Geology of the Crazy Woman Creek Area Johnson County Wyoming
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Geology of the Crazy Woman Creek Area Johnson County Wyoming By RICHARD K. HOSE A CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 1027-B Prepared as part of a program of the Department of the Interior for development of the Missouri River basin UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1955 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Douglas McKay, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price $1.75 (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract..__ _ _--__-__-______-_-_-__________-__-_-_-____----_____-- 33 Introduction, _____________________________________________________ 35 Location and extent of area_____________________________________ 35 Purpose and scope of report_____-___________-_____--__-____-____ 36 Field work and map compilation. _______________________________ 36 Acknowledgments. ____________________________________________ 36 Previous investigations,________________________________________ 37 Geography______________________________________________________ 38 Surface features.______________________-_______-_---__--------- 38 Water supply and drainage-____________________________________ 40 Climate and vegetation_______________________________________ 42 Accessibility and settlement___-_-___-___-_______-_-_--_____-__-_ 42 Stratigraphy._____________________________________________________ 42 i General features.._______-___-____-__-_-____-___-____-_------_- 42 Location of measured sections..-..-_____________________________ 43 Pre-Cambrian rocks__________________________________________ 43 Paleozoic rocks.--___--______-_-_________-______-__-_-__---_-__ 44 Flathead sandstone._-__-__-_-_-____________--_______---_-_ 44 Gallatin limestone and Gros Ventre formation, undivided_______ 44 Bighorn dolomite-_________________________________________ 45 Madison limestone_______________________________________ 48 Amsden formation,,_______________________________________ 49 Tensleep sandstone._______-________________--___-__---__-_ 49 Permian red shale and gypsum sequence______--___-____-__-- 50 Mesozoic rocks________________________________________________ 51 Chugwater formation. _____________________________________ 51 Gypsum Spring formation__'________________________________ 52 ,, Sundance formation________-___-___---___--__-__--__-_-_--- 54 Morrison formation,_______________________________________ 55 Cleverly formation. _______________________________________ 56 Skull Creek shale________________________________._________ 57 Newcastle sandstone.______________________________________ 58 Mowry shale________________-_-________-___-____-__------- 58 Frontier formation.._______________________________________ 59 Cody shale_______________________________________________ 61 Parkman sandstone._______________________________________ 64 Bearpaw shale. ___________-___________-__-__--__--___--_-- 64 Lance formation.__________________________________________ 65 Cenozoic rocks________________________________________________ 66 Fort Union formation._______________________-_---__--_---- 66 Wasatch formation. _______________________________________ 67 White River formation_________________-____-____-----__--_ 70 Quaternary rocks__________________________________________ 71 in IV CONTENTS Page Structure. _____-_,____-_--____----__-_______________-___---_______ 73 Regional features.,____________________________________________ 73 Folds and faults_________________-_____--______________________ 74 Structural history._____________________________________________ 77 Economic geology.______-_____-_-___---___-_---____-____---____-__ 78 Oil and gas potentialities.________________________________________ 78 Coal_______ ___-_--____-.-_--------_.-_.__-- -__---___._-- 81 General features___________________________________________ 81 Coal in T. 47 N., R. 81 W__________________________________ 83 Coal in T. 48 N., R. 80 W__________________________________ 83 Coal in T. 49 N., R. 80 W__________________________________ 85 Manganese. __________________________________________________ 88 Allanite______________________________________________________ 88 Bentonite_ ___________________________________________'_________ 89 Construction materials.________________________________________ 89 Stratigraphic sections of Mesozoic and Paleozoic rocks. ________________ 91 Literature cited _ __________________________________________________ 114 Index,_________-_____-.______-____________-__-_-----________-____ 117 ILLUSTKATIONS [Plates 6-13 in pocket] PLATE 6. Geologic map and sections showing structure contours of the Crazy Woman Creek area, Johnson County, Wyo. 7. Index map showing location of Crazy Woman Creek area and oil and gas fields in western Powder River Basin. 