Summary of investigations of uranium deposits in the Pumpkin Buttes area, Johnson and Campbell Counties, Wyoming

Abstract

Uranium minerals were discovered in the Pumpkin Buttes area Campbell and Johnson Counties by the U.S. Geological Survey in October 1951 From June to November 1952 an area of about 750 square miles was examined for uranium deposits, and 211 localities with abnormally high radioactivity were found uranium minerals are visible at 121 of these localities. All known uranium mineralization is restricted to sandstones of the Wasatch formation exclusive of sparsely disseminated uranium in the White River sandstone which caps the Pumpkin Buttes and several localities on the Great Pine Ridge southwest of the Pumpkin Buttes where ironstone and clinker in the Fort Union formation have above normal radioactivity. The uranium occurrences in the Wasatch formation are in a red sandstone zone 450 to 900 feet above the base of formation and are of two types. (1) small concretionary masses of uranium, iron, and manganese minerals in sandstone and (2) irregular zones in which uranium minerals are disseminated in sandstone The second type is usually larger but lower grade than the first type. Most of the localities at which uranium occurs are in a north -trending belt approximately 60 miles long with a maximum width of 18 miles,