Blackhawk formation book cliffs

Sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk formation. The blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone are campanian fluvialdeltaic and shoreline deposits within the sevier forelandbasin fill along the wasatch plateau and book cliffs in utah. A multidecadelong highresolution outcrop study has revealed that the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval in the book cliffs of utah and colorado western usa does not fit the conventional sequence stratigraphic model. Summary of geology and coal resources of the blackhawk. Outcrop thickness of the blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone. The cretaceous books cliffs of utah are best known as the mecca of sequence stratigraphers, but besides excellent exposures that allow tracing of sandstone bodies and sequence boundaries the succession also contains abundant shales and mudstones. Basinscale diagenetic alteration of shoreface sandstones. Read basinscale diagenetic alteration of shoreface sandstones in the upper cretaceous spring canyon and aberdeen members, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, sedimentary geology on deepdyve, the largest online rental service for scholarly research with thousands of academic publications available at your fingertips.

Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture. Reevaluating the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval, book cliffs, utah and colorado, usa. Stratigraphic analysis of the mesaverde group, uinta basin. Towards a sequence stratigraphic solution set for autogenic. The mancos shale, book cliffs, eastern utah, represents the open marine mudstones of the cretaceous western interior seaway and contains a number of detached sandstone bodies open quotesmancos bclose quotes which are located 30150 km down depositional dip from contemporaneous highstand shoreline deposits in the blackhawk formation. Sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk formation and the lower castlegate sandstone upper cretaceous, book cliffs, utah, usa article in sedimentary geology 63 november. Coal clinker site in the late cretaceous blackhawk. Pdf geometry, distribution and fill of erosional scours in. Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous mancos shale upper part. Sedimentology and reservoir properties of tabular and. Eastwest trends in book cliffs are along depositional dip, the coal creek canyon section being most distal. Geometry, distribution and fill of erosional scours in a heterolithic, distal lower shoreface sandstone reservoir analogue.

Sand was the dominant type of landderived sediment deposited in the sunnyside district during the regressive phases. Incised valleyfills from the brent group, northwest. The campanian book cliffs of eastern utah and western colorado represents some of the best exposed and accessible fluvialdeltaicshorelineshelf successions in the world. The blackhawk formation campanian comprises progradational coastal plain to littoral deposits extending eastward into the marine mancos shale young, 1955. Jul 01, 2005 the application of spectral gammaray data in constructing such a framework is demonstrated using data from exposures and the subsurface from the cretaceous nonmarine blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone of the book cliffs area, utah, usa. Thickness 750 to 900 feet in wasatch plateau and 450 feet in book cliffs, central eastern utah.

Pdf geometry, distribution and fill of erosional scours. Pdf the castlegate sandstone of the book cliffs, utah. High resolution correlation of the upper cretaceous. Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture of the grassy member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, u. Book cliffs play the bestdefined frontier coalbedgas play consists of the thick, gassy coals of the blackhawk formation in the book cliffs coalfield. The blackhawk formation sits atop the mancos formation, forming hills and mountains that have a. The star point sandstone is a massive sandstone unit in the wasatch plateau, but in the book cliffs it consists of two sandstone tongues. Sedimentary features of the blackhawk formation cretaceous. Download citation sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk formation and the lower castlegate sandstone upper cretaceous, book cliffs. Upper cretaceous trace fossils, book cliffs of utah.

The margins of the incisedvalley fills mapped by howell and flint 2003 are also shown. A succession of sandstone, shale, and coal beds of kinds common in mesaverde group. Detrital zircon upb geochronology and paleodrainage. Stratigraphic framework of the blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah. Using classic outcrops to revise sequence stratigraphic models. Use of spectral gammaray data to refine subsurface fluvial.

