Uranium Deposits Fall River County, South Dakota
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Uranium Deposits tn• Fall River County, South Dakota ./ ~~~ 0 . By Henry Beli, III, and W. E. Bales Trace Elements ln'Yestigations Report 297 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR t6,8~ GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 0 FF ICIAL USE ONLY Geology and Mineralogy This rooc~ro~t consists of 47 pages, plus :!7 figures. Se ries A UNITE D S ;.T ATE S DEPART ME NT 0 F T HE INTER I 0 R GEOLOGICAL SURVEY UR AN IUM DEPOSITS IN FALL RIVER COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA.~ By Henry Bell and W. E. Bales February 1954 Trace Elements Investigations Report 297 This preliminary report is distributed without editorial and technical review for conformity with official standards and nomenclature. H is not for ptlblic inspection or quotation. ~his report concerns work done on behalf of the Division of-.Raw Materials of the u. s. Atomic Energy Commission. W.hen separ4ted from PartU, h!!Il.dl.e. Part I as UNCLASS.IFIED • • ,, . ' , ; ' ' ' '···· • - -~: - i OFFICIAL USE ONLY 2 USGS-TEI-297 GEOLOGY AND MINERALOGY Distribution Series A) No. of coe~e s National Lead Company. Winches.te~· • 1 Argonne National Laboratory " 0 • • 1 Atomic Energy Commission, Washington 1 Battelle Me morial linstitute, Columbus 1 Carbide and Carbon Chemicals Company. Y = 12 Area 1 Division of Raw Materials, Albuquerque 0 0 0 o 0 • 1 1 Division of Raw Materials, Butte 0 Division of Raw Materials, Denver 1 Dli.vision of Raw Materials. Douglas 0 1 Division of Raw Materials, Hot Springs • oooobo•oo 1 Division of Raw Materials, Ks h_peming 1 Division of Raw Matedals, Phoenix • 1 Division of Raw Materials, Richfield 0 1 Division of Raw Materials. Salt Lake City 1 Division of Raw Materials, Washington • 3 Dow Chemical Company, Pittsburg 0 • 0 • • 1 Exploll'ation Division, Gr and junction Operations Office • 1 Grand junction Operation$ Office 1 Technical linformation Service , Oak Ridge 6 Tennessee Valley Authority, Wilson Dam 1 U. s. Geological Survey~ Alaskan Geology Branch, Menlo Park • 0 • o 0 1 Fuels !Br a n c~ Washington .. ·" • 1 Geochemistry and Penology Branch, Washington 0 • 0 0 • o 0 1 Geophysics Branch. Washington • 0 • 0 • 0 • • • 1 Mineral Deposits Branch, Washington • 2 lE. H. Bailey. Menlo, Park o 0 • o 0 1 K. lL. Buck, Denver • 2 j. R. Cooper, Denver. • 1 N. M. Denson, Denver • 1 c. E. Dutton. Madison • • o • o l W. L. Emerick, Plant City . • 0 • • 0 • 0 • • 1 A. L. Brokaw, Grand Junction 1 L. s. Gardne1, Albuquerque • 1 M. R. Klepper, Washington • 0 1 A. H. Kos chmann, Denver l R. A. Laurence, Knoxville 1 D. M, Lemmon, Washington 0 1 J. D. Love. Laramie • 1 V. E. McKelvey. Menlo Park O • • 1 R. J. Roberts. Salt Lake City • 1 Q. D. Singewald, Beltsvill-e 1 L F. Smith• Jr., Denver • 1 A. lE. Weissenborn, Spokane o • 1 TEPCO, Denver o • • • 2 TJEPCO, RPS , Washington 3 {lin.cluding m aster~ 57 3 CON TENTS Abstract o • • • 0 f • 5 Introduction 0 0 • •oOo•oo•ooo . 6 Regional setting .• _6 o o o .o a • a Uranium=bearing formations. ,. Ore deposits 0 • 0 o . I i4, Distribution • • II 0 (I • 0 0 '0. b 0 14 t~· ; , Size and shape " 0 0 0 0 $ ' 0 Mineralogy o • • 0 • ooooe~ I · :Localizati.on of deposits 6 • ~0 Origin q o • o 0 • o. o o .. • ~ 0 0. .0 • • ' 29 0 " Suggestions for prospecting 16 i 0 0 t) 0 0 21 9 ) 4• Description of sele cted areas , • o ij 22 Area between. Craven Canyon and Coal Canyon 0 , 0 0 ~~ Ctave n Canyon are a 'o o o -o 24 Re-d Canyon area <,' ., 0 0 0 .. .. 2$ Hot Brook Canyon • • i e4 J,.iteratUJ!'e cited 0 o 0 • • i Unpublished reports ' o a o o o o -«. 0 II • . n RLLUSTRA TIONS Figme 1. linde x map of South Dakod showing location of Craven Canyon area, Fall - R ~ ver County. o o • 1. ., • • o o o • • • • o • • • • o • 2 0 Map showing outcrop pattern of formations of the Inyan Kara group, and dlis trd.bution of manium occuuences, southern Black Hills, SotJth Dakota and Wyoming (l o o • c o .,.. o 0 Q a o g. • 0 Q ·0 o o o o • • o o • 0 in envelope ! 3 11 Geologic map of part of Craven Canyon, Fall River County, South Dakota • In envelope 40 Geologic map of part of Red Canyon, Fall River County; S.outh Dakota •(' M. In envelope. 50 Geologic map, Craven and Red Canyon areas, Fall River County, South Dakota o o ·o o o o o ., o • a- o a • o o o o o • o e • • in envelope Geologic map of Red Canyon, Fall River County, South Dakota, showing a possible division of the'Lakota sandstone o 0 • • • • • • " 0 o o • .. 0 • • .15 Cross-section of a pod of ore minerals in the Fall River sandstone 17 8. Sketch showing relationship of white and pink sandstone to mineralized rock in a deposit in the Fall River sandstone ., . • • .. · ~ 0 o. .. ~ • o • " • .. .. ~ • H~ 9. Generalized section of part of a sandstone lens in the Fall River sandstone • ., 21 10. Omcrop map of part of Craven Canyon, Fall River County, South Dakota, showing lenses in the Lakota sandstone " • " • " o 0 • o • 0 • • .• " 0 • • In envelope 4 KL LUSTRA T I 0 N S • - -C on tin u e d JFll.gure 116 Geologic sections, Craven Canyon area, Fall River County, _South Dakota • ~ .. • • • 0 0 0 " 0 • • • 0 o o In envelope 12. Geologic map, Craven and Red Canyon areas, Fall River County, South Dakota, showing favorable areas and areas partially explored for ore deposits Xn envelope 13" Map of part of Hot Brook Canyon, Fall River County, South Dakota, .::showing omcrops of radioactive material o 6 • 0 0 • • ., o • .. ., 0 .. • • o " gs TABLES General section from Cambrian to Lower Cretaceous formations in the southern Black Hills, South Dakota • 0 • a • 0 • • • • o .. • • • • o 9 Assays of various radioactive beds in the Minnelusa sandstone, Hot Brook Canyon., Fall River County, South Dakota .. o •• 0 •• o o 0 • o • 29 5 URANIUM DEPOSITS IN FALL RIVER COUNTY, SOUTH DAKOTA By Henry Bell and W. E. Bales ABSTRACT lLn 1951 uranium deposits containing carnotite were discovered in the southern Black Hills near Edgemon~ Fall River County. S.Dak. Numerous carnotite deposits have since been found in sandstones in the Inyan Kara group of early Cretaceous age, and uranium~bearing materiaJhas been discovered in the Pennsylvanian Minnelusa sandstone of Pennsylvanian age and the Oeadwood formation of Cambrian age in the ~outhern Black Hills. Ore has been produced on~y from the Inyan Kara group, mostly wllithitn an area of about 30 square miles along the southwest flanl< of the Black Hills uplift between Dewey and Hot Springs in Custer and Fall River Counties. In addition. occurrences of uranium in other parts of the Black Hills and the surmunding area are known or reported from sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic rocks of pre Cambrian to Tertiary age, The upper and lowerr~ost formations of the Inyan Kara group- '•hcheFalLRi~er . and-Va.kota;:saqliiston.es- contain the productive uranium deposits. These terrestrial formations are composed predominantly ~f massive sandstone lenses with thin units of thinly bedded sandstone and mudstone, but locally tb•se formations contain abundant mudstone and thinly bedded sandstone. Massive sandstone lenses in the Lakota sandstone commonly overlap and truncate underlying lenses. The lenses are separated by thin units of thinly bedded- sand-!'- s-tooe anti mt\(ist-Q-n~ . !ron stain. carbonaceous material, thin seams of gypsum, ripple marks, concretions0 and fossil roots are common in the mudstone and thinly bedded portions of these formations. Some high,. angle normal faults of small displacement are found in the area containing the largest number of uranium occurrences in the Inyan Kara groupa Although no ore deposits seen were cut by faults, ~ high-angle fractures parallel and at right angles to the faults contain carnotite for short distances. The productive uranium deposits are most common whete the Fall River and Lakota sandstones locally contain a large proportion of mudstone and thinly bedded sandstonea Other deposits are in the massive sandstone lenses of the Lakota sandstone and in the thin units between the lenses. 6 Although 'caffiOitite is the most conspicuoi1S and important mineral in most deposits, corvusite is an important constituent of some deposits 0 Other uranium minerals in the deposits are tyuyamuniteo rauvite, and autunite" Ore produced in 1952 from the Fall River and Lakota sandstones contained about 0. 2 percent u3o8 and 00 6 percent V2o5 0 rrn general, deposits in the Fall River and Lakota sandstones contain about the same percentage of u3o8, but the deposits in the Fall River sandstone appear to have a higher percentage of vanadiumo The grade of individual deposits, however, is highly variableo Most deposits are small, but a few have yielded as much as a thousand tons of oreo KNT RODUCTKON The first discovery of carnotite in South Dakota was in Craven Canyon, 8 miles north of Edgemont, Fall River County. So Dako (fi& 1). in June 1951 (Page and Redden, 195.2)o Additional discoveries have greatly extended the are a of known occurrences, but the known commercial uranium deposits in the southern Black HH!s are in the Knyan Kara group of eallly Cretaceous age (fig, 2) 0 Several hundred lode claims have been staked for manium in Fall River County, mostly in the Harney. National Forest, although numerous discoveries have been made on privately owned groundo Not all clairm are known to contain occurrences of radioactive material~ and only a fe w contain uranium deposits of ore gradeo Most of the ore pm duced from the area has been shipped by railroad to mills in Colorado until De cembelr 1952 when an ore=buying station was established at Edgemont by the UQ.