Gordon H. Prichard

Theses and Dissertations

The Golden Valley Formation of North Dakota crops out in isolated remnants over a large area of southwestern North Dakota. The formation has two members, the lower Bear Den Member, which is characterized by kaolin and bright colors and the upper Camels Butte Member, which is characterized by micaceous sand and clay.

Two different theories, either in place weathering or detrital deposition, have developed as to the origin of the kaolinite in the lower member. Early workers suggest that the kaolinite of the member is detrital in origin for the following reasons:

1. No unconformity is present at the top …

Stratigraphy, Sedimentology, And Depositional Environments Of The Hell Creek Formation (Late Cretaceous) And Adjacent Strata, Glendive Area, Montana, Raymond D. Butler

Theses and Dissertations

The Colgate Member (Fox Hills Formation), Little Beaver Creek, Marmarth, Bacon Creek, Huff, and Pretty Butte Members (Hell Creek Formation), and lower Ludlow Formation in the Glendive area, Montana consist of sandstone, sandy siltstone, shale, and lignite. The Colgate is 24 m thick and consists of mostly sandstone, The Hell Creek Formation (Late Cretaceous) is 120 m thick, The basal member, the Little Beaver Creek, is up to 12 m thick and consists of about half sandstone and half shale. The Marmarth is 24 to 30 m thick and consists of mostly sandstone. The Bacon Creek is 36 m thick …

Paleoenvironmental Analysis Of A Late Holocene Deposit : Stanton Site, West-Central North Dakota, David W. Fischer

Theses and Dissertations

The Stanton Site (W1/2NE1/4 sec. 16, T. 144 N., R. 85W.), eastern Mercer County, North Dakota, contains a late Holocene organic deposit in the cutbank of an ephemeral stream on the Missouri Plateau. Strati graphic units of the 104-cm section are, in ascending order: (l) gravel; (2) silty, organic, sandy clay; (3) organic silt; (4) silty, sandy, organic clay; (5) organic silt; (6) sandy, silt, organic clay; and (7) sand. A radiocarbon date of wood from the base of unit 2 indicates initiation of deposition at 325±_115 radiocarbon years B.P.

Abundant well-preserved fossils are present in the organic sediments of …

Surface Geology For Land Use Planning, Minot, North Dakota Area, Garth S. Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

The Minot area includes about 330 square kilometres along both sides of the Souris River in north-central North Dakota. The area can be divided into the flat Souris River floodplain, the steeply sloping sides of the Souris and Des Lacs meltwater channels and larger tributaries, and the gently undulating uplands dissected by small streams. Surficial geologic units include Early Tertiary sand, silt, clay, and sandstone of the Bullion Creek Formation, Pleistocene glacial till, ice contact fluvial deposits, and other fluvial deposits of the Coleharbor Group, and Holocene fluvial and eolian deposits of the Oahe Formation.

Expansion of the Minot metropolitan …

Geology Of Igneous Extrusive And Intrusive Rocks In The Sundance Area, Crook County, Wyoming, Earl F. Fashbaugh

Theses and Dissertations

Two major igneous rock types occur in the Sundance, Wyoming area including foyaite of the Bear Lodge Mountain sill and quartz latite of Sundance Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain. The igneous bodies were mapped on a scale of 1:5000 in an effort to determine petrogenetic relationships between the two rock types.

Sundance Mountain and Sugarloaf Mountain are extrusive in origin. Quartz latite occurs as subparallel units of breccia, tuff, and massive flows without any clear cross-cutting relationships. Fragmental types (breccia and cuff) constitute 41 to 76 percent of the rocks, suggesting that Sundance Mountain is a mixed cone. The quartz latite …

Petroleum Potential Of The Tilston Interval (Mississippian) Of Central North Dakota, John P. Himebaugh

Theses and Dissertations

The Tilston interval sediments were deposited on the eastern flank of the Williston basin of North Dakota, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The interval (Osagian) is composed of a basal carbonate and upper anhy drite in the predominantly carbonate Mississippian Madison Formation. The interval consists of four major facies (subtidal, shoal, tidal flat and supratidal anhydrite), and two geographically restricted facies (lagoonal and elastic) and represents a regressive sequence.

Tilston deposition began with the subtidal facies, deposited on a broad, shallow shelf. As the sea regressed this was followed by deposition of the shoal facies. Further regression resulted in the deposition of …

Applied Geology In The Beulah-Hazen Area, Mercer County, West-Central North Dakota, Gary N. Meyer

Theses and Dissertations

Increased lignite development around the small towns of Beulah and Hazen, North Dakota, will cause rapid growth and necessitate the develop ment of new subdivisions and expansion of present sewage disposal facili ties. A detailed geologic study of a 9 0-square mile area surrounding the two towns was undertaken to provide information valuable to those concerned with proper management of this growth. A surface and near-surface materials map was prepared at a scale of 1:24, 000 showing relative depths and thicknesses of a maximum of three earth materials to a depth of 9 m. Eleven units were mapped at the …

Petrology Of The Cenozoic Igneous Rocks Of The Tinton District, Black Hills, South Dakota - Wyoming, John T. Ray

Theses and Dissertations

The Tinton district is located on the northwest flank of the Black Hills uplift, 20 km west of Lead, South Dakota, along the Wyoming South Dakota border. The Tinton or Nigger Hill uplift comprises a central area of domed Precambrian Xstrata with marginal exposures of Paleozoic sedimentary rocks which dip radially outward on all sides. The area was intruded by Cenozoic igneous rocks that include a stock of quartz latite/quartz trachyte porphyry, an alkalic ring dike complex, lamprophyre dikes and intrusive breccia.

Precambrian rocks are represented by a sequence of metapelites thst have been intruded by metabasite and granitic pegmatite …

Paleoecology Of Late Quaternary Molluscan-Ostracod Assemblages From The Norwood Site, Southeastern Minnesota, Kevin L. Malmquist

Theses and Dissertations

Well-preserved fossils, including mollusks, ostracods, beetles and plant remains were extracted from sediments at the Norwood Site in southeastern Minnesota during July, 1977. Stratigraphic units, in ascending order, were: (1) sandy claystone, (2) clayey siltstone, (3) sandy siltstone, and (4) laminated peat. Unit 1 was interpreted to be till or sediment that slumped or flowed into the lake. Unit 2 and the lower part of unit 3 were interpreted to be lacustrine sediments. The upper part of unit 3 was interpreted to be a shoreline deposit. Unit 4 was interpreted to be a terrestrial or marginal lacustrine deposit. Total thickness …