Geologic evolution of Uinta-Piceance basin province, northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah

Conference · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 1990 · AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA)

OSTI ID:6694068

Johnson, S Y; Tuttle, M L; Bryant, B H; Dubiel, R F; Fouch, T D; Franczyk, K J; Grauch, V J.S.; Grout, M A; Johnson, R C; Molenaar, C M; Nichols, D J; Nichols, K M; Nuccio, V F; Peterson, F; Pitman, J K; Perry, Jr, W J; Potter, C J; Sawatzky, D L; Scott, Jr, R W; Verbeek, E R ; Wanty, R B ^[1]

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1. Geological Survey, Denver, CO (USA)

The Uinta-Piceance basin province (UPBP) has a complex Phanerozoic history characterized by five distinct phases of basin development (1) The UPBP formed part of a continental platform shelf on the northwestern flank of North America during the early and middle Paleozoic. Cambrian through Mississippian strata consist mainly of carbonate rocks, shale, and quartzite; contain major unconformities; and thicken westward. (2) Pennsylvanian-Permian uplifts of the ancestral Rocky Mountain orogeny segmented this continental platform shelf into the Eagle, Paradox, and Oquirrh basins. Basin-margin tectonics and cyclic eustatic-climatic fluctuations strongly controlled deposition of the clastic, carbonate, and evaporitic fill of these basins. (3) During the early Mesozoic, the UPBP formed part of a slowly subsiding continental platform. Triassic-Jurassic rocks include eolian, alluvial, and lacustrine deposits that thicken and grade westward into marine facies. (4) Paleozoic and early Mesozoic strata in the westernmost part of the UPBP were thrust eastward during the late Mesozoic Sevier orogeny, causing subsidence in the adjacent foreland basin. The history of the UPBP part of this foreland basin is recorded by thick nonmarine deposits within and adjacent to the thrust belt that grade eastward into thinner accumulations of marine rocks. (5) The geometry and style of regional compressional deformation changed markedly with onset of the latest Cretaceous-Paleogene Laramide orogeny. Laramide uplifts segmented the UPBP foreland basin into the Uinta and Piceance intermontane lacustrine basins. The geometry of these lacustrine basins is notably different from that of the late Paleozoic segment basins.

• OSTI ID: 6694068
• Report Number(s): CONF-900605-; CODEN: AABUD
• Journal Information: AAPG Bulletin (American Association of Petroleum Geologists); (USA), Vol. 74:5; Conference: Annual convention and exposition of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists, San Francisco, CA (USA), 3-6 Jun 1990; ISSN 0149-1423
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

58 GEOSCIENCES
COLORADO
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
UTAH
CAMBRIAN PERIOD
CARBONATE ROCKS
CARBONIFEROUS PERIOD
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
PERMIAN PERIOD
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
SHALES
TERTIARY PERIOD
UINTA BASIN
CENOZOIC ERA
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
PALEOZOIC ERA
ROCKS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
USA
580000* - Geosciences