Petroleum Potential of Wilderness Lands in Arizona By Robert T. Ryder PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF WILDERNESS LANDS IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY CIRCULAR 902-C This chapter on the petroleum geology and resource potential of Wilderness Lands in Arizona is also provided as an accompanying pamphlet for Miscellaneous Inves­ tigations Series Map 1-1537 CONTENTS Page Page Abstract ---------------------------------------- C1 Thickness and origin of sedimentary rocks --------- C13 Introduction------------------------------------- 1 Black Mesa basin--------------------------- 13 Geologic framework------------------------------- 2 Paleozoic hingeline area --------------------- 14 Physiographic provinces ------------------------ 2 Pedregosa basin---------------------------- 14 Wilderness Lands ----------------------------- 2 Tertiary rift basins ------------------------- 14 Tectonic provinces and tectonic history ------------ 2 Potential source rocks, hydrocarbon shows, and Colorado Plateau physiographic province ------- 2 thermal maturity---------------------------- 14 Basin and Range physiographic province-------- 8 Reservoirs and traps --------------------------- 15 Transitional zone--------------------------- 13 Summary statement --------------------------- 16 Petroleum geology-------------------------------- 13 Petroleum potential of Wilderness Lands-------------- 16 USGS petroleum province boundaries------------- 13 Summary ------------------------------------ 20 Oil and gas fields ------------------------------ 13 References cited---------------------------------- 20 ILLUSTRATIONS Page FIGURE 1. Maps of Arizona showing distribution of Wilderness Lands, counties, and selected cities. A, Physiographic and tectonic provinces; B, Major outcrops of igneous and metamorphic rocks and lines of cross sections; C, Oil and gas field data ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ C3 2. Geologic cross section A-A' through the Basin and Range and Colorado Plateau provinces of northwest Arizona- 6 3. Geologic cross section B-B' through the Black Mesa and Holbrook basins of northeast Arizona--------------- 7 4. Geologic cross section C-C' through the Pedregosa basin and superimposed Early Cretaceous rift basins of southeastArizona-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9 5. Geologic cross section D-D' through the Pedregosa basin and superimposed Early Cretaceous rift basins of southeast Arizona-------------------------------------------------------------------------- 10 6. Geologic cross section E-E' through the Basin and Range province of southwest Arizona-------------------- 11 7. Geologic cross section F -F' through the Basin and Range province of southwest Arizona -------------------- 12 8. Map showing the qualitative estimates of petroleum potential for Wilderness Lands in Arizona -------------- 18 III PETROLEUM POTENTIAL OF WILDERNESS LANDS IN THE WESTERN UNITED STATES Petroleum Potential of Wilderness Lands in Arizona By Robert T. Ryder ABSTRACT much of the State is unsuitable for oil and gas ac­ On the basis of in-depth geologic framework and petroleum cumulations because basement rocks are situated geology studies, the oil and gas potential of Wilderness Lands at or near the surface. Future oil and gas dis­ in Arizona is rated qualitatively on a scale from high to zero. coveries in the sedimentary basins of Arizona will A high rating is assigned to Wilderness Lands that are located near or along the projected trend of hydrocarbon production likely depend on imaginative, but geologically and have all the geologic attributes of the producing area. A sound, interpretations of the complex structural, medium rating is assigned to Wilderness Lands that have all depositional, and magmatic history of the State the attributes, including shows, of an oil and gas producing and on the testing of these interpretations with area, but presently lack commercial production. In contrast, reflection seismic profiles and deep drilling. To low, low to zero, and zero ratings are assigned, respectively, to Wilderness Lands that have few or no attributes of an oil date, drilling outside the region of known produc­ and gas producing area. Usually a zero rating is reserved for tion has been disappointing. The purpose of this regions having autochthonous igneous and metamorphic rocks investigation is to provide qualitative estimates, at or near the surface. complete with written documentation, of the fu­ The Wilderness Lands in Arizona are grouped into 12 clus­ ture oil and gas potential of the 6,183,665 acres of ters, each containing one or more tracts that have the same or similar geologic characteristics and the same hydrocarbon po­ Wilderness Lands in Arizona. These estimates are