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Geography
Location of the Area
The Tri-State zinc and lead mining district is located in southeastern Kansas (southeastern Cherokee county), northeastern Oklahoma (northeastern Ottawa county), and southwestern Missouri (southwestern Jasper county and northwestern Newton county). The district is covered by a network of good highways and county roads and is served by the following major railroads: Kansas City Southern; St. Louis and San Francisco; Missouri Pacific; Missouri, Kansas and Texas. The greater part of the area which has not been diverted to mining is being intensively pastured and farmed—the major crops being wheat, corn, oats, and flax.
Following is a list of the areas studied during this series of geophysical investigations. (The areas are named after the owner of the particular property on which, in each case, the major amount of the geophysical work was done.)
- Neutral area (Cherokee county, Kansas), fig. 1: W2 sec. 10, T. 34 S., R. 24 E.
- Mullen area (Cherokee county, Kansas), fig. 2: SW sec. 6, T. 35 S., R. 24 E.; SE sec. 1, T. 35 S., R. 23 E.
- Federal Jarrett area (Cherokee county, Kansas), fig. 3: S2 sec. 10, T. 35 S., R. 23 E.
- Walton area (Cherokee county, Kansas and Ottawa county, Oklahoma) fig. 4: NE sec. 15, T. 35 S., R. 22 E. (Cherokee county, Kansas); N2 sec. 13, T. 29 N., R. 21 E. (Ottawa county, Oklahoma).
- Karcher area (Cherokee county, Kansas) fig. 5: S2 and NW sec. 34, T. 34 S., R. 23 E.; N2 sec. 3, T. 35 S., R. 23 E.
- Swalley area (Cherokee county, Kansas) fig. 6: NE sec. 4 and NW sec. 3., T. 35 S., R. 24 E.; SE sec. 33, T. 34 S., R. 24 E.
- Federal Greenback area (Ottawa county, Oklahoma) fig. 7: SW sec. 26, T. 29 N., R. 23 E.
- McBee-Martin area (Jasper county, Missouri) fig. 8: SE sec. 2 and NE sec. 11, T. 28 N., R. 34 W.
Topography
The topographic relief in the areas covered by these investigations is very slight. The greater part of the region, however, has a slope sufficient to effect good drainage. The good drainage and flat topography combine to make most of the area readily accessible for geophysical exploration.
The maximum range of elevation found on anyone of the areas used for geophysical prospecting is 33 feet (Neutral area). The minimum range of elevation found on any of the areas is 5 feet (McBee-Martin area). The maximum elevation on any of the prospected areas is 876 feet (Mullen area). The minimum elevation on any of the areas is 818 feet (Walton area). The maximum difference in elevation between the various prospect areas is thus 58 feet, over an area of approximately 100 square miles.
Zinc and Lead Production in the Tri-State District
The Tri-State district is the largest producing zinc district and the third largest producing lead district in the United States. In 1940, the mine production of zinc in the Tri-State district was 232,437 short tons or 35.0 percent of the total U. S. mine production (Pehrson and Ransome, 1941, pp. 147-148), or 14.2 percent of the total world smelter production for 1939 (Pehrson and Ransome, 1941, p. 155). Of this amount, 24.5 percent was produced in Kansas. In 1940, the mine production of lead in the Tri-State district was 35,311 short tons or 7.7 percent of the total U. S. mine production (Pehrson and Ransome, 1941, p. 124), or 2.6 percent of the total world smelter production for 1939 (Pehrson and Ransome, 1941, p. 132). Of this amount, 33.9 percent was produced in Kansas.
Recent accelerated operations in the Tri-State district have resulted in a marked depletion of the high-grade ore reserves. It has thus been considered advisable to attempt to develop a geophysical technique which would expedite exploration for the higher grade deposits.
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Kansas Geological Survey, Geology
Placed on web Oct. 29, 2018; originally published December, 1942.
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