STATUS OF MINERAL RESOURCE INFORMATION FOR THE STANDING ROCK INDIAN RESERVATION, NORTH DAKOTA AND SOUTH DAKOTA By Lee R. Rice Richard Bretz U.S. Bureau of Mines South Dakota Geological Survey Administrative Report BIA-41 1978 CONTENTS SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS ................................................. 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1 Previous Work ............................................................. 2 Land Status................................................................ 2 Map Coverage ............................................................. 3 Physiography .............................................................. 3 GEOLOGY ..................................................................... 4 General ................................................................... 4 Stratigraphy ............................................................... 4 Outcropping Rock Units ............................................... 4 Subsurface Rock Units ................................................. 5 Structure.................................................................. 5 GEOPHYSICS ................................................................... 6 MINERAL RESOURCES .......................................................... 6 General ................................................................... 6 Energy Resources........................................................... 6 Lignite ............................................................. 6 General ....................................................... 6 Production .................................................... 7 Reserves ...................................................... 7 Mining Methods ................................................ 8 Potential Development........................................... 8 Petroleum ........................................................... 8 General ....................................................... 8 Geologic Setting and Controls ..................................... 8 Exploration.................................................... 9 Lease Status ................................................... 9 Potential Resources ............................................. 9 Natural Gas ........................................................ 11 General ...................................................... 11 Occurrence and Extent .......................................... 11 Production and Uses ........................................... 11 Uranium ........................................................... 11 General ...................................................... 11 Geologic Setting and Controls .................................... 11 Geothermal Energy .................................................. 12 Geothermal Gradients .......................................... 12 Development Potential.......................................... 12 NONMETALLIC MINERAL RESOURCES .......................................... 12 Sand and Gravel ........................................................... 12 Stone ................................................................... 13 Volcanic Ash ............................................................. 13 Clay and Shale ............................................................ 14 RECOMMENDATIONS .......................................................... 14 REFERENCES ................................................................. 15 Status of Mineral Resource Information For The Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota And South Dakota Lee R. Rice and Richard Bretz SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS INTRODUCTION Known and/or potential mineral resources of This report was prepared for the Bureau of the Standing Rock Indian Reservation that can be Indian Affairs by the U.S. Bureau of Mines and the developed with existing technology include lignite, U.S. Geological Survey under an agreement to petroleum, natural gas, uranium, sand and gravel, compile and summarize available information on rock, clay and shale, and bentonite and volcanic the geology, mineral resources, and economic ash. Only the development of potential petroleum development potential of certain Indian lands. and uranium resources promise to yield revenues to Source materials were published and unpublished the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe; other resources reports and personal communications. There was may provide needed construction materials and no fieldwork. help reduce dependence on imported materials, but The Standing Rock Reservation includes all of are not likely to be commercially developed. Sioux County, North Dakota, and Corson County, Lignite reserves, though substantial, are of South Dakota. In addition, the southern boundary limited commercial value at this time because of of the reservation takes in portions of 219 sections their distance from potential markets and because in Dewey County (3,561.11 acres) and part of 103 of diverse land ownership. Moderate potential sections in Ziebach County, South Dakota exists for the development of small petroleum (1,731.91 acres) (Figure 1). The 2,320,275-acre fields, but little potential is indicated for develop­ reservation is bounded on the north by Cedar ment of natural gas resources. There is an un­ Creek and the Cannonball River and on the east by known, although probably small, potential for the the impounded Missouri River waters of Lake discovery and development of shallow subsurface Oahe (Figure 2). The Cheyenne River Indian uranium deposits. Enough sand and gravel, rock, Reservation abuts the Standing Rock Reservation clays, and shales are present on the reservation to on the south, and the eastern boundaries of Perkins meet anticipated local construction requirements. and Adams Counties delimit the reservation to the No metallic mineral resources of any significance west at the 102d meridian. are known to occur. There are several communities on the reserva­ Petroleum exploration should be encouraged tion: McIntosh and Fort Yates are the county seats by a concerted study of all existing petroleum of Corson and Sioux Counties. Tribal headquarters exploration data to identify prospective areas and for the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe is at Fort Yates. help evaluate the potential of this resource. Some Approximately 4,700 Indians reside on or adjacent initial pilot studies of the surface and subsurface to the reservation. According to the 1970 census, stratigraphy and depositional environments of the the total population of Sioux and Corson Counties exposed Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene units is 8,626. should be encouraged to evaluate their uranium Commercial air transportation is available at potential. Bismarck, 39 miles north of the reservation. Sur- _________________________________________________________________________________________________ BIA Administrative Report 41 (1978) 1 Status of Mineral Resource Information For The Standing Rock Indian Reservation, North Dakota And South Dakota Lee R. Rice and Richard Bretz face transportation by bus and train is available, Land Status and hard-surfaced, all-weather roads and numerous graveled and graded roads serve the area. U.S. Under the terms of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Highway 12 crosses the reservation east to west, Laramie, the Sioux accepted a territory extending and State Highways 6, 63, and 65 provide connect­ to the western slopes of the Black Hills bounded ing routes north and south across the reservation. by the Niobrara River on the south, the Missouri River on the east, and the Cannonball River on the Previous Work north. Congress created seven separate reservations for the Sioux in 1889 (25 Stat. 888) and estab­ Although the areas adjacent to the Missouri lished the present Standing Rock Reservation River were described in the account of the Lewis boundary. This boundary encompasses 3,625 and Clark expedition of 1804-1806 (Lewis and square miles in Sioux County, North Dakota, and Clark, 1814), and the region of the Standing Rock Corson, Dewey, and Ziebach Counties, South Reservation was visited by F. V. Hayden in 1853­ Dakota. Ownership of more than 60 percent of the 1854 (Meek and Hayden, 1956), the first official land within the reservation boundary no longer study of the area was not until 1884 when Willis resides with the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe or with (1885) studied the lignite resources of the Great tribal members. The division of surface ownership Sioux Reservation. Calvert, Beekly, Barnett, and is shown on Figure 3, and the distribution of the Pishel studied the geology of the Standing Rock 294,840.41 acres of remaining tribal land within and Cheyenne River Indian Reservations in 1909 the reservation boundary is shown on Figure 4. (Calvert and others, 1914). Locally mineral and surface ownership have Several other investigations were conducted on been severed, so the status of mineral ownership the Standing Rock Indian Reservation. Compre­ within the reservation boundary is less clearly hensive published reports are those of Bluemle defined than is the surface ownership. Four catego­ (1975), Calvert, Beekly, Barnett, and Pishel ries of mineral ownership on the reservation (1914), Denson (1950), Morgan and Petsch (1945), include: (1) surface and mineral ownership resid­ and Randich (1975). Reports on smaller areas ing with allottees or non-Indians (including gov­ include those of Artzner (1974), Lindberg (1944), ernment agencies), (2) surface and mineral owner­ Mello (1969), Rothrock (1947), Russell (1926),