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n~~II:'~~ ,J'J~J",0 further stated that the eastern two-thirds of the area has low to 'Jery low potential for gas only, since methane is relatively stable at elevated temperatures. There is also some small potential for CO2, a gas commonly used in secondary recovery from low pressure oil fields. 4. Uranium The area of the Montrose 10 by 20 quadrangle was inve~~?ried for uranium potential by the Colorado Geological Survey. -- The geology of the Study Area was not found to be favorable for either vein or disseminated deposits of uranium. Uranium in Gunnison County has been found mainly where precambrian rocks are thrust faulted against paleozoic rocks or where Tertiary volcanics overlie cretaceous sedi- mentary rocks. The Study Area does not have either type of geologic relationship. I, LANDFORMS AND SOILS The landforms of the Study Area are shaped primarily by the erosion of streams and glaciers on resistent igneous intrusions and eredable sedimentary ~s~ata. The dominant erosional agent was recent alpine glaciation. -! Democrat Basin, Dippold Basin, Little Silver Basin, Peeler Basin, and several smaller, unnamed basins are all glacial basins headed by cirques. Tongues of ice moved from those cirques and basins into Oh-Be-Joyful Valley creating nU" shaped valleys, hanging valleys, tarn lakes, and truncated spurs. Remnants of former upland areas are left as knife edge ridges (aretes). Garfield Peak is a glacial horn. Glacial erosional features features are also common. in many of the above named itself. Ground moraine is are dominant but glacial depositional Terminal and recessional moraines are found basins as well as in Oh-Be-Joyful Valley a common but inconspicuous feature. colluvial or mass wasting phenomena also shape the landscape of the study area. A cornmon variety of slow flowage gravity movement in the study area is soil creep. The area has also experienced rapid move- ments such as rock slides, rock falls, landslides, and debris ava- lanches. These gravitational processes result in talus slopes and wasting slopes or cliffs as observable landforms. Alluvial features are common within the Study Area but their small scale makes them insignificant in describing the overall landscape. Erosional landforms are mainly the small v-shaped valleys of recent streams. Depositional features include a few minor floodplain de- posits. Soils within the study area can be divided into three general groups related to the three landform types (glacial, colluvial, alluvial) 3}j Nelson-Moore, J.L., Collins, O.B., and Hornbaker, A.L., 1978, Radioactive Nineral Occurences of Colorado; C.G.S. Bull. 40. }4/ Socolow, A., 1955, Geology of the Irwin District, Colorado, PL. o. Thesis, Columbia University, p. 4-7. 39