USGS Home
Contact USGS
Search USGS

Mineral Resources > Online Spatial Data > Geology > by state > North Dakota Geology

Geologic units in Pembina county, North Dakota

Pierre Formation (Phanerozoic | Mesozoic | Cretaceous-Late) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Dark-gray shale; marine offshore sediment; maximum outcrop thickness is a few hundred meters.

Lithology: shale

Niobrara and Carlile Formations, Undivided (Phanerozoic | Mesozoic | Cretaceous-Late) at surface, covers 0.1 % of this area

Niobrara Formation: light-brown to dark-gray calcareous shale; offshore marine sediment; maximun outcrop thickness is 45 meters (150 feet). Carlile Formation: dark-gray shale; marine offshore sediment; maximum outcrop thickness is 30 meters (100 feet).

Lithology: shale

Glacial Sediment- River-Eroded Glacial Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers 0.1 % of this area

Unbedded, unsorted mixture of clay, silt, sand, and pebbles, and a few cobbles and boulders; as thick as 30 meters (100 feet)

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand; gravel

Glacial Sediment- Wave-Eroded Glacial Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers 4 % of this area

Unbedded, unsorted mixture of clay, silt, sand, and pebbles, and a few cobbles and boulders; as thick as 30 meters (100 feet)

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand; gravel

Spring Pits (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary ) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Spring pits, west and north of Grand Forks

Lithology: sand

Glacial Sediment- Collapsed Glacial Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Unbedded, unsorted mixture of clay, silt, sand, and pebbles, and a few cobbles and boulders; as thick as 30 meters (100 feet)

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand; gravel

Glacial Sediment- Glacial Sediment on Subglacially Molded Surfaces (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Unbedded, unsorted mixture of clay, silt, sand, and pebbles, and a few cobbles and boulders; as thick as 30 meters (100 feet)

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand; gravel

Oahe Formation- Windblown Sand (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Well-sorted, medium sand with obscure bedding; poorly developed palesols common; as thick as 10 meters (30 feet); knobby topography consisting of inactive transverses or longitudinal dunes nearly obliterated by more recent blowouts.

Lithology: sand

Sand of the Oahe and Older Formations, Undivided (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Tertiary Quaternary | Pliocene Pleistocene(?) Holocene) at surface, covers 15 % of this area

Windblown sand of the Oahe Formation, as thick as 3 meters (10 feet), and sand of older formations with an undulating wind-scoured surface.

Lithology: sand

Oahe Formation- River Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Holocene) at surface, covers 23 % of this area

Dark, obscurely bedded clay and silt (overbank sediment); generally overlying cross-bedded sand (channel sediment); as thick as ten meters (30 feet); on flood plains of modern streams.

Lithology: clay or mud; silt; sand

Coleharbor Formation- River Sediment- Uncollapsed River Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers < 0.1 % of this area

Moderately well sorted cross-bedded sand and plane-bedded gravel, including sediment of melt-water and other rivers; as thick as 30 meters (100 feet). Flat-bedded sediment of gently sloping plains and terraces, commonly with braided-channel scars.

Lithology: sand; gravel

Coleharbor Formation- Offshore Sediment- Proglacial Lake Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers 53 % of this area

Laminated silt and clay of glacier-dammed lakes; as thick as 60 meters (200 feet). Flat-bedded sediment of low-lying plains

Lithology: silt; clay or mud

Coleharbor Formation- Shoreline Sediment (Phanerozoic | Cenozoic | Quaternary | Pleistocene Holocene) at surface, covers 2 % of this area

Well-sorted sand and gravel of beach-ridge complexes; as thick as 5 meters (15 feet).

Lithology: sand; gravel

Middle and Upper Ordovician rocks, undivided (Middle and Late Ordovician) at surface, covers 0.2 % of this area

Middle and Upper Ordovician rocks, undivided - Sandstone and shaly sandstone of the Winnipeg Formation and limestone and dolomitic limestone of the Red River Formation along the east edge of the Williston Basin in northwestern Minnesota

Lithology: sandstone; limestone