GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 235

SODIUM CARBONATE BRINE AND TRONA DEPOSITS IN SWEETWATER COUNTY, WYOMING

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Douglas McKay, Secretary

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director

GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 235

SODIUM CARBONATE BRINE AND TRONA DEPOSITS IN SWEETWATER COUNTY, WYOMING

By H. B. Lindeman

Washington, D. C., 1954

Free on application to the Geological Survey, Washington 25, D. C. 0 Heleno I I 0 Butte Billings 0 I I I ,------~ I' I -~~ 'i \ I I I I w y 0 M N G Cosper 0 r-- I I I I I --~ I I

Cheyenne I 0 salt 0 Lak~ ~--- -r ------·-

100 0 100 Miles

I I I I Denver 0

Figure 1. --Index map showing location of area of sodium carbonate brine and trona deposits, Sweetwater County, Wyo. SODIUM CARBONATE BRINE AND TRONA DEPOSITS IN SWEETWATER COUNTY, WYOMING

By H. B. Lindeman

CONTENTS Page Page

Introduction•••••••••••••••••••••••••• 1 Brine--Continued Acknowledgments...... 3 Westvaco area •••••••••••••••••••••• 6 Brine...... 3 Trona deposits ••••••••••••••••••••••• 6 Green River area. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3 Economic factors••••••••••••••••••••• 8 Eden area. • • • • • • .• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 3 Literature cited...... 10

ILLUSTRATIONS Page

Figure 1. Index map showing location of area••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Facing 1 2. General map showing relationship of prospected or developed sodium carbonate brine wells and trona deposits...... 2 3. Sodium carbonate brine wells, Grea~ River area...... 4 4. Sodium carbonate brine wells, Eden area•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 5 5. Sodium carbonate brine wells and trona deposits, Westvaco area...... 7 6. Generalized sections from well-log data•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 9

INTRODUCTION This report presents a short review of and thick beds of the mineral trona the historical background, the more irnpor-· (Na2C03•NaHC03•2H20) occur northwest of tant physical and chemical aspects, and some Green River. of the factors which may affect development of the sodium carbonate brines and trona Deposits of sodium salts, whose exis­ deposits known to exist underground in tence in 't-~Jyoming was known in pioneer times, Sweetwater County, Wyo. The area (fig. 1) have been described by Chatard ( 1890), r1hose lies in the southwestern part of the State bulletin also contains an excerpt from a and extends westward from the town of Green paper (vleeks, 1886) on glass-making mater­ River for a distance of 20 miles and north­ ials and related soda deposits. The depos­ \>.'ard for 35 miles. By higm1ay, the area is its discussed are dr,y or partly dr.y surface about 175 miles northeast of Salt Lake City, lakes and can, for the most part, be con­ 'C'tah; about 310 miles 1-rest of Cheyenne, Wyo.; sidered as sodium sulphate. A bulletin by and about 225 miles southeast of Pocatello, Schultz (1909) on these and other deposits Idaho. Not all of the area is knorm to be also contains a de~cription of sodium brines underlain by brines or trona deposits, but from wells drilled at the town of Green to the date of this report they had been River. The geology has been further de­ found at the locations shown on figure 2. scribed by Sears and Bradley (1924).

The sodium carbonate brines occur at In the past 16 years brine deposits, the town of Green River and near Eden, north in addition to those mentioned in the pre­ of Green River, and sodium carbonate brines ceding paragraph, have been found, and

1 25 N

110W 109 108 105 104W

24

N

22

21

20

17

111 w 110 106 105W

16 N

Townships are numbered north and west from the 6th Principal Meridian

5 0 20 Miles

Figure 2. --General map showing relationship of prospected or developed sodium carbonate brine and trona areas, . Sweetwater County, Wyo.

