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W. Roger Miller

Publications and source records attributed to W. Roger Miller.

26 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
USGS1980

Preliminary map showing freshwater heads for the Mission Canyon and Lodgepole limestones and equivalent rocks of Mississippian age in the Northern Great Plains of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

A potentiometric-surface map showing freshwater heads for the Mission Canyon and Lodgepole Limestones of Mississippian age has been prepared as part of a study to determine the water-resources potential of the Mississippian Madison Limestone and associated rocks in the Northern Great Plains of Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. Most of the data used to prepare the map are from drill-stem tests of exploration and development wells drilled by the petroleum industry from 1946 to 1978. Some data are also from cased oil wells, water-production wells, and springs. A short explanation describes the seven categories of reliability used to evaluate the drill-stem-test data and identifies several factors that might explain the apparent anomalous highs and lows on the potentiometric surface. The map is at a scale of 1:1,000,000 and the potentiometric contour intervals are 100, 200, and 500 feet. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1980

Preliminary map showing freshwater heads for the Red River Formation, Bighorn Dolomite, and equivalent rocks of Ordovician age in the Northern Great Plains of Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming

A map showing freshwater heads for the Ordovician Red River Formation, Bighorn Dolomite, and equivalent rocks has been prepared as part of a study to determine the water-resources potential of the Mississippian Madison Limestone and associated rocks in the Northern Great Plains of Montana, North and South Dakota, and Wyoming. Most of the data used to prepare the map are from drill-stem tests of exploration and development wells drilled by the petroleum industry from 1964 to 1978. A short explanation describes the seven categories of reliability used to evaluate the drill-stem-test data and identifies several factors that might explain the apparent anomalous highs and lows on the potentiometric surface. The map is at a scale of 1:1,000 ,000 and the potentiometric contour interval is 100 feet. (USGS)

Open-File Report↗
USGS1979

Possible uranium mineralization, Mineral Mountains, Utah

The Mineral Mountains block in west-central Utah is a horst whose core stands structurally high relative to all nearby basin-and-range fault blocks. Rocks of the Mineral Mountains range from Precambrian to Quaternary in age, but mostly consist of Tertiary granitic rocks. The range lies with the Wah Wah-Tusher mineral belt. Lead, silver, gold, and tungsten have been mined commercially. During a geochemical survey conducted in the summer of 1978, 30 water samples and 29 stream-sediment samples were collected from the Mineral Mountains area. The interpretation of simple plots of uranium concentrations and the results of a Q-mode factor analysis indicate that potential exists for uranium mineral deposits within the Mineral Mountains. The most favorable areas are in the granitic pluton near its contacts with sedimentary and metamorphic rocks. The most likely source of the uranium anomalies is uraninite-bearing epigenic veins along faults and fractures within the pluton. Three hypothetical models are proposed to account for the uranium mineralization.

Open-File Report↗
USGS1979

Water resources of the southern Powder River area of southeastern Montana

The southern Powder River area comprises about 2,230 square miles in southeastern Montana. Sedimentary rocks beneath this area range in age from Cambrian to Holocene and attain a maximum thickness of about 12,000 feet. Rocks exposed in the study area range in age from Late Cretaceous to Holocene. Water for domestic, stock, and public use in the southern Powder River area is available from the Fox Hills-lower Hell Creek aquifer and the upper part of the Hell Creek Formation, both of Late Cretaceous age, and the Fort Union Formation of Paleocene age. Water for industrial use might be available from the Madison Group of Mississippian age. Where adequate quantities are available, water from the Madison Group is suitable for irrigation. Water from alluvium of Holocene and Pleistocene age along the Powder River is marginally suitable for irrigation, and surface water from the Powder River is suitable for irrigation, except during periods of low flow. The Madison Group is a sequence of carbonate rocks that underlies the entire study area and ranges in thickness from 800 to 1,500 feet. Depth to the top of the group is about 4,000 feet in the southeastern part of the area and as much as 9,000 feet in the southwestern part. Water-supply wells at the Bell Creek oil field in the southeastern part of the study area flow as much as 1,300 gal/min (gallons per minute). Oil-field water from this area contains calcium, magnesium, and sulfate as major ions, and contains less than 1,000 mg/L (milligrams per liter) dissolved solids. The Fox Hills-lower Hell Creek aquifer is predominantly sandstone interbedded in part with sandy shale and siltstone. The aquifer crops out in the eastern part of the study area and dips generally westward beneath the land surface at about 40 to 200 feet per mile. Wells in the Fox Hills-lower Hell Creek aquifer range in depth from 25 feet in the outcrop area to 1,358 feet between the Powder and Little Powder Rivers. Measured well yields range from 3 to 200 gal/min. Many flowing wells along the principal rivers yield as much as 20 gal/min. The water contains calcium, magnesium, and bicarbonate or sulfate as major ions in the outcrop area. Downgradient, sodium and bicarbonate are predominant. The dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 261 to 2,230 mg/L. The upper part of the Hell Creek Formation consists of interbedded shale, siltstone, claystone, and sandstone. Wells in the upper part of the Hell Creek are as deep as 1,045 feet. Flowing wells along the Powder and Little Powder Rivers yield as much as 40 gal/min, but pumped wells generally yield less. The water quality is similar to that of the Fox Hills-lower Hell Creek aquifer. The dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 236 to 1,580 mg/L. The Fort Union Formation consists of interbedded sandstone, siltstone, shale, and coal. The formation crops out in the western three-fourths of the study area and is about 2,100 feet thick in the southwestern part. Wells tapping this unit range in depth from 120 to 1,100 feet. Wells and springs are reported to yield as much as 20 gal/min; many wells flow. The upper part of the formation is a major aquifer west of the Powder River valley. The water contains calcium, magnesium, sodium, bicarbonate, and sulfate as the major ions in most any relative proportion. The dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 541 to 2,160 mg/L. Alluvium is unconsolidated deposits of interbedded clay, silt, sand, and gravel, mostly along the river valleys. Maximum measured thicknesses of these deposits were 62 and 55 feet along the Powder and Little Powder Rivers, respectively. Several irrigation wells drilled in the alluvium along the Powder River have reported yields of as much as 900 gal/min. Water contains calcium, magnesium, and sulfate as major ions. The dissolved-solids concentration of two water samples from the Powder River valley was 1,780 and 2,240 mg/L. The only perennial streams are the Powder and Little Powder Rivers. Based on available streamflow records, the mean-annual discharge of the Powder River at Moorhead, in the southwestern part of the area, is 448 cubic feet per second; discharge varies from 0 to 23,000 cubic feet per second. Mean-annual discharge of the Little Powder River near Broadus, in the north-central part of the area, is 31 cubic feet per second; discharge varies from 0 to 2,440 cubic feet per second. Water from the Powder River normally contains calcium and sulfate as the major ions. Dissolved-solids concentration ranges from 20 to 3,460 mg/L.

Montana↗
USGS1977

Geological and geochemical investigations of uranium occurrences in the Arrastre Lake area of the Medicine Bow Mountains, Wyoming

Metasedimentary rocks of Precambrian X age in and near the Snowy Range wilderness study area of southeastern Wyoming are lithologically and chronologically similar to those on the north shore of Lake Huron in Canada. The rocks in Canada contain major deposits of uranium in quartz-pebble conglomerates near the base of the metasedimentary sequence. Similar conglomerates in the Deep Lake Formation in the Medicine Bow Mountains of southeastern Wyoming are slightly radioactive and may contain deposits of uranium and other valuable heavy metals. During the summer of 1976, a geological and geochemical pilot study was conducted in the vicinity of Arrastre Lake in the Medicine Bow Mountains to determine the most effective exploration methods for evaluating the uranium potential of the Snowy Range wilderness study area. The area around Arrastre Lake was selected because of the presence of a radioactive lens within a quartz-pebble conglomerate of the Deep Lake Formation. The results of the survey indicate possible uranium mineralization in the subsurface rocks of this formation. The radon content of the dilute waters of the area is much higher than can be accounted for by the uranium content of the surface rocks. Two sources for the high content of the radon are possible. In either case, the high values of radon obtained in this study are a positive indication of uranium mineralization in the subsurface rocks. The determination of the radon content of water samples is the recommended geochemical technique for uranium exploration in the area. The determination of uranium in water and in organic-rich bog material is also recommended.

Wyoming↗
USGS1976

Water in carbonate rocks of the Madison Group in southeastern Montana: A preliminary evaluation

The Madison Group of Mississippian age comprises, from oldest to youngest, the Lodgepole and Mission Canyon Limestones and the Charles Formation. The Madison crops out in the Bighorn and Pryor Mountains and in the mountains west of the study area. These rocks consist of cyclically deposited normal-marine carbonates and restricted-marine carbonates and evaporites. The Madison ranges in thickness from about 700 feet (210 metres) in the Bighorn Mountains to about 2,000 feet (610 metres) in the Williston basin. The top of the Madison ranges in depth from land surface in the mountains to about 10,000 feet (3,000 metres) below land surface along the MontanaWyoming border. The potentiometric surface of water in the Madison Group slopes northeastward from the outcrops. Potentiometric lows occur in the Cat Creek anticline-Porcupine dome area along the Bighorn River and at the north end of Powder River basin. Potentiometric highs occur in outcrop areas, on the interstream divide between the Bighorn, Tongue, and Yellowstone Rivers, and along the Cedar Creek anticline. The potentiometric surface ranges from 1,200 feet (370 metres) below land surface in the topographically high areas in the southern part of the area to 1,000 feet (300 metres) above land surface along the Yellowstone River. Yields from wells range from about 50 gallons per minute (3 litres per second) at several places to a reported 1,400 gallons per minute (88 litres per second) from a flowing well on the north side of the Porcupine dome. Yields estimated or reported from drill-stem tests range from about 1 to 157 gallons per minute {0.1 to 9.9 litres per second). Water from the Madison generally contains less than 3,000 milligrams per litre dissolved solids south of T. 1 N., and from 3,000 to 10,000 milligrams per litre in most of the remaining area; in the Williston basin the concentration increases to more than 100,000 milligrams per litre. In the southeastern and southwestern parts of the area, calcium, magnesium, and sulfate ions constitute more than 75 percent of the dissolved constituents, in milliequivalents per litre. North of about T. 8 N., sodium, potassium, and chloride ions constitute more than 50 percent of the dissolved constituents; in the Williston basin, sodium, potassium, and chloride ions constitute more than 75 percent of the total.

Montana↗