Preliminary statement of the analyses of ground water from the Morrison Formation, southwestern Colorado and southeastern Utah

Abstract

As part of a study of the carnotite deposits of the Colorado Plateau,, samples of ground water from the Salt Wash sandstone and Brushy Basin shale members of the Morrison formation have been analyzed to determine their chemical character and metal content. The Salt Wash ground water is largely a bicarbonate solution with variable amounts of calcium and magnesium ions; that from the Brushy Basin is either a sulfate or bicarbonate solution with sodium, The ground water from the Salt Wash and Brushy Basin members is generally weakly alkaline In most samples, the metal ions of uranium, vanadium, copper, lead, and selenium are present in amounts of less than 1 part per million. It is concluded that if the ground water responsible for introduction of the uranium and vanadium metals into the Salt Wash was comparable to the recent ground water, it contained very small amounts of the metal ions.