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Bull. Geol. Soe. Am., Vol. 71 Moberly, PI. 1 THERMOPOLIS SHALE T I

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Bull. Geol. Soe. Am., Vol. 71 Moberly, PI. 1 THERMOPOLIS SHALE T I Bull. Geol. Soe. Am., vol. 71 Moberly, PI. 1 THERMOPOLIS SHALE CUOVERLY FORMATION MORRISON FORMATION t i Black bentonitic clayshale HIMES MEMBER _ Red-banded facies Gray lithic wacke J Quartz arenite m Green calcareous muds tone ch. I Variegated day stones with iron and sandstone oxide velnlets SYKES MOUNTAIN FORMATION Olive-gray lithic wacke SUNDANCE FORMATION sm Thinly mterbedded sandstone, LITTLE SHEEP MUDSTONE MEMBER s Glauconitic sandstone and si Its tone, an4 shale, withth'n marine fossils. SOUTHEAST ironstone beds. Conglomeratic sandstone END clsj Variegated bentonitic mudstone PRYOR CONGLOMERATE MEMBER g&U Black-chert pebble conglomerate NORTHWEST f Dome ''>•'•-•.•-• P'-•••*£*•-^.-•J^-i ,t.. VIEW IS TO NORTHEAST. LINE OF SECTION IS SHOWN ON FIGURE I. CLOVERLY- SYKES MOUNTAIN CONTACT IS DATUM. ;x$ /' LITHOLOGIC CHANGES IN UPPERMOST JURASSIC AND LOWERMOST CRETACEOUS ROCKS ALONG NORTHEAST SIDE OF BIGHORN BASIN, WYOMING AND MONTANA View northeast into panel diagram Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/71/8/1137/3431920/i0016-7606-71-8-1137.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA VOL. 71. PP. 1137-1176. 12 FIGS., 5 PLS. AUGUST 1060 MORRISON, CLOVERLY, AND SYKES MOUNTAIN FORMATIONS, NORTHERN BIGHORN BASIN, WYOMING AND MONTANA By RALPH MOBERLY, JR. ABSTRACT The Morrison, Cloverly, and Sykes Mountain formations are the uppermost Jurassic and lowermost Cretaceous sedimentary rocks in the northern Bighorn Basin, Wyoming and Montana. Similar formations were deposited contemporaneously throughout most of the Western Interior. Most studies of nonmarine rocks have been in localities of more rapid sedimentation, whereas the rocks of this study accumulated slowly, under virtually atectonic conditions. The Morrison formation of the Bighorn Basin, as here restricted, includes the earliest- formed nonmarine sedimentary rocks of this sequence, conformably overlying the marine Sundance formation. The rocks are interlensed calcareous quartz sandstones, green mud- stones and shales, and subordinate limestones, with locally conspicuous red-banded mud- stones. Overlying the Morrison formation, generally with conformity, is the Cloverly forma- tion, as redefined in this report. The lowest of its three members, here named the Little Sheep mudstone members, consists chiefly of bentonitic (montmorillonitic) mudstones in variegated shades of neutral gray, purple, olive, and dusky to pale red. Other typical lithologies include bentonites, cherts, coaly beds, calcareous nodules, and chert-pebble conglomeratic sandstones. The Pryor conglomerate member in the northernmost Bighorn Basin is characterized by black-chert pebbles and rests unconformably on the Morrison formation. Its beds are the stratigraphic equivalent of the mid-Little Sheep conglomeratic sandstones farther south. The upper member of the Cloverly formation, here named the Himes member, comprises three principal lithologies. Commonly at its base is olive-gray and reddish-brown clay-matrixed salt-and-pepper sandstone. Most of the member is variegated reddish- and yellowish-brown and gray kaolinitic claystone and mudstone, containing veinlets and hardpans of iron oxides. Clean quartz sandstones which filled fluvial channels are laced through the claystones. Disconformably overlying the Himes member are sandstones and thinly interbedded, rusty-brown-weathering siltstones, dark shales, and ironstones, here named the Sykes Mountain formation. The Sykes Mountain formation grades into the overlying marine Thermopolis shale. Distinction of stratigraphic units on a lithogenetic basis is believed to eliminate the confusion which existed in previous nomenclature of this sequence. Characteristic primary and secondary structures, clay, accessory, and authigenic minerals, and gross stratigraphic distribution aided the interpretation of the origin and history of these deposits. The Morrison formation accumulated in fluvial, lacustrine, and flood-plain environments from detritus derived chiefly from erosion of sedimentary rocks west of the present Bighorn Basin. The Little Sheep mudstone member and most of the Himes member of the Cloverly formation probably were formed authigenically in seasonal lakes and swamps from weathering of volcanic debris, with their different lithologies due to different drainage conditions and parent ash. The Pryor conglomerate member of the Cloverly formation and lenses of similar conglomeratic sandstones in the Little Sheep member were derived from reworked sedimentary rocks west of the depositional area. Channel-filling clean quartz sandstones of the Himes member were derived from an eastern sedimentary, and perhaps metamorphic, terrain. Thinly interbedded sandstones and shales of the Sykes Mountain formation are tidal-flat and other shallow-water beds deposited at the periphery of the transgressing Early Cretaceous sea. Slow deposition of these well-sorted and mature detrital sediments and close adjust- ment of authigenic minerals to prevailing environments depended largely on the stable tectonic conditions. During Cloverly time, very little aggradation except of volcanic debris took place, so that soils were formed and preserved. 