Roan Plateau - Desolation Ca~,Iyon' Area, Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah
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REPORT OF INVESTIGATION NO 0 11 UTAH GEOLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL SURVEY Mineral Appraisal of Lands Comprising Townships 14 u 15,16 and 17 South, Ranges 14u15 and 16 East, 8LM ROAN PLATEAU - DESOLATION CA~,IYON' AREA, CARBON AND EMERY COUNTIES, UTAH by Ro Eo Cohenour Prepared at the request of J 0 M 0 Ehrhorn I Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey REPORT OF INVESTIGATION NO. 11 UTAH GEOLOGICAL AND MINERALOGICAL SURvEy Mineral Appraisal of Lands Comprising Townships 14, 15 , 16 and 17 South, Ranges 14, 15 and 16 East, SLM Roan Plateau - Desolation Canyon Area , Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah by R. E. Cohenour This is an appraisal of the coal, oil and gas, oil shale, and bituminous sandstone potential of lands in the Roan Plate3u between the Book Cliffs on the west and the Desolation Canyon portion of the Green River on the east. The area comprises Townships 14 I 15,16 and 17 South, Ranges 14,15 and 16 East I Salt Lake Base and Meridian, a total of 12 townships. Based on this study 11,040 acres of land potentially important for tar sand and coal development are recommended for lieu land acquisition. It is suspected that approximately 8,800 acres of the recommended area are available for transfer. CONTENTS Regional Geography • • • • • • • • • • ••• • • . • • • • 2 Mineral Potential • • • • • •• • • . • • • • • • • . • • • • • 2-7 Oil and Gas Potential .••••••••••••••••••••2-3 Bituminous Sandstone Potential .••••••••.••••• 3-5 Bituminous Coal Potential •••••••••••••••••• 6-7 Oil Shale Potential . • • • • • • • • • • • • • . • • • • • 7 Comparative Data on Installations Requiring Large Ton- nages of Coal and Oil Shale As Basic Raw-Materials • • 7-9 Mine-Mbuth·S team Electric Installation vs Pipeline Transport of Coal. • • • • • • •• • ••••••• 7-8 Shale Oil Retort Plant vs A Coal Hydrogenation Plant •••• 8-9 Recommenda tions .........................·9-12 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1 - Index Map, Book Cliffs Area, Utah - File 102 - December 1963. Figure 2 - Oil and Gas' Map of the Book Cliffs Desolation Canyon .Area , Carbon and Emery Counties, Utah - File 100 - December 5, 1963. Figure 3 - Coal Reserves Map of the Book Cliffs - Desolation Canyon Area I Carbon and Emery Counties I Utah - File 101 - December 5, 1963 Page Two Report #11 December 6, 1963 REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY The western tier of tov.nships! namely T., 14: 15! 16 and 17 SOl R. 14 E. , are wholly or partially accessible from U .S. Highway 50-6 which approximately parallels the Book Cliffs along the western edge of the area (Fig 1). State Highway 123 and a branch line of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad provide access to Dragerton, Utah in T. 15 S., R. 13 Eo I near the northwest corner of the area. The greater portion of the area is inaccessible I representing some of the most rugged terrain in Utah, total relief being 5 ,925 feet. The hig hes t promin,tnce is Bruin Point at 10,285 feet and the lowest is on the Green River at approximately 4,360 feet above sea levelo Elevations in excess of 8,000 feet are common. The high a::itudes attribute tc the ~ eve~y of weather which pre vails throughout most of the year over most of th.e are3 0 The north-south trend of the Book Cliffs marks the westernmost extention of Significant coal bearing sandstones (the coal measures) in this area. The coal measures are Cretaceous in age ar..d are overlain by the Wasatch Formation of Tertiary age which in turn is overlain by the Green River Formation. The upper Wasatch and Green R.iver Formations form a second prominance known as the Roan Cliffs which mark the beginning of the Roan Plateau 0 MINERAL POTENTIAL The twelve townships comprising the main portion of this appraisal all contain res erves of coal and the northern third of the T 0 14 S . J R 0 14 E., con tains cropping of bituminous tar sands (see Fig 2) 0 The oil and gas potential of the block cannot be adequately appraised because of the scarcity of drilling; only 2 wells (dry) have been drilled in the area (Figs. 1 and :3). Oil shale, though present in the northeastern portion of the area; has questionable potential based on two measured section.s which indicated marginal potential. Oil and Gas Potential: Two horizons for possible oil and gas production underlie most of the area; they are the Tertiary Wasatch - Green River transition zone