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Areal Geology of the Post-Paleozoic Surface of the Northwest Plains William M

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Areal Geology of the Post-Paleozoic Surface of the Northwest Plains William M Montana Tech Library Digital Commons @ Montana Tech Bachelors Theses and Reports, 1928 - 1970 Student Scholarship 5-1940 Areal Geology of the Post-Paleozoic Surface of the Northwest Plains William M. Broderick 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 Broderick, William M., "Areal Geology of the Post-Paleozoic Surface of the Northwest Plains" (1940). Bachelors Theses and Reports, 1928 - 1970. 104. http://digitalcommons.mtech.edu/bach_theses/104 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]. 13'Y'odric k I W. /VJ. " ~REAL GEOLOGY OF TI~ POST-PALEOZOIO SURFACE CF THE NORTH/lEST PLl.n~s By \7illiam M. Brodrick ~ Thesis Submitted to the Depe.rtment of Geology in Par7.ial Fulfillment of tl.e Requiremonts of the De~ree of Bachelor of Science in Seolorical Engineering I Montana School of Mines Butte t Montana May, 1940 QNTANA SCH90L OF MINES lIBHABY. AREAL GEOLOGY OF THE POST-PALEOZOIC SURFACE OF THE NORTRYEST PLAINS By William. M. Brodrick 145t:J7 A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Geology in Partial ,Fulfillment of the Re~uirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering M'Ontana School of Mines Butte, Montana May, 1940 TABU: OF CONTEN'IS Page Introduction. 1 General geology of the northwest plains • 2 structure. 2 Stratigraphy. 3 Madison formation. 3 Big Snowy group • 4 Amsden formation. 5 Q,uadrant-Tensleep formation 5 Phosphoria-Embar formation. 6 Chugwater-Spearfish formation. ? Procedure. ? Source of information. 7 Methods of assembling the information. 8 Difficulties • 9 Material Results. 10 The map. 10 The cross-sections • 11 Distribution of sediments beneath Mesozoic strata. 12 Theoretical deductions. 12 Geologic history of the Paleozoic era. 12 15 Inland seas. reas of erosion • 15 ii TABLE OF CONTENrs (Cont'd) Page Source of clastics • • • • . 16 Development of porosity in lime stone • . 16 Economic applications • • • •• . 17 Areas for prospecting. • . 17 Conclusions •• . 19 Index: of points of information. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 20 iii ·REAL GEOLOGY or THE POST-PALEOZOIC SUID:ACE OF THE NOR~VESTPLAINS Bf William M. Brodrick INTRODUCTION Realizing the increasing importance of sub-surface geology es- pecially in the.petroleum field, the writer undertook this problem at the suggestion of Dr. E. S. Perry and Dr. L. L. Sloss of the Ge- ology Department of Montana School of Mines. This paper was written as partial fulfillment for the Degree of Bachelor of Science in Geological Engineering. The material was gathered during the school year 1939-1940, and the report written and maps drawn in April of 1940. Probably most of the area included in this report has been ex- amined to some extent by oil geologists, and most, if not all, of the important domes have been discovered and surveyed thoroughly. In parts of the area, the bedrock is covered by glacial drift or alluvium materi- aI, but it is reasonable to believe that no new domal structure will be found. This means that surface examination alone will be insufficient in locating new oil fields, so future prospecting will be dependent, to a great extent, on studies of sub-surface stratigraphy. With this thought in mind, the report was written and the map -1- drawn hoping that they would reveal, with a fair degree of accuracy, the relative positions of different formations prior to the laying down of the Mesozoic sediments. It wa$ also hoped that a basin, dome, or other favorable oil structure might be brought to light, and since the depletion of shallow zones in many oil producing localities has caused deep drilling into pre-Mesozoic rocks to come into prominence, a map of this sort may be of some value. The writer wishes to acknowledge the assistance of Dr. E. S. Perry and Dr. L. L. Sloss of the Geology Department of Montana School of Mines, under whose supervision this paper was written. Their many help- ful suggestions, assistance in correlating the infonnation, and help in drawing the final map, greatly benefited this report. GENERAL GEOLOGY OF THE NORTHViEST PlAINS Structure The greater part of this area is characterized by flat or roll- ing plains, underlain by a thick succession of Tertiary, Cretaceous, Carboniferous, and older strata. Occasional isolated areas of mountain uplifts are scattered throughout the area, especially in ontana and -{yarning. The origin of these may be one of three different types of structure. Some were caused by intrusion of igneous rocks into sedi- mentary.beds, others caused by the extrusion of lavas on a nearly level surface, and a third may be due to large asymmetrical folds. These have formed many ideal oil structures, some producing oil and gas, while others are entirely lacking in them. It has been noticed that the structures that contain petroleum are complexly faulted; the dis- -2- placement of which in many cases does not exceed over 20 to 50 feet, but in some cases may be 100 feet or more. Dr. Perry* believes that the intensive artesian circulation in this area flushed the oil and gas from the structures except those that were faulted, and that these faults displaced the beds in such a manner as to seal the chan- nel of circulating ground-water and stopped the circulation in that area. The Rocky Mountains, which border the. area on the west, cover- ing Idaho, western Montana and western iTyoming, are a continuous suc- cession of compressed folds, great overthrust faults, and widespread igneous intrusions and extrusions. .lide flat intermontane valleys are common, filled in many cases with sediments of lake origin. stratigraphy The size of the area concerned in this report made it necessary to draw up a correlation chart for the different formations. Differ- ent names have been given to the same strata in different localities, so it was essential that equivalent beds be correlated in order to make a clearer understanding of the stratigraphy of this area. (See Plate I.) A description of only the strata exposed at the surface of post-Paleozoic time will be made. The Madison Formation. --The Madison limestone (1Jlississippian age) ranges from 800 to 2,000 feet in thickness. It was named from outcrops in the Madison river valley, south of Three Forks, Montana. In this area the limestone is light to dark gray in the upper por- *Oral Communication. -3- .;: PLATE ~ > Gi ·rl ~ ., ~ •.-4 'M oS Gi oS II) a.1 r-4 ~ t'O e ,..~ g~ d) ~ C> o ~ 'S .0 a.1 I%. 0- J" o 0 ~ ~ ':to (,I) p::~ 61 >Q :.8 oS ,::~ ~ .p o 0 s:: ., fO ..c: ~ ~ ~ N +'~ 0 0 ...-I 0 a.1 m a.1 CD s::i I-- "-4 ~ il) ~ ! co .-fA 0.-4 I-- J.. (J) ..c: 'M 'a r-4 0 f '0 0 r... ~ as W ..... • r... s::i d) ~ G> a.1 .... 0 0 0.. ." j:)., bO ~ ~ ~!"ai :::a ~ tI.l ~ 0 j i~ A ~ H ~ ~~ ~. N j 0·.-4 ~ h 0 Pi 0 0 co ~~~ ~ II) II) r.:. h E-< C> R oS oM 0 .....g+' '0 G> I+-t "~ .p N ,95 4) I+-t .p;El0 ~ .... ,.. CI) !E j :s of! ~ f;l 8 .p ] III ,._ ..... 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