GEOLOGY Of MERCER And OLIVER COUNTIES, NORTH DAKOT
GEOLOG YofMERCER and OLIVER COUNTIES, NORTH DAKOT AbyC. G . Carlso nNorth Dakota Geological Surve yGrand Forks, North Dakota197 3BULLETIN 56 — PART INorth Dakota Geological SurveyE . A . Noble, State Geologis tCOUNTY GROUND WATER STUDIES 15 — PART INorth Dakota State Water Commissio nVernon Fahy, Secretary and Chief EngineerPrepared by the North Dakota Geological Surve yin cooperation with the North Dakota Stat eWater Commission, the United States Geological Survey ,and the Mercer and Oliver Counties Water Management Districts .
CONTENTSPage1ABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONPurpose of StudyArea of StudyMethods of StudyAcknowledgmentsPrevious Studies222245STRATIGRAPHYSubsurface StratigraphyPrecambrian RocksPaleozoic RocksSauk SequenceTippecanoe SequenceKaskaskia SequenceAb saroka SequenceMesozoic RocksGeneralFox Hills FormationHell Creek Formation . . tCenozoic RocksSurface - Subsurface StratigraphyCenozoic: RocksLudlow FormationCannonball FormationTongue River FormationSentinel Butte FormationGolden Valley FormationPleistocene and Recent DepositsDepositionMercer TillNapoleon TillSand and gravel"Scoria"AlluviumDiversion Trench and Knife River Valley 6
LandformsHummocky MoraineGround MoraineIce contact depositsSand DunesTerraces383939394545GEOLOGIC HISTORYPre-Glacial HistoryGlacial HistoryPost-Glacial History46464752ECONOMIC GEOLOGYLigniteSurface WaterGround WaterClayPetroleum525254545455SELECTED REFERENCES56APPENDIX ATypical Measured Sections of Tertiary Formation ExposuresAPPENDIX BTable of Formation Tops in Oil and Water Test Holesii. . 5872
ILLUSTRATIONSPagePlate1. Geologic Map of Mercer and Oliver Counties ,North Dakota(in pocket )2. Cross section showing Fox Hills, Hell Creek ,and Cenozoic Formations of Mercer andOliver Counties(in pocket)3. Typical measured sections of the Tongue RiverFormation(in pocket )4. Typical measured sections of the Sentinel Butt eFormation(in pocket)Figure 1 . Index map showing location of Mercer and Olive rCounties and the physiographic units o fNorth Dakota32. Stratigraphic column of Mercer and Olive rCounties73. Cross section showing sedimentary rocks ofMercer and Oliver Counties84. Isopachous map of Fox Hills Formation115. Isopachous map of Hell Creek Formation136. Isopachous map of Ludlow Formation217. A photo of thin bedded clay-shales, silts an dsands of the upper part of the Cannonbal lFormation228. Isopachous map of the Cannonball Formation249. A photo of light colored beds of the Tongu eRiver Formation in southeastern Olive rCounty25iii
10. A photo of "Somber" colored beds of th eSentinel Butte Formation in southwester nMercer County2911. A photo of lower and upper members of th eGolden Valley Formation in western Olive rCounty2912. Typical measured sections of the Golden Valle yFormation3013.A photo of an exposure of silt, Napoleon til land Mercer till14.33A photo of an exposure of till along KinemanCreek15.34A photo of an exposure of colluvium i nsoutheastern Oliver County3716. A photo of lag boulders left by slopewash inglaciated area3717. A photo of an exposure of till on bedroc kslope3818. A photo of an exposure showing sequence o fsand on gravel on till4119. A photo of an exposure showing sequence o fsand on gravel on bedrock4120. A diagram showing deposition of sand ongravel on till sequence4221. A cross section of Knife River valley about 5miles west of the Missouri River4322.A photo of fine grained, nearly horizontall ybedded ice contact deposits on the south sid eof Knife River valley23 . Bedrock topography4450iv
TABLESPageTable 1. Named lignite beds and their relationshipto "key" beds according to Benson (1952)162. Named lignite beds and their relationship t o"key" beds according to Johnson and Kunkel17(1959)3. Approximate stratigraphic position of previousl ynamed lignite beds in Mercer and Olive rCountiesv20
