Uranium occurrences in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Hunterdon County, New Jersey

Trace Elements Investigations 414
This report concerns work done on behalf of the Division of Raw Materials of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission
By: , and 

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Abstract

Eleven occurrences of uraniferous argillite in the Lockatong lithofacies and five occurrences of uraniferous sandstone in the Stockton lithofacies, both of Triassic age, are known in Buck County, Pa. and Hunterdon County, N.J. Most of the occurrences were discovered by the Geological Survey, though prospectors found several.


The Delaware quarry, Bucks County, Pa., was mapped and sampled in detail because the best exposed and most uraniferous argillite known crops out there. Sketches of two sandstone occurrences were made. Two stratigraphic sections of part of the Stockton formation were made in an unsuccessful effort to find key beds to which the uranium occurrences might be referred. The argillite occurrences contain as much as 0.034 percent uranium but commonly contain only about 0.010 percent uranium. They are known to extend for several hundred feet along the strike and may possibly extend several thousand feet, but less than a mile. They range from about 1 to 6 feet in thickness.


The sandstone occurrences are characterized by the presence of pyrite or limonite and the alteration of feldspar to clay. The most uraniferous parts of the sandstone contain mud pebbles or lenses. The sandstone with mud pellets generally contain from 0.01 to 0.03 percent uranium, but selected parts of the pellets contain as much as 0.29 percent uranium. The known occurrences are small, about 1 to 2 feet thick and 20 to 30 feet long. None of the argillite or sandstone occurrences are now of economic importance.

Study Area

Publication type Report
Publication Subtype USGS Numbered Series
Title Uranium occurrences in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, and Hunterdon County, New Jersey
Series title Trace Elements Investigations
Series number 414
DOI 10.3133/tei414
Year Published 1954
Language English
Publisher U.S. Geological Survey
Description 36 p.
Country United States
State New Jersey;Pennsylvania
County Bucks County;Hunterdon County
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