Paleogeographic evolution of the latest Cretaceous and Paleocene Wind River Basin
- Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Palisades, NY (United States)
- Chevron Research Tech. Co., Richmond, CA (United States)
Lithofacies analysis and palynologic age-dating of the lower part of the Fort Union Formation in the Wind River Basin reveal differences in age and depositional environment between the Casper Arch to the north and the Rattlesnake Hills to the south. Along the Casper Arch, the lower part of the Fort Union Formation is of latest cretaceous and earliest Paleocene age and is comprised of large ribbon-channel sandstone bodies that record a large river system that flowed to the northwest, parallel and adjacent to the rising Casper Arch. These strata are overlain by lacustrine-margin (Shotgun Member) and lacustrine (Waltman Shale Member) facies. To the south, along the Rattlesnake Hills, the lower part of the Fort Union Formation is of Late Paleocene age and is comprised of laterally continuous sheet sandstone bodies which record a river system that flowed to the north, away from the rising Wind River and Granite mountains. These strata overlie an unconformity that spans Early Paleocene time and are time equivalent with the Late Paleocene lacustrine deposits exposed to the north along the Casper Arch. Together these strata record the initiation of uplift along the Casper Arch and the subsequent infilling of the Wind River Basin during Paleocene time.
- OSTI ID:
- 5528924
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-8905393--
- Journal Information:
- Mountain Geologist; (United States), Journal Name: Mountain Geologist; (United States) Vol. 28:2-3; ISSN MOGEA; ISSN 0027-254X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Haybarn field, Fremont County, Wyoming: an upper Fort Union (Paleocene) stratigraphic trap
Subsurface geology of Upper Cretaceous and Lower Tertiary coal-bearing rocks, Wind River Basin, Wyoming
Related Subjects
580000* -- Geosciences
AGE ESTIMATION
CENOZOIC ERA
CRETACEOUS PERIOD
DEPOSITION
DEVELOPED COUNTRIES
FEDERAL REGION VIII
GEOLOGIC AGES
GEOLOGIC FORMATIONS
GEOLOGIC HISTORY
GEOLOGIC STRATA
GEOLOGIC STRUCTURES
GEOLOGY
GEOMORPHOLOGY
ISOTOPE DATING
MESOZOIC ERA
NORTH AMERICA
PALYNOLOGY
ROCKS
SANDSTONES
SEDIMENTARY BASINS
SEDIMENTARY ROCKS
SEDIMENTS
STRATIGRAPHY
STREAMS
SURFACE WATERS
TECTONICS
TERTIARY PERIOD
USA
WYOMING