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Geology of the Pierre Area South Dakota

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Geology of the Pierre Area South Dakota Geology of the Pierre Area South Dakota GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 307 Geology of the Pierre Area South Dakota By DWIGHT R. CRANDELL GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 307 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1958 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRED A. SEATON, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Thomas B. Nolan, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. CONTENTS Page Page Abstract-__________________________________________ 1 Rock formations Continued Introduction_ ______________________________________ 2 Deposits of Recent and Pleistocene age Continued Location, culture, and accessibility. _____________ 2 Loess Continued Purpose and scope of study_ _____________________ 2 Buried soil profiles in loess_______________ 39 Field work and acknowledgments.- _____________ 3 Rate of loess accumulation_______________ 42 Earlier studies. ___ _________________________ 4 Spring deposits-_______________-__------____ 42 Geography_ _ _____________________________________ 4 Landslide deposits________________-_----____ 43 Relief and drainage.____________________________ 4 Fan deposits._____--_______-__-_-__-__-_--_ 43 Climate and vegetation.. ______________________ 5 Deposits of Recent age_________________________ 43 Soils._________________________________________ 6 Geomorphic development of the area in the Pleistocene Rock formations. __________________________________ 6 epoch ___________________________________________ 44 Precambrian rocks_ __________________________ 6 Kansan and pre-Kansan time ____________________ 44 Paleozoic rocks_ _ __________________________ 6 Yarmouth stage._______________________________ 44 Cretaceous rocks_ ______ ___________________ 7 Topography and drainage________-___----_--_ 44 Montana group________ _______________ Origin of southeastward-trending tributary Pierre shale _________________________ drainage pattern_.________________________ 45 General features. _________________ Hypotheses of origin.___________________ 46 Sharon Springs member_ ____________ 9 Discussion, _ _______________________ 46 Gregory member.___________________ 10 Eolian hypothesis of origin,__________ 47 Crow Creek member, _______________ 10 Longitudinal dune hypothesis, _ _ _ 47 DeGrey member. ________________ 12 Deflation basin hypothesis _______ 47 Verendrye member_ _______________ 15 Time of origin_________________________ 49 Virgin Creek member_______________ 15 Illinoian stage__________________________________ 50 Mobridge member __________________ 16 Divide areas and drainage pattern before glacia- Elk Btitte member._________________ 18 tion ___ _ _______________________________ 50 Environment of deposition of the Origin of the Missouri River trench___________ 52 Pierre shale._____________________ 18 Sangamon stage _______________________________ 53 Fox Hills sandstone- _ __________________ 19 Wisconsin stage________________________________ 54 Absence of deposits of Tertiary age _______________ 20 lowan substage,____________________________ 54 Deposits of Pleistocene age _____________________ 20 lowan-Tazewell interval.____________________ 55 Pre-Wisconsin deposits,_____________________ 20 Tazewell substage_________________-___-_____ 55 Nonglacial deposits of pre-Kansan age (?) _ _ 21 Tazewell-Cary interval. ______________________ 57 Nonglacial deposits of probable Yarmouth Gary substage______________________________ 58 and Illinoian age____________________ 21 Late Wisconsin and Recent time______________ 58 Absence of deposits of Sangamon age______ 23 Structure,_________________________________________ 58 Deposits of Wisconsin age___________________ 23 General features._______________________________ 58 Till of the Wisconsin stage_______________ 23 Folds___.______________________________________ 59 Deposits of the lowan substage.__________ 25 Faults_________________________________________ 61 Till. ______________________________ 25 Joints _________________________________________ 63 Stratified drift in the Missouri River Cause of deformation___________________________ 65 trench___________________________ 27 Geologic history.___________________________________ 65 Proglacial outwash deposits in valleys Economic geology.. _ _______________________________ 66 tributary to the Bad River_________ 28 Natural resources,. ___________________________ 66 Alluvial fill in the Bad River trench. __ 29 Sand and gravel ___________________________ 66 Southwesternmost extent of glacial Hard rock,________________________________ 67 deposits._ _______________________ 29 Fill material-______________________________ 67 Deposits of the Tazewell substage_ _ _______ 31 Pierre shale as a possible source of lightweight Till and moraines.