| Description |
Petroleum-impregnated outcrops are widespread throughout eastern Utah and less so in the west and southwest. Within and around the periphery of the Uinta Basin, in the northeast are grouped some the best known "tar sands" in the United States, including the Sunnyside, Asphalt Ridge, and Whiterock deposits. These and others in the Uinta Basin have been studied in substantial detail and have long been considered among the significant reserves of petroleum-impregnated rock in the United States. Less known, but probably of equal or greater importance, are widely-distributed deposits in southeastern Utah mainly along the flanks of breached anticlines such as the San Rafael Swell and the Circle Cliffs Uplift. The well-known Rozel asphalt deposits near Great Salt Lake have only a little associated impregnated rock, incidental to the asphalt itself. Several reported impregnated outcrops are neighter shown on figure 36 nor described later because too little is known about their characters and locations. Among these are an asphaltic limestone reported by Abraham (1, p. 164) and Barb and Ball (4, p. 13) as underlying a very large area, east from Thistle to Antelope Creek and from Colton to the Strawberry River, and an asphaltic limestone near the town of Clear Creek ( 1, p. 162). Oil-impregnated Paleozoic formations are reported in several mountain ranges of western Millard and Juab Counties in western Utah, but with too little information to help locate these possible deposits on the map. Reserve figures are published only for the Whiterocks, Asphalt Ridge, Sunnyside, and P. R. Springs deposits. These total 1, 900 million to 4, 600 million barrels of bitumen in place. (Another, estimate by Covington is substantially lower.) In Uintah and Duchesne Counties locations within the area of the Uintah Special Base and Meridian survey are designated "USM" in this report. Locations in these and adjacent counties but not in the Uinta survey are shown as "SLM" (Salt Lake Base and Meridian). The Salt Lake Base and Meridian covers the rest of the State. |