2 trona deposits have been discovered, part~ Grams prospected, and partly developed in the area per liter Percent (Romano, 19.52) • Prospecting and developnent have proved the trona deposits to be of such Conventional remarkable quality, thickness, and extent as combinations: to constitute a major commercial mineral Na2co3------31.3.5 .54.9.5 resource. Further prospecting and develop­ NaHC03------6.97 12.20 ment of the brines will be necessary to NaCl------17.4.5 30 • .54 establish their degree of economic impor­ Na2so4------.8.5 1.49 tance. MgS04------.12 .21 K2S04------~ ____&! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Total--- .57.09 100.00 The writer is indebted to officials of the Union Pacific Railroad Co., Intermoun­ Eden area tain Chemical Corp., and the Wyoming Trona Corp. for making available certain informa­ In 1938 soda brine was found at a depth tion contained in this report. of 4.50 to .500 feet in a well (John Hay, fig. 4) being drilled for 'tvater near Eden. The BRINE brine was cased off and the well was deep­ ened to a fresh-water producing aquifer. As Brine is found at three localities a result of the inform tion thus obtained, (fig. 2) and further prospecting may prove the Wyoming Trona Corp. drilled a well in its presence in adjacent areas. The three 1949 (no. 1, fig. 4) for the purpose of test­ areas known to have potential producing ing the quality and quantity of the brine. characteristics are Green River (figs. 2, 3), At 477 feet the brine had sufficient arte­ Eden (figs. 2, 4), and Westvaco (figs. 2, .5). sian pressure to force it from a 4-inch pipe The Westvaco area also contains beds of the for a distance of approximately" 3 feet. l'l".ineral trona. After about 30 minutes the now diminished to an estimated 40 gallons per minute. The follow :ing analy"ses (in percent) of brine Green River area from this well were made by the U. S. Geological Survey: Before World War I, brine was discov­ ered near the town of Green River (fig. 3). Sample Brine pwnped from 13 wells drilled in the vicinity by the Western Alkali Corporation 1 2 and Associates yielded sodium carbonate which was used in a local plant (Schultz, Na2co3------3.68 4.20 - 1909). None of these wells was drilled to NaHC03------1.44 •73 a depth greater than 300 feet. Cl------­ .017 .018 S04------­ .003 .002 In December 193.5 a well (MFS 1, £ig. 3) Ca------.ooo .oo8 .001 was drilled to a depth of 439 feet (fig. 6) Mg------­ .OOJ in the Green River area by the Mountain Fuel K20------.023 .o.5o Supply Co. A sample o£ brine {sp gr 1.046) from a depth of 162 feet was analyzed by the Time taken (a.m.) -- 9 .3r;!/ 9 .3.5 U. S. Geological Survey as follows: Date ------Sept. 1, 1949 Sept. 1, 1949 Depth (feet) ------477 477 Color ------Brown Amber Gral'l"..s Specific gravity at per liter Percent 2.5° c ------1.0480 Constituents: co3 ------17.76 31.00 HC03------.5.09 8.90 Cl------10 • .59 18.50 !/ Taken imrnedia tely after opening valve for testing. s~------.78 1.38 Ca------0 ¥~------.02 .03 K------.16 .28 Na------22.72 39.91 B------Trace Total----- .57.12 -100.00

3 I I I I -- - 15 ------14---· -- I 1 N I I I I I~ I J¥~ ~ I ~

GREEN RIVER

I --23-----

1 I

I I MFS 1 I 0 I ------26- - --

1 I T. 18 N., R 107 W., 6th P.M.

1000 0

Wells I - 13 drilled by Western Alkali Corporation and Associates Well MFS I drilled by Mountain Fuel Supply Company

Figure 3.--Sodium carbonate brine wells, Green River area, Sweetwater County, Wyo.

4 R.107 W. R.I06W. EDEN 24 19 20 • 21 22

N t 24 29 27 N. 25 30 28 1

c. 36 31 32 33 34 ""'

1 0 ~ 1 6 5 John Hoy 3

02 o.3 T. 23 12 N. 7 8 9 ~

o6

05 18. 17 16 15

04

24 19 20 21 22

John Hoy Welt drilled by John Hoy Wells 1-6 drilled by Wyoming Trona Corporation

5000 0 5000 Feet

Figure 4. --Sodium carbonate brine wells, Eden area, Sweetwater County, Wyo.

