Well database of salt cycles of the Paradox Basin, Utah (OFR-581)

By: T. W. Massoth and B. T. Tripp

The Paradox Basin is a depositional basin that covers an area of about 12,000 square miles of southeast Utah and southwest Colorado, and which extends a short distance into northwestern New Mexico. Access to the basin is fair with major highways crossing the area and an east-west railroad line crossing the northern end of the basin, with a spur extending southeastern-ward along the axis of the basin to the Intrepid Potash mine near Moab, Utah. Thick salt deposits of Middle Pennsylvanian age are present in the Paradox Basin. The salt deposits consist of cyclical sequences of thick halite units separated by thin units of black shale, dolomite, and anhydrite. Over much of the Paradox Basin the salt deposits occur at depths of 5000 feet.

The purpose of this study was to develop a database of the salt cycles in the Pennsylvanian Paradox Formation of the Hermosa Group from selected wells in the Utah portion of the Paradox Basin.

Other Information:
Published: 2011
Pages: 13 p.
Plates: 2 pl.
Location: Emery County, Grand County, and San Juan County