Oil and Gas Plays Ute Moutnain Ute Reservation, Colorado and New Mexico
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Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation Cortez R18W Karle Key Xu R17W T General Setting Mine Xu Xcu 36 Can y on N Xcu McElmo WIND RIVER 32 INDIAN MABEL The Ute Mountain Ute Reservation is located in the northwest RESERVATION MOUNTAIN FT HALL IND RES Little Moude Mine Xcu T N ern portion of New Mexico and the southwestern corner of Colorado UTE PEAK 35 N R16W (Fig. UM-1). The reservation consists of 553,008 acres in Montezu BLACK 666 T W Y O M I N G MOUNTAIN 35 R20W SLEEPING UTE MOUNTAIN N ma and La Plata Counties, Colorado, and San Juan County, New R19W Coche T Mexico. All of these lands belong to the tribe but are held in trust by NORTHWESTERN 34 SHOSHONI HERMANO the U.S. Government. Individually owned lands, or allotments, are IND RES Desert Canyon PEAK N MESA VERDE R14W NATIONAL GREAT SALT LAKE W Marble SENTINEL located at Allen Canyon and White Mesa, San Juan County, Utah, Wash Towaoc PARK PEAK T and cover 8,499 acres. Tribal lands held in trust within this area cov Towaoc River M E S A 33 1/2 N er 3,597 acres. An additional forty acres are defined as U.S. Govern THE MOUND R15W SKULL VALLEY ment lands in San Juan County, Utah, and are utilized for school pur TEXAS PACIFIC 6-INCH OIL PIPELINE IND RES UNITAH AND OURAY INDIAN RESERVATION Navajo poses. W Ramona GOSHUTE 789 The Allen Canyon allotments are located twelve miles west of IND RES T UTAH 33 Blanding, Utah, and adjacent to the Manti-La Sal National Forest. Chipeta COLORADO N U T A H The White Mesa allotments are located nine miles south of Blanding, River C O L O R A D O 666 R13 1/2W Utah, on Utah Highway 47. These lands belong to known members 41 PAIUTE I R V E R D E Mancos of the Tribe or their heirs; however, the titles are held in trust for River Mancos T A N N E R M E S A Mancos MONTEZUMALA PLATACOUNTY COUNTY T Farms these individuals by the U.S. Government. The Ute Mountain Ute Aztec Wash 32 W San Juan River N W MONTEZUMA Tribe also holds fee patent title to seven tracts of land located in Utah COUNTY COLORADO R20W R19W R18W R17W R16W NEW MEXICO SAN JUAN COUNTY and Colorado totaling 595,647 acres. PAIUTE I R Barker UTE MOUNTAIN UTE Dome T INDIAN RESERVATION COLORADO The topography of the reservation varies from approximately EXPLANATION 32 PAIUTE I R SOUTHERN UTE Oilfield X Prospect N 4,600 feet near the Four Corners to approximately 10,000 feet at the IND RES Gasfield cu- copper NEW MEXICO KAIBAB u- uranium Ute peak of the Sleeping Ute Mountain. The eastern half of the reserva IND RES Oil pipeline NAVAJO INDIAN RESERVATION W Sand and gravel pit Dome JICARILLA TAOS Gas pipeline IND RES APACHE TAOS INDEX MAP tion is characterized by a high mesa cut by the canyon of the Mancos IND RES IND RES Indian Reservation boundary Westwater Canyon HAVASUPAI I R PICURIS T River and numerous side canyons. The western half of the reserva SAN JUAN I R IND RES SANTA CLARA POJOAQUE I R 31 I R NAMBE I R 0 10 MILES HOPI INDIAN SAN ILDEFONSO I R 5 N RESERVATION TESUQUE I R Horseshoe- U.S. BUREAU OF MINES 4-INCH PIPELINE (HELIUM) tion, with the exception of the Sleeping Ute Mountain, is semi-desert JEMEZ I R Verde- HUALAPAI 0 5 10 20 KILOMETERS Gallop IND RES COCHITI I R Gallop ZIA SANTA DOMINGO I R grassland. NAVAJO IND RES IND RES SAN FELIPE I R NAVAJO I R LAGUNA SANTA ANA I R SANDIA I R R16W R15W R14W The reservation ranges in elevations from about 4,600 feet along RAMAH NAVAJO IND RES ZUNI CANONCITO I R IND RES ACOMA ISLETA the San Juan River near Four Corners (the junction of the States of I R IND RES Figure UM-2. Geographic map of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation. LAGUNA I R CAMP VERDE I R Arizona, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico) to 9,977 feet on Ute YAVAPAI I R A R I Z O N A PAYSON COMMUNITY I R ALAMO NAVAJO peak. Most of the western part of the reservation is semi-arid, eroded IND RES FT APACHE N E W M E X I C O grasslands with some “badlands” topography near the Utah boun INDIAN RESERVATION dary. North of the grasslands is the Sleeping Ute Mountain with a FT MC DOWELL IND RES SALT RIVER I R SAN CARLOS cover of scrub cedar, oak, and juniper. The eastern and southern INDIAN RESERVATION MESCALERO IND GILA BEND GILA RIVER RES IND RES IND RES parts of the reservation consist of the deeply-cut canyons and mesas MARICOPA PAPAGO IND RES IND RES of Mesa Verde and Tanner Mesa, and is covered by scrub cedar and juniper. PAPAGO INDIAN PASCUA YAQUI I R RESERVATION