5 Before March 1952 six wells had been As a result of this trona discovery, drilled in the area (fig. 4) by the Wyoming several companies became interested in the Trona Corp. and brine was found in all wells Westvaco area. Before March 1952 these . at deptl:s of 400 to 600 feet (fig. 6). There companies had drilled the following 10 test was an artesian flow of brine from several holes and obtained samples of trona from of the wells, but their productive capacity them: Mountain Fuel Supply Co., John Hay had not then been fullY determined. no. 1; Westvaco Chlorine Product Corp. (now Intermountain Chemical Corp.), Westvaco A dark substance found in some of tls nos. 1, 3, and 4; Union Pacific Railroad, brine from these wells appears to come from nos. 1, 2, 3, and 4; and Potash Comp~ of a zone a few feet above the zone which con­ America, nos. 1 and 2. Two other wells, tains the more abundant amber-colored brine. Union Pacific Railroad no. 5 and Westvaco The exact stratigraphic location of the no. 2, were not drilled deep enough to dark brown- and amber-urine zones has not penetrate the trona deposits. been definitelY established. An analysis of the dark-colored brine ( sp gr 1.055) All of the wells (fig. 5) which were from the no. 1. well (fig. 4) was made by drilled to the necessary depth penetrated the Geological Survey with the following beds of trona as much as 11.6 feet in thick­ results: ness in the Green River fonnation. The Grams thick beds usually u1clude a few minor shale per liter bands. Each well, with the exceptions noted previously, penetrated at least 1 trona bed Solids (total dissolved at 180°)-- 70.01 of minable thickness. Since most of the Sodium carbonate (alkalinity)----- 47 .o5 wells penetrated more than 1 minable bed, it Organic acids (organic matter)!/-- 7.70 is believed tha. t well logs which show only 1 may be inaccurate because of solution of the trona during the drilling process. For this Westvaco area report the use of actual well and shaft logs was not admissible and wells in the Westvaco In 1944 the Westvaco Chlorine Products area are represented by a generalized log Corp., now tiE Intermountain Chemical Corp. (fig. 6). Four well logs show only 1 bed of drilled its nos. 1 and 2 wells in the West-' trona while the other logs show from 3 to ll vaco area (C, D, fig. 5) for the purpose of beds, each 1 foot or more thick, separated testing the commercial possibilities of the by strata of shale of vacying thickness. brine and also to test the trona deposits The trona beds shown in each log do not cor­ lying about 800 feet below the brine hori­ respond to the other beds in thickness, pur­ zon (fig. 6). Neither well could be made ity, or elevation. Prospect holes are to produce more than 10 gallons of brine a widely separated, and ~~ere ha~ not been a minute and further testing was abandoned in sufficient number drilled to demonstrate the favor of mining the trona beds. In several continuity of any one trona bed or to deter­ other wells drilled to test the trona beds mine possible areas where there may be so in the area sodium carbonate brine was fomrl maqy shale bands in the trona bed as to dis­ about 700 feet below the surface. Analyses courage mining. of these brines are not available. In 1946 and 1947 visual information concerning the strata and deposits was TRONA DEPOSITS obtained when the Westvaco Chlorine Prod­ ucts Corp. sank its no. 1 shaft (A, fig. 5). In January 1938 an oil test, John Hay (See Romano, 1952) • The shaft was put down no. 1 (N, fig. 5) drilled by the Mountain to a depth of 1,550 feet, 5o feet below a Fuel Supply Co. in the Westvaco area, 10-foot bed of trona, the thickest found at resulted in the discovery of the first that location. Several beds of trona were trona to be found at depth. Identification found in the shaft, but only the 10-foot of the mineral was made by the Geological bed and two others within a distance of 200 Survey in core samples, the occurrence be­ feet above it are of possible commercial ing made public in several reports (Menden­ importance. A detailed stratigraphic sec­ hall, 1940; Smith, 1942; Harness and Coons, tion of the shaft is not available for 1942). Northup~te, pirssonite, and gaylus­ site were also found and, in addition, two inclusion in this report. new minerals, shortite (Na2co3.2Caco3) and bradleyite (Na Poh•MgC0 ), were discovered In the mine the upper 3 to 4 feet of 3 3 the 10-foot bed is found consistently to (Fahey, 1939, 1941). contain several bands of shale, the thick­ est about 3 inches, and mining is confined !/ Complex naphthenic and resin acid to the part below tre shale bands. Roof s~ltsbp~obab~v formed by reaction of alka­ lme rme with petroleum.

