URANIUM-VANADIUM DEPOSITS OF THE COTTONWOOD WASH MINING AREA, SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH. WITH A SECTION ON MINERALOGY BY E. B. Gross
The Cottonwood Wash mining area was formerly one of the larger producers of uranium--vanadium ores from the Salt Wash member of the Morrison formation of Jurassic age in southeastern Utah. Exposed rocks range in age from the Carmel fomnation of Jurassic age to the Dakota group of Cretaceous age. The strata are nearly flat-lying on the east but are warped up steeply on the west in Comb Ridge monocline. The uranium--vanadium deposits are grouped in an area one mile square near the junction of Brushy Basin Wash with Cottonwood Wash. They range in size from a few tons to several thousand tons. The ratio of vanadium to uranium is about 10 to 1. Both oxidized and unoxidized minerals are present, the unoxidized ores being mostly below the water table. A program of core drilling by the Atomic Energy Commission during 1950 and l951 was designed to find new ore deposits. Further drilling by the Commission during 1954 and 1955 disclosed the west-to-east trend of the Salt Wash sediments and traced this trend to the east of the mines and under deeper cover. By holes spaced 500 to 1,000 feet apart it was found that most deposits are in zones of facies change between channel-type sandstone and floodplain-type deposits. Regional features which may account for the concentration of ore in this area include: location of the east flank of the Comb monocline, where the dip of the rocks changes from 6 deg E. on the west of the mines to 1 deg E. on the east of the mines; pinchout of the Bluff sandstone beneath the deposits; and the nearby pinchout of the Recapture shale member of the Morrison formation. (auth)
- Research Organization:
- Grand Junction Operations Office. Production Evaluation Div., AEC
- NSA Number:
- NSA-16-000397
- OSTI ID:
- 4836747
- Report Number(s):
- RME-109(Rev.)
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Orig. Receipt Date: 31-DEC-62
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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