Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

F. G. Lesure

Publications and source records attributed to F. G. Lesure.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

Analyses and descriptions of geochemical samples, Mountain Lake Wilderness Study Area, Virginia and West Virginia

Semiquantitative emission spectrographic analyses for 64 elements on 95 stream sediment and 122 rock samples from Mountain Lake Wilderness Study Area, Giles and Craig Counties, Virginia and Monroe County, West Virginia, are reported here in detail. Locations for all samples are in Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates. Brief descriptions of rock samples are also included. Rocks analysed are mostly sandstone. Samples of hematitic sandstone of the Rose Hill Formation and limonite-cemented sandstone of the Rocky Gap Sandstone contain high values of iron; these rocks are submarginal iron resources. Some of these iron-rich samples have a little more barium, copper, cobalt, lead, silver, and/or zinc than in average sandstone, but they do not suggest the presence of economic deposits of these metals. A few samples of Tuscarora Quartzite contain moderate amounts of manganese. These are from a submarginal manganese resource. No other obviously anomalous-values related to mineralized rock are present in the data.

Open-File Report↗

Analyses and description of geochemical samples, Cranberry Wilderness Study Area, Pocahontas and Webster counties, West Virginia

Semiquantitative spectrographic and other analyses on 104 stream sediment and 100 rock and mineral samples are reported here in detail. Location for all samples are in universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) coordinates. Brief descriptions of rock and mineral samples are included. Rocks analyzed include sandstone and shale; two samples of pyrite from sandstone are included. No obviously anomalous values related to mineralized rock are present in the data.

West Virginia↗

Mineral resource appraisal of the New River Gorge, Fayette, Raleigh, and Summers counties, West Virginia

The New River Gorge study area contains 440 square kilometers of a strikingly scenic part of the Appalachian coal field of southcentral West Virginia in Fayette, Raleigh, and Summers Counties. Coal resources of 66 million tons occur in 12 coal beds in the area of the proposed Wild and Scenic River, and coal resources of 151 million tons are present in 13 coal beds in the larger area of the proposed National Park. Coal is produced at one underground mine and several strip mines in or near the study area. The entire New River Gorge area has a potential for natural gas resources, but gas is being currently produced only in the northern part. Oil, however, is unlikely to be found within or near the study area. The extensive resources of sandstone for construction and high-silica rock and shale for common brick are not considered to be economically important in the Gorge area. Resources of other nonmetallic materials including limestone and fire clay are small or nonexistent. Resources of metallic minerals are not known in the study area.

West Virginia↗

Exploration geochemical studies of some sandstone copper-uranium deposits, Bradford, Columbia, and Lycoming Counties, Pa

Semi-quantitative spectrographic analyses of mineralized and unmineralized sandstone, siltstone, and claystone from the Catskill Formation of Devonian age in Bradford, Columbia, and Lycoming Counties, Pa., suggest that copper, silver, and uranium are the principal metallic elements concentrated in the mineralized rock. Lead, mercury, and molybdenum may be concentrated slightly in mineralized rock but values are too low to be of use in exploration. The deposits are too small to make large anomalies in stream sediments except in drainage basins of less than a few acres. However, if a large deposit were exposed to weathering, it would probably be detectable by stream sediment sampling. Analyses of oxalic acid leachates of the minus 80-mesh fraction of the stream-sediment samples gave more useful values than analyses of the minus 80-mesh samples in separating drainage basins that have copper deposits from those that have no known copper deposits.

Pennsylvania↗

Diffusion features of uranium-vanadium deposits in Montezuma Canyon, Utah

Uranium-vanadium deposits in the Salt Wash Member of the Morrison Formation in Montezuma Canyon , San Juan County, Utah , exhibit zoning that is interpreted as a result of metal transport by diffusion . The concentric zones consist of a brown nonmineralized core, an olive-gray mineralized shell, and a gray nonmineralized outer zone. The brown zone is iron-stained, porous sandstone commonly containing abundant carbonaceous material. The curved mineralized layer completely encloses the brown zone, and is composed of oxidized uranium-vanadium minerals that impregnate sandstone. The gray zone is light-gray sandstone tightly cemented with calcite and commonly freckled with limonitic specks.Formation of the deposits most likely took place during Late Cretaceous or early Tertiary time when the ore-bearing sandstones were deeply buried and saturated with connate waters. The concentration of organic material in the brown zone suggests that this zone was once saturated with a reducing solution containing soluble organic compounds like alcohols and aldehydes derived from the organic material. The gray zone, on the other hand, was probably saturated with an oxidizing solution containing uranium and vanadium. Where these two solutions were in contact, oxidation-reduction reactions took place that caused the precipitation of low-valent uranium and vanadium minerals.The ellipsoidal shape of the ore layer and the lack of any exit or entrance for flowing solutions indicates that the dissolved metals moved through the gray zone by diffusion and were precipitated at the periphery of the reducing zone. Recent weathering and oxidation have altered the primary low-valent minerals to high-valent forms without noticeable leaching of the ore metals.

Utah↗