Gilsonite and other bituminous resources of central Uintah County, Utah

Central Uintah County, located in northeastern Utah, lies in the Uinta Basin and is underlain by relatively undisturbed Tertiary lacustrine and fluviatile sediments. The area (shown in Figure 63) discussed in this chapter contains all of the known gilsonite veins in the western United States and is the site of large bituminous deposits including oil shale, tar sands, gas, and oil. Nearby portions of the same basin contain smaller deposits of other unusual bituminous substances, such as wurtzilite, tabbyite, ingramite, albertite, and ozocerite, the last of which is a native paraffin (Crawford, 1949; Hunt, 1954). Because of the detailed treatment given the oil shale, bituminous sandstones (tar sands), gas and oil deposits of the area by authors elsewhere in this volume, the major emphasis of this paper will be directed toward the gilsonite deposits, with only such reference to the other deposits as are needed to understand the interrelationships which exist among them. Much of the material which comprises this paper is taken from the unpublished (Crawford, 1959) and published (Crawford, 1949; Pruitt, 1961) works of the authors, brought up to date and in places expanded.