Depositional history and hydrology of the Green River oil shale, Piceance Creek Basin, Rio Blanco County, Colorado
Shales in the Parachute Creek member of the Green River formation were deposited in an inland lake containing much plant and animal life. The mud accumulating on the lake floor lowered the pH of the interstitial waters and precipitated the sodium minerals dawsonite and nahcolite in the mud. After about five million years, uplift of land areas around the lake caused an influx of clastic sediments that filled up the lake. Continued tectonics folded the basin, fracturing the kerogen-lean shale. Nahcolite in the fractured lean shale was dissolved by subsurface waters leaving a huge aquifer in a portion of the oil shale. The extent and porosity of the leached-zone aquifer is dependent on the percentage of kerogen and nahcolite originally deposited in the shale.
- OSTI ID:
- 7329161
- Journal Information:
- Trans. Soc. Min. Eng. AIME; (United States), Journal Name: Trans. Soc. Min. Eng. AIME; (United States) Vol. 256:4; ISSN TMENA
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
040201* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Site Geology-- (-1989)
040202 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Site Hydrology-- (-1989)
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBONATES
COLORADO
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GEOLOGY
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
HYDROLOGY
KEROGEN
MINERALS
NAHCOLITE
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SHALE DEPOSITS
ORIGIN
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PH VALUE
PICEANCE CREEK BASIN
RESOURCES
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
SODIUM COMPOUNDS
SODIUM MINERALS
USA