Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

Ralph L. Erickson

Publications and source records attributed to Ralph L. Erickson.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS1993

Assessment of the Joplin 1° x 2° quadrangle, Kansas and Missouri, for Mississippi Valley-type deposits and other minerals

This map is a part of the folio of maps of the Joplin 1° X 2° quadrangle, Kansas and Missouri, which was prepared under the Conterminuous United States Mineral Assessment Program. Other publications in this folio to date include the U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Maps MF-2125-A through D (Erickson and others, 1990; Grisafe and Rueff, 1992; Blair and others, 1992; McCafferty and Cordell, 1992). Additional maps showing other geologic aspects of the Joplin quadrangle will be published as U.S. Geological Survey maps bearing this same serial number with different letter suffixes (MF-2125-F, -G, and so on).

Kansas, Missouri↗
USGS1982

Mineral resource potential map of the Rock Pile Mountain Wilderness Study area, Madison County, Missouri

Although the Rock Pile Mountain Wilderness Study Area is within the general boundary of the Southeast Missouri mining district, it has no record of mineral production and there is no mining or prospecting activity at present. Exploratory drill holes on private land along the west side of the area encountered no economic mineralization. Neither the Precambrlan volcanic rocks nor the Cambrlan sedimentary rocks contain any detectable evidence of economic mineralization. The area has no potential for coal resources, an unfavorable potential for oil and gas, and no known potential for geothermal energy. The volcanic rocks might be suitable for use as crushed stone, but similar rocks occur abundantly in more favorable locations elsewhere.

Missouri↗
USGS1978

Age and composition of igneous rocks, Edna Mountain quadrangle, Humboldt County, Nevada

Six pulses of igneous activity ranging in age from Jurassic to Pliocene have been identified in the Edna Mountain quadrangle, Humboldt County, Nev. Porphyritic syenite am! quartz monzonite of Jurassic age (146-164 million years) at Buffalo Mountain are highly potassic through a wide range in SiO 2 content from olivine-bearing syenite to quartz-rich monzonite, and their composition contrasts sharply with plutons elsewhere in north-central Nevada. Granodiorite and quartz monzonite plutons of Cretaceous age (88- 106 m.y.) are chemically and mineralogically similar to other calc-alkaline plutons in north-central Nevada. Four episodes of Tertiary volcanism include rhyolite ashflow tuffs and slightly younger andesitic basalt flows and tuffs of Oligocene age, rhyolite vitrophyre of late Miocene age, and olivine basalt flows of Pliocene age. Their age and mineralogical and chemical compositions are similar to other Tertiary volcanic rocks in north-central Nevada.

Nevada↗
USGS1952

Reconnaissance of uranium and copper deposits in parts of New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Wyoming

Because of the common association of uranium and copper in several of the commercial uranium deposits in the Colorado Plateau Province, a reconnaissance was made of several known deposits of copper disseminated through sandstone to determine whether they might be a source of uranium. In order to obtain more information regarding the relationship between copper, uranium and carbonaceous materials, some of the uraniferious asphaltrite deposits in the Shinarump conglomerate along the west flank of the San Rafael Swell were also investigated briefly. During this reconnaissance 18 deposits were examined in New Mexico, eight in Utah, two in Idaho, and one each in Wyoming and Colorado. No uranium deposits of commercial grade are associated with the copper deposits that were examined. The uraniferous asphaltites in the Shinarump conglomerate of Triassic age on the west flank of the San Rafael Swell, however, are promising from the standpoint of commercial uranium production. Spectrographic analyses of crude oil, asphalt, and bituminous shales show a rather consistent suite of trace metals including vanadium, nickel, copper, cobalt, chromium, lead zinc, and molybdenum. The similarity of the metal assemblage, including uranium of the San Rafael Swell asphaltites, to the metal assemblage in crude oil and other bituminous materials suggests that these metals were concentrated in the asphaltites from petroleum. However, the hypothesis that uranium minerals were already present before the hydrocarbons were introduced and that some sort of replacement or uranium minerals by carbon compounds was effected after the petroleum migrated into the uranium deposit should not be disregarded. The widespread association of uranium with asphaltic material suggests that it also may have been concentrated by some agency connected with the formation of petroleum. The problem of the association of uranium and other trace metals with hydrocarbons should be studied further both in the field and in the laboratory.

Colorado;Idaho;New Mexico;Utah;Wyoming↗