Description and correlation of Eocene rocks in stratigraphic reference sections for the Green River and Washakie basins, Southwest Wyoming

Abstract

Stratigraphic reference sections of the Wasatch, Green River, and Bridger (Washakie) Formations were measured on outcrops in the Green River and Washakie basins adjacent to the Rock Springs uplift in southwest Wyoming. The Washakie basin reference section is 7,939 feet thick and consists of 708 beds that were measured, described, and sampled to evaluate the origin, composition, and paleontology of the rocks. The reference section in the Green River basin is 6,587 feet thick and consists of 624 beds that were measured and described but were not sampled. Columnar sections that have been prepared combine information on the stratigraphic nomenclature, age, depositional environments, lithologies, and fossils of each bed in the reference sections. Eocene strata in the Green River and Washakie basins have been correlated biostratigraphically, chronostratigraphically, and lithostratigraphically. The time boundaries of the lower, middle, and upper Eocene rocks in the reference sections are located partly from biostratigraphic investigations and partly from chronostratigraphic investigations. The time boundaries agree with North American land mammal ages. Major stratigraphic units and key marker beds correlated between the reference sections appeared similar in thickness and lithology, which suggests that most depositional events were contemporaneous in both basins. Rocks sampled in the Washakie basinmore » reference section were examined petrographically and were analyzed using heavy mineral separations, X-ray techniques, and assays. The mineralogy suggests that source rocks in the lower part of the Eocene were mostly of plutonic origin and that source rocks in the upper part of the Eocene were mostly of volcanic origin. Economically significant beds of oil shale and zeolite were identified by the analyses. 51 refs., 31 figs., 5 tabs.« less