The Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

Wyoming consists of a set of basins separated by mountain belts uplifted during the Laramide orogeny. This book focuses on the Bighorn Basin, it's geologic structure, and petroleum resources. The basin is located in the north central part of Wyoming. Faults and folds are covered over by younger sedimentary rock sequences which allowed the basin to become a major petroleum producer in the western US. This book sets out to address the Bighorn Basin petroleum province through discussion of regional and basin specific geologic history, it's structure and stratigraphy. Text format uses geologic terms where appropriate. The book is intended for intermediate level undergraduate study in Wyoming geology, and basic petroleum geology. Chapter 1 summarizes western regional US geologic history. Chapter 2 presents Bighorn Basin stratigraphy, sedimentation, and depositional environments. Chapter 3 summarizes the basin's geological setting. Chapter 4 presents basic topics covering petroleum geology and significant structures associated with the Bighorn basin. Chapter 5 presents the major petroleum provinces.