GEOLOGY OF MERCER AND OLIVER COUNTIE Sby Clarence G. CarlsonABSTRACTMercer and Oliver Counties are areas of glacially modified bedroc ktopography. Glacial deposits include unsorted drift in the form o fground moraine and hummocky moraine and sorted drift which i spresent in the valleys of diversion channels, the present streams, and asice contact deposits. Post-glacial events have added alluvium to th ediversion channels and present stream valleys and in some areas win daction has produced sand dunes. The thickest glacial and recen tdeposits are in the diversion channels where as much as 280 feet of fillhas been found.Bedrock formations exposed in these counties are the Cannonball ,Tongue River, Sentinel Butte, and Golden Valley Formations .Cannonball exposures are limited to southeastern and eastern Olive rCounty . Extensive exposures of the Tongue River Formation ar epresent in the Square Butte drainage; discontinuous exposures ar epresent in the short drainages along the Missouri River in Oliver an deastern Mercer County. The Sentinel Butte Formation is exposed inmuch of western Oliver and Mercer Counties and subcrops under th eglacial drift in most of the rest of that area . Golden Valley exposuresare limited to the higher elevations on some of the drainage divides i nwestern Mercer and Oliver Counties . Maximum thicknesses for thes eformations (i.e., where erosion has not removed part or all of aformation) are about 350 feet for the Cannonball, 450 feet for th eTongue River, 550 feet for the Sentinel Butte and 160 feet for th eGolden Valley. The Cannonball Formation is relatively uniform inthickness; the Tongue River and Sentinel Butte Formations thicke ndepositionally northwestward by about 200 to 250 feet ; the GoldenValley Formation varies according to the amount of erosion at eac hlocality.Previous reports have named 24 lignite beds within the Tongu eRiver and Sentinel Butte Formations in these two counties . Test hol edrilling has shown that not that many beds occur at any one locality ,but using key beds, measured sections, topographic control an dsubsurface information the previously named beds can be placed intheir approximate stratigraphic positions. Two lignite beds are currently1
being mined in these counties. They are the Hagel bed, which is abou t275 feet above the base of the Tongue River Formation and is beingmined near Center and Stanton ; and the Beulah-Zap bed, which i sabout 140 feet above the base of the Sentinel Butte Formation and ismined in the Beulah-Zap area .INTRODUCTIO NPurpose of Stud yThis report describes the geology of Mercer and Oliver Counties ,an area of 1,817 square miles located in west-central North Dakota. It isone of a series of reports prepared by the North Dakota Geologica lSurvey in cooperation with the North Dakota State Water Commissio nand the U. S . Geological Survey in their ground water study series .The primary purposes of this study are : (1) to provide a geologicmap of the area, (2) to interpret the geologic history of the area, (3) t olocate and define aquifers, and (4) to determine the location and exten tof other natural resources in these counties .Area of StudyThe area of this study includes all of the area of Townships 141 to147 N., Ranges 83 to 90 W., which lies south or west of the Missour iRiver . Physiographically this area is in the Missouri Slope District of th eGlaciated Missouri Plateau Section (Fig . 1) of the Central LowlandProvince, with the exception of the lowland area bordering the Missour iRiver, which is in the Missouri River Trench District of the sam esection.Methods of Stud yField work began in July, 1966, and continued through the 196 7and 1968 field seasons . The general practice was to traverse all road sand trails by vehicle and then to traverse on foot where necessary t o2
W0SCAL Ei0 703040FIGURE 1 . Location map showing area of study and physiographic divisions of North Dakota .
