The Problem of the Tensleep Sandstone
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Montana Tech Library Digital Commons @ Montana Tech Bachelors Theses and Reports, 1928 - 1970 Student Scholarship 5-15-1947 The rP oblem of the Tensleep Sandstone George D. McCarthy Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/bach_theses Part of the Ceramic Materials Commons, Environmental Engineering Commons, Geology Commons, Geophysics and Seismology Commons, Metallurgy Commons, Other Engineering Commons, and the Other Materials Science and Engineering Commons Recommended Citation McCarthy, George D., "The rP oblem of the Tensleep Sandstone" (1947). Bachelors Theses and Reports, 1928 - 1970. Paper 226. This Bachelors Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at Digital Commons @ Montana Tech. It has been accepted for inclusion in Bachelors Theses and Reports, 1928 - 1970 by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Montana Tech. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE PP..OBIJ~MOF 'fHE 'l'BHSlEEP SMJDSTOl.J1,J; By George D. McCarthy Butte, Mont. , \ f. Thesis Subnittod to the D9~~rtnent of Geology in Parti:ll Fuli'i1lment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science jn Geo1oeica1 Engineerirg l:ONTAl'JfI._SCHOOL OF l.rm:sS BUT1'E, HONTAHA Hay 15, 19/;.,7 THE PROBLEM OF THE TENSLEBP SA,'iJDSTOf-..TE By George D. McCarthy Butte, Mont. A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geology in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bac~elor of Science in Geological Engineerino 19 754r I 7" MONTANA SCHOOL OF MINES BUTTE, MONTANA May 15, 1947 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Introduction. .. 1 Previous work ....•.•...•... 2 ,. i Acknowledgment s •...••..................... 3 Stratigraphy .•• .. 3 History. • . .• 3 Occurrence and distribution ••••••••••...••••••••• 4 Origin of the Sandstone 0 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •• 5 Textural and Mineralogic Composition ••••.••••••.•••••• 6 Preliminary Work0 •••••••••••••••••••••••• 6 Statistical Measures of the Sedimento •. • ••••• ,9 Median diamete r ............•... ............. 9 First and Third Quartile Diameter .••• 10 Coefficient of Sorting •••••• 11 Coefficient of Geometrical Quartile Skewness.......................... 13 Quartile Kurtos·s •.•... ......... 14 Porosity of the Tensleep Sandstone ••••••.••••••. 16 Chemical Composition ••• ......................... 17 Hicroscopic Study ••••• .......................... 18 Economic Considerations ••• ............................ 21 Conclusions ••. • • • • • • • • .. • • • • • • .. • • • • • • • • II •••••••••••••• 23 Bibliography. .. 24 ii TABLES Page 1. Wentworth's Size Classification •••..••••••.•...•.••• 7 2. Size Scale of Screens ••••••.•.•••.••••.••..•.•..•••• 8 3. Results of screen tests of a sand showing the size distribution in per cent by weight and cumulative per cent by weight ••••••••••.•••..•.••••. 8 4. Median diameter in milimeters of the grains in the Tensleep Sandstone of Daly Spur and Warren Quarry, based upon samples taken from these areas, as compared with the average di- ameter of the St. Peter Sandstone of Wisconsin •••••• 10 5. Quartile Dia~eters in milimeter of the grains in the Tensleep Sandstone of Daly Spur and \iarren Quarry... .. 11 6. Coefficient of Sorting of the Tensleep Sand- stone, based on samples from Daly Spur and Warren Quarry as compared with an average SO of the St. Peter Sandstone................ ..•.•••.•• 12 7. Coefficient of Geometrical uartjle Skewness of the Tensleep Sandstone of Daly Spur and vlarren Quarry as compared with the St. Peter Sandstone of the upper Hississip i Valley ••••..•.••. 14 8. The Quartile Kurtosis of the Tensleep Sand- stone of Daly Spur and Warren Quarry •••..•.••••..... 4 9. The S~mmary of the Textural Characteristics of the Tensleep Sandstone of Warren Quarry •.••.•••.• 14 10. The Summary of the Textllral Characteristic':) of the Tensleep Sandstone of Daly Spur ••••.••..•.••• 15 119 Porosity of the Tens1eep Sandstone at Daly Spur as compared with the average porosity of the St. Peter Sandst0n~ of·Minnesota •••••••..•••. 16 12. ChemicRl An81ys"ls of the Tens]eep Sandstone rom Daly Spur as' compared ..rith chemi cal analysis of the St. Peter Sandstone ••••......•...... 17 13. Ii.ner-aLs in -250 mesh material from the Tp'1- sIee Sandst.one at Daly Spur ••••..••..•••.....••••. ii i ILLUSTP..A.TONS PaO'e Plate 1. Lndex nt'll' of ont ana showi.ng location of areps samples and aistribution of the Ten- sleep Sandstone............................. 5 2. Cumulative curve of Daly Spur ••....•••••.•.• 8 3• Cumulative curve of Warr~n Qu rr~T........... 8 4. Textural analysi f: in er cent by l'fPight of Te!1s1eep Sandstone from Daly S ur ......•. 14 5. Textural analysis in er cent by vre';.t,_H o Tensleep sand~tone from W rren Quarry •••• 14 \ 6. D'i.saggr-egat.ed grains of the 'I'ens l.ee Sandstone. .. 