The blackhawk and neslen formations contain most of the mesaverde coal in the uinta basin. Northsouth trends in wasatch plateau are along depositional strike. The book cliffs are one of the worlds best places to study sequence stratigraphy. The lower castlegate sandstone is a massive sandstone unit which forms a continuous cliff along the wasatch plateau and the book cliffs between salina and. General outcrop belt of star point formation and overlying blackhawk formation, eastcentral utah. Exploration began in the early 1970s, and a modest amount of coalbedgas production took place during the 1990s. However, observations from the blackhawk formation show that the offshore transition zone locally consists of erosive. Major upper cretaceous sandstone tongues in the book cliffs are underlain by erosional surfaces like that beneath the blackhawk formation, which extend for many tens of kilometres into the mancos shale. Bioturbation and its effects on permeability in wave. Kenilworth member is the third member in the blackhawk formation young, 1955. Their rhythmically bedded, lenticular, sandstone and shale successions are a prodelta shelf facies, and may be prodelta plume deposits. Sequence, parasequence, and intraparasequence architecture of. Stratigraphy of the star point sandstone and blackhawk formation. Facies and sequence architecture differ above and below the regionally.

Shallowmarine strata within the campanian kenilworth member of the blackhawk formation that crop out in the book cliffs of eastcentral utah were examined from their updip to downdip depositional limits. The blackhawk formation at sunnyside, utah, was deposited along the western margin of the western interior cretaceous sea during southeastward withdrawal of the sea. The blackhawk formation in the southern wasatch plateau is 200 300 m thick hintze 1988 and comprises interbedded coal, mudstone, shale, siltstone, and sandstone. Leached zones whitecaps and dolomite cement bodies are volumetrically and areally significant features in shoreface sandstones of the upper cretaceous spring canyon and aberdeen members, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah. The blackhawk formation is a layer of sandstone and coal that occupies the top of the mesa verde group. Names are of value in the region of interest, however, because of the prominence of the named units. In the 1980s, exxon scientists used the cretaceous strata of the book cliffs to develop the science of sequence stratigraphy. Descriptions of the mancos shale and mesaverde group along cross section aa mancos shale. Stratigraphy and sedimentation of the book cliffs, utah. In the southern wasatch plateau, the star point sandstone is mapped to comprise several sandstone tongues, which become progressively older and pinch out into the coastalplain deposits of the. Cross section illustrating the sequence stratigraphy of the blackhawk. Sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk. The railway line heading used by coal trains and the california zephyr amtrak train.

Bioturbation and its effects on permeability in wavedominated shoreface rocks of the spring canyon member, blackhawk formation, utah, usa les b. Facies models for wavedominated shorelines include an offshore transition zone between shelfal mudstones and nearshore shoreface sandstones. In the uinta basin the mesaverde group consists of three formations which, in ascending order, are. Sequence stratigraphy, paleogeography, and tectonic controls, authorandrew d. Reevaluating the sedimentology and sequence stratigraphy. Over 300 km of near horizontal, cliffforming outcrop exists between helper, utah and grand junction, colorado fig.

The cliff front is a faceted surface that resulted from erosion of the roan. Book cliffs location map, utah and colorado, western usa. The blackhawk formation is underlain by the star point sandstone and overlain by the castlegate sandstone figure a42. Basinscale diagenetic alteration of shoreface sandstones in. The blackhawk formation is continuously exposed in the book cliffs, in a west east direc tion of ca 250 km from eastcentral utah to westcentral colorado fig. Leached zones whitecaps up to 5 m thick and 15 km in lateral extent are present beneath coals capping parasequences. Abstract leached zones whitecaps and dolomite cement bodies are volumetrically and areally significant features in shoreface sandstones of the upper cretaceous spring canyon and aberdeen members, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah. The application of spectral gammaray data in constructing such a framework is demonstrated using data from exposures and the subsurface from the cretaceous nonmarine blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone of the book cliffs area, utah, usa. Underlies castlegate a coal of blackhawk and overlies lower part of spring canyon coal group, but in places grades laterally into part of that coal group. The book cliffs are a series of desert mountains and cliffs in western colorado and eastern utah, in the western united states. The mesaverde total petroleum system, uintapiceance. The blackhawk formation consists of coal interbedded with sandstone and a combination of shale and siltstone. Thompson canyon, blackhawk formation and castlegate sandstone.