areas inaccessible by vehicle . Accessibility varies with section line roadslocated nearly every mile in northeastern Mercer County and othe rrelatively flat lying areas . Only a few good roads are found insouthwestern Mercer County and other areas of locally high relief .Exposures are generally good in the western one-third of the area an dother areas of high relief. The good exposures, roadcuts, railroad cuts ,and road ditches were examined . A 5-foot auger was used t osupplement outcrop data in areas of poor exposures.Topographic coverage of the area consists of the Army map servic eseries, scale 1 :250,000 for the entire area. Four quadrangles, theGarrison, Wilton, Stanton, and Bismarck sheets of the 15-minute series ,scale 1 :62,500 include part of the study area. During the summer o f1968, field copies of the 7%-minute series, scale 1 :20,000 for theSeroco NE, Seroco NW, Stanton SW, Stanton E, Hannover NE ,Hannover NW, Nisbet NE, Nisbet NW, Hazen SE, Hazen SW, Beulah SE,Medicine Butte NE, and Medicine Butte NW quadrangles becam eavailable.Stereo pair photo coverage, scale 1 :20,000 was obtained for th eentire area . Aerial photo controlled mosaics, scale 1 :63,360 were alsoavailable for the entire area .North Dakota Highway Department county road maps, scal e1 :63,360 were used for plotting field work . Contacts were plotted wit hthe aid of photos and were rechecked in the field .Subsurface information was obtained from files of the Nort hDakota Geological Survey for the oil exploration tests that have bee ndrilled in Mercer and Oliver Counties and for some test holes i nadjacent counties . Additional information was obtained through use o fthe North Dakota Geological Survey truck-mounted power auger an dthrough test hole drilling by the North Dakota State Water Commissio nand the U. S. Geological Survey . Some information was also obtaine dfrom the Knife River Coal Mining Company and from the Minnkot aPower Cooperative, Inc.AcknowledgmentsM. G . Croft of the United States Geological Survey and L . L.Froehlich of the North Dakota State Water Commission provide dsubsurface information from the test hole drilling program . Subsurfaceinformation was also provided by the Knife River Coal Minin gCompany and the Minnkota Power Cooperative, Inc .4
Several members of the geological staff of the North Dakot aGeological Survey and the United States Geological Survey mad evisitations in the field and discussed problems of interpretation . Theircomments and views aided in arriving at some of the conclusions an deven when not in agreement with my own, were appreciated . S. J.Tuthill identified a collection of mollusks from one test hole .Access to the pits of current mining operations in these countie sprovided insights into the lateral variations of the lignite beds as well asthe overburden materials . Such access as well as that of other propertyowners was appreciated .Previous StudiesEarly reports concerning lignite deposits in western North Dakot agenerally included some reference to lignite in Mercer and Olive rCounties (Wilder and Wood, 1903 ; Wilder, 1905 ; Smith, 1908 ; Leonard ,1909 ; Thom and Dobbin, 1924) . Bauer and Herald (1921) mapped th elignite beds of the Ft . Berthold Indian Reservation, providing measure dsections, and the stratigraphic sequence of the lignite deposits innorthwestern Mercer County. A description of lignite mines in Merce rand Oliver Counties was provided by Leonard, Babcock, and Dov e(1925) . Andrews (1939) mapped and named some lignite beds i nnortheastern Mercer County . Benson (1952) mapped and named mostof the lignite beds exposed in Mercer County ; he also arranged the mstratigraphically . Brant (1953) summarized the knowledge of the lignit ebeds in Mercer and Oliver Counties and made estimates of reserves .Johnson and Kunkel (1959) mapped the lignite beds of Oliver Count yand attempted to correlate them with previous lignite mapping inadjacent areas . Hickey (1966) studied the Golden Valley Formation ,named the upper and lower members, and provided type areas an ddescriptions of these units.Some of the early lignite reports mention the presence of glacialdrift in the area, but only in a general way . Todd (1914) ascribeddevelopment of the Missouri River trench as related to events in th ePleistocene. Leonard (1916a) presented an alternate theory ; suggestingthat the Missouri River was developed in the Tertiary . Leonard (1916b )also ascribed a Kansan age to the drift west of the river . Todd (1923 )criticized Leonard's interpretation and suggested that the presen tcourse of the Missouri was related to Wisconsinan glaciation ; he alsosuggested that some of the drift west of the Missouri might be relate d5
