Geology of the Fort Hill Quadrangle Lincoln County Wyoming
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Geology of the Fort Hill Quadrangle Lincoln County Wyoming I GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 594-M - Geology of the Fort Hill Quadrangle Lincoln County Wyoming By STEVEN S. ORIEL SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 594-M Surface and subsurface data of an area along the eastern margin of the Idaho-JI7joming thrust belt establish the geometry and times of movement of two ma;"or frontal thrust faults UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. WASHINGTON 1969 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR WALTER J. HICKEL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY William T. Pecora, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Stratigraphy-Continued Page Abstract __________________________________________ _ M1 Cretaceous System_____________________________ - M10 Introduction ______________________________________ _ 1 Gannett Group ____________________________ _ 10 Purpose of report ______________________________ _ 2 Bear River Formation ______________________ _ 11 Previous work _________________________________ _ 2 Aspen Formation __________________________ _ 11 Present work and methods ______________________ _ 2 Frontier Formation ________________________ _ 11 Acknowledgments ______________________________ _ 3 Cretaceous rocks below the Hogsback fault ________ _ 12 Geography________________________________________ _ Gannett Group ____________________________ _ 3 12 Location ______________________________________ _ 3 Bear River and Aspen Formations or lDakota Landforms ____________________________________ _ 3 Sandstone and Mowry Shale ______________ _ 12 lDrainage _____________________________________ _ Frontier Formation ________________________ _ 5 13 Hilliard Shale _____________________________ _ Climate and vegetation _________________________ _ 5 13 Adaville(?) Formation ______________________ _ Settlement and accessibility _____________________ _ 5 14 Tertiary System _________________________ ------- Geographic names _____________________________ _ 6 14 Hoback(?) Formation ______________________ _ Stratigraphy ______________________________________ _ 6 14 Wasatch Formation ________________________ _ Cambrian System______________________________ _ 6 15 Green River Formation ____________________ _ Gros Ventre Formation _____________________ _ 6 19 Bridger Formation _________________________ _ Gallatin Limestone ________________________ _ 7 22 Ordovician System-Bighorn lDolomite ___________ _ Quaternary System-unconsolidated deposits_ . ____ _ 22 7 Structure _________________________________________ _ lDevonian and Mississippian Systems-lDarby For- 23 Hogsback thrust fault __________________________ _ mation _____________________________________ _ 7 23 Fort Hill thrust fault ___________________________ _ Mississippian System-Madison Limestone _______ _ 7 26 Meridian thrust fault __________________________ _ Mississippian and Pennsylvanian Systems-Amsden 28 Pine Ridge thrust fault_ ________________________ _ Formation __________________________________ _ 8 28 La Barge thrust fault __________________________ _ 28 Pennsylvanian and Permian Systems-Wells Forma- tion ________________________________________ _ Wyoming anticline_____________________________ _ 29 8 Meridian and other anticlines ___________________ _ 29 Permian System-Phosphoria Formation and equiv- Folds in Tertiary strata _____________________ - __ - 29 alent strata _________________________________ _ 8 Normal faults ____________________________ ------ 29 Triassic System ________________________________ _ 8 Reverse faults ________________________ -_-_------ 31 lDinwoody Formation _______________________ _ 8 Structure beneath La Barge fault_ _______________ _ 31 Woodside Formation _______________________ _ 9 Some tectonic implications ______________________ _ 31 Economic geology __________________________________ _ Thaynes Limestone ________________________ _ 9 32 Natural gas and oiL ___________________________ _ 32 Ankareh Formation _______________________ _ 9 Helium _______________________________________ _ 33 Triassic(?) and Jurassic(?) Systems-Nugget Sand- Oil shale _____________________________________ - _ 34 9 stone__ ~------------------------------------- Coal------------------------~----------------- 34 Jurassic System _______________________________ _ 10 Phosphate ____________________________________ _ 35 .Twin Creek Limestone _____________________ _ 10 Other resources ______________________________ --- 35 Preuss Redbeds ___________________________ _ 10 References cited ______________________________ ------ 35 Stump Sandstone __________________________ _ 10 Index ____________________________________________ _ 39 