Geology and mineral resources of Box Elder County, Utah (B-115)

By: H. H. Doelling

Box Elder County is situated in the northwest corner of Utah bordering with Idaho on the north, Nevada on the west, Tooele and Weber counties on the south and Cache County on the east. It comprises a land area of 5.594 square miles and a large part of the Great Salt Lake (approximately an additional 800 square miles). It is the fourth largest county in Utah.

Box Elder County displays a variety of lithologic types in each of the major rock divisions: sedimentary, igneous, and metamorphic, in a typical Basin and Range setting. True to the basic structure most of its mountain ranges generally trend north-south, but the Raft River Range trends east-west. Each mountain range exhibits a variety of structural situations: most stratigraphic units are folded and faulted, and many are intruded by igneous rocks.

Construction materials, principally stone and sand and gravel have provided almost 75 percent of the cumulative mineral value produced in Box Elder County through 1974. Their production remains important to the county's mineral output. Salts harvested from Great Salt Lake have provided 17.9 percent of the cumulative mineral value and their value percentage should continue to increase in the future. Metals production, which provided the principal values in many of the earlier years, amounts to only 6.9 percent of the cumulative mineral value. Although prospecting is active and some development work occasionally done, only tungsten has been produced since 1963.

Other Information:
Published: 1980
Pages: 251 p.
Plates: 3 pl.
Scale: 1:125,000
Location: Box Elder County
Media Type: Paper Publication