to the glaciation that deposited the Altamont moraine (i .e., LateWisconsinan) . Alden (1932) in a regional study preferred th epre-Wisconsinan age assignment for the drift west of the Missouri River .Benson (1952) mapped the glacial deposits in Mercer County an drecognized three drifts ; he thought the first two were Early Wisconsinanand the third Late Wisconsinan . Lemke and Colton (1958) in theirsummary of Pleistocene history of North Dakota generally accepte dBenson's conclusions . Johnson and Kunkel (1959) mapped the glacia ldeposits in Oliver County and generally agreed with Benson's theory o fthree drift sheets as well as his age assignments ; but they thought tha tthe Missouri trench was probably Illinoian. Bradley and Jensen (1962 )presented the results of test drilling in the Beulah area . Colton, Lemke ,and Lindvall (1963) prepared a preliminary glacial map of NorthDakota. Clayton (1966) summarized the Pleistocene history of NorthDakota and suggested that the drift in Mercer and Oliver Counties i sEarly Wisconsinan . Bluemle (1968) advanced a multistage origin for th eMissouri River trench .STRATIGRAPH YSubsurface Stratigraph yPRECAMBRIAN ROCKSOnly one well has been drilled to the Precambrian in the twocounties . It was the Carter Oil Company - E . L. Semling No . 1 well,located in SE sec . 18, T . 141 N., R. 81 W ., Oliver County, whic hpenetrated amphibolite at a depth of 8,850 feet. Depths to th ePrecambrian increase to the north and west so that in northwester nMercer County a Precambrian test would have to penetrate abou t12,500 to 13,000 feet of sedimentary rocks.PALEOZOIC ROCKSPaleozoic rocks range in thickness from about 4,500 feet insoutheastern Oliver County to about 7,500 feet in northwestern Merce rCounty . For purposes of discussion, the Paleozoic rocks may be divide dinto four sequences ; a sequence being the preserved sedimentary recor dbounded by major regional unconformities . Sequences recognized are ,in ascending order : the Sauk, Tippecanoe, Kaskaskia, and Absaroka ,with the Absaroka extending to include Triassic rocks of the Mesozoi cera (Fig . 2) .6
SystemSequenceGroup or FormationTejas0TertiaryFortUnionGroupUSilt, clay and sandSandy loam, sand and grave lGolden ValleySentinel ButteTongue RiverClay, sandstone and ligniteShale, clay, sandstone and lignit eShale, sandstone and ligniteCannonball-LudlowHell CreekMontan aGroupColoradoGroupCretaceou nnsylvanianDominant Litholog y'WalshColeharborSandstone, shale and ligniteMarine sandstonePierreShal eNiobraraShale, calcareou sCarlileShal eNewcastleSkull Creek—Marine sandstone and shaleFox HillsGreenhornBelle FourcheMowryShale, calcareousShaleShaleSandstoneShal eFall RiverSandstone and shaleLakotaSandstone and shale—————MorrisonShale, claySundancePiperShale and sandston eLimestone, anhydrite, salt and red shal eSpearfishSiltstone, salt and stoneShale, siltstone and sal tSandstone and dolomit eDolomite, limestone, shale and sandston eShale and sandstoneOtterShale, sandstone and limeston eKibbeyInterbedded limestone and evaporates —MississippirnMadisonLimeston eKaskaskiaDevonian0. . . . . . . .SilurianBakkenThree ForksBirdbearIDuperowSil tstone and shal eShale, siltstone and dolomiteLimeston eSouris RiverInterbedded dolomite and limestoneDawson BayPrairie'Winni .e osisDolomite and limestoneHaliteLimestone and dolomiteInterlakeDolomiteDolomite and limestoneLimestone and dolomiteunto nSton yerMountai ntoug to nFormation Memberm.Interbedded dolomite and limestoneLST—Argillaccous limeston eTippecanoeRed RiverRoughlockWinnipeg IceboxGroupBlack IslandOrdovicianCambriarSaukDeadwoodLimestone and dolomit eCalcareous shale and siltston eShaleSandstone—LSTLimestone, shale and sandston ePrecambrianFIGURE 2 . Stratigraphic Column for Mercer and Oliver Counties .7
AA'2 1DUNNIME RCERCOCOFELL'-cEUTZ No142-89 28 492284 0 FFIGURE 3 .32771SUNRAY DX-RENKE NO.I142-85-14 do2,93 K 8.M ECROCER OLIVE R15CARTER -SEMLING NC. ,141-81-18- 02033 D.FOL CO I RUR Co IGRC0C0Cross sections of sedimentary rocks of Mercer and Oliver Counties .8