Frontier areas for coalbedgas exploration utah geological. It is a mudprone unit containing singlestory channel belt deposits fig. Cretaceous shales book cliffs of utah kenilworth member of the blackhawk formation. Grassy member, blackhawk formation, book cliffs, utah, usa. In 1990, cockrell oil corporation completed five test wells in the book cliffs coal field north of the town of price. The bookcliff mountain is the feature of the view, note the same bookcliff formation is above grand junction. Stratigraphy of the upper cretaceous mancos shale upper. The desert member of the blackhawk formation and the overlying lower castlegate sandstone are two of several fluviallittoral units in the molasse, all of which intertongue. Aberdeen sandstone member, basal member of blackhawk formation of mesaverde group.

Coal mining is the main industry of the book cliffs region. The bestdefined frontier coalbedgas play consists of the thick, gassy coals of the blackhawk formation in the book cliffs coalfield. The mesaverde group in the book cliffs area, utah is a molasse of upper cretaceous campanian to maastrichtian age that prograded from the sevier orogenic belt in central utah eastward across the western interior basin. Outcrops of the proximal part of the star point blackhawk lower castlegate sediment routing system are patchy and discontinuous to the west of the book cliffs and wasatch plateau outcrop belts, resulting in disputed and apparently contradictory correlations in these strata e. Outcrop sections of 31 localities were measured, recording facies, stratal surfaces, and paleoflow indicators. Use of spectral gammaray data to refine subsurface. Coalbedgas exploration in utah utah geological survey. Sequence and facies architecture of the upper blackhawk formation and the lower castlegate sandstone upper cretaceous, book cliffs, utah, usa article in. Reevaluating the campanian desert member blackhawk formation to lower castlegate sandstone interval. The blackhawk formation crops out on the south and westfacing scarps of the book cliffs. The mesa verde group type section, located in mesa verde national park, is a geologic group consisting of different layers consisting of sandstone, shale, coal, and other less prominent rocks. They are focused on parasequences identified in the updip spring canyon member of the blackhawk formation and the downdip mancos shale. The exercises are based on measured sections from the book cliffs described by van wagoner et al 1999. Highfrequency stratigraphic sequences that comprise the desert member of the blackhawk formation, the lower castlegate sandstone, and the buck tongue in the green river area of utah display changes in sequence architecture from marine deposits to marginal marine deposits to an entirely nonmarine section.

Offshore transitionzone deposits are commonly tabular sandstone beds interbedded with continuous mudstone beds. The mesaverde total petroleum system, uintapiceance province. This camera is looking west above hwy and us 6 at the entrance to rifle. The spring canyon and aberdeen members comprise a number of progradational tongues of coastal plain deposits, shoreface sandstones and siltstones that interfinger in an eastward direction into the mudstonedominated mancos shale kamola and van wagoner, 1995 fig.

They are so named because the cliffs of cretaceous sandstone that cap many of the southfacing buttes appear similar to a shelf of books. Examples from the sunnyside member of the cretaceous blackhawk. Descriptions of the mancos shale and mesaverde group along cross section aa mancos shale the mancos shale is dominated by mudrock that. Sedimentary features of the blackhawk formation cretaceous in. Rifle colorado webcam colorado river bookcliff mountain. Blackhawk formation and star point sandstone and a few seeps and springs flow from local systems in these strata along the length of the book cliffs, but after evaluating the geologic and hydrologic evidence, the division does not consider the saturated strata in the blackhawk. The book cliffs have preserved excellent strata of the foreland basin of the ancient western interior seaway that stretched north from the gulf of mexico to the yukon in the cretaceous time. Sand bodies prograded seaward in response to changing sediment supply from a source west of sunnyside. Blackhawk formation in the northwestern book cliffs, are all placed in the star point sandstone in the northern wasatch plateau clark 1928 fig. The book cliffs of eastern utah and western colorado figs. The lowfrequency sequence architecture of the blackhawk formation and the castlegate sandstone in the book cliffs area can be explained using this general model, implying thrust loading over a time scale of approximately 5 m. The targets are coals in the cretaceous blackhawk formation and the slightly older ferron sandstone member of the mancos shale.

Sequence stratigraphic reinterpretation of open quotes. The next time the trace fossil was mentioned, by howard 1972, it was called ophiomorpha horizontal. Cretaceous and tertiary formations of the book cliffs. The castlegate project in the book cliffs coalfield initially targeted coals in the blackhawk formation at.