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. Geologic map of the Fort Hill quadrangle__________________________________________________________ _ In pocket 2. Geologic structure sections across the Fort Hill quadrangle ____________________________________ ------- In pocket FIGURE 1. Index map of southwestern Wyoming showing the location of the Fort Hill quadrangle __________________ _ M3 2. Map showing central part of thrust belt of western Wyoming, southeastern Idaho, and northeastern Utah __ 4 3. Idealized section of Wasatch and Green River Formations in the Fort Hill quadrangle __________________ _ 16 III IV CONTENTS FIGURES 4-19. Photographs: Page 4. Pisolites in limestone of the Chappo Member on La Barge Ridge_______________________________ M16 5. Angular unconformity in the Wasatch Formation between the La Barge Member and the underlying Chappo Member, south fork of Chappo Gulch___________________________________________ 16 6. Wasatch and Green River Formations on the east side of Green River at La Barge______________ 17 7. Pedestal formed by resistant conglomerate layers above less resistant red muddy siltstone of the La Barge Member of the Wasatch Formation____________________________________________ 18 8. A common type of expos·ure of the New Fork Tongue of the Wasatch Formation_________________ 18 9. Sandstone in theNew Fork Tongue of the Wasatch Formation containing loglike concretionary zones_ 18 10. Sequence of Wasatch and Green River stratigraphic units_____________________________________ 19 11. Cross bedded partly conglomeratic sandstone in the upper tongue of the Wasatch Formation_______ 20 12. Very poorly sorted conglomerate in the conglomerate member of the Wasatch Formation near Graphite Hollow ______________________ ---- ____ -______________________________________ 20 13. Type locality of Fontenelle Tongue of the Green River Formation_____________________________ 20 14. Steeply dipping thinly laminated light-gray muddy limestone in the Fontenelle Tongue of the Green River Formation_____________________________________________________________________ 21 15. Oil shale and volcanic ash in the lower part of the middle tongue of the Green River Formation____ 21 16. Pink,_ tan, gray, and white laminae of madstone, siltstone, sandstone, and limestone in the upper part of the middle tongue of the Green River Formation along Fontenelle Creek_____________ 22 17. Overlap of the La Barge Member of the Wasatch Formation by the Fontenelle Tongue of the Green River Formation_____________________________________________________________________ 22 18. Algal limestone mound in the upper tongue of the Green River Formation______________________ 23 19. Hogsback thrust fault unconformably overlain by the Chappo Member of the Wasatch Formation__ 24 20. Part of the gamma ray-sonic log for the Phillips Fort Hill 1A showing the repetition of the Darby Formation in the Fort Hill thrust plate_________________________________________________________ 27 21. Photographs showing steeply dipping normal faults in the quadrangle___________________________________ 30 22. Photograph showing site of Salli coal mine along Chappo Gulch________________________________________ 34 TABLE TABLE 1. Wells drilled for oil and gas in the Fort Hill quadrangle through mid-1966_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ M25 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY GEOLOGY OF THE FORT HILL QUADRANGLE, LINCOLN COUNTY, WYOMING By STEVEN s. ORIEL ABSTRACT have been especially productive. Many more such stratigraphic The Fort Hill quadrangle lies along the b<>undary between traps are likely to be found in Cretaceous, Tertiary, and possibly the Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt and the Green River Basin. A also in Paleozoic rock units within the region. sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks about Other natural resources of the area include helium, oil shale, 21:l,OOO feet thick has been intensely deformed along the front coal, and phosphate. of the thrust-belt mountain system. Only Cambrian to Ordo vician and Triassic to Cretaceous rock units are exposed now INTRODUCTION within the quadrangle. Middle and upper Paleozoic rocks are covered by partly deformed, but well exposed, Tertiary strata Exposed rocks along the western margin of the Green that help date some of the tectonic events. River Basin have received comparatively little atten Drilling within the quadrangle has provided data which help tion from geologists since the extensive reconnaissance outline the third dimension of structures map~. Westerly studies by the U.S. Geological Survey very early in this dipping lower Paleozoic to Mesozoic units overrode gently folded century. Yet study of these rocks and of data from qretaceous rocks eastward along the Hogsback fault in ~aleocene time; all movement