8. Generalized section of sedimentary units exposed in the Crazy Woman Creek area. 9. Index map and correlation of electric logs of the Skull Creek shale. 10. Correlation diagram of Cretaceous formations of the Black Hills and the Crazy Woman Creek area. 11. Sections of coal beds measured in T. 47 N., R. 81 W. 12. Sections of coal beds measured in T. 48 N., R. 80 W. 13. Sections of coal beds measured in T. 49 N., R. 80 W. FIGURE 13. Index map of Wyoming showing location of the Crazy Woman Page Creek area______-______________-_-____---_________-__ 35 14. View of east flank of the Bighorn Mountains showing promi nent piedmont suriaces________________________________ 15. Massive dolomitic part of the Bighorn dolomite. ___________ 16. Contact between the dolomitic and sandstone units of the Bighorn dolomite_-___________-_-_____________________ 46 17. View of the east flank of the Horn at the South Fork Crazy Woman Creek_ ______________________________________ 48 18. Cross section showing unconformable relationship of Gypsum Spring formation to older and younger units in western Powder River Basin __________________________________ 53 19. Cross section showing relationship of Gypsum Spring forma tion to older and younger units from the western Wind River Basin__________________________________________ 53 20. Diagram showing the occurrence of faunal zones of the Black Hills region in the Frontier formation-___-_-___-______-_ 60 CONTENTS Page FrouKE 21. Approximate contact between the Kingsbury conglomerate member of the Wasatch formation and the Fort Union formation ___________________________________________ 68 22. Conglomerate of the White River formation on Canyon Fork Powder River________________________________________ 71 23. Gravel of terrace level 2 (Qtg2) on the North Fork Crazy, Woman Creek_________________________________.._ 72 24. View of the abrupt change from moderate to high dips in Paleo zoic strata on the North Fork Crazy Woman Creek___--_- 75 25. Geologic map of the Bighorn Mountains showing three major structural segments.__________________________________ 79 26. Generalized section showing average interval between coal beds of T. 47 N., R. 81 W______.__._.____.____.___ __ 82 27. Generalized sections showing average interval between coal beds in Tps. 48 and 49 N., R. 80 W_ ____________________ 85 TABLES Page TABLE 1. Discharge of the North and Middle Forks Crazy Woman Creek, October 1948 to September 1949_.________ _________-___ 41 2. Average annual and monthly precipitation and temperature in the Crazy Woman Creek area____________________________ 41 3. Coal reserves in T. 47 N., R. 81 W___ ______________________ 84 4. Coal reserves in T. 48 N., R. 80 W_ ________________________ 86 5. Coal reserves in T. 49 N., R. 80 W__..__..__._.__...____... 87 6. Spectroscopic analysis of allanite. ___--_-_-__________--_--__ 90 A CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC GEOLOGY GEOLOGY OF THE CRAZY WOMAN CREEK AREA JOHNSON COUNTY, WYOMING By RICHARD K. HOSE ABSTRACT The Crazy Woman Creek area comprises about 576 square miles along the west-central margin of the Powder River Basin and the east-central flank of the Bighorn Mountains in Johnson County, Wyo. Pre-Cambrian granitic rocks form the high rugged core of the Bighorn Mountains. Resistant units of the Paleozoic sequence support the high essentially north-trending scarp along the east flank of the Bighorn Mountains; the softer rocks of the Permian red shale and gypsum sequence and younger units underlie the Powder River Basin. Rocks of every system except the Silurian and Devonian are present in the Crazy Woman Creek area. Paleozoic rocks are as much as 2,550 feet thick and are dominantly of marine origin. Mesozoic rocks attain a maximum thick ness of about 9,350 feet and are of marine, brackish water, and nonmarine origin; marine rocks are the most common. The Cenozoic rocks, which have an aggre gate thickness of more than 5,000 feet, are wholly of continental origin. The oldest sedimentary unit, the Flathead sandstone of Middle Cambrian age, is about 250 feet thick. It is overlain by the Gros Ventre formation and Gallatin limestone undivided, aggregating 550 feet in thickness and ranging in age from Late Cambrian to Early Ordovician. The next younger unit is the Bighorn dolomite, which ranges in thickness from about 150 to over 350 feet and in age from Middle to Late Ordovician. The 550-foot Madison lime stone of early Mississippian age unconformably overlies the Bighorn dolomite. It is succeeded by the Amsden formation of Mississippian (?) and Pennsylvanian age. The Ten sleep sandstone of early Pennsylvanian (Des Moines) age overlies the Amsden formation and is about 350 feet thick. The Tensleep sandstone is overlain by the Permian