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The Permian Phosphorite Deposits of Western United States

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The Permian Phosphorite Deposits of Western United States Field Library The Permian Phosphorite Deposits of Western United States Trace Elements Investigations Report 263 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY metadc30 4 53 0 I - - tL -ar _ - -- - - 24!i- -+ - 7-. A. - - w . u - r - .4 + ; -,f' C. fg '7tir U - - t. ,Jt it a: _.. - _ - . 2* - UNCLASSIFIED Geology - Mineralogy This document consists of 30 pages, Series A UNITED STATES DEPARTMT OF THE 'INTERIOR GEOLOGICAL SURVEY THE PERMIAN PHOSPHORITE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN UNITED STATES* By V. E. McKelvey, R. W. Swanson, and R. P. Sheldon October 1952 Trace Elements Investigations Report 263 This preliminary report is dis- tributed without editorial and technical review for conformity with official standards and no- menclature. It is not for pub- lic inspection or quotation. *This report concerns work done on behalf of the Division of Raw Materials of the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission 2 USGS - TEI Report 263 GEOLOGY - MINERALOGY Distribution (Series A) No. of copies American Cyanamid Company, Watertown. 1 Argonne National Laboratory . 1 Atomic Energy Commission, Washington . 2 Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus . 1 Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company, Y-12 Area . 1 Colorado Raw Materials Office (F. H. MacPherson). 1 Division of Raw Materials, Grand Junction . 1 Division of.Raw Materials, Grants . 1 Division of Raw Materials, Denver . 1 Division of Raw Materials, Hot Springs . 1 Division of Raw Materials, New York . 6 Division of Raw Materials, Salt Lake City . 1 Division of Raw Materials, Richfield . 1 Division of Raw Materials, Butte . 1 Division of Raw Materials, Washington . 3 Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg . 1 Technical Information Service, Oak Ridge. 6 Tennessee Valley, Authority, Wilson Dam . 1 U. S. Geological Survey: Mineral Deposits Branch, Washington . 2 Geochemistry and Petrology Branch, Washington . 1 Geophysics Branch, Washington . 1 Alaskan Geology Branch, Washington. 1 Fuels Branch, Washington . 1 Foreign Geology Branch (C. Rodgers) . 1 V. E. keKelvey, Washington. 1 L. R. Page, Denver. 2 R. P. Fischer, Grand Junction . 2 A. E. Weissenborn, Spokane. 1 J. B. Cathcart, Plant City. 4 J. F. Smith, Jr., Denver. 1 N. M. Denson, Denver. 1 R. W. Swanson, Spokane. 4 L. S. Gardner, Albuquerque. 1 A. H. Koschmann, Denver . 1 E. H. Bailey, San Francisco . 1 A. F. Shride, Tucson . 1 David Gallagher, Joplin . 1 C. E. Dutton, Madison . 1 R. A. Laurence, Knoxville . 1 R. J. Roberts, Salt Lake City . 1 Z. S. Altschuler,. Washington. 1 . H. R. Gould, Sarasota . 1 TEPCO, Washington . 5 (Including master) 69 3 CONTENTS Page Abstract 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 Introductiont.o. 0 0 00 . 0.0. 0 . 0.0.. 0.0.00000 . .0 05 Geologic setting 0 .. 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 0 05 Stratigraphy and facies of the Phosphoria formation. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 97 Age and correlation. 0 0 0 0 0 0 .. .. ..0 .7 Regional variations in thickness and faces . 0..0.0 0 .. 7 The phosphorites . 0 0 0 . .0 0000000 .000000000000 0 . 12 Mineral and chemical composition 00000000000000 0 . 12 Petrography .. .. 0 . .. 0..a 0 . .0.a.0.0 . 13 Areal variations in thickness and composition 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 o 14 Origin of the Phosphoria formation and its phosphorites. 0 . 0 0 0 0 . 15 Kazakov's hypothesis. .00 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 17 Supplementary and modifying evidence..0.0 . 0.0.. a.0. .. 0 0 .0 19 Source of phosphate and associated constituents in the Phosphoriaformation. 0..0. .. 000.. 00000000 . 19 Size, shape, and depth of the Phosphoria sea . .*.0.0 ... 20 Precipitation of phosphorite, carbonate, chert, and carbonaceous matter. 0.. 0 .. 0 ..0 ..0 ..0 0 0 0 0 0 . 22 Summary . .o0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0. .. 0.o. .e . 26 Acknowledgments. 0 .. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0... 0... 27 .0 0. .. o. 0.0.. References . 28 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Limits of the Permian Phosphoria formation and its partial stratigraphic equivalents (dashed line) ard their phosphate deposits (solid line) 0 . 0 0 0 0 0 0 . 6 2. Stratigraphic sections of the Phosphoria formation in Nevada, Idaho, and Wyoming. The Rattlesnake Hills section was measured by H. D. Thomas (1934) and the Little Popo Agie section by R. H. King (1947). The other sections are from recent, unpublished investigations of the Geological Survey. The thickness of the cherty-limestone part of the Goshute Range section is estimated. .. 9 3. Total phosphate (in feet times percent P2 0 5 ) in phosphatic portions of Permian formations .. 0 . 00. ... 11 4. Thickness in feet of beds in the Phosphoria and Park City formations containing more than 31 percent P20% . .e.16*.. TABLE Table 1. Thickness of principal rock components of Phosphoria formation at localities shown on figure 2. 00. .. 10 4 THE PERMIAN PHOSPHORITE DEPOSITS OF WESTERN UNITED STATES (Read at the 19th International Geological Congress, Algiers, September 1952) By V. E. McKelvey, R. W. Swanson, and R. P. Sheldon ABSTRACT The Permian marine phosphorite deposits of the western United States were laid down in the Phosphoria formation and its partial stratigraphic equivalents over an area of about 135,000 square miles in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. The deposits in the eastern part of the field lie on the western margin of the structurally simple North American craton. The rocks there consist of a few thin, locally glauconitic, nodular phospho- rites, generally containing less than 30 percent P205, interbedded with nodular limestones, calcareous mudstones, and sandstones. Eastward these marine beds tongue out into continental redbeds. The deposits in the western part of the field are a part of the complexly folded Cordilleran miogeosyncline. The facies there are of a deeper-water type and include thick phosphorite layers containing as much as 35 percent P2 05 , black phosphatic mudstones, limestones, and well-bedded black cherts. The phosphorite deposits are composed chiefly of colloform carbonate- fluorapatite, quartz, and clay. In addition to phosphorus, they contain several minor elements that-are of potential economic interest. The most important of these are fluorine, vanadium, chromium, nickel, rare earths, zinc, and uranium. 5 INTRODUCTION Of the many phosphorite deposits over the world, Permian phosphorite deposits of western United States and the Kara Tau deposits of Russia are the only close analogue of the North African deposits in total volume of phosphatic materials, areal extent, and geologic relationships. With the splendid opportunity provided by this Congress to see the North African de- posits first-hand and to learn of their characteristics from the geologists most familiar with them, a description of the deposits of western United States may be of value in focusing attention on features common to both de- posits that are perhaps of critical significance in defining their origin. GEOLOGIC SETTING The Permian phosphorites of western United States were deposited over an area of about 135,000 square miles in the States of Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada (fig. 1). The deposits in the western part of the field are part of the Cordilleran miogeosyncline (Kay; Eardley), a pile of sedimentary rocks 20,000 to 40,000 feet or more thick. The eastern part of the field is a part of the bordering stable platform, a positive area on which accumulated only a few thousand feet of sediments. l 6 1150 1130 I110 109 1070 105 470 I MON K? TANA 1M 0 N 450 D A H 0-- UWAY 0 M 1'NG OMI'~~\J 4! - 2 IN L OR A D O I 0 50 B00 '50 200 MILES IL - -_ I M LE- FIGURE I. LIMITS OF THE PERMIAN PHOSPHORIA FORMATION AND ITS P,;Fk T/.L. STRATIGRAPHI C EQUIVALENTS (DASHED LINE) AND THEJa PHOSPHATE DEPOSITS (SOLID IN E ). 7 STRATIGRAPHY AND FACIES OF THE PHOSPHORIA FORMATION Age and correlation Most of the phosphorites in the western field are part of the Phosphoria formation and its partial correlative in Utah, the Park City formation. Its age limits are not yet established, but it certainly spans much of Permian time. The lower, phosphatic shale member is generally thought. to be of Guada- lupe (Kazanian) age and possibly Leonard (Artinskian and Kungurian) age as well (Miller and Cline; Newell; Thompson et al.; Licharew in Williams). Baker and Williams (1940) consider the lower part of the Park City formation, to be of Leonard age, and Frenzel and Mundorff (1942) class the lower part in Montana as Wolf camp age. Diagnostic fossils have not yet been found in the upper part of the Phosphoria; its age can only be said now to be older than early Triassic (Otoceratan), the age Newell and Kummel (1942) assigned to the overlying Din- woody formation in southeastern Idaho. Regional variations in thickness and facies At its type locality in southeastern Idaho, the Phosphoria formation con- sists of the phosphatic shale member, about 175 feet thick, overlain by the Rex chert member, about 240 feet thick (Richards and Mansfield; Mansfield, 1927). In nearby areas, a black shale unit, about 30 feet thick, overlies the Rex chert member. Individual layers of the formation persist with little change in lithology for miles or even tens of mile , particularly in a north- south direction. Over the field as a whole, however, the formation displays marked changes in facies. The facies may be divided roughly into a miogeo- synclinal fades and a craton or platform fades. The boundary between then is not sharp, but over much of the field it corresponds in a general way to 8 the boundary between the miogeosyncline and craton as defined by other criteria.
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