6 R.IIOW. R.I09 W. EX PLANATION -~~~ _/ (.. A,E__ /u, """' Shafts• _r- UNION ...... Westvaco ~ ~,H ~ ~ A- Westvaco no. I ~ B~ \ N B- Westvaco no. 2 I ~ ..<) I T. I 0 I ~~-Q 19 ~ J ..... ~ Wells I N. I ~ I C- Westvaco no. I II r-~ ...... 0-Westvaco no. 2 ,.._F ...... \ I , I ~ - E- Westvaco no. 3 I 1 36 31 I F- Westvaco no. 4 -.J ''', \~~ 36 I 3~ I ~I G-Union Pacific R.R. no. I ~ ~ ~ I G I ~ H -Union Pacific R.R. no. 2 I 6 / )-0- -- ~--- f- -.dL I Jo ---·- N --,-- ~\ I -Union Pacific R.R. no. 3 ~ I'. I J -Union Pacific R.R. no. 4 T. ~: K-Union Pacific R.R. no. 5 8 Little America M N 0 J3 1- L -Potash Co. of America no. I U$30 - M'- Potash Co. of America no. 2 c K j - N-John Hoy no. I c~ II.

10,000 o 20,000 Feet I I II I I II I I I I I

Figure 5.--Sodi\D!l ca.rbcmate brine wells and trona_deposits, Westvaeo area., Sweetwater County, Wyo. support in the workin6s is obtained by bolt­ one or more minable trona beds v.rhich prob­ ing the upper 3 to 4 feet of interspersed ably extend for a consinerable distance out­ trona and shale to the overlying stratum. side the enclosed area$ The Potash CompaQY The trona bed varies in thickness within of America drilled its no. 2 well (M, fig. 5) narrow limits throughout the mine and lies at some distance east of the area first pros­ relatively horizontal on a bed of low-grade pected, and a minable bed of trona t.;as found. oil shale. Water has been found in small quantities in the mine workings where crev­ ECONOMIC FACTORS ices infrequently occur. A relatively small area has been found in the course of mine The deposits are favorably situated development where the bed contains so maQY with respect to most of the factors which shale bands that mining is uneconomical. may influence their development: other Except for initial shaft developrrent, mining basic mineral resources, transportation, has been neither difficult nor excessively fuel supplies, and water. Although not so costly. Shaft no. 2 (B, fig. 5) for ore­ near to markets as might be desired, the hoisting purposes was recently completed at deposits are not unfavorably located in a point 1,100 feet west of shaft no. 1 and a that respect. solution refiner,y for the production of soda ash has been built at the mine site. The railroads, high~rays, main streams, land subdivisions, and wells are shown on The followmg approximate analysis of the general map of the trona and brine the trona ore was furnished by the Inter­ region (fig. 2). The main line of the Union mountain Chemical Corp.: Pacific Railroad traverses the southern part of the area and divides near the western Percent edge to form the Oregon Short Line Branch. U. S. Highway 30 also traverses the southern Na2C03------45.30 part of the area. Coal is available fron NaHC03------35.90 the neighboring Rock Springs and Kemmerer, 01------.09 W,yo., coal fields, and natural gas is pro­ S~------.OJ duced from the Baxter basin and Church Fe------.05 Buttes fields nearby in southwestern Wyoming. Si02------1.10 Comoined water------15.40 Precipitation in the area is slight, Insolubles ------Y J.50-15.oo and, because of low humidity and prevailing strong winds, conditions should be favorable The insoluble fraction in the above analysis for concentration of brines by solar evap­ is composed of the following compounds, with oration. The Green River and its tributar­ approximate percents: ies Blacks Fork and Sandy Creek are within . Percent or near the area (figs. 2, 5) and the water may be made available for industrial use.

