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Geochemical data for the Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin, Colorado: Major and trace element concentrations and total organic carbon content

Published by U.S. Geological Survey | Department of the Interior | Catalog Last Checked: August 01, 2026 at 04:45 AM | Dataset Last Updated: September 22, 2022 at 12:00 AM
The Eocene Green River Formation in the Piceance Basin of Colorado contains some of the richest oil shale deposits in the world (Johnson and others, 2009; Birdwell and others, 2013). The datasets compiled here were collected with the purpose of refining our understanding of geochemical variability through the depositional history of Eocene Lake Uinta in Piceance Basin. The effects of salinity, water column stratification, and redox conditions were of particular interest. The inclusion of basin center (cores) and basin margin (outcrop) samples through the full stratigraphic interval of the Green River Formation facilitated temporal and spatial assessment of trends within the basin. Geochemical and sedimentologic features of the Green River Formation in Piceance Basin are discussed in terms of the balance of clastic and carbonate inputs, redox conditions, paleoproductivity, and salinity in a recently published thