DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Hubert Work, Secretary U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY George Otis Smith, Director Bulletin 793 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OF THE CASTLEGATE, WELLINGTON, AND SUNNYSIDE O QUADRANGLES, CARBON COUNTY, UTAH BY FRANK R. CLARK UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON 1028 ADDITIONAL COPIES OF THIS PUBLICATION MAT BE PROCURED FROM THE SUPERINTENDENT OF DOCUMENTS U.S.GOVEENMENT FEINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON, D. C. AT 76 CENTS PER COPY CONTENTS Page. Chapter I. Sunnyside and Wellington quadrangles 1 Introduction 1 General features of the area 1 Previous geologic work 3 Field work_ _ 4 Geography , 5 Location and extent 5 Accessibility < ^ Settlement - 5 Roads and trails 6 Climate and vegetation 7 Surface water supply _ 7 Agriculture and stock raising_ __ 7 Surface features 8 Drainage _____________ _ 9 Geology 10 Stratigraphy____ _ __ 10 General features 10 Cretaceous (?) rocks 12 Morrison formation . _ .___ __ 12 Upper Cretaceous rocks __ ________ 13 Dakota (?) sandstone__r__________________ 13 Mancos shale_______ ___ _____________ 13 Ferron sandstone member.._____________ 13 Inter fingering of upper part of Mancos shale with lower part of Mesaverde group_________ 14 Mesaverde group_ ___ _ _____________ 15 Star Point sandstone ________ _____ 16 General features_________________ 16 Panther tongue ____________^_____ 17 Storrs tongue____________________ 17 Spring Canyon tongue ___.__________ 17 Blackhawk formation __________________ 18 Aberdeen sandstone member___________ 18 Coal-bearing beds_________________ 19 Price River formation__________________ 20 Castlegate sandstone member __________ 20 Noncoal-bearing beds________________ 20 Tertiary (Eocene) rocks_____________________ 21 Wasatch formation _____________________ 21 Green River formation____________________ 21 Quaternary deposits________________________ 22 Gravel on terraces_____________________ 22 Structure ____________________________ 23 General features__________________________ 23 Farnham anticline_________________________ 24 Faults________________________________ 24 IV CONTENTS Chapter I. Sunnyside and Wellington quadrangles Continued. Page Coal_______________________________________ 26 General features___ ______ _________ ______ 26 Altitudes of coal beds ____________ 26 Stratigraphy of the coal beds and associated rocks 29 Coal below the Castlegate "A" bed____:_______ _ 29 Castlegate " A " coal_________________ 30 Kenilworth bed _ 30 Gilson bed____ _ _ 31 Fish Creek bed- _ _ 32 Rock Canyon bed : : 33 Lower Sunnyside bed _ _ _ __ 34 Coal beds above the Lower Sunnyside bed 34 Description of coal by townships 35 General features 35 T. 12 S., Rs. 10 and 11 E___________1_______ 35 T. 13 S., Rs. 10 and 11 E______________________ 36 T. 12 S., R. 12 E___________________ 47 T. 13 S., R. 12 E _ _ _ __ 48 T. 12 S., R. 13 E_____ __________ _ 55 T. 13 S., R. 13 E________-___________-_____ 56 T. 14 S., R. 13 E_______________.________ 60 T. 12 S., R. 14 E___________________________- 65 T. 13 S., R. 14 E___________________ __ 66 T. 14 S., R. 14 E____________________________ 67 T. 15 S., R. 14 E________. ________________ 71 T. 12 S., R. 15 E____. _ .. __ 77 T. 13 S., R. 15 E__________________________ 77 T. 14 S., R. 15 E____________________________ 78 T. 15 S., R. 15 E____________________________ 79 Physical character of the coal____________________ 80 Chemical composition of the coal__________________ 81 Essential data in regard to coal contracts to supply fuel to the United States Government 98 Original coal content of Sunnyside and Wellington quadrangles_ 100 General features _____________________ 100 - Method of computation ___________ _____ 100 .,. The estimates_ ________________________ 101 Summary of tonnage estimate__________ ____ 102 History of development ____________________ 103 / General features __ _ _ _ 103 Mines and prospects ___ ______________ 104 Ohapter II. Castlegate quadrangle _ _ 106 Introduction_______ ________________________ 106 General features ___ _ ____________________ 106 Previous geologic work _ _ _ 107 Geography ____ ____ 108 Accessibility ______'._______ _ 108 Settlement______ ________________________ 108 Roads and trails ______________ 109 Surface water-___ ___________________ 110 Agriculture and stock raising____________________ lift Surface features__ ________________________ 111 Drainage _ ____ 111 CONTENTS V Chapter II. Castlegate quadrangle Continued. Page Geology ______________________"__________ 112 Stratigraphy ___________________________ 112 General features_________________________ 112 Upper Cretaceous rocks______________________ 112 Mancos shale__________________________ 112 Garley Canyon sandstone member__________ 112 Emery sandstone member_______________ 112 Other sandstones and their relations to the Garley Canyon and Emery sandstone members- _ 114 Mesaverde group_______________________ 115 General character____________________ 115 Star Point sandstone__________________ 116 Panther tongue___________________ 116 Storrs tongue ______ 11T Spring Canyon tongue: 117 Blackhawk formation_________________ 117 Aberdeen sandstone member________ 11T Coal-bearing strata __ 118- Price River formation_________________ 1191 Castlegate sandstone member___ 1191 Non coal-bearing member____ _ _ 119 Tertiary_________________________________ 12O Wasatch formation (Eocene)_______________ 120 Structure_________________________________ 120> General features___________________________ 12O Faults________________________________ 121 Coal ________________________________ 122 General features ________ 122 Stratigraphy of the coal beds and associated rocks______ 125 Graphic sections of the rocks __________ 125 Spring Canyon coal group .. 125 Castlegate coal group __ _, _ 127 Kenilworth coal bed___ __ _ 128 Coal beds above the Kenilworth bed _____ 129 Description of coal by townships__________ 130 General features___________________ _ __ 130 T. 12 S., R. 8 E__________________ 130 T. 13 S., R. 8 E___________________ 131 T. 12 S., R. 9 E______________________ ___ 135 T. 13 S., R. 9 E____________________________ 138 T. 13 S., R. 10 E_____________________ __ 147 T. 12 S., R. 10 E____________________________ 157 Character of the coal_________________________ 158 Physical properties________________ _________ 158 Chemical composition_______________________ 158 Original coal content of the Castlegate quadrangle__ ___ 159 General features _ ____________ 159 Method of computation______________________ 159 Tonnage estimates_________________________ 159 Summary of tonnage estimate__________________ 161 Index________________________________________ 163 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 1. A, Whitmore Canyon; B, view southeast down Range Creek: 10 2. A, Ferron sandstone member of Mancos shale in sees. 1 and 12, T. 15 S., R. 11 E.; B, cliff 250 feet high formed by Castlegate sandstone in sec. 7, T. 13 S., R. 11 E 10 3. Generalized sections of rocks exposed in the Sunnyside and Wellington quadrangles 10 4. Linear and vertical section of the rocks exposed in the Book ; Cliffs through T. 13 S., Rs. 9-13 E____ 10 5. Stratigraphic sections of coal beds and associated rocks in Sunnyside, Wellington, and Castlegate quadrangles In pocket. 6. Sections of the principal coal beds exposed in T. 13 S., R. 11 E__ 58 7. Sections of the principal coal beds exposed in T. 13 S., R. 12 E__ 58 8. Sections of the principal coal beds exposed in T. 13 S., R. 13 E__ 58 9. Sections of the principal coal beds exposed in T. 14 S., R. 13 E__ 74 10. Sections of the- principal coal beds exposed in T. 14 S., R. 14 E__ 74 11. Sections of the principal coal beds exposed in T. 15 S., R. 14 E__ 74 12. A, Coke ovens at Sunnyside; B, tipple at mine of Utah Fuel Co. at Sunnyside_____________________________ 74 13. Cliffs formed by Garley Canyon sandstone on Price River, in sec. 1, T. 14 S., R. 9 E________________________ 114 14. A, Remnant of terrace east of Spring Glen; B, cliffs of lower part of Mesaverde group at mouth of Price River Canyon__ 114 15. Generalized sections of rocks exposed in the Sunnyside, Welling­ ton, and Castlegate quadrangles_________________ 114 16. A, Vertical cliffs of coal-bearing Mesaverde rocks (Blackhawk formation) in Helper Canyon; B, coal-bearing rocks (Black- hawk formation) at the mouth of Price River Canyon and Spring Canyon; C, tipple at Castlegate_____________ 114 17. A, Entrance to Milburn prospect in Castlegate "A" coal bed, sec. 11, T. 13 S., R. 10 E.; B, coal-bearing Blackhawk forma­ tion at Kenilworth__________________________ 114 18. Sections of the Castlegate "A" coal bed and Spring Canyon coal group in T. 13 S., R. 8 E_______________________ 138 19. Sections of the Spring Canyon coal group in T. 13 S., Rs. 9 and 10 E___________________________________ 138 20. Sections of the Castlegate coal group in Tps. 12 and 13 S., R. 9 E___________________________________ 154 21. Sections of the Royal Blue, Kenilworth, and Castlegate "A" and " B " coal beds in T.. 13 S., R. 10 E_____'_______ 154 22. Geologic map and sections of the Sunnyside, Wellington, and Castlegate quadrangles____________________ In pocket. FIGURE 1. Index map showing location of Castlegate, Wellington, and Sunnyside quadrangles, Carbon County, Utah ______ 2 2. Sketches showing effects of faulting in the vicinity of Sunny- side.__________ _______ _____ 25 3. Sections showing coal in Lower Sunnyside bed and in zone of Upper Sunnyside bed in T. 14 S., R. 14 E., showing tentative correlations _____________________________ 70 VI ECONOMIC GEOLOGY OF THE CASTLEGATE, WEL­ LINGTON, AND SUNNYSIDE QUADRANGLES, CAEBON COUNTY,