Oil Impregnated Sandstone STUDY NEAR BRUIN POINT. AND RANGE CREEK - Sunnyside. Quadrangle. June D. Craig Mann & Sam Quigley

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1 Oil Impregnated Sandstone STUDY NEAR BRUIN POINT AND RANGE CREEK - Sunnyside Quadrangle June 1972 by D. Craig Mann & Sam Quigley

2 INTRODUCTION An investigation into the oil sandstones in the Book Cliffs area northest of Sunnyside, Utah, showed an eastward continuation of the oil impregnated sandstones (oiss) previously mapped (USGS, OM 86, 1948). The survey was conducted from June 19 through 21, 1972 by Sam Quigley and D. Craig Mann. The area mapped is found at the headwaters of Range Creek (T14S, R14E) and Dry Creek (T13S, R14E) in Carbon County. The oiss in the area occures in the Lower Green River. ACCESSIBILITY & GENERAL DESCRIPTION The investigation was carried out by the access roads available from Bruin Point, most of which are not shown on the Sunnyside quadrangle (1915). Care was taken in drawing roads 'traveled as carefully as possible, in that, often only in the road cuts was it possible to see actual outcrops. The area is heavily wooded and covered with a thick soil. In portions of the canyons outcrops were common and these were mapped where encountered. Only outcrops were mapped; this was done because the oil sandstone is prevalent almost everywhere as float, coming from the higher peaks, and ridges, which are held up by the resistant oiss. The Range Creek canyon road is not maintained and can be traveled south only to its intersection with the southern border of section 14. A good road exists and was drawn in down Dry Creek and another road leading around the headwaters of Dry Creek (T13S, R14E) dead ends in section 20. A good road which parallels Range Creek, on the canyon's eastern ridge is blocked by locked gates,

3 2 and is inaccessible unless permission is granted from the Preston Nutter Corp. An attempt to drive to the Mt. Bartles region through the right or left fork of Whitmore Canyon was stopped by a locked gate at the new reservoir built at the fork. GEOLOGY Holmes, Page and Averitt, 1948 put the oiss in the lower Green River fm. and upper Wasatch fm. This is a confusing boundary which we did not attempt to locate. It is the opinion of the authors that the tar saturation is cconfined to the lower unit of the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation, this is also pointed out by Stokes 1961 and Jacob The beds in the area of Range Creek strike N20 W and dip at 10 to the northeast. northwest one goes. The strike then gradually changes to westerly the farther Channel sandstones, as well as, evenly bedded shales, oil shales, marls, mudstones and sandstones are found in conjunction with the oiss. In general, the crossbedded channel sandstones were most often the preferred location for the tar, however, some evenly bedded sandstones were also found to be saturated. The oil saturated sandstones are medium to fine grained, subrounded, well ssrted and often contain sizable quantities of mica. The lower extent of the oil saturation, as seen in sec 13 & 35 T14S, R14E, stopped with a thick ft. massive, crossbedded, poorly sorted sandstone at an elevation of approximately 8950 ft. in Range Creek. Except for less mica and poorer sorting this sandstone appeared very similar to the saturated zones above. In section 14 in Range Creek this massive,

4 3 unsaturated sandstone is overlain first by two 3 ft. shale beds and 2nd by a crossbedded channel sandstone ft. thick dripping oil from the outcrops. The tar sandstone is very resistant and is the reason for many of the peaks in the area. Of note, are the peaks in sections 23, 26 and 35 of T14S, R14E not previously mapped by the USGS, The peaks further south than section 35 on the face of the Book Cliffs are too low in the Green River section to contain any oiss. Part of the upper saturated zone occurs in the headwaters of Dry Creek, here the exposures were extremely poor due to the vegetation and soil cover. It appeared that the tar saturation was decreasing, fewer beds of oiss were noted, but this is not certain. The saturated zone gradually grades upwards into clean shales and sandstones, often massive and crossbedded. Two or three small scale NW trending faults with displacements of a few feet, were noticed near the Sunnyside quarry, but were not mapped. RANGE CREEK An investigation of Range Creek was conducted in part from a vehicle in the upper portion near North Spring, but sections 24, 25 and 36 are accessible only on foot. Rich down dip outcrops of the Sunnyside oiss (grades IV & V) were found in the headwaters above 8950 Ft. Below this to the pumping station extensive float was examined, all the float was coming from outcrops higher up section. No oiss outcrops were found below the previously mentioned sandstone encountered at 8950 ft.

5 4 DRY CREEK Dry Creek was examined from two roads, one dead ending in section 20 and the other following the canyon bottom. The oiss in this region appears above 9250 ft. The outcrops found in the road cut were crossbedded 1-15 ft. thick of grades IV & V. Lower in the canyon the dip of the beds flattens and the lower unit of the Parachute Creek Member forms the floor and walls, overlain only on the ridges by the middle unit of the Parachute Creek Member. Other outcrops of oiss have been mapped in the area by P. Peterson & Mann, CONCLUSION It is the opinion of the authors that a definite zone exists, in which the oiss is found at Sunn^idfe,, Argyle Canyon, Nine Mile Canyon and possibly the Avintaguin Campground area. The zone is within the lower unit of the Parachute Creek Member, ft. below its boundary with the middle unit of the Parachute Creek Member. The richest deposits lie up dip in porous channel sandstones. Two cross section A-A' and B-B' were drawn from the Sunnyside quadrangle and the NE quarter of the Geologic Map of Utah, Stokes, 1961, respectively. A-A' shows the location of Pan American's drill hole. Preston Nutter #2 which was examined by the authors in a previous study, from this hole and others in the area, whose logs contain traces of oiss, it was found that the predicted zone of saturation roughly correlated with the zone actually found. Cross section B-B' is a continuation of this idea. The oiss outcrops at Sunnyside and Current Canyon along with the 3 different units of the Parachute Creek Member of the Green River Formation, these were drawn and

6 5 extrapolated across the section. They also appear to coincide. This may also be the case with other oiss outcrops already found in the Parachute Creek Member and is open for further study. REFERENCES Clark,F.R. USGS Bull. 793 pp 1-26 Jacob, A.F. Delta facies of Green River fm. 1969, p Stokes, W.L. Geologic Map of Utah, 1961

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11 ^C"*^ VUYi (_,; C't'L'-CUA. 9. x 1 - VMvU V-;. t;s» ^ TOPPED CRUDE SUNNYSIDE THERMAL OIL PROSPECT Carbon County, Utah GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS Specific gravity A.P.I, gravity, 6.7 Sulfur, percent 0.50 Color, black Saybolt Furol viscosity at 210 F., 2980 sec, at 275* F., 36O Bee DISTILLATION, BUREAU OF MINES ROUTINE METHOD First Drop, l8l* C. (358* F.) Frac Sum, tion Cut at Per- per- Sp. gr. No. S^ _EJ_ cent cent 60*/60*F Distillation at 40 mm. Hg?-A.P.I., 60' F. & >&79&\ C.I. S.U. vise., 100 F. Cloud Aniline test, point 'F. c. 4.x... c^u j>yc Ik ) 89 40) Below Residuum Carbon residue of residuum, 21.9 percent; carbon residue of crude, 19«1 percent. APPROXIMATE SUMMARY Lightgasoline Percent Total gasoline and naphtha Kerosine distillate Gas oil,,. 0.3 Nonviscous lubricating distillate Medium lubricating distillate 2.5 Viscous lubricating distillate 9.2 Residuum 86.4 Distillation loss.0 Sp. gr. A.P.I. Viscosity O O ^ Above NOTE: Evidence of cracking at 297* C, 40mm. Hg f9bss4 4>\