Sault SequenceIn the Carter - Semling No . 1 well, 295 feet of limestone, shale ,and sandstone of the Deadwood Formation were present . TheDeadwood thickens north and westward where in the Kelly, Plymouth F. Leutz No . 1 well, located in NW NE sec . 28, T . 142 N., R . 89 W . ,500 feet of :Deadwood was penetrated without reaching Precambria nrocks.Tippecanoe SequenceThree wells in these counties, the two previously mentioned an dthe Youngblood and Youngblood - E. Wachter No . 1 well, located in SESW sec . 3, T . 141 N., R . 81 W ., have penetrated this sequence .Thicknesses range from about 1,360 feet in the Semling well to abou t1,820 feet in the Leutz well . The initial deposits of this sequence wer ethe clastics of the Winnipeg Group . These were followed by carbonate swith minor amounts of evaporites of the Red River, Stony Mountain ,Stonewall, and Interlake Formations .Kaskaskia SequenceNine of the oil exploration tests drilled to date have penetrate dthis sequence with the three previously mentioned wells penetrating th ecomplete Kaskaskia Sequence . In these wells, the thickness ranges fro mabout 2,250 feet in the Semling well to about 3,400 feet in the Leut zwell. These rocks are primarily limestones and dolomites with th eexception of the Prairie, which is primarily evaporite and the Thre eForks, Bakken, and Otter Formations, which are primarily fine-graine dclastics.Absaroka SequenceThicknesses of this sequence range from about 550 feet in theSemling well to about 1,130 feet in the Continental Oil Company Schuh No. :L well, located in SW SE sec . 25, T . 146 N., R. 90 W .Included in this sequence are rocks of the Pennsylvanian and Permia nSystems and the Spearfish Formation, which ranges from Permian t oTriassic in age . These rocks are primarily clastics except for the Amsde nand Minnekahta Formations, which are mainly dolomite and limestone .The Opeche and Spearfish Formations include some salt beds but ar emainly clastics of the redbed environment.MESOZOIC ROCKSGeneralMesozoic rocks range in thickness from about 3,900 feet i nsoutheastern Oliver County to about 4,600 feet in northwestern Merce r9
County . All of these rocks are part of the Zuni Sequence, with th eexception of the previously discussed Spearfish Formation . Since theFox Hills and Hell Creek Formations are important aquifers, the genera ldiscussion of Mesozoic rocks will be limited to pre-Fox Hills rocks .Thicknesses of Jurassic and pre-Fox Hills Cretaceous rocks rang efrom 3,270 feet in the Semling well to 4,300 feet in the Schuh well .Jurassic rocks include sandstones, limestones, evaporites, and shale swith shale the predominant lithology . Cretaceous rocks include welldeveloped sandstones in the Fall River - Lakota interval and a poorl ydeveloped sandstone in the Newcastle ; the rest of the pre-Fox HillsCretaceous rocks are gray shales with some calcareous shales and som ethin bentonites.Fox Hills Formatio nThe Fox Hills Formation conformably overlies the Pierr eFormation with the contact gradational . Therefore, it is rather difficul tto pick consistently on mechanical logs, particularly the gamma ra ylaterologs, but an effort was made to do so . The contact with th eoverlying Hell Creek Formati
This report describes the geology of Mercer and Oliver Counties, an area of 1,817 square miles located in west-central North Dakota. It is one of a series of reports prepared by the North Dakota Geologica l Survey in cooperation with the North Dakota State Water Commission and the U.
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1 An Introduction to Geology 2 11. Geology: The Science of Earth 4 Physical and Historical Geology 4 Geology, People, and the Environment 5 21. The Development of Geology 6 Catastrophism 6 The Birth of Modern Geology 6 Geology Today 7 The Magnitude of Geologic Time 8 31. The nature of Scientific Inquiry 9 Hypothesis 10 Theory 10 Scientific .
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GEOLOGY . is a Branch of Natural science deals with the study of the Earth, It is also known as Earth science. For studying the Earth in detail the subject of geology has been divided into various branches, which are as follows: 1. Mineralogy 2. Petrology 3. Structural geology 4. Civil Engineering geology 5. Mining geology 6. Economic geology 7.
