Structural Geology Associated with Mesaverde Aquifer
The Mesaverde Formation is comprised of the Piceance, Uinta, Wasatch, Kaiparowits, Black Mesa and San Juan Basins. The rock types that work together to comprise the Mesaverde aquifer include sandstone, mudstone, claystone, conglomerate, carbon-encriched shale and coal. These geologic layers were deposited during the Late Cretaceous period, during a time sea levels were changing, causing the rock layers to form parallel and vertically. These layers often are interlinked with surrounding formations and rock types with a similar lithographic composition associated with the aquifer. The Mesaverde aquifer exhibits sandstone layers alternating with layers of shale and coal. The Mesaverde group, and the formations associated with the region, are layered and interlinked with Mancos Shale. The Mancos Shale confining unit, acting as a barricade for vertical and horizontal groudwater movement, is between 1,000 and 6,000 feet, and is made up of mainly mudstone, marine shale and claystone, with smaller amounts of limestone, siltstone and sandstone accounted for. The summit of the Mesaverde aquifer ranges among the aquifers from approximately 10,000 feet below sea level near the center of basins, to roughly 7,500 feet above sea level near the perimeters of basins, depending on the individual topography of each basin. The thickness of the Mesaverde aquifer typically averages between 2,000 and 4,500 feet.
Mesaverde Formation
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The Mesaverde Formation consists mainly of fossilized plants that have been pressed together under enormous amounts of heat and pressure; however, the main area for Natural Gas is the Williams Fork Formation. This formation is composed of shale, sandstone and a thin layer of coal deposits from the Cretaceous age (Graham, J. 2006. P. 17). This specific formation is targeted for both its gas pockets and coal because it can contain fuel coke; sometimes known as petroleum coke.