Geology and Fuel Resources, of the Green River Formation Southeastern Uinta Basin Utah and Colorado

' ·, Geology and Fuel Resources, of the Green River Formation Southeastern Uinta Basin Utah and Colorado By W. B. CASHION GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 548 A study of the Green River Formation in a 2,]00-square-mile area in northeastern Utah and northwestern Colorado UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1967 . , UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR STEWART L. UDALL, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY Willia~ T. Pecora, Director Library of Congress catalog-card No. GS 67-162 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Washington, D.C. 20402 CONTENTS Page Stratigraphy-Continued Abstract __________________________________________ _ 1 Tertiary System-Continued Page Introduction _____________________________________ _ 1 Uinta Formation __________________________ _ 19 Locality and regional relations __________________ ·__ 1 Duchesne River Formation _________________ _ 21 Purpose of investigation ________________________ _ 3 Quaternary System ____________________________ _ 22 Acknowledgments ______________________________ _ 3 Previous investigations _________________________ _ Structure--------------------------~--------------- 22 3 Economic geology __________________________________ _ Present investigation ___________________________ _ 3 24 Oil shale ______________________________________ _ GeographY----------------------------------------- 4 24 TopographY------------------------------------ 4 Composition and physical characteristics ______ _ 24 Accessibility __________________________________ _ 4 Development ______________________________ _ 24 Population and industry ________________________ _ 4 Potential reserves __________________________ _ 24 Drainage and water supply _____________________ _ 4 Gilsonite ______________________________________ _ Vegetation ____________________________________ _ 30 5 Description and geologic setting _____________ _ 30 StratigraphY--------------------------------------- 5 Major veins _______________________________ _ Unexposed rocks ____________________ ------- ____ _ 34 5 Origin ____________________________________ _ Tertiary System _______________________________ _ 5 35 Development ______________________________ _ Wasatch Formation ________________________ _ 5 36 Green River Formation _____________________ _ 7 Reserves __________________________________ _ 37 Douglas Creek Member ________________ _ 8 Bituminous sandstones _________________________ _ 37 Garden Gulch Member _________________ _ 12 Oil and gas ___________________________________ _ 40 Parachute Creek Member_______________ _ 13 Development ______________________________ _ Evacuation Creek Member ______________ _ 40 16 Possibilities _______________________________ _ Tuff beds in the Green River Formation __ _ 40 18 References ________________________________________ _ Tuffaceous dikes of the Green River For- 44 Index ____________________________________________ _ mation _____________________________ _ 18 47 ILLUSTRATIONS [Plates are in pocket] PLATE 1. Geologic map and section of the southeastern part of Uinta Basin. 2. Fence diagram of the Green River Formation and the upper part of the Wasatch Formation in the southeastern part of the Uinta Basin. 3. Stratigraphic sections of the Green River and adjacent formations in the southeastern part of the Uinta Basin. 4. Stratigraphic sections of the Mahogany ledge. 5. Maps showing thickness of selected oil-shale zones. rage FrounE 1. Map showing area of this report and some adjacent structural and physiographic features ____ -------------- 2 2-7. Photographs of- 2. Thin beds typical of much of the Green River Formation ____ -----_----------------------------- 7 3. Green River-Uinta contact near Willow Creek_________________________________________________ 9 4. Green River Formation in Hells Hole Canyon and along Hill Creek _______ ---- ___ -_---_---------- 11 5. Tuffaceous dikes in the Parachute Creek and Evacuation Creek Members _________ -- ____ ---------- 20 6. Jointing in the Horse Bench Sandstone Bed of Evacuation Creek Member_________________________ 22 7. A minor fold in a siltstone bed of the Parachute Creek Member_ ________________________ ·------- 23 8. Map showing thickness of oil-shale beds in the Uinta Basin ________________________ -------------------- 31 9. Map showing location and width of gilsonite veins ________________________________________________ - __ - 32 10. Photographs of gilsonite veins_·_____________________________________________________________________ 33 11. Longitudinal sections of gilsonite veins __________________________________________________________ ---- 38 12. Map showing outcrop of zone containing bituminous sandstone beds __________________________ -- ____ ---- 