Composition and Provenance of Placer Deposits in McCourt Tongue of Rock Springs Formation (Upper Cretaceous), Rock Springs Uplift Area, Wyoming: ABSTRACT

Abstract

Heavy minerals from placer sandstones were studied from samples collected at five widely spaced outcrops of the McCourt Tongue on the southeastern flank of the Rock Springs uplift and on the northern flank of the Uinta Mountains. The placers were deposited along a northeast-trending, strand-plain shoreline of the Cretaceous Interior seaway. Heavy minerals from the five localities occur in very fine-grained sandstone and are composed of about 85% opaque iron and titanium minerals, including magnetite, hematite, and ilmenite. About 15% consist of nonopaque minerals, which are mostly zircon, garnet, tourmaline, and rutile with minor amounts of sphene, hornblende, and apatite. The cementing material is mostly hematite. The nonopaque suite is as much as 96% zircon grains, with 3/sup 0/ of roundness and five color varieties. The heavy minerals are from both plutonic and volcanic source areas. The plutonic minerals suggest a westerly source in Precambrian rocks of Utah and Idaho. The volcanic minerals were probably derived from areas of volcanic activity in Alberta and Montana. The composition, distribution, and provenance of the deposits help establish a framework for regressive Upper Cretaceous shorelines in the central Rocky Mountain area.