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Geology topics

John W. Hosterman

Publications and source records attributed to John W. Hosterman.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1990

Chemistry and mineralogy of natural bitumens and heavy oils and their reservoir rocks from the United States, Canada, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela

Twenty-one samples from natural bitumen and heavy oil deposits in seven States of the United States and six samples from outside the United States form the basis of this initial study. This Circular gives the mineral content of the reservoir rock, the trace-element distribution in the reservoir rock and hydrocarbons, and the composition of the heavy oil and natural bitumen. The reservoir rock and sediment residues from California contain more trace-element maximum amounts than any of the other rock samples. These relatively high concentrations of trace elements may be due, in part, to the low quartz content of the rock and to the presence of heulandite, cristobalite, siderite, and pyrite. The reservoir rock and sediment residues from Oklahoma contain more minimum amounts of trace elements than any of the other rock samples. This pattern probably results from the large amount of quartz in four of the samples and a large amount of calcite in the other sample. The maximum and minimum amounts of trace elements in the bitumen and heavy oil do not correlate with those in the reservoir rocks. The bitumen from Utah contains the greatest number of trace-element maxima, whereas there is no trend in the trace-element minima in the bitumen and heavy oil.

Circular↗
USGS1987

Mineralogy and instrumental neutron activation analysis of seven National Bureau of Standards and three Instituto de Pesquisas Tecnologicas clay reference samples

The concentrations of 3 oxides and 29 elements in 7 National Bureau of Standards (NBS) and 3 Instituto de Pesquisas Techno16gicas (IPT) reference clay samples were etermined by instrumental neutron activation analysis. The analytical work was designed to test the homogeneity of constituents in three new NBS reference clays, NBS-97b, NBS-98b, and NBS-679. The analyses of variance of 276 sets of data for these three standards show that the constituents are distributed homogeneously among bottles of samples for 94 percent of the sets of data. Three of the reference samples (NBS-97, NBS-97a, and NBS-97b) are flint clays; four of the samples (NBS-98, NBS-98a, NBS-98b, and IPT-32) are plastic clays, and three of the samples (NBS-679, IPT-28, and IPT-42) are miscellaneous clays (both sedimentary and residual). Seven clays are predominantly kaolinite; the other three clays contain illite and kaolinite in the approximate ratio 3:2. Seven clays contain quartz as the major nonclay mineral. The mineralogy of the flint and plastic clays from Missouri (NBS-97a and NBS-98a) differs markedly from that of the flint and plastic clays from Pennsylvania (NBS-97, NBS-97b, NBS-98, and NBS-98b). The flint clay NBS-97 has higher average chromium, hafnium, lithium, and zirconium contents than its replacement, reference sample NBS-97b. The differences between the plastic clay NBS-98 and its replacement, NBS-98b, are not as pronounced. The trace element contents of the flint and plastic clays from Missouri, NBS-97a and NBS-98a, differ significantly from those of the clays from Pennsylvania, especially the average rare earth element (REE) contents. The trace element contents of clay sample IPT-32 differ from those of the other plastic clays. IPT-28 and IPT-42 have some average trace element contents that differ not only between these two samples but also from all the other clays. IPT-28 has the highest summation of the average REE contents of the 10 samples. The uranium content of NBS-98a, 46 parts per million, is very much higher than that of the other clays. Plots of average REE contents of the flint and plastic clays, normalized to chondritic abundances, show that the clays from Missouri differ from the same types of clay from Pennsylvania. The plot of REE contents for the miscellaneous clays shows that the normalized means for the elements lanthanum through samarium for IPT-28 are much greater than those for the other miscellaneous clays. The means for the elements europium through lutetium are similar for all three miscellaneous clays.

Circular↗
USGS1984

Ball clay and bentonite deposits of the central and western Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain, United States

The Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain produces approximately 85 percent of the ball clay used in the United States. The best commercial-grade clay deposits are composed of poorly crystalline kaolinite and small amounts of Md illite and (or) smectite. Sand and silt and iron oxide minerals are virtually absent, but quartz is present in the clay-size fraction. The best grade ball clays are found as lenses limited to the Wilcox Group (Paleocene and lower Eocene) and Claiborne Group (middle Eocene). Reserves of ball clay are sufficient for the present, but because of the lenticular nature of the clay bodies, close-spaced drilling, detailed sampling, mineralogic analyses, and ceramic testing are needed to prove future reserves. Approximately 11 percent of the total bentonite produced in the United States comes from the Gulf Coast region. The commercial-grade bentonites are composed primarily of smectite with little or no Md illite and kaolinite. The nonclay impurities are quartz, feldspar, muscovite, biotite, calcite, dolomite, gypsum, and heulandite. Commercial bentonites occur in the Upper Cretaceous formations in Alabama and Mississippi, in Paleocene formations in Mississippi and Tennessee, and in Eocene and Miocene formations in Texas. The demand for low-swelling bentonite of the Gulf Coastal Plain has not increased along with the demand for swelling bentonite; therefore the reserves are adequate.

Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississipp↗
USGS1984

White clays of Pennsylvania

The white clays of Pennsylvania are composed chiefly of kaolinite and various amounts of illite. Most of the white clays are silty and a few are sandy. Quartz or chert is the only nonclay mineral in the whitest material; goethite is also present in the colored samples high in iron. The average alumina content is slightly more than 20 percent in samples from three clay pits and less than 15 percent in samples from five clay pits. The white clay deposits are found in eastern, south-central, and central Pennsylvania. They occur in rocks of the Appalachian basin that range in age from Cambrian to Devonian; however, their age of formation is Cretaceous or later. Some of the deposits are the result of katamorphic alteration, and some are the result of weathered material being transported and deposited in sinkaoles or caverns. The presence of alunite in one deposit suggests the possibility that the clay may be the result of both katamorphic and hydrothermal alteration.

Pennsylvania↗
USGS1981

Munsell color value as related to organic carbon in Devonian shale of Appalachian basin

Comparison of Munsell color value with organic carbon content of 880 samples from 50 drill holes in the Appalachian basin shows that a power curve is the best fit for the data. A color value below 3 to 3.5 indicates the presence of organic carbon but is meaningless in determining the organic carbon content because a large increase in amount of organic carbon causes only a minor decrease in color value. Above 4, the color value is one of the factors that can be used in calculating the organic content. For samples containing equal amounts of organic carbon, calcareous shale containing more than 5% calcite is darker than shale containing less than 5% calcite.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulle↗
USGS1981

Clay mineralogy of Devonian shales in the Appalachian Basin

A study of the clay mineralogy of the Devonian black shales of the Appalachian basin was undertaken to help predict areas for potential gas resources. More than 2,100 samples from 84 drill holes representing 11 shale units were analyzed for clay mineralogy or whole—rock mineralogy or both. Approximately 1,300 samples were from drill cores and about 800 samples were from drill cuttings. Illite (2M) recrystallized during diagenesis is more or less uniformly present throughout all shale units. Chlorite formed during low grade metamorphism is least abundant in the younger units and more abundant in the older units. Illite—smectite mixed—layer clay, which supplied the material for the formation of chlorite, is most abundant in the younger units and least abundant in the older units. Illite—chlorite mixed—layer clay occurs as a trace in all shale units. Kaolinite, the only unaltered detrital clay mineral, occurs in about 25 to 30 percent of the samples. The source of the kaolinite appears to have been to the east and northeast of the basin of deposition. The color of the shale units is primarily due to the organic content; however, those shales that contain calcite are darker than those that do not for equal amounts of organic carbon.

Appalachian Basin↗
USGS1978

Preliminary report on the clay mineralogy of the Upper Devonian Shales in the southern and middle Appalachian Basin

The distribution of kaolinite in parts of the Devonian shale section is the most significant finding of this work. These shales are composed predominately of 2M illite and illitic mixed-layer clay with minor amounts of chlorite and kaolinite. Preliminary data indicate that kaolinite, the only allogenic clay mineral, is present in successively older beds of the Ohio Shale from south to north in the southern and middle parts of the Appalachian basin. This trend in the distribution of kaolinite shows a paleocurrent direction to the southwest. Three well-known methods of preparing the clay fraction for X-ray diffraction analysis were tested and evaluated. Kaolinite was not identified in two of the methods because of layering due to differing settling rates of the clay minerals. It is suggested that if one of the two settling methods of sample preparation is used, the clay film be thin enough for the X-ray beam to penetrate the entire thickness of clay.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1976

Sediment-filled pots in upland gravels of Maryland and Virginia

Pot-shaped depressions filled with sandy clayey silt are found in "Upland" gravels (previously termed Brandywine) of probable Miocene age, in northeastern Maryland and in Virginia near Washington, D.C. The pots are about 7 ft (2m) deep and commonly are about as wide. In plan, many are strongly elliptical. Sides are steep or even bulbous, and the filling in some pots shows faint stratification paralleling the sides. Strata in the enclosing gravel commonly bend downward and are thinner beside and below the pots. The gravel deposits are remnants of alluvial deposits of the ancestral Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers. All the pots are at the present gravel surface. We suggest that the pots originated when seasonal frost in an overlying layer of sandy clayey silt provided a confining upper layer. The freezing plane in the silt moved downward, reaching the gravel at some points before others. Water in the gravel moved toward the freezing plane by capillarity or by cryostatic head, forming ice lenses in the silt. Each winter, ice growth forced unfrozen clayey silt a short distance downward and outward into the gravel, increasing the irregularity of the silt-gravel contact and promoting more rapid movement. The pots probably reflect some centuries of growth, probably during the Illinoian Glaciation.

