BASIN STRUCTURE FROM TWO-DIMENSIONAL SEISMIC REFLECTION DATA, CRAZY MOUNTAINS BASIN, MONTANA

Abstract

Some 140 miles of multichannel seismic reflection data, acquired commercially in the 1970's, were reprocessed by the U.S. Geological Survey in late 2000 and early 2001 to interpret the subsurface geology of the Crazy Mountains Basin, an asymmetric Laramide foreland basin located in south-central Montana. The seismic data indicate that the northwestern basin margin is controlled by a thrust fault that places basement rocks over a thick (22,000 feet) sequence of Paleozoic and Mesozoic sedimentary rocks to the south. From the deep basin trough, Paleozoic through Tertiary rocks slope gently upward to the south and southeast. The northern boundary of the basin, which is not imaged well by the seismic data, appears to be folded over a basement ridge rather than being truncated against a fault plane. Seismic data along the basin margin to the south indicate that several fault controlled basement highs may have been created by thin-skinned tectonics where a series of shallow thrust faults cut Precambrian, Paleozoic, and early Mesozoic rocks, whereas, in contrast, Cretaceous and Tertiary strata are folded. The data are further interpreted to indicate that this fault-bounded asymmetric basin contains several structures that possibly could trap hydrocarbons, provided source rocks, reservoirs, and seals are present. In addition, faults in the deep basin trough may have created enough fracturing to enhance porosity, thus developing ''sweet spots'' for hydrocarbons in basin-centered continuous gas accumulations.