Search USGS⌕ Search

Geology topics

Research about Rocky Mountains

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Rocky Mountains.

77 records · Page 5Linked to original sources
USGS1970

Aspects of oil and gas operations on federal and Indian lands of interest to engineers

It is always enjoyable to attend any meeting of the Society of Petroleum Engineers. I am happy to have this opportunity to speak to you because I believe that petroleum engineers can benefit from a better understanding of the Mineral Leasing Act and the regulations that implement the act insofar as these affect or influence your work. The regulations that implement the leasing act are commonly known as the Oil and Gas Operating Regulations. These regulations are officially described as Part 221 of Title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations. They are printed in a small green booklet which most printed in a small green booklet which most of you have probably seen at one time or other. The requirements of the operating regulations, as specifically set forth in the booklet, or as determined by policy judgments in our various offices, can affect some aspects of your work. I think it would be appropriate first to discuss the two types of lands, Federal lands and Indian lands, which are subject to the Oil and Gas Operating Regulations. Federal lands generally are classified in two categories, acquired land and public domain lands. Acquired lands are lands to which the Federal Government obtained title by purchase, exchange, condemnation, or private gift. These lands are scattered private gift. These lands are scattered throughout the United States and total about 54 million acres, or about 7.5 percent of the area classified as public percent of the area classified as public lands. The public domain lands are lands to which the United States has held title since their original acquisition. There are public lands in 30 states, but the large bulk of the lands are located in Alaska and the Western States. You may recall from your history courses some of the purchases and treaties by which the United States obtained most of the lands now described as public domain lands. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 included among the Western States most of Montana, eastern and central Wyoming, northeast Colorado, and the northern part of Texas. This treaty also included a large part of the area now generally referred to as The "Midwest". The annexation of Texas occurred in 1845 and it is somewhat surprising to realize that this included, among other lands, a strip of land through western Colorado and a rectangular shaped piece of land in Wyoming, south of Rawlins piece of land in Wyoming, south of Rawlins The acquisition of the Oregon Territory in 1846 brought into the Union parts of western Wyoming and Montana as well as what is now Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, South Dako↗
USGS1954

Reconnaissance for uranium in black shale, Northern Rocky Mountains and Great Plains, 1953

Reconnaissance examinations for uranium in 22 formations containing black shale were conducted in parts of Montana, North Dakota, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon during 1953. About 150 samples from 80 outcrop localities and 5 oil and gas wells were submitted for uranium determinations. Most of the black shale deposits examined contain less than 0.003 percent uranium; however, thin beds of black shale at the base of the Mississippian system contain 0.005 percent uranium at 2 outcrop localities in southwestern Montana and as much as 0.007 percent uranium in a well in northeastern Montana. An eight-foot bed of phosphatic black shale at the base of the Brazer limestone of Late Mississippian age in Rich County, Utah, contains as much as 0.009 percent uranium. Commercial gamma ray logs of oil and gas wells drilled in Montana and adjacent parts of the Dakotas indicate that locally the Heath shale of Late Mississippian age contains as much as 0.01 percent equivalent uranium, and black shales of Late Cretaceous age contain as much as 0.008 percent equivalent uranium.

Idaho;Montana;North Dakota;Oregon;Utah↗
USGS1906

The Montana lobe of the Keewatin ice sheet

Just south of the forty-ninth parallel and east of the Rocky Mountains is an area that is of much interest to glacialists. It is the area which lay between the Keewatin ice sheet and the mountain glaciers coming from the west. Although it has been known for nearly twenty years that the bodies of drift deposited by the ice coming from opposite directions were closely associated, little detailed field work has been done in this region. As early as 1881 Sir James Geikie prophesied that a careful study of the region would clear up many important points in glaciology. In 1885, Dr. T. C. Chamberlin and Prof E. D. Salisbury, in a reconnaissance of the region, determined roughly the course of the terminal moraine of the eastern ice sheet and obtained data concerning the character and extent of the mountain glaciation. In 1890 Mr. G. E. Culver, while a member of the military party under the command of Lieutenant Ahern, U. S. Army, gathered many data concerning the geology of the region, publishing the results of his investigations in the Transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, in 1891. Doctor Dawson and Mr McConnell, of the Canadian Survey, have worked out the geology of the region north of the boundary line. Their reports are unusually complete, but the area to the south offers better opportunity for study, and somewhat different conclusions were reached from a study of that region. The work on which the following discussion is based was done during the field seasons of 1901, 1902, and 1903. During the first season the writer was accompanied by Mr. Bruce McLeish, then a student at the University of Chicago. The second year Mr. Porter Graves, of the Kansas City High School, rendered valuable assistance. The writer is most deeply indebted to Dr. T. C. Chamberlin and Prof. R. D. Salisbury, of the University of Chicago, for friendly interest shown while superintending the compiling of this manuscript. Professor Salisbury also personally directed a portion of the field work and made many practical suggestions. Thanks are also due Dr. G. K. Gilbert for careful criticism of the report. The area covered by this investigation lies along the eastern front of the Montana Rockies, between longitude 108° and 113° 40', and latitude 47° 15' and 49° 30'. Over the eastern and northern part of this area the ice from the northeast deposited its drift. Over the western part the ice from the Rockies pushed down the mountain valleys and, deploying on the plain, deposited large and well-defined terminal moraines. Extending from the Canadian line to the Missouri there is a strip of country, varying greatly in width, which the ice did not cover.

Montana↗