Preliminary reconnaissance survey for thorium, uranium, and rare-earth oxides, Bear Lodge Mountains, Crook County, Wyoming

Trace Elements Investigations 172
This report concerns work done on behalf of the Division of Raw Materials of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
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Abstract

An area about 6 miles north of Sundance, in the Bear Lodge Mountains, in Crook County, Wyo., was examined during August 1950 for thorium, uranium, and rare-earth oxides and samples were collected.


Uranium is known to occur in fluorite veins and iron-manganese veins and in the igneous rocks of Tertiary age that compose the core of the Bear Lodge Mountains. The uranium content of the samples ranges from 0.001 to 0.015 percent in those from the fluorite veins, from 0.005 to 0.018 percent in those from the iron-manganese veins, and from 0.001 to 0.017 percent in those from the igneous rocks. The radioactivity of the samples is more than that expected from the uranium content. Thorium accounts for most of this discrepancy. The thorium oxide content of samples ranges from 0.07 to 0.25 percent in those from the iron-manganese veins and from 0.07 to 0.39 percent in those from the sedimentary rocks, and from0.04 to 0.30 in those from the igneous rocks.


Rare-earth oxides occur in iron-manganese veins and in zones of altered igneous rocks. The veins contain from 0.16 to 12.99 percent rare-earth oxides, and the igneous rocks, except for two localities, contain from 0.01 to 0.42 percent rare-earth oxides. Inclusions of metamorphosed sedimentary rocks in the intrusive rocks contain from 0.07 to 2.01 percent rare-earth oxides.

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Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Preliminary reconnaissance survey for thorium, uranium, and rare-earth oxides, Bear Lodge Mountains, Crook County, Wyoming
Series title Trace Elements Investigations
Series number 172
DOI 10.3133/tei172
Year Published 1953
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description Report: 26 p.; 2 Plates: 30.99 x 29.34 inches and 15.10 x 20.60 inches
Country United States
State Wyoming
County Crook County
Other Geospatial Bear Lodge Mountains
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