Northeast-southwest structural transect: Rocky Mountain foreland, Wyoming
A northeast-southwest structural transect has been constructed across the Rocky Mountain foreland in Wyoming, a distance of about 400 mi. The line of transect begins in the northern Black Hills and traverses the northern Powder River basin, the Bighorn Mountains from Buffalo to Bonanza, the Big Horn basin from Worland to Hamilton dome, the Owl Creek Mountains, the northern Wind River basin at Maverick Springs, the Wind River Mountains to Pinedale in the Green River basin, the Moxa Arch at Big Piney and Riley Ridge, and into the thrust belt, ending at the Idaho border. In terms of a vertical and horizontal scale of 1 in. = 2000 ft, the section is about 90 ft long (i.e., the section is approximately 409 mi long). The data base for the transect includes published geologic maps, commercial photogeologic mapping, well data, and modern seismic data through critical parts of the basin areas. The data base provides an excellent found for analyzing structural relationships on both a regional and a local scale. Regional horizontal shortening of the foreland has occurred primarily through basement-involved displacements on basin-boundary megathrusts, which separate the mountain ranges from sedimentary basins, and on the smaller, intrabasin thrusts, which produced the anticlinal traps for Paleozoic oil accumulations.
- Research Organization:
- Rocky Mountain Transects, Littleton, CO
- OSTI ID:
- 5905906
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-870915-
- Journal Information:
- AAPG (Am. Assoc. Pet. Geol.) Bull.; (United States), Vol. 71:8; Conference: American Association of Petroleum Geologists Rocky Mountain Section meeting, Boise, ID, USA, 13 Sep 1987
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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