-_________________ 32 aggregate- ____________________________ 69 Stratified drift-___________________ 33 Natural gas_ ______________________________ 70 Southwesternmost extent of Tazewell Manganese, _______________________________ 70 ice._____________________________ 35 Water___________________________________ 70 Deposits of the Gary substage_ 35 Some engineering-geology problems _______________ 70 35 Relation of some road failures to geology __ _ _ _ _ 71 Stratified drift _ _ ____________ 36 Landslides_________________________________ 72 Westernmost extent of Gary ice. 37 Slumps, _______________________________ 72 Deposits of the Mankato substage_ _ 38 Flows_______________._________________ 76 Deposits of Recent and Pleistocene age______ 38 Combinations of flows and slumps._______ 77 Loess ___ ___________________________ 38 Factors affecting mass wasting.__________ 77 Description. _____________________ 38 Literature cited____-______-__---____---_----_____-_- 77 Fauna. __________________________ 39 Index.____________________________________________ 81 ill IV CONTENTS ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates are in pocketj PLATE 1. Geologic map of Canning quadrangle, South Dakota. 2. Geologic map of Pierre quadrangle, South Dakota. 3. Geologic map of Oahe quadrangle, South Dakota. Page- FIGUBE 1. Index map of South Dakota showing location of Pierre area__________________________________________ 3 2. Subsurface formations known from deep borings.______________________________________________----__ 7 3. Relation of true Dakota sandstone to pre-Greenhorn limestone Cretaceous formations of western South Dakota, 8 4. Summary of changes in the stratigraphic nomenclature of the subdivisions of the Pierre shale in central South Dakota since 1937_______________.______________________________________-_-_--__-__---____ 9 5. Crow Creek member as exposed south of the Missouri River in the valley walls of Port George Creek____ 11 6. Cut-and-fill stratification in siltstone of Crow Creek member_______________________________________ 11 7. Outcrop of DeGrey and Verendrye members in the valley walls of Antelope Creek in NEJ4NWJ4 sec. 17, T. 4 N., R. 33 E________________________________________________________________________________ 13 8. Specimen of the mosasaur Platecarpus cf. brachycephalus Loomis in the shale and bentonite facies of the DeGrey member near Pierre____________________________________________________________________ 14 9. Exposure of Verendrye member overlying shale and bentonite facies of DeGrey member near Chantier Creek__________________________*___________________________________________________________ 15 10. Geologic map of part of central South Dakota west of the Missouri River._____^_ ______________________ 19 11. Soil profile developed on alluvium of probable Yarmouth age______-_--__------________-__--_-_-._-__-_-- 23 12. Map showing alluvial deposits of probable Yarmouth and Illinoian age, their range and altitude, in the south half of the Oahe quadrangle____-___________-____-________________-_--_______--__-.__-_-_----_----- 24 13. Exposure in southeast wall of gully, southeast of Pierre Municipal Airport-. ____-_-__-_-________-_______- 27 14. "Wisconsin ice margins in central South Dakota___-_--_----__-____________________-__--_-___--_----... 30 15. Boulder concentration along north valley wall of Missouri River in the eastern part of the Pierre quadrangle.. 32 16. Longitudinal profiles of outwash terraces of the Tazewell substage in the Missouri River trench and its tributaries-_____________________________________________________________________________________ 34 17. Gary till overlying Tazewell outwash southeast of Canning____________________________________________ 36 18. Bison skull from late Wisconsin outwash beneath Missouri River flood plain at Pierre__ ___________ 37 19. Loess deposits overlying Tazewell outwash sand and gravel in the city of Pierre__ ________________________ 40 20. Reconstruction of inferred topography and drainage immediately before formation of the Missouri River trench________________________________________________-___-_-_____-_-_-_--__---__--------------_ 45 21. Deflation basins and tributary drainage pattern in an area southeast of Pierre____________________________ 48 22. Diagrammatic cross section of the Missouri River trench in the Pierre area____--_--____-_______-___-_____ 54 23. Map showing successive positions of the Tazewell ice margin during deglaciation and spatial relation of the margins to inferred pre-Wisconsin topography_______________________________________-_-_-___-_ 56 24. Structure-contour map of the Pierre area, by M. E. Wing__________________________________________ 59 25. Part of a structure-contour map of a part of the Pierre area, by J. P. Gries______-__-____________________ 61
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