COMPARING THE DEPOSITIONAL CHARACTERISTICS OF THE OIL-SHALE-RICH MAHOGANY AND R-6 ZONES OF THE UINTA AND PICEANCE CREEK BASINS
Colorado's oil-shale resource was mapped and quantified by the USGS in the late 1970s, whereas this study is the first attempt at quantifying Utah's overall resource by specific oil-shale horizon. This abstract focuses on the Mahogany zone (MZ) and the stratigraphically lower R-6 zone; subsequent work will define other important horizons.
The R-6 zone in Utah has a maximum thickness of about 320 ft, which is similar to Colorado's R-6 interval that reaches 300 ft thick. R-6 time marks the transition of the Piceance Creek as a terminal basin with evaporite deposition, to a large balanced-filled lake encompassing both the Piceance Creek and Uinta Basins. The maximum richness of Utah's R-6 zone is only about 15 gallons per ton (GPT), whereas Colorado's R-6 is up to 30 GPT, suggesting that the saline conditions in Colorado were more favorable to production and preservation of organic material. Colorado's R-6 resource of ΓΏ 10 GPT extends over 980 square miles, whereas a similar zone in Utah covers only about 390 square miles.
The MZ in Utah has a maximum thickness of about 150 ft, whereas Colorado's MZ reaches 240 ft. Our data suggest a much larger sediment influx into the Piceance Creek Basin side of the lake, resulting in a thicker deposit and possibly signaling the Uinta Basin's transition into the system's terminal lake. The maximum richness of each state's MZ equals about 30 GPT, as would be expected with a connected lake system; however, Colorado's 25-30 GPT MZ interval covers roughly 635 square miles compared to just 35 square miles in Utah.