An appraisal of asphalt-bearing rocks as potential sources of uranium was made during 1953 and 1954 by examining deposits in 45 areas in California, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri. A total of 202 samples from these areas was analyzed for uranium. The oldest rocks sampled are Ordovician in age, and the youngest are Recent. Although none of the deposits are of value at this time as a source of uranium, some of the deposits may constitute a low grade uranium resource whose recovery will depend upon the primary use to which the asphalt is placed. Significant amounts of uranium in the ash of the extracted oil were found in samples from 7 of the 45 areas examined. These areas are Chalone Creek, McKittrick, Edna, and Los Alamos areas, California: Vernal area, Utah; Sulphur area, Oklahoma; and the Ellis area, Missouri. The average uranium content of samples from these seven areas ranges: from 0.028 to 0.376 percent in the ash of the extracted oil. All except the Chalone Creek area contain large estimated reserves of asphalt-bearing rock, ranging from 15,000,000 to almost 2,000,000,000 tons. The average uranium content of samples from 13 additional areas ranges from 0.020 to 0.068 percent in the ash of the extracted oil. Many of these areas contain very large reserves of asphalt-bearing rocks. Evaluation of field data indicates that naturally occurring asphalts with a relatively high uranium content probably originated in, or migrated through, rocks that contain more than average amounts of uranium. It is believed that some of the uranium was present as an original constituent of the oil but that some uranium may have been introduced during migration of the oil.

California, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, Oklahom↗

USGS1953

Results of reconnaissance for uraniferous coal, lignite, and carbonaceous shale in western Montana

A reconnaissance search for uraniferous lignite and carbonaceous shale was made in western Montana and adjacent parts of Idaho during the summer of 1951. Particular emphasis in the examination was placed on coal and carbonaceous shale associated with volcanic rocks, as volcanic rocks in many areas appear to have released uranium to circulating ground water from which it was ,concentrated in carbonaceous material. Twenty-two areas in Montana and one area in Idaho were examined. The coal in five of these areas is of Cretaceous age. The coal and carbonaceous shale in the remaining 18 areas occur in Tertiary 'fake-bed' deposits of Oligocene and younger age. Both the Cretaceous and Tertiary coal and carbonaceous shale are associated with contemporaneous or younger volcanic rocks and pyrociastic sequences.

Circular↗

USGS1953

Uranium-bearing carbonaceous shale and lignite in the Goose Creek district, Cassia County, Idaho, Boxelder County, Utah and Elko County, Nevada

The Goose Creek district includes about 260 miles in southern Cassia County, Idaho, and adjacent parts of Boxelder County, Utah, and Elko County Nev. The-area comprises the northern and central parts of an intermontane basin drained by northward-flowing Goose Creek and its tributaries. An essentially conformable sequence of fluviatile, lacustrine, and pyroclastic sediments of late Miocene (?) and early Pliocene age make up most of the rocks exposed in the district. These rocks include the Payette formation and the overlying, Salt Lake formation. They unconformably overlie a sequence of limestone, quartzite, and shale Carboniferous and older in age, exposed in the mountains to the west and northeast; and a thick body of rhyolite of Tertiary (?) age exposed in the mountains to the southeast. Surficial deposits of silt, sand, and gravel locally overlie the older rocks. The Payette and Salt Lake formations have a general easterly dip of 4 to 12 degrees, modified locally by shallow folds. Many normal faults, some with displacement several hundred feet, cut the Tertiary strata at various places in the district.

Idaho, Nevada, Utah↗

USGS1950

Geology of the Hobson area, central Montana

No abstract available.

Montana↗