Geology of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area Beaverhead County, Montana PDF
Preview Geology of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area Beaverhead County, Montana
GEOLOGY OF THE SWAMP CREEK - TRIANGLE GULCH AREA BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the Department of Geology Montana School of Mines In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Geology BUTTE, MUM I ANA '^ UBR ARY - MONTANA TSCW ______ BUTTE, k!CHTAMA 2 3 2 30 by Paul A. Guttormsen, Jr. June 1952 UMI Number: EP33477 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent on the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. JUMT DisseriMi&ri Publishing UMI EP33477 Copyright 2012 by ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This edition of the work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE ABSTRACT 1 INTRODUCTION 2 Location and accessibility . • . . 2 # Purpose of investigation 3 Method of investigation 4 Acknowledgments . . • . • 6 CLIMATE AND VEGETATION 7 PHYSIOGRAPHY 10 Physiographic history 10 Relief and elevations 14 Drainage • • • . 16 GEOLOGIC HISTORY • 21 DESCRIPTION OF SEDIMENTARY ROCKS 30 Pre-Cambrian 30 Belt series • 32 Cambrian . . . 36 Hasmark formation • • • • • • • • •• 37 Red Lion formation 42 Devonian . . . . . . . .. 45 Jefferson formation . . . « * .. 45 Three Forks shale • • • • • . • • • •* 48 Mississippian 49 Madison group • » » * » , . . » «. 49 Big Snowy group undifferentiated 51 0 PAGE Mississippian-Pennsylvanian 54 Amsden formation 54 # Pennsylvanian . 55 Quadrant formation 55 UNCONSOLIDATED SEDIMENTS 57 Tertiary . • • . 57 High-level gravel 57 # Terrace deposits . . . • . 58 t Lacustrine deposits 59 Quaternary • 59 Moraine 59 Recent alluvium and talus . • • 60 IGNEOUS ROCKS 60 STRUCTURAL GEOLOGY 65 ECONOMIC GEOLOGY 71 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 78 BIBLIOGRAPHY 82 iii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE I. Patented Claims and Numbered Lots, Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area 75 II. Silver, Gold, Copper, and Lead Production, Vipond Mining District, 1939-1948 76 III. Production in the Vipond District, Beaver head County, Montana, Production (Gross Metal Content) 1949-1950 77 LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE PAGE 1. Index Map of Southwestern Montana Showing the Location of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area ... 2 2. Detailed Location Map of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area . . .. 2 3« Radial Drainage Pattern of the Pioneer Mountains . 16 !+• Stratigraphic Section Swamp Creek- Triangle Gulch Area, Beaverhead County, Montana 30 5. Sketch Map of Quartz Hill Showing Principal Ore Bodies 77 6. Ore Occurrence - Quartz Hill Mining District 77 LIST OF PLATES PLATE PAGE I. Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Pre-Cambrian Belt . . . .. 85 II. Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Upper Cambrian - Hasmark 86 III. Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Upper Cambrian - Hasmark 87 IV. Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Upper Devonian - Jefferson 88 V- Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Carboniferous - Big Snowy, Quadrant . . . .. 89 VI. Photographs of Typical Hand Specimens Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks 90 VII. Photomicrographs of Igneous and Sedimentary Rocks 91 VIII. Photographs of Representative Outcrops . . .. 92 IX. Photographs of Representative Outcrops . . .. 93 X. Topographic Map of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area, Beaverhead County, Montana ... 94 XI. Reconnaissance Geologic Map of the Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area, Beaverhead County, Montana 95 " XII. Generalized Geologic Structure Sections, Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area, Beaverhead County, Montana . 96 > PLATE PAGE XIII. Air Photo Index, Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch Area, Beaverhead County, Montana • . . -vii- GEOLOGY OF THE SWAMP CREEK - TRIANGLE GULCH AREA BEAVERHEAD COUNTY, MONTANA by Paul A. Guttormsen, Jr. ABSTRACT The Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch area, a thirty square mile tract in the Pioneer Mountains of Beaverhead County, Montana, lies approximately thirty-seven miles southwest of Butte. The relief ranges from 5,555 feet above sea level to over 8,600 feet. Big Hole River establishes local drainage control. Sedimentary rocks include, and range in age from, the late Pre-Cambrian Belt series to the Pennsylvanian Quadrant formation. Unconsolidated and poorly consolidated sediments of Tertiary age are widespread, occuring as lake beds and high level gravels along with Quaternary moraine. Alluvium and talus slopes com prise the bulk of Recent sediments. With the exception of a diorite sill intruded into the Pre-Cambrian Belt, the igneous rocks are Tertiary volcanics, commonly red and black finely-vesicular basalts with a few very dense basalts. ... The basic structures of the aTea are plunging folds, to gether with thrust '-and normal faulting. Trends are northwest erly. - - . •• Mineralization has .'Occurred'along favored horizons in Cambrian and Devonian dolomites. Silver is the most important metal produced with by-products of copper, lead, and gold. INTRODUCTION Location and accessibility. The Swamp Creek-Triangle Gulch area lies principally in Beaverhead County in the south western portion of Montana. It is thirty-four miles southwest of Butte, twenty miles northwest of Melrose, and ten miles west of Divide* The region mapped includes thirty square miles in T.1S., R.11W., and T.1S., R.10W. shown on the accom panying index and location maps (Figs. 1 and 2) together with details of culture and drainage. All but four square miles of this area falls within the boundaries of the Beaverhead National Forest. A portion of the Vipond Mining District also is in cluded in the area, of which the Quartz Hill Mining Camp has been the most important single producer. The town of Wise River is close to the junction of Wise River with Big Hole River. This is thirty-seven miles southwest of Butte and thirty-five miles south of Anaconda. Main roads to the area are surfaced and generally good. United States high way 91 passes through Divide where the Big Hole River road to Wise River extends westward. Divide is twenty-five miles south west of Butte and twelve miles east of Wise River. The United States Forest Service and private interests maintain dirt roads and trails within the area. The Quartz Hill Gulch road connects Dewey and Melrose by way of Quartz Hill, Vipond Park, and Canyon Creek. It is used principally by the miners, stock-raisers, and Forest Service personnel. Secondary roads traverse Limekiln Gulch, Triangle Gulch, Keystone Gulch, -2-
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