16 7. Textural analys s in er cent by weight ••••• '7 ....iv THE PROBLE~ OF· THE TENSLEEP SANDSTONE by INTRODUCTION Sandstone is probably one of the most important group of rocks in existence today, because no matter where you ) turn, a product of sandstone or a product resulting from I sandstone, may be pointed out. It is used in making glass for our windows, as an aggrega.te in concrete and laster, in che~ical and. metallurgica.l industries, as a building stone and interestingly enough, it may be a eservoir rock for petroleUJ11. Thus, the economic importance of so insignifi- cant a thing as a mass of sand grains grows with the true reality of the situation. By increa.sing our knowl.edge of grains of sand, or particles of sa.ndstone in all their ram- ifications, it would undoubtedly reflect upon our everyday life by increasing cOffit'1.ercialpossibilities of an undevel- oped natural resource of Montana. The Tensleep sandstone wa.s studied with such a view in mind, not to try and Sh01'Ti'\6properties of value to anyone product, but rather, to obtain a broad knowlp.dge such that all people who have some interest in this pot en- tial commercial material may profit. ~any problems ~re presented by the formation itself for it is unique in its possibilities and limitations. The :"lanyproblems that arise in the geology are heyond the sco e of this thesis, such as "The Line of Lithologic Change from Sandstone to uartzite", "Reason for Change from Sandstone to Quartzite", and "Is the Quartzite Epigenetic or Syngenetic?" The major portion of this work was done on samples ob~ tained from the Warren Quarry near the Hontana-Wyoming border, about 50 miles south of Billings, and at Daly Spur, about 10 miles south of Dillon, Hontana .. The work done by the author was by necessity that of lab- ratory research. A mechanical analysis and microscopic exam- ination of the sandstone was made so that some inference as to mode of origin, medium of transportation, etc., could be determined. This was accomplished by seeking information re- garding aggregation of grains, their size, sorting, sha e, heavy minerals, porosity, and other qualities. The primary purpose of this re ort is to fulfill the re- ~ quirements of~thesis in the curriculum of Geological Engineer- ing at Hontana School of Hines. The work, which serves as a basis for this report was done during the first half of the academic year 1944 and the second half f the academic year 1947 in the Geological and Mineral Dressing La~ries of the Montana School of Mines. Previous Work - The author was unable to find similar work of this nature that had been conducted on this sandstone. In faot, not too much had been written about the Tensleep or uad- rant formation, as it was only during the war years that it came of prominence in Montana with the discovery of oil within it in the Elk Basin oil field at a depth of about 5000feet. -2- ACKNOWLEDGEM}!..'NTS The writer is grateful to Dr. E. S. Perry, Head, Geology Department, Montana School of Mines for his complete willing- ness to extend help and direction on the many problems that did arise, and which were solved because of this aid. The work of sampling both the Warren Quarry and Daly Spur was done by Dr. Perry, to whom the author is further indebted for this aid. To Dr. L. L. Sloss, formerly of the Geology Department of Montana School of Mines, but at present with the Geology De- partment of Northwestern University, the author is indebted for much of the preliminary information and guidance of this report. The author owes a word of thanks to Dr. E. Wm. Hein- rich for help in the mineralogic examination and microscopic study 0 the sandstone. Last, but not least, the writer ex- presses appreciation to Professor Don~ld Mc,lashen for his kindness in allowing the use of his equipment in much of the labratory work. STRATIGRAPFY History In order to approach the problem on ~and, the usin~ of two names to describe the same formation seemed to encourage ambiguity; but from a technical standpoint this is correct and convenient. Tensleep is the Rarne given to that part of -3- the formation south of Billings that is a sandstone, w,ile tIe we st.war'dextension of the sandstone in the mountains of Mont- ana ~rades into quartzite, and is called the Quadrant forma- tion. The name Quadrant was first used to describe the forma- tion as it appears on Quadrant Mountain in Yellowstone Nat- ional Park. At about the same time it'was also used as the fornational name for Amsden and Big Snowy group in central Montana, and becausw of this incorrect application of names, it has been one of the most misunderstood stratigra hic inter- pretations of Montana. Tensleep is merely the northern extension of the same name from Wyoming where the sandstone was originally des- cribed from exposures in Tensleep Canyon in the Big Horn Moun- tains. Occurence and Distribution The Montana Tensleep underlies the Chugwater formation of Triassic age, and the Ellis formation of Jurassic age in south- arn ontana, and in most areas rests conformably on the A.rns- den formation. It is equivalent to the Tensleep of Wyoming, the jvf.innelus8of the Black Hills, the Quadrant of rest.ern Hontana, and the Rocky Mounta.in quartzite of Canada.