Geology and fuel resources of the Fruitland Formation and Kirtland Shale of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado

Journal Article · Fri Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1971 · U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5569381

Fassett, J E; Hinds, J S

The San Juan Basin is an asymmetric structural basin in NW. New Mexico and SW. Colorado containing sedimentary rocks that range from Cambrian to Holocene in age and are as much as 15,000 ft thick. Upper Cretaceous rocks, which are more than 6,000 ft thick, are composed of intertonguing marine and nonmarine sedimentary rocks deposited during 3 basin-wide cycles of transgression and regression of an epicontinental sea. Fuel resources of the Fruitland Formation and the Kirtland Shale include uranium, oil, gas, and coal. The uranium occurs in channel sandstone in the Fruitland Formation. Oil and gas occur mostly in small scattered stratigraphic traps. The thickest coal beds occur in the lower part of the Fruitland Formation. Deposition of the coal was controlled by the position and the relative stability of the strand lines of the Pictured Cliffs Sea. The statistical method of analysis used in this report indicates that the Fruitland Formation in the San Juan Basin contains approx. 200 billion tons of coal in beds more than 2 ft thick at depths of as much as 4,500 ft. (64 refs.)

• OSTI ID: 5569381
• Journal Information: U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States), Journal Name: U.S. Geol. Surv., Prof. Pap.; (United States) Vol. 676; ISSN XGPPA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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USA