tential. Of the 6,183,665 acres of Wilderness Lands in Arizona based largely on data derived from current pub­ the potential acreage can be summarized as follows: high po­ lished literature. Future estimates may vary as tential, none; medium potential, 192 thousand acres; low poten­ new data and concepts become available. tial, 1,375.3 thousand acres; low to zero potential, 3,528.8 thousand acres; and zero potential, 1,087.8 thousand acres. This report is divided into three parts. The first part, the geologic framework section, is intended INTRODUCTION to acquaint the reader with the complex physio­ graphic and geologic provinces of Arizona and the Arizona produces limited quantities of oil and complex tectonic and magmatic history that gas from fields in the northeasternmost part of the shaped the provinces and ultimately helped con­ State and has the potential for yielding modest un­ trol the distribution of oil and gas. The second discovered oil and gas resources (Dolton and part, the petroleum geology section, consists of a others, 1981). Much of Arizona is still a frontier general treatment of several key elements related area in terms of oil and gas exploration; however, to the generation and entrapment of oil and gas in C1 Arizona. The third and final part, the petroleum EXPLANATION potential of Wilderness Lands, contains the qual­ (For figures lA, 8, and C) itative estimates of the oil and gas potential of the Wilderness Lands of Arizona. ~\;;;): Metamorphic and igneous rocks-Precambrian ~ Metamorphic and intrusive igneous rocks­ GEOLOGIC FRAMEWORK Mesozoic and Tertiary PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCES D Volcanic rocks-Quaternary, Tertiary, and Mesozoic Arizona is divided into two major physiographic provinces, the Colorado Plateau province in the Wilderness Lands northeast half of the State and the Basin and Range province in the southwest half of the State ~ Oil, natural gas, and helium fields with a transitional zone between (fig.1A). The Col­ orado Plateau province is characterized by a highly dissected landscape comprised of broad, x Oil seep high plateaus and mesas and intervening steep­ 0 Drill hole walled canyons (Fenneman, 1931). The Basin and 10 Phillips Arizona State No. 1-A drill hole Range province is characterized by narrow, north­ west-trending mountain ranges and adjoining ba­ " Outcrop section sins. In the northwest corner of Arizona the F F' --. Line of geologic cross section-Dashed line and mountain ranges change in orientation to north 0 circle indicate a drill hole projected into line of and north-northeast trends (fig. 1B). The north­ section west-trending, 50-60-mile-wide transitional zone, as here defined, is wider than the transitional zone -- Boundary between physiographic provinces defined by Wilson and Moore (1959). - · - Boundary between USGS petroleum provinces WILDERNESS LANDS --Boundary between tectonic provinces The 6,183,665 acres of Wilderness Lands in ........---.- Approximate leading edge of Cordilleran fold and thrust belt, Drewes (1979, 1980, 1981) Arizona are distributed over . the two physio­ graphic provinces and the transitional zone (fig.1A). Existing structural features are typified by broad About 70 percent of the Wilderness Lands is lo­ areas of flat-lying to gently tilted strata bound by cated in the Basin and Range province with the monoclines and (or) high-angle faults (figs. 2, 3). remaining 30 percent about eqJJally divided be­ First-order structural features include the Black tween the Colorado Plateau province and the Mesa basin, Defiance uplift, Echo Cliffs uplift, transitional zone. Four Corners platform, Kaibab uplift, Kaiparowits basin, and Zuni basin, all of probable TECTONIC PROVINCES AND Laramide age (Davis, 1978), the Holbrook basin of TECTONIC HISTORY Pennsylvanian and Early Permian age (Barwin The physiographic provinces, and to a large ex­ and others, 1971; Heylmun, 1981), and the tent the hydrocarbon accumulations within them Paradox basin of Pennsylvanian age (Peterson and are controlled by the tectonic framework of the' Ohlen, 1963) (fig.1A). Thick evaporites of Permian­ underlying rocks. The major tectonic features Pennsylvanian age and of Pennsylvanian age oc­ which shaped Arizona's physiographic provinces cupy, respectively, the central part of the Hol­ are identified and discussed in the following sec­ brook basin in Arizona and the Paradox basin in tion. southeast Utah and southwest Colorado. Many of the first-order structural features have been con­ trolled by an underlying basement-block mosaic COLORADO PLATEAU PHYSIOGRAPHIC PROVINCE which probably developed in the Precambrian and The Colorado Plateau province represents a was reactivated by later episodes of crustal insta­ part of the North American craton which has been