He Book Cliffs Coal Field in Emery and Grand Counties Utah
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PLEASE DO NOT DESTROY OR THROW AWAY THIS PUBLICATION. If yon hare no farther use for it, write to the Geological Surrey at Washington and ask for a frank to return it UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR :HE BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD IN EMERY AND GRAND COUNTIES UTAH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY BULLETIN 852 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Harold L. Ickes, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. C. Mendcnhall, Director Bulletin 852 THE BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD IN EMERY AND GRAND COUNTIES UTAH BY D. JEROME FISHER UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1936 / For sule by the Superintendent of Documents, Washington, D. C. - Price 75 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Abstract............................................I-...-...-.... 1 Introduction...... _-_-_--__--._---- .. ___-__-_-__ __ 1 Location and general relations._________________________________ 1 Previous geologic work.______________________________________ 3 Present investigation and acknowledgments______________________ 3 Geography __________________-_-_____'--__-__.__-___-_____-._______ 5 Surface features. __--__-___--_-__---____-__-_-__.-_________-__ 5 Drainage. _ _____.______._--_--___-_-______-____-_________-__ 7 Climate and life..__-__-_-.__--__-_-_-_--__--__-_-_____._--___ 7 Transportation and settlements.-____-____._--___-_____---_.____ 8 Stratigraphy__ . _-__..___-___-___-___-_-_-----_-_-_-___-________ 8 General features___._.._____..-.___-____-__-____._____________ 8 .. Cretaceous system.... ....... ... .... ....... 10 Dakota (?) sandstone.-.-.-._______________________________ 10 Mancos shale-_-__----_---___-_---_--____-_---_-_--_.-_-__ 11 Mesaverde group._._-_---.-__----.--__---.-_-_---.---_--_ 12 Blackhawk formation..-_..______.___..___-________.___ 12 Price River formation.-_________._---___--___-________ 14 Castlegate sandstone member.______________________ 14 Buck tongue of Mancos shale__--__-.-_-._-_______ 15 Sego sandstone member..._________________________ 15 Neslen coal-bearing member..._____________________ 16 Farrer non-coal-bearing member____________________ 19 Tertiary (?) system..._.__..__...._._...______..__...____.__.._ 20 Tuscher formation-____---__---_-_----_-_-----__-_-__---__ 20 Tertiary system._______-___-_________-_'__-_-_____-___-______ 21 Eocene series.-.--.-_-_-_-_____-____-__-__-_______-_______ 21 Wasatch -formation. _ _ -___-_-...--__._--_--__.---__-.__ 21 Quaternary system.___________________________________________ 21 Gravel deposits.._______--___-_-__-______-___-_-_-_____-__ 21 Alluvial deposits._______--_--__-__--_--_--._-_-___-________ 21 Local sections.______________--_--__-__-----__-_______________ 22 Structure ________________________________________________________ 34 General features..---_.-_-._----___--_---_._--.-.____-___._-__ 34 Folds and faults..----.---__----------------------__----.-.-.. 36 Oil and gas..___.._______.___-__----_.___---_-_---__-____-_'_______ 41 Coal...._.__............._..__._._..-.-...-..__..........._..____ 45 General occurrence.----_---_--_---_-_-_---_-_-_----__----_.-__ 45 Physical and chemical character._______________________________ 47 Tonnage estimates._--___-__---_----_---_--__-----___---_-_-__ 56 Development. .______________---___-.__-______.__-______.___ ._ 57 Township descriptions----____-______-__-_-_-___---_---_-_-_-___-__ 57 Tps. 15 and 16 S., R. 14 'R..................................... 57 T. 17 S., R. 14 E.........._......._........................... 60 T. 18 S., Rs. 14 and 15 E...... .. ....-.... .. __...._ 63 T. 19 S., Rs. 14and 15 E.......-_ _. __................-._ 65 T. 20 S., R. 15 E__-.._.--._-----.----.---......-.---_---_--__. 67 T: 20 S., R. 16 E., and area to the north...................______ 70 ill IV CONTENTS Township descriptions Continued. page Tps. 20 and 21 S., R. 17 E____________ _______________________ 72 Tps. 20 and 21 S., R. 18 E__.__________________ 76 T. 20 S., R. 19 E___..___________._____________________________ 79 1 T. 21 S., R. 19 E___.__________________________________________ 82 Tps. 20 and 21 S., R. 20 E_.___..___. _._ _.,.___._____.______. 86 Tps. 19 to 21 S., R. 21 E_____________ 7 _.___._.___.______.__ .__ 92 Tps. 19 to 21 S., Rs. 22 and 23 E., and southern part of T. 18 S., R. 23 E_._____.___....________________.______________:.__.___ 94 Tps. 16 to 18 S., Rs. 24 to 26 E., and southeastern part of T. 18 S., R. 23 E____.