Aerial gamma ray and magnetic survey: Powder River II Project, Gillette Detail. Final report

The Gillette Detail area (about 90 square miles) lies at the northern end of the Black Hills in northeastern Wyoming. The Bear Lodge Mountains are the dominant topographic features in the area, with elevations as high as 6658 feet. The Black Hills Uplift in this region contains a maximum of 5000 feet of Mesozoic and Paleozoic strata overlying Precambrian crystalline basement. The dominant local geologic structure is the Bear Lodge Pluton, an alkaline igneous complex, occupying 20% of the study area. Magnetic data clearly define the main portion of the Tertiary igneous complex and some surrounding smaller intrusives. A few small, inactive thorium--rare earth prospects represent the only known mining activity in the study area. A total of 14 groups of samples in the uranium window constitute anomalies as defined in this report. The anomalies are normally associated with the intrusive bodies though some are found in adjoining sedimentary units. The largest concentration of uranium in the central portion of the large intrusive body did not show as an anomaly due to low U/T ratios caused by extremely high thorium window count rates (maximum of 1354 cps). Three geochemical units were defined on the basis of radiometric criteria set forth in Volume I of this report. The spatial distributions of these geochemical units showed varying correlations (and contrasts) with the geologic, magnetic, and topographic variations within the study area