General Statement
The Summer Ranch and North Promontory Mountains have not been studied in detail geologically, although the surrounding mountains have been extensively investigated. Within the limits of this area, sedimentary rocks of Mississippian through Permian crop out. Sedimentary and volcanic rocks of Tertiary age are also exposed. Extensive Lake Bonneville deposits underlie the valleys and overlap the foothills.
The purposes of this study are: (1) to describe the structure, stratigraphy, and geologic history of the area, (2) to prepare a geologic map of the area, and (3) to relate the stratigraphic features of this area to those of the surrounding region.
Location of Area
The area studied is bordered on the north by the Utah-Idaho state line and on the east by Blue Creek Valley. Utah State Highway 83 and Great Salt Lake form the southern boundary and Curlew Valley, south-southwest from Snowville, Utah, defines the western limit (Figure 1).
The mapped area lies completely .within Box Elder County and covers a total of about 529 square miles. The Utah division of the Thiokol Chemical Corporation is located near the southeast corner of the mapped area.
Field Work
Initial field work was begun in August of 1960. Investigation of the 3 mapped area plus near-by areas was carried on continuously through September of that year and intermittently until June, 1961.
Access roads are mainly unimproved but are passable by passenger car. Water is available at most of the ranches in the adjoining valleys and at several springs in the North Promontory and Summer Ranch Mountains.
Structural and stratigraphic details were plotted on vertical aerial photographs in the field. Information was subsequently transferred to a topographic map at a scale of 1:62, 500, which was enlarged from a U. S. Geological Survey map, then traced on a transparent overlay. Stratigraphic sections were measured with a Brunton compass or with a steel tape.
Previous Investigations
No previous complete geologic investigation has been made of the area covered by this report. Various local features within the mapped area have been studied.
Walter (1934, p. 178-195) describes the structural relations of the Hansel Valley earthquake of 1934. Additional investigation concerning the structure of Hansel Valley was conducted by Adams (1938). Tertiary stratigraphy of Cache Valley was studied by Adamson (1955). Adamson reported the occurrence of tuffaceous rocks, similar to those in Cache Valley, in association with basalt flows near Snowville, Utah. Smith (1953, p. 74) diagrams the southern limit of the Snake River basalt flows and showed that they covered the northern part of the area concerned in the present investigation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UTAHS/oai:digitalcommons.usu.edu:etd-7705 |
| Date | 01 May 1962 |
| Creators | Adams, O. Clair |
| Publisher | DigitalCommons@USU |
| Source Sets | Utah State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | All Graduate Theses and Dissertations |
| Rights | Copyright for this work is held by the author. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For more information contact digitalcommons@usu.edu. |
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