Si02------27.0 A considerable amount of oil shale, GaO------18.0 MgO------1).0 some of good quality, lies above, between, C02------25.0 and below the trona beds. The log of the R203------6.0 Union Pacific Railroad no. 2 well refers to K20------4.5 a thin bed of gilsonite, and other logs shO"w Fe203------1.8 the presence of bentonitic shales. The Organic------2.0 potash-bearing rock wyomingite is abundant in surface deposits near Rock Springs, Wyo. The crude ore generally is light amber in Extensive phosphate deposits exist a short color. distance to the west, in western Wyoming and eastern Idaho., where the phosphate industr.v If it is assumed that all of the area is now well established. Important deposits within the dotted line on figure 5 contaL~s of potassium, sodium, and magnesium salts at least one minable bed of trona having a are found in Utah. Ferrous and nonferrous minimum thicla1ess of 7 feet, then an esti­ smelting industries using ores produced mated 125 million tons of ore is contaL."l.ed locallY are established in Utah and Colorado. within the bounds of that line. Also, if it may be assumed that a min:i..l'flUJl1 thic!mess of A large part of the area containing the Jl feet of minable trona is contained in a trona beds is owned by the Union Pacific second bed in that same area, th~n an addi­ Railroad. In general, the railroad owns tional 60 million tons of ore is available. ever,y odd-numbered section (square mile) for The area is bounded by test wells tln t shmv 20 miles on each side of its right-of-way and the State has title to sees. 16 and )6. JOi. Depends on the amount of contained sha •

8 Eden Green River Westvaco a reo area area

0 0 0 0 o' 0 oo .!./1..0 -- Lime shell 2--:-~ Shale: sandy

Shale: sandy, gray, green, brown; minor sand­ ·~:;:::: Shale: sandy, gray, stone """-'----· green, brown; minor sandstone :.....·_:_.

Artesian brine 500'

Sandstone; shaly sandstone; brine

.' ·.~~ Shale: sandy, green, .-:-. brown, gray; trona and shortite crys­ 1000' tals; oil shale

Trona beds

Shale; oil shale; trona and shortite crystals 1500'

Figure 6. --Generalized sections from well-log data. sodium carbonate brine and trona deposits~ Sweetwater County~ Wyo.

9 Some of the land in the rema.ini.."lg 16 sec­ tions in each township has passed from Smith, H. I., 1942, Trona in Wyoming: Federal ownership. Leasing of Federal land Am. Inst Min. Met. Eng. Tech. Pub. has already yielded a substantial income 1489. from rentals and royalties. Weeks, J. D., 1886, Glass materials: Min. Res. U. S., 1885, p. 550-555. Minable trona was found in the eastern­ most well (M, fig. 5) several hundred feet above the elevation at which it was found in the other wells in the area. This fact gives rise to the speculation that further geologic investigation or drilling ~ indicate that trona beds can be reached at a shallower depth in the vicinity of the to'Wll of Green River. Sodium carbonate, or its chief manu­ factured product, soda ash, is a basic chem­ ical having wide application in industr,y. If the deposits are considered in relation­ ship to the other minerals found in the surrounding territory it may be inferred that resources exist which could result in the growth of an extensive chemical industry in this part of the United States •

LITERATURE CITED Chatard, T. M., 1890, Natural soda--its occurrence and utilization: u. s. Geol. Survey Bull. 60, p. 27-101. Fahey, J. J., 1939, Shortite, a new carbon­ ate of sodium and calcium: Am. Mineral­ ogist, v. 24, no. 8, •p. 514-518. 1941, Bradleyite, a new mineral, -sc:xiium phospha. te-magnesium carbonate, with X-ray analysis by George Tunell: Am. Mineralogist, v. 26, no. 11, p. 646-650. Fahey, J. J., and Axelrod, J. M., 1950, Searlesite from the Green River forma­ tion of Wyoming: Am. Mineralogist, v. 35, nos. 11-12, •P· 1014-1020. Harness, C. L., and Coons, A. T., 1942, Sodium carbonate: U. S. Bur. Mines Inf. Circ. 7212. Mendenhall, W. c., 1940, Occurrence of a deposit of trona: Science, new ser., v. 91, no. 2349, p. 11-12. Romano, C. A., 1952, Trona in southwestern Wyoming: Colorado School of Mines, The Mines Magazine, v. 42, no. 3, p. 69-70. Schultz, A. R., 1909, Deposits of sodium salts in Wyoming: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 430-I, p. 570-589. Sears, J. D., and Bradley, W. H., 1924, Reiations of the Wasatch and Green River formations in northwestern Colorado and southern Wyoming, with notes on oil shale in the Green River formation: U. S • Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 132-F, p. 93-107.

INT.-DUP. SEC., WASH., D.C •• 5'14 814 10