abstracts: geology 521 



GEOLOGY. — The Abram Creek-Stony River coal field, northeastern 

 West Virginia. George H. Ashley. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 

 711-F. Pp. 19 (85-103), pis. 2. 1920. 



The report describes the Abram Creek-Stony River coal field in Grant, 

 Mineral and Tucker counties, West Virginia. The area is of special 

 interest because it contains a large body of low-volatile semi-bituminous 

 coal nearer to tidewater than any other Appalachian coals except those 

 of the Georges Creek and Upper Potomac fields. The field is unde- 

 veloped and without railroads but requires only a few miles of branch 

 roads to connect with Baltimore and Newport News. The coals are 

 found in the Pottsville, Allegheny and Conemaugh formations; they 

 occur in a score of beds ranging in thickness from 1V2 to 20 feet, of 

 which three beds are widely minable in the area studied. All the 

 beds are more or less broken up by partings. A number of analyses 

 are given, and show that the coals of this field are of lower grade than 

 any of the competing coals now on the market, averaging 1 1 .4 per cent 

 of ash and 2.31 per cent of sulfur, with a heating value of 13,100 B.t.u. 

 The estimated recoverable tonnage of the three principal beds is 422,760- 

 000 tons. J. D. Sears. 



GEOLOGY. — Geology and oil and gas prospects of the Huntley field, 

 Montana. E. T. Hancock. U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 711-G. 

 Pp. 44 (105-148), pis. 4, figs. 2. 1920. 



The Huntley field, in Yellowstone and Big Horn counties, is in reality 

 an eastward extension of the Lake Basin field, described by the same 

 author in U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 691-D. Rich alluvial deposits 

 and gravel terraces border the Yellowstone, while south of the river 

 the interstream areas are commonly high table lands. Surface rocks 

 include strata of the Colorado, Eagle, Claggett, Judith River, Bearpaw, 

 Lance and Fort Union formations, with later gravels and alluvium. 

 The long narrow zone of faults extending across the Lake Basin field 

 was observed to continue eastward across the Huntley field, demon- 

 strating a belt almost 100 miles in length. The structure of the area is 

 considered in its relation to the major uplifts of south-central Montana 

 and central Wyoming. A few structural features are pointed out which 

 seem favorable for accumulations of oil and gas, and a discussion is 

 given of the factors that should be considered by anyone who contem- 

 plates drilling in this field. J. D. Sears. 