1137 Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/71/8/1137/3431920/i0016-7606-71-8-1137.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 1138 RALPH MOBERLY, JR.—SEDIMENTARY FORMATIONS, BIGHORN BASIN CONTENTS TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS Figure Page Page 1. Index map 1139 Introduction 1138 2. Interpretations of uppermost Jurassic and General statement 1138 lowermost Cretaceous stratigraphy in Previous work 1138 Bighorn Basin, Wyoming and Mon- Present work 1140 tana 1142 Acknowledgments 1140 3. Type sections of Little Sheep mudstone Stratigraphy 1140 member and of Himes member of General character 1140 Cloverly formation 1146 Historical summary 1140 4. Type section of Sykes Mountain forma- Proposed stratigraphic nomenclature 1142 tion 1149 Morrison formation 1143 5. Probable lithogenetic equivalents 1151 Bighorn Basin 1143 6. Early Cloverly paleocurrents, Bighorn Basin 1156 Elsewhere in Western Interior 1144 7. Pryor conglomerate member paleocurrents Cloverly formation 1145 near Red Dome, Montana 1157 General features 1145 8. Late Cloverly paleocurrents, Bighorn Little Sheep mudstone member 1145 Basin 1158 Pryor conglomerate member 1147 9. Facies changes in Himes member of Himes member 1148 Cloverly formation 1159 Sykes Mountain formation 1149 10. Heavy-mineral provenances 1166 Correlation 1150 11. Clay minerals 1168 Incomplete local fossil evidence 1150 12. Sandstone composition and texture related Lithogenetic equivalents 1152 to maturity and fluidity 1170 Ages 1152 Plate Facing page Petrology 1153 1. Lithologic changes in uppermost Jurassic Sedimentary structures 1153 and lowermost Cretaceous rocks along Stratification 1153 northeast edge of Bighorn Basin, Directional properties 1155 Wyoming and Montana 1137 Secondary structures 1157 Following page Petrography 1159 2. Cloverly and Sykes Mountain formations' Composition and texture 1159 3. Bedding features Special studies 1159 4. Photomicrographs of thin sections \ 1160 Sedimentary rock families 1163 5. Photomicrographs of thin sections, and Petrogeny 1171 tuffaceous mudstone outcrop Morrison formation 1171 Cloverly formation 1171 TABLES Sykes Mountain formation 1171 Tables Page Physical environment 1172 1. Compositional and textural properties of Tectonic environment 1173 Morrison, Cloverly, and Sykes Mountain Geologic history 1173 formations, Northern Bighorn Basin, References cited 1174 Wyoming and Montana 1164 INTRODUCTION rocks described in this study crop out in Big Horn and Park counties, Wyoming, and Carbon General Statement County, Montana, extending along the east side of the basin from the vicinity of Hyattville, The present study analyzes a sequence of ex- Wyoming, for about 90 miles northwest to the posed Mesozoic sedimentary rocks in the vicinity of Red Dome, Montana, and on the northern Bighorn Basin that are the product of west side of the basin from about 10 miles south a predominantly nonmarine physical environ- of Cody, Wyoming, northward for about 40 ment in a stable tectonic environment. These miles to the Montana state line (Fig. 1). The rocks include the Morrison formation, the area is one of excellent exposures and uncompli- Cloverly formation, and the rusty-brown- cated structures. weathering beds heretofore included in the base of the Thermopolis shale, thus involving the Previous Work entire sequence deposited after the last Jurassic marine flooding and before the return of In the early 1900's, U. S. Geological Survey dominantly marine Cretaceous conditions. field parties mapped much of the area (Darton, The upper Jurassic and lower Cretaceous 1906b; Fisher, 1906). Later maps which have Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/71/8/1137/3431920/i0016-7606-71-8-1137.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 INTRODUCTION 1139 EXPOSED FORMATIONS, UNDIFFERENTIATED. LINE OF SECTION, PLATE I TYPE LOCALITIES SYKES MOUNTAIN FORMATION. HIMES MEMBER, CLOVERLY FORMATION. (D LITTLCLOVERLE SHEEY P FORMATIONMUDSTONE. MEMBER, (Mop modified from Andrews, Pierce, & Eorgle, 1947} FIGURE 1.—INDEX MAP Exposures of Morrison, Cloverly, and Sykes Mountain formations along the northern edges of the Big- horn Basin. Downloaded from http://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-pdf/71/8/1137/3431920/i0016-7606-71-8-1137.pdf by guest on 29 September 2021 1140 RALPH MOBERLY,
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