Description
This open file report for Kit Carson County includes an introduction to the geology and mineral resources of the county along with an index map of tract locations, maps of metallic mineral prospects, industrial mineral prospects, oil and gas test wells with boundaries drawn around the edges of the county’s oil fields, and coal resources. The main body of the report is an evaluation of each individual tract, which includes text as well as a topographic map and a geologic map. Digital ZIP download. OF-00-07D
Four general categories of resources are included in this inventory:
- oil and gas
- coal
- metallic minerals
- industrial minerals and construction materials
Each individual tract evaluation includes:
- A bar graph which ranks each tract’s resource potential for each of the four mineral categories. An explanation of the categories may be found at the end of this introduction
- Tract identifier number, county name, and county location map
- Tract location on a 7-1/2-minute United States Geologic Survey topographic map
- Tract location on a United States Geologic Survey surface outcrop map
- Location as to section, township, and range and approximate acreage
- Overview of tract geology
- Specific assessment of the resource potential for the four resource categories
- References used in assessing tract potential
Kit Carson County is located in eastern-most central Colorado along the state border with Kansas. This evaluation of the mineral and mineral fuel resource potential was conducted for the nearly 85,000 acres of state mineral lands within the county. It was conducted as part of its long-term evaluation of approximately 4 million acres of state lands administered by the State Land Board. For evaluation purposes, the county was divided into 126 individual tracts that range from approximately 160 acres to 8,895 acres.
Oil and natural gas is an important commodity in the county, and is produced from the Denver Basin. In 1998, the county ranked 18th in oil production and 19th for natural gas. Only two categories of industrial minerals/construction material commodities are known to exist in Kit Carson County; these include sand and sand and gravel, which are ubiquitous over the entire county.
