| Basis for focus area |
Calcrete uranium deposits that formed by evaporation from regional groundwater are hosted in Pliocene to Pleistocene sediments in the Southern High Plains physiographic province (Hall and others, 2019). The focus area comprises the prospective and favorable assessment tracts of an undiscovered resource assessment of this region and includes 15 known occurrences, two of which have estimated historical In-place resources (Hall and Van Gosen, 2017). |
| Identified resources |
Identified resources of uranium. |
| Production |
None. |
| Status |
Past exploration. |
| Estimated resources |
The Sulfur Springs Draw and Buzzard Draw deposits have historical In-place resources of about 3.9 million lbs of U3O8 (Hall and others, 2019). Mean Undiscovered resources of about 40 million lbs of U3O8 are estimated to remain in the focus area (Hall and Van Gosen, 2017). |
| Geologic maps |
Horton and others (2017), scale 1:500,000. |
| Geophysical data |
Rank 3 and 4 aeromagnetic coverage; Rank 5 aeroradiometric coverage. |
| Favorable rocks and structures |
Miocene-Pliocene Ogallala Formation, Pleistocene Blanco, Tule and Tahoka Formations. |
| Deposits |
Buzzard Draw, Sulfur Springs Draw. |
| Evidence from mineral occurrences |
McLemore and Chenoweth (1989); Hall and others (2019). |
| Geochemical evidence |
NURE data. |
| Geophysical evidence |
Unknown. |
| Evidence from other sources |
Unknown. |
| Cover thickness and description |
Shallow to surface outcrops. |
| Authors |
Susan Hall, Virginia T. McLemore. |
| New data needs |
Examine petroleum and water well records for depths to top and base of calcrete layer, check groundwater analyses for U. |
| Geologic mapping and modeling needs |
Examine petroleum and water well records for mapping calcrete layer. |
| Geophysical survey and modeling needs |
None requested at this time. |
| Digital elevation data needs |
Lidar complete. |
