Late Laramide thrust-related and evaporite-domed anticlines in the southern Piceance basin, northeastern Colorado Plateau
- Geological Survey, Denver, CO (United States)
- Louisiana Land and Exploration Co., Denver, CO (United States)
New seismic and gravity data across the hydrocarbon-producing Divide Creek and Wolf Creek anticlines in the southern Piceance basin contrasting styles of deformation within two widely separated time frames. Seismic data indicate that prebasin Paleozoic deformation resulted in block faulting of the Precambrian crystalline basement rocks and overlying Cambrian through Middle Pennsylvanian strata. Movement along these block faults throughout much of Pennsylvanian time, during northeast-southwest crustal extension, likely influenced distribution of the Middle Pennsylvanian (Desmoinesian) evaporite-rich facies. Younger rocks, including the thick succession of Cenozoic basin strata, then buried the Paleozoic structures. Tectonic reconfiguration of the basin's eastern margin occurred during late Laramide northeast-southwest compression, when a basement-involving thrust block, whose surface expression is the Grand Hogback monocline, moved into the Piceance basin. A decollement developed in front of the thrust block within the mechanically weak Desmoinesian evaporites and splayed out basinward as small-scale imbricate thrusts in the Upper Cretaceous Mancos Shale. The Divide Creek anticline to the east, however, is due to both depositional and tectonic thickening of the evaporite section along the decollement. Thrust-related basin margins and intrabasin folds structurally analogous to the Divide Creek and Wolf Creek anticlines may be more common than presently recognized in the Rocky Mountain foreland.
- OSTI ID:
- 5185146
- Journal Information:
- AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (United States), Vol. 75:2; ISSN 0149-1423
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Late Paleozoic movement on the Uncompahgre fault and related structures, southeastern Utah and southwestern Colorado
Fracture history of the Divide Creek and Wolf Creek anticlines and its relation to Laramide basin-margin tectonism, southern Piceance basin, northwestern Colorado
Related Subjects
03 NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS DEPOSITS
EXPLORATION
SEISMIC SURVEYS
PETROLEUM DEPOSITS
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
DATA ANALYSIS
ANTICLINES
COLORADO
COLORADO PLATEAU
DEFORMATION
EVAPORITES
GEOLOGIC FAULTS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC TRAPS
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY
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FEDERAL REGION VIII
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GEOLOGIC FRACTURES
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NORTH AMERICA
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ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
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020200* - Petroleum- Reserves
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030200 - Natural Gas- Reserves
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