and the Cretaceous zones. The shallowest zone is the Wasatch - Green River transition zone which is from 9 to 3,000 feet from the surface. The Sunnyside tar sands which extend into Sections 3 14,9 I 10 and 15, T. 14 S. I R. 14 E 0 I repres ent large remnants of an oil accumulation near this zone. Surficial trend the Peter1s Point - Jackis Canyon structural axis (see Fig. 3) and several dry hcles situated in line between the tar sands and the Peter's Point field preclude any direct proj ection or connection of the tar sand trend to this axis. The Sunnyside tar sand is treated as a separate potential unit and projection of its petroleum possibilities dre restricted to an area within a few miles of tre outcrop (see Fig 0 1;r Bituminous Sandstone Potential and Recommenda tions D). The remainder of the apprais ed area does not lie within any R/3£. R. /4 £. fl. 15 £. R 16 £ R . / 7 E . T. 13 S. T 15 S. r '-6 S. 1. I 7 5. Kmv Or /8 S. VTAH Ge~L"OICIH SVH~ INDEX MAP iyH.E'- C.It./tt>Mr D.c. ~I BOOK CLIFFS AREA" tJTAH F/L E 102 F IGURE 1 Page Three Report #11 December 6, 1963 known trends or geologic projections or 'oil structures u however u there are numerous small oil seeps and shows along the zone ir:. outcrops above the Book Cliffs. The scarcity of drilling indicates that the Wasatch-Green River zone in the appraised area has not been adequately tested and that its oil and gas potential cannot be est.imated as being either favorable or unfavorable. The"Cretaceous zone likewise has not been tested and early condemnation is not warrented. The lack of favorable structures (anticlines) wi~hin this section of the Book Cliffs and Roan Plateau does Lot enl:ance the oil possibilities of the area; by the same token the probability for stratigraphic trap-type accumulations of petroleum cannot be ignored. There is the pes sibility that the edge of the buried Uncompahgre Uplift extends into the area and the possibilities for petroleum along the flanks of this trend rna y be good; here again drilling is no: of sufficient density or depth to properly assess this assurr..ption. Bituminous Sandstone Potep..tial:Salient features of the bituminous sand stone occurrence near Sunnyside 11 Carbon COUDty J Utah are listed: 1. Bituminous sandstones crop OUt in Sections 13 v 14;23;24 J 2S,26,35 and 36 of T. 13 So 8 Ro 13 Eo 1 SLM; and Sections 18 g 19 / 20,28,29 / 30,32 and 33 of T 0 13 SOl R 0 14 Eo u SLM; alsc in Sections 3 g 4 v 10, and 15 of T. 14 So, R 0 14 E U I SLM 0 The most promising sections containing bituminous outcrops are 20,28,29, and 33 of To 13 S., R 0 14 Eo I and Sections 3 I 4,9 , 10, and 15 of T. 14 S. I R. 14 E. The better part of the occurrence is accessible by road and is 5 miles due north of a railhead at Sunnyside, Utah 0 2. The deposits crop out along the southwest facing the escarpment of the Book Cliffs at elevations between 9 J 000 and 10 1 000 feet above sea level. 3. The beds of bituminous sandstone range from 10 to 350 feet in thick ness in a zone about 1,000 feet thick in the upper part of the Wasatch and the lower part of the Green River Formations (Green River - Wasatch Transition zone) . The zone extends for approximately 9 miles alon.g the cliffs 0 4. The deposits have been worked since 1892 and as of 1945 some· 335,000 tons of bituminous sandstone has been produced 0 5. The oil-bearing strata dip from 3 to 10 degrees northeasterly into the Uinta basin, i.e. I a slope of 5.2 to 1706 feet per 100 feeto Page Four Report #11 December 6 I 1963 6. Analyses of 27 samples (U oS "G oS 0 Oil and Gas Inves:i9ations Pre liminary Map 86 , by C. N. Holmes p et 0al 0) shows the bitumer~ content ranging from 2061 to 13053 per cent by weight 0 Water content ranged from 0001 to 0 D 70 per cent by weight 0 70 U.S 0 Geological Survey calcula:ed reserves as follcws~ All Grades t:3rades averag~~g 9% bitumer:. Measured & Indicated 900 1 000,000 cubic ydso 450 e OOO g OOO ct..:.bic yards Inferred I. II Ii TOTAL 1 ,600,000 J 000 cubic yds 0 800 g 000 g 000 cubic yards or or 2,832 p OOO,,000 tons l£'416 0 000 0 000 tons One cubic yard of bituminous sandstone cor.:t~irdng 9% bitumen wei ghs 1 .77 tons and contains 38.2 gallons 6f bitumen 0 The total bitumen content of the 9% rock amounts to 728 0 000 0 000 barrels. 80 Max W 0 Bal! ir. ford 0 Bacc.n and Dav:s report en I~:he Synthetic Liquid a Fuel Potential of Utah: calculated a reserve',of 357 0 II 0 q 000 barrels of bitumen comprising 1/700 acres ~ ,These reserves were figured as being available by stripping or open pit type operation consequer~tly differ from the reserves as cal culated by the U .S.