39 III ,---'l IV CONTENTS TABLES Pn~e TABLE 1. Estimated tonnage and potential oil yield of that part of the Mahogany zone and adjacent beds occurring in a continuous sequence at least 15 feet thick and yielding an average of 30 gallons oil per ton____________ '27 2. Estimated tonnage and potential oil yield of that part of the ·Mahogany zone and adjacent beds occurring in a continuous sequence at least 15 feet thick and yielding an average of 25 gallons oil per ton_____________ '28 3. Estimated tonnage and potential oil yield of that part of the Mahogany zone and adjacent beds occurring in a continuous sequence at least 15 feet thick and yielding an average of 15 gallons oil per ton_____________ 29 4. Estimated original reserves of gilsonite in the mapped area_____________________________________________ 37 5. Exploratory wells drilled within the mapped area_____________________________________________________ 41 GEOLOGY AND FUEL RESOURCES OF THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION SOUTHEASTERN UINTA BASIN, UTAH AND COLORADO By w. B. CASHION ABSTRACT from Jurassic, Cretaceous, and Tertiary rocks. In the southern The area of this report is the southeastern part of the Uinta part of the area, the Douglas Creek Member contains several Basin ancl constitutes about 2,300 square miles in northeastern sandstones that are impregnated with bitumen. Utah nncl northwestern Colorado. The major topographic fea ture is a north-sloping plateau that is highly dissected by steep INTRODUCTION walled canyons. The topography along the southern margin is LOCALITY AND REGIONAL RELATIONS dominated by the rugged south-facing Roan Cliffs. Beclrocl< exposed in the area is of fluvial ancl lacustrine origin The area described in this report is the southeastern nncl of Eocene ancl Oligocene age. The oldest rocks exposed are part of the Uinta Basin of northeastern Utah and north the massive sandstone ancl variegated shale of the Wasatch western Colorado (fig. 1). About 2,150 square miles I!..,ormation of Eocene age. The 'Vasatch Formation is divided of the area is in Uintah, Grand, and Carbon Counties, into the main body ancl the Renegade Tongue (new name). The Utah, and about 150 square miles is in Rio Blanco 'Vnsatch Formation interfingers with ancl is overlain by the Green River Formation, also of Eocene age. County, Colo. Bound,aries of the irregularly shaped r:rhe Green H.iver Formation has been clividecl, in ascending area are controlled chiefly by the outcrop of the Green order, into the Douglas Creek, Garden Gulch, Parachute Creek, River Formation. and Evacuation Creek Members. The Douglas Creek Member The Uinta Basin, which can be classified as a struc is composed chiefly of sandstone, siltstone, and ·algal and oolitic or a topographic basin, has an limestone deposited in a nearshore-lacustrine environment. It tural, a depositional, interfingers with the underlying 'Vasatch Formation toward the area of approximately 7,000 square miles, 95 percent former shore ancl interfingers with the overlying Garden Gulch of which is in Utah. The maximum dimensions of the nncl Parachute Creek Members •toward the former basin. The basin are about 130 miles from east to west and about Garden Gulch, Parachute Creek, and Evacuation Creek Members 100 miles from north to south. As considered in this are composed chiefly of thin-becldecl marlstone, siltstone, and oil shale deposited in a lacustrine environment. The Parachute report, the basin is bounded on the north by the Uinta Creel< Member contains the principal oil-shale beds of the Green Mountains, on the west by the Wasatch Range, on the Uiver I!..,ormation. The richest of these beds is the Mahogany south by the Roan Cliffs, and on the east by the Douglas oil-shale becl, which lies within a group of rich oil-shale beds Creek arch. The Piceance Creek basin, considered by that are designated as the Mahogany ledge at the surface and some geologists to be part of the Uinta Basin, is treated as the Mahogany zone in the subsurface. The Ervacuation Creek Member of •the Green H.iver Formation is overlain by and herein as an individual geomorphic subdivision. interfingers with the Uinta Formation of Eocene age. Structurally the Uinta Basin is a sharply asymmetric The Uinta I!"'ormation is composed of massive sandstone and feature that was produced by Laramide orogeny. The arenaceous shale deposited mainly in a fluvial environment. It axis lies in the northern part of the. basin near the contains a·bundant vertebrate fossils. The Uinta is overlain by Uinta Mountains. On the north flank of the basin, the reel ancl gray fluvial sandstones ancl shales of the Duchesne River I!"'ormation of Eocene or Oligocene age. strata of Mesozoic and early Tertiary age dip steeply Most of the mapped area is on the south flank of the Uinta south and are truncated

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