Abstract
Regional correlation of the Tensleep and Minnelusa Formations between the Powder River and Bighorn basins has been complicated by disagreement over age designations, variability in the geologic nomenclature, and lack of information concerning the paleogeographic and paleotectonic setting during Pennsylvanian time. An understanding of these factors discloses differences in intrabasinal tectonic histories, the effects of regional paleostructural features upon distribution and correlation of units, and potential similarities in stratigraphic trapping mechanisms. The Tensleep Formation includes strata of Desmoinesian, Missourian, and Virgilian age and is equivalent to the middle member (Leo sandstones) of the Minnelusa Formation. Both formations are characterized by open-marine carbonate and siliciclastic facies, transitional restricted-marine carbonate and evaporite facies, and terrestrial sabkha and dune facies. Similarity of paleogeographic setting and facies led to deposition of analogous sedimentary sequences exhibiting like vertical and lateral relationships in the two formations. This suggests that the stratigraphic trapping mechanisms well documented in the more densely drilled Minnelusa Formation may also function in the Tensleep Formation, which to date has been primarily a structural play.
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