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George O. Bachman

Publications and source records attributed to George O. Bachman.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

Cenozoic deposits of southeastern New Mexico and an outline of the history of evaporite dissolution

Sedimentary records of Cenozoic history in southeastern New Mexico begin with the Ogallala Formation of Miocene and Pliocene age. Later records include the Gatuna Formation of early or middle Pleistocene age, Mescalero caliche, an informal term, of middle Pleistocene age, and fluvial deposits of late Pleistocene age but there are many gaps in the record. The modern landscape is the result of erosion and deposition in climates that have ranged from semihumid to semiarid as well as dissolution of soluble rocks in Permian formations in the subsurface. This dissolution may have begun as early as Jurassic time and has continued intermittently to the present.

New Mexico

Paleotectonic investigations of the Pennsylvanian System in the United States, Part I: Introduction and regional analyses of the Pennsylvanian System

The Pennsylvanian is the fourth geologic system to be analyzed and synthesized by geologists of the U.S. Geological Survey in the form of a paleotectonic study covering the conterminous United States. Earlier investigations were of the Jurassic, Triassic, and Permian Systems. Results were published as Miscellaneous Geologic Investigation Maps I-175, I-300, and I-450 and in Professional Paper 515. The objective of these investigations is to provide in graphic form the factual basis for recognition of tectonic events of each system on a countrywide scale. The maps in this publication depict rock thickness, generalized lithology, ancient geography, and other regional relations of the Pennsylvanian System. Method of preparation of the maps, the stratigraphic limits of the map units, and various stratigraphic and structural features and their probable tectonic significance are discussed. Pennsylvanian data were largely compiled between 1961 and 196 by 16 geologists, including the late Harold R. Wanless, who covered the five eastern regions and contributed to several of the special studies. The areas of responsibility of the cooperating geologists are indicated in figure 1. Work in Kansas was done by Gary F. Stewart, of the Kansas Geological Survey. Results of this investigation are presented in three units. Part I comprises an introduction and 17 chapters, each describing and discussing one of the regions in which the conterminous United States was divided for purposes of study and mapping. Part II is a synthesis of Pennsylvanian history to accompany interpretive maps of the five divisions of the Pennsylvanian System treated in this publication; it also includes a series of chapters on depositional environments, climatic conditions, and economic products of the system. The final section of part II is devoted to an index of localities and sources used in construction of the principal maps of this publication. Part III consists of the plates on which are presented the major maps and sections.

Professional Paper

Stratigraphy of Upper Pennsylvanian and lower Permian rocks in the Sand Canyon area, Otero County, New Mexico

The Magdalena Group of Pennsylvanian age and, in ascending order, the lower tongue of the Abo Sandstone (herein named the Danley Ranch Tongue), the Hueco Limestone, the upper tongue of the Abo Sandstone (herein named the Lee Ranch Tongue), and the Yeso Formation of Permian age are well displayed in the southern part of the Sacramento Mountains. The contact of the Pennsylvanian rocks with the overlying Permian rocks is unconformable throughout the area. Locally the relief before deposition of the Abo was so great that in places the Danley Ranch Tongue of the Abo is absent because of nondeposition. At these places there is prominent angular discordance between the Pennsylvanian and Permian rocks. The red beds of the Danley Ranch Tongue interfinger with and grade southward into the overlying Hueco Limestone. Red beds of the Lee Ranch Tongue of the Abo Sandstone also grade southward into the Hueco and cannot be traced south of the southern part of the Sacramento Mountains. The Lee Ranch Tongue is believed to be stratigraphically lower than the Deer Mountain Red Shale Member of the type Hueco Limestone. The herein named Otero Mesa Member of the Yeso Formation is believed to occupy an intermediate stratigraphic position between the Lee Ranch Tongue and the Deer Mountain Red Shale.

New Mexico

Uranium-bearing coal and carbonaceous shale in La Ventana Mesa area, Sandoval County, New Mexico

Uranium-bearing coal, carboanceous shale, and carboaceous sandstone of Upper Cretaceous age occur on and adjacent to La Ventana Mesa, Sandoval County, New Mexico. The geologic features of the uranium deposits are described and a hypothesis for the origin and control of the uranium deposits are described and a hypothesis for the origin and control of the uranium deposits is given. On the basis of recent sampling and analyses the uranium content in coal is found to be as much as 0.62 percent, whereas the coal ash has a uranium content that is as much as 1.34 percent.

New Mexico

Trace elements reconnaissance investigations in New Mexico and adjoining states in 1951

In the summer and fall of 1951, a reconnaissance search was made in New Mexico and adjacent states for uranium in coal and carbonaceous shale, chiefly of Mesozoic age, and black marine shale of Paleozoic age. Tertiary volcanic rocks, considered to be a possible source for uranium in the coal and associated rocks, were examined where the volcanic rocks were near coal-bearing strata. Uranium in possibly commercial amounts was found at La Ventana Mesa, Sandoval County, New Mexico. Slightly uranifeous coal and carbonaceous shale were found near San Ysidro, Sandoval County, and on Beautiful Mountain, San Juan County, all in New Mexico, and at Keams Canyon, Navajo County, and near Tuba City, Coconino County, in Arizona. Except for La Ventana deposit, none appeared to be of economic importance at the time this report was written, but additional reconnaissance investigations have been underway this field season, in the area where the deposits occur. Marine black shale of Sevonian age was examined in Otero and Socorro Counties, New Mexico and Gila County, Arizona. Mississippian black shale in Socorro County and Pennsylvanian black shale in Taos County, New Mexico were also tested. Equivalent uranium content of samples of these shales did not exceed 0.004 percent. Rhyolitic tuff from the Mount Taylor region is slightly radioactive as is the Bandelier tuff in the Nacimiento region and in the Jemez Plateau. Volcanic rocks in plugs and dikes in the northern Chuska Mountains and to the north in New Mexico as well as in northeastern Arizona and southeastern Utah are slightly radioactive. Coal and carbonaceous rocks in the vicinity of these and similar intrusions are being examined.

Arizona;New Mexico