Maryland, Virginia↗
USGS1963

Structure-contour map of the Olive Hill Clay Bed in northeastern Kentucky

The gently dipping Olive Hill Clay Bed of Crider (1913) crops out in belt about 15 miles \vidc and 60 miles long from the Ohio River near Portsmouth, Ohio, south-southwesterly to Frenchburg, Ky. (see inset map). The purpose of the structure-contour map presented here is to aid exploration by showing the elevations at which the Olive Hill Clay Bed occurs. The strudure contours indicate the depths that mu;,t be reached in prospecting for the clay. The approximate depth of the clay at any one point is the difference between elevations of the structure and topographic contours. The clay has been thoroughly prospected along its out.crop belt and in most areas \Vhe re it lies under overburden less than 200 feet thick. The depth of the clay bed increase,; eastward from the outcrop belt, and large potential resources are likely to occur at depths greater than 200 feet.

Kentucky↗
USGS1962

Geology and refractory clay deposits of the Haldeman and Wrigley quadrangles, Kentucky, with a section on coal resources

The Haldeman and Wrigley 7th-minute quadrangles are near the western edge of the eastern Kentucky coal field and cover an area of approximately 117 square miles in parts of Carter, Rowan, Elliott, and Morgan Counties, Ky. The rocks exposed in the two quadrangles are of Early and Late Mississippian and Early and Middle Pennsylvanian age. The Mississippian rocks are composed of the thick Brodhead formation, which consists of siltstone and shale, and eleven thin marine limestone and shale formations, having an aggregate thickness of about 150 feet. The Lee and Breathitt formations, of Pennsylvanian age, consist of sandstone, siltstone, and shale; they also contain thin beds of coal and several beds of underclay, including the economically important Olive Hill clay bed of Crider, 1913. Pennsylvanian rocks include beds of both continental and marine origin. The eleven thin Mississippian formations and the upper-most part of the thick Brodhead formation are truncated by a prominent unconformity on which rocks of Pennsylvanian age rest. The rocks occupy a region of gentle dips between the Cincinnati arch and the Appalachian Mountains. Refractory clay deposits are in the Olive Hill clay bed, which occurs in the lower part of the Lee formation. The Olive Hill clay bed is discontinuous and consists of a series of irregularly shaped lenses. The bed is approximately two-thirds semifiint clay and one-third flint clay, and it contains minor amounts of plastic clay. Some of the flint clay is nearly pure kaolinite, but the semi flint and plastic clay consists of mixtures of kaolinite, illite, and mixed-layer clay minerals. The structure of the kaolinite ranges from highly crystalline to very poorly crystalline 'fireclay' type. The degree of crystallinity of the kaolinite and the hardness of the clay vary inversely with the amount of illite and mixed-layer clay minerals present. The nearly pure kaolinite is believed to have formed by the removal of alkalies and some silica fram mixtures of kaolinite, illite, and mixed-layer clays by leaching in swamps to the deposition of the beds overlying the clay. The refractory properties of the clay vary directly with the purity of the kaolinite, and refractoriness decreases as the proportions of illite and mixed-layer clays increase. Certain nonclay minerals, chiefly siderite, pyrite, and iron oxide-bearing minerals, also act as fiuxes, reducing the refractory properties of the clay. The entire resources of clay in the Olive Hill clay bed are roughly and tentatively estimated to include 105,000,000 tons in the Haldeman quadrangle and 175,000,000 tons in the Wrigley quadrangle. Much of this clay is of poor quality and the amount that is better than the minimum requirements for use in refractories is probably about 30,000,000 tons. Only a fraction of this tonnage is suitable for superheat-duty products. Limestone is the only nonmetallic mineral resource other than refractory clay that has been developed in the two quadrangles, but 1arge amounts of shale suitable for use in making lightweight aggregate and structural clay products may also be present. Most of the limestone, which is quarried. in both quadrangles, is used for road-metal, concrete aggregate, and agriculture stone, but some of the limestone is of the quality that would be suitable for other uses. Virtually all the Mississippian Beech Creek limestone of Malott, 1919 which is as much as 18 feet thick, consists of high-calcium limestone. Shale beds that appear most favoralble for making lightweight aggregate are in the shale facies of the Lee formation of Pennsylvanian age. Shale that is probably suitable for structural clay products is present in the shale flacles of the Lee formation and in the Muldraugh formation of Mississippian age. Several dry holes have been drilled in search for oil and gas within the area of the two quadrangles. Though no commercial production was ever attained, one well furnished a supply of gas f

Kentucky↗