USGS Logo Geological Survey Professional Paper 65
Geology and Water Resources of the Northern Portion of the Black Hills and Adjoining Regions in South Dakota and Wyoming

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Cover

Introduction

Topography

General features
The central area
The limestone plateau
The Red Valley
The hogback rim
The plains

Geology

General relations
Stratigraphy
   Cambrian system
      Deadwood formation
         General relations
         Thickness
         Conglomerate
         Local features
         Fossils
   Ordovician system
      Whitewood limestone
         Character and outcrop
         Fossils
   Carboniferous system
      Englewood limestone
         Character
         Fossils
      Pahasapa limestone
         Character
         Thickness
         Local features
         Fossils
      Minnelusa sandstone
         Character
         Thickness
         Local features
         Age
      Opeche formation
      Minnekahta limestone
         Character
         Composition
         Structure
         Fossils and age
   Triassic (?) system
      Spearfish formation
         Character and outcrop
         Gypsum
         Thickness
         Local features
         Composition
         Age
   Jurassic system
      Sundance formation
         Outcrop and character
         Thickness
         Local features
         Fossils
      Unkpapa sandstone
   Cretaceous system
      Morrison formation
         Character
         Thickness
         Local features
         Fossils and age
      Lakota sandstone
         Distribution
         Thickness
         Character
         Coal measures
         Local features
         Fossils and age
      Fuson formation
         Character and outcrop
         Thickness
         Local features
         Fossils and age
      Dakota sandstone
         Character
         Thickness
         Local sections
      Graneros shale
         Character and outcrop
         Local features
      Greenhorn limestone
      Carlile shale
      Niobrara formation
      Pierre shale
      Fox Hills and Laramie (?) formations
   Tertiary system
      Lead and Garden
      Beulah to Nigger Hill
      Bear Lodge Mountains
      Missouri Buttes region
      Castle Rock
      Rapid
      Mason Creek
   Quaternary system
      Earlier terrace deposits
         General character and relations
         Region north of Aladdin
         Sundance region
         Bellefourche-Whitewood region
         Sturgis to Rapid
         Central area
      Alluvium
Structure
   General structure of the Black Hills uplift
   Structure of the northern Black Hills
      Devils Tower region
      Sundance region and southward
      Aladdin region
      Belle Fourche region
      Central northern area
      Sturgis-Rapid region
   Structure and relations of the igneous masses
      Laccoliths
      Nigger Hill laccolith
      Bear Lodge Mountain
      Devils Tower
      Missouri Buttes
      Barlow Canyon
      Bear Butte
      Lead-Deadwood region
      Vanocker laccolith
      Crow Peak
      Citadel Rock
      Black Buttes
      Inyankara Mountain
      Sundance Mountain and vicinity
      Custer Peak
      Covered laccoliths
Geologic history
   General sedimentary record
   Cambrian submergence
   Ordovician-Devonian conditions
   Carboniferous sea
   Red gypsiferous sediments
   Jurassic sea
   Cretaceous seas
   Early Tertiary mountain growth
   Oligocene fresh-water deposits
   Middle Tertiary mountain growth
   Quaternary conditions

Water resources

Surface waters
   Belle Fourche River
   Redwater Creek
   Spearfish Creek
   Rapid Creek
   Boxelder Creek
   Minor streams
Underground waters
   General relations
   Dakota-Lakota horizon
   Minnelusa sandstone
   Unkpapa sandstone
   Deadwood formation
   Borings and prospects
      Southern Butte County, S. Dak
         Development
         Belle Fourche and vicinity
         Belle Fourche reclamation project
         Chambers ranch
         Orman well
         Vale
      Northern Lawrence County, S. Dak
      Meade County, S. Dak
         Development
         Wells north of Sturgis
         Fort Meade
      Northwestern Pennington County, S. Dak
      Crook County, Wyo
      Northeastern Weston County, Wyo
   Area of flow

Mineral resources

Coal
Gypsum
Petroleum
Bentonite
Limestone
Cement
Fire clay
Climate

Index (omitted from the online edition)



ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATE

I. Devils Tower

II. Map showing area discussed

III. A, Typical plains in Pierre shale; B, Red Valley and slopes of Minnekahta limestone

IV. Geologic map of northern Black Hills (omitted from the online edition)

V. A, Massive sandstone of Deadwood formation; B, Contact of Deadwood sandstone and Algonkian schists

VI. A, Whitewood limestone near Deadwood, S. Dak.; B, Basal Deadwood formation on Elk Creek

VII. A, Minnelusa sandstone on Bear Butte Creek; B, Typical cliff of Pahasapa limestone

VIII. A, Typical gorge in Minnekahta limestone west of Hermosa, S. Dak.; B, Sink hole in Minnekahta limestone southeast of Boyd, Wyo.

IX. A, Lookout Peak from the south, near Spearfish, S. Dak.; B, Red Butte, southwest of Boyd, Wyo.

X. Interior of cave in gypsum, near Sundance Wyo.

XI. A, Cycad trunk from Lakota sandstone; B, Typical cliffs of Dakota sandstone

XII. Characteristic fossils of Niobrara formation and Greenhorn limestone

XIII. A, Typical tepee butte; B, Castle Rock from the southeast

XIV. A, West slope of Black Hills uplift on Stockade Beaver Creek; B, Chadron conglomerate south of Rapid, S. Dak.

XV. Sections across northern Black Hills region

XVI. A, Devils Tower and Missouri Buttes, from the northeast; B, Bear Butte, from the north

XVII. Geologic map and section of Bear Butte

XVIII. Green Mountain, from the north

XIX. Diagram of the Black Hills uplift and drainage

XX. A, Reservoir north of Belle Fourche, S. Dak.; B, Caving bank on Belle Fourche River east of Snoma, S. Dak.

XXI . Falls at mouth of Little Spearfish Creek

XXII. Map showing distribution of underground waters (omitted from the online edition)

XXIII. Diagram of temperatures

XXIV. Diagram of rainfall

FIGURE

1. Limestone cliff at eastern edge of high plateau near Castle Creek

2. Sections across the Nigger Hill uplift

3. Sections across Bear Lodge laccolith

4. Section from Missouri Buttes through Devils Tower

5. Section across Crow Peak laccolith

6. Section across Citadel Rock laccolith

7. Section through Black Buttes

8. Section through Inyankara Mountain

9. Section across Strawberry Mountain

10. Map showing former course of Belle Fourche River

11. Diagram showing Pleistocene drainage

12. Columnar section of water-bearing beds

13. Map of oil field northeast of Moorcroft, Wyo.

14. Diagram of mean annual temperature

15. Diagram of total precipitation


DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY
GEORGE OTIS SMITH, DIRECTOR


PLATE I.—DEVILS TOWER, ON WEST BANK OF BELLE FOURCHE RIVER. South of Hulett, Wyo. Columnar igneous rock on platform of Sundance and Spearfish formations.


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Last Updated: 24-Aug-2009