The only paved highways in the reservation are U.S. Highways SAN XAVIER IND RES 160 and 666 and State Highways 41 and 789 (Fig. UM-2). Two YSLETA DEL SUR I R maintained gravel roads cross the reservation: one follows the Man cos River Canyon to the eastern part of the reservation, then south Figure UM-1. Location of the Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation (modified after U.S. ward toward Farmington and the other goes westward from Towaoc Department of the Interior, 1993). to the Cache oilfield then on to Aneth, Utah. Other roads are gener ally trails passable only to four-wheel-drive vehicles or pickup trucks. reservation in New Mexico are the towns of Shiprock, 30 miles from Towaoc, the only town on the reservation, is the site of the Ute Towaoc, and Farmington, 29 miles east of Shiprock. Mountain Indian Agency and the residence of most of the people on the reservation. Cortez, Colorado, 16 miles northeast of Towaoc, serves as the principal market center for the area. South of the UTE MOUNTAIN UTE RESERVATION Reservation Overview 1 COLORADO, NEW MEXICO Geology structural platform between the Monument Uplift, about 40 miles the maximum dip is about 9 ½ degrees. Except for the south side, faults are downthrown to the north, while others are downthrown to the The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation is on the Four Corners to the west, and the San Juan basin immediately to the southeast. the flanks of the dome pass into a series of five anticlines, only south. Apparently the majority are high-angle normal faults. The two platform of the Colorado Plateau, and most of it is underlain by Superimposed on the platform are several smaller structures that two of which extend into the reservation. A moderately sharp anti longest faults southeast of Southern Ute Dome have curved traces ow gently dipping Mesozoic age sedimentary rocks (Fig. UM-3). give the reservation its own character; these are the Ute Dome, the cline plunges southeastward from McElmo Dome in the vicinity of ing to actual curves in the fault planes rather than to the effect of topog Most of the rocks exposed on the Reservation are sandstones, Mesa Verde Basin, and the Hogback Monocline, and even more Ute Peak. It is asymmetric, with a steeply dipping southwest side. raphy on dipping fault planes. Two miles southwest of Southern Ute shales, and mudstones of Cretaceous age; the oldest sedimentary locally, the McElmo Dome, the Barker Dome and Anticline, and A poorly defined anticline extends southwest from McElmo Dome Dome, two strike faults die out as small monoclinal flexures. formation exposed is of Jurassic age and the youngest consolidated the Southern Ute Dome (Figs. UM-3 and UM-4). about 4 miles, almost parallel to a graben that lies to the north. rocks are Tertiary. The oldest units crop out along the northern Ute Dome is probably entirely the result of injection of mag The total area affected by McElmo Dome and its satellitie anti 112 111 110 109 108 clines is about 20 miles east to west 41 107 most boundary of the Reservation, and the exposed sedimentary ma and principally of three stocks at “The Knees,” Black Moun WYOMING WYOMING EXPLANATION UTAH 41 rocks become progressively younger toward the south and east, re tain, and Ute Peak. The dome is nearly circular in plan and aver and 10 miles north to south. COLORADO Monocline or steep limb of fold 0 8 16 32 48 64 Miles Barker Dome and Anticline are on with direction of dip TA UPL NU IF flecting the higher topographic position of the Mesa Verde plateau. ages about 10 miles in diameter (Fig. UM-3). On its western side, I T 0 8 16 32 48 64 80 96 Kilometers the east flank of the Mesa Verde Basin, Crestal line of anticline, arch, uplift, up- The principal area of non-sedimentary rocks in the Reservation is the dome merges with west-and-southwest-plunging folds, and its warp, or swell, with direction of plunge SCALE AX at the east side of the reservation. The VERNAL I A the Ute Mountains, which are formed of Late Cretaceous or Terti western edge is poorly defined. The southwest flank of the dome Troughal line of syncline, basin, or sag L dome is slightly elongated north and with direction of plunge ary igneous rocks. may be underlain by a large intrusive mass, and an irregular-shap FO UINTA LD south, and extends northward for sev High-angle fault, with downthrown side BELT Older sedimentary formations not exposed on the Reservation ed anticline that plunges westward from the northwest flank of the 40 R MEEKER eral miles as the Barker Anticline.