________________________________________________ 97 Index... --_____-___________________________________:_____ 103 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. Generalized map of the part of the Book Cliffs coal field in Emery and Grand Counties, Utah._____________________________ 4 2. A, View looking north along the southwest edge of the Beckwith Plateau; B, Gunnison Butte_-__-__-_____-________-_____- 12 3. A, View looking southwest along the Castlegate bench across Crescent Canyon; B, View looking northwest along the Castle- gate dip slope across Crescent Wash to Crescent Butte; C, View looking down on the shale slope at the base of the Book Cliffs along the Beckwith Plateau. ___-________---______-. 12 4. A, Palisade coal in Thompson Canyon; B, Farrer mine, Coal Canyon _-_________-_--___---___-_--_----_-_-_---___-_- 20 5. A, Tipple of Chesterfield mine, Sego; B, Neslen strata northwest of Thompson-._____________---..________________ 20 6. A, Chesterfield coal northwest of Thompson; B, Chesterfield coal and Neslen strata in the East Fork of Westwater Cany on. __ 20 7. General stratigraphic sections of the coal-bearing strata of the Book Cliffs__-___- -__-_-_-_-_----_------.-.-.-._ In pocket 8. Map of the northwestern part of the Book Cliffs coal field, Utah.____________-______-_-______-__--_-_-_---____ In pocket 9. Map and section of the west-central part of the Book Cliffs coal field, Utah________--_--_______-_-_---------__------ In pocket 10. Map of the east-central part of the Book Cliffs coal field, Utah._____________________________________________ In pocket 11. Map of the northeastern part of the Book Cliffs coal field, Utah._______________-______-____----__--__------__ In pocket 12. Sections of coal beds in the Blackhawk formation at locations shown on plates 8 and 9.________--_-_-_-_-_---____ In pocket 13. Sections of coal beds in the Neslen coal-bearing member of the Price River formation at locations shown on plate 9____ In pocket 14. Sections of coal beds in the Neslen coal-bearing member of the Price River formation at locations shown on plate 10____ In pocket 15. Sections of coal beds in the Neslen coal-bearing member of the Price River formation at locations shown on plates 10 and 11. In pocket FIGURE 1. Index map showing the Book Cliffs coal field described in this report and other nearby coal fields that are described in publications of the United States Geological Survey _.-__- 2 2. Diagram of fault in sec. 26, T. 17 S., R. 14 E._..._._______. 63 THE BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD IN EMERY AND GRAND COUNTIES, UTAH By D. JEROME FISHER ABSTRACT The part of the Book Cliffs coal field here described lies between Sunnyside, Utah, and the Utah-Colorado line and embraces a long belt of country in Grand and Emery Counties and a small area in Carbon County, in the east-central part of the State. It lies in the Colorado Plateaus just south of the dividing line between the Uinta Basin on the north and the Canyon Lands to the south. The Book Cliffs themselves are a great southward-facing escarpment. The coal field is a portion of the southern outcrop zone of an extensive area of Cretaceous strata, in large part coal-bearing, which underlie the Uinta Basin and the Wasatch Plateau. The strata of the Book Cliffs field dip in a general northerly direction under the thick series of Tertiary (largely Eocene) strata that surface the Uinta Basin, but the strike parallels closely the general line of the Book Cliffs. The strata are disturbed by a considerable number of normal faults, most of which have small throws; there are but few folds, and in the main these are rather broad and gentle. Some of the anticlines have been drilled for oil and gas, and commercial quantities of gas have been obtained near Cisco. The Utah portion of the Book Cliffs coal field, on the basis of characteristics of coals, topographic position of the coal outcrops, and ages of coal-bearing strata, is conveniently divided into two parts by the Green River, the area to the west constituting the Sunnyside district, which contains coals of the age of the type Mesaverde, and that to the east the Thompson district, which contains coals of Fruitland age. All the coal is bituminous, but that in the eastern part of the field is of somewhat lower rank than that in the western part. The estimated quantity of coal that occurs in beds of minable thickness in the area within 2 miles of the generalized outcrop line is 500,000,000 tons. The area has but 1 shipping mine and 2 local mines. INTRODUCTION LOCATION AND GENERAL RELATIONS This report describes the geology and coal resources of the Utah portion of the Book Cliffs coal field, which lies south and east of the Sunnyside quadrangle and extends to the Utah-Colorado State line. This area, about 40 by 75 miles in extent, stretches across Grand and Emery Counties and the southern edge of Carbon County, in the east-central part of the State. (See fig. 1.) The Book Cliffs coal field is a part of the southern outcrop zone of an extensive basin of 1 2 BOOK CLIFFS COAL FIELD IN UTAH Cretaceous strata, in large part coal-bearing, which underlie the Uinta Basin and the Wasatch Plateau.