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R. W. Swanson

Publications and source records attributed to R. W. Swanson.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Stratigraphic sections of the Phosphoria formation 1953 and 1954

Since 1947, the U.S. Geological Survey has measured and sampled phosphatic parts of the Permian Phosphoria formation and its partial stratigraphic correlatives at many localities in Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah. Preliminary data on the thickness of the beds and their composition at localities sampled prior to 1952 have been issued already in TEI-183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 188, 360, 361, 362, 363, 364, 365, 375, 376, 377, and 378. This report presents similar data on the localitites sampled in 1953 and 1954 (figs. 1, 2, and 3). The field and laboratory procedures adopted in these investigations are described in a previous report (McKelvey and others 1953a).

Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming↗

Domestic phosphate deposits

Most of the worlds phosphate deposits can be grouped into six types: 1) igneous apatite deposits; 2) marine phosphorites; 3) residual phosphorites; 4) river pebble deposits; 5) phosphatized rock; and 6) guano. The igneous apatites and marine phosphorites form deposits measurable in millions or billions of tons; the residual deposits are measurable in thousands or millions; and the other types generally only in thousands of tons. Igneous apatite deposits have been mined on a small scale in New York, New Jersey, and Virginia. Marine phosphorites have been mined in Montana, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, Arkansas, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida. Residual phosphorites have been mined in Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Florida. River pebble has been produced in South Carolina and Florida; phosphatized rock in Tennessee and Florida; and guano in New Mexico and Texas. Present production is limited almost entirely to Florida, Tennessee, Montana, Idaho, and Wyoming. Incomplete but recently partly revised estimates indicate the presence of about 5 billion tons of phosphate deposits in the United States that is minable under present economic conditions. Deposits too lean in quality or thickness to compete with those in the western and southeastern fields probably contain tens of billions of tons.

Open-File Report↗

Stratigraphic sections of the Phosphoria Formation in Montana, 1949-50: part II

The U.S. Geological Survey has recently measured and sampled the Phosphoria formation at many localities in Montana and other western states. These data will not be fully synthesized and analyzed for several years, but segments of the data, accompanied by little or no interpretation, are published as preliminary reports as they are assembled. This report, which contains abstracts of many of the sections in southwestern Montana (fig. 1), is one of this series and is the fourth Montana report; it includes the second half of the data gathered in Montana during 1949 and 1950. The field and laboratory procedures adopted in these investigations are described rather fully in a previous report (McKelvey and others, 1953). Many people have taken part in this investigation. The program of which this work is a part was organized by V. E. McKelvey. J. L. Elliott, W. J. Garmoe, R. F. Gosman, C. W. Tandy, and W. H. Wilson participated in the description of strata and the collection of samples referred to in this report. Crushing and splitting of the samples in the field was done by T. K. Rigby. The laboratory preparation of samples for chemical analysis was done in Denver, Colo., under the direction of W. P. Huleatt.

Montana↗

Stratigraphic sections of the Phosphoria formation in Montana

The first of a series of reports giving detailed stratigraphic sections of the Phosphoria formation in the Western phosphate field as measured and described by the Geological Survey will be released as Circulars within the next few months. Because of the needs of industry for many of these data during the 1951 field season, and in view of the unavoidable delays attendant on publication, the tabular data to be included in these Circulars are hereby placed on open file in simple reproduction form (prepared by Ozalid from photographic negatives) and without explanatory text so that immediate use may be made of the data. The tables include data on sections in four states: Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah; and the tables for each of these states are bound together as individual reports. The tables include name and location of section measured, brief description of geologic setting, acknowledgments for field and analytical work, abstract data on the sections (bed number, rock name, sample number, and thickness), and analytical data on the samples. The analytical data include reports on P 2 O 5 and acid insoluble for all samples and additional analyses, such as Al 2 0 3 , Fe 7 0 3 , loss on ignition, F, and V 2 O 5 , for selected samples. Spectrographic analyses for a large number of elements are included samples from selected localities, and special analyses have been made of a few samples. The work in Montana has been done with the aid of Missouri River Basin funds as part of a Program of appraisal of the Missouri Basin mineral resources. These reports are placed on open file at the offices of the Geological Survey in Washington, D. C., Spokane, Washington, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Montpelier, Idaho, and at the offices of the Idaho Bureau of Mines and Geology, Moscow, Idaho, the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, Butte, Montana, the Wyoming Geological Survey, Laramie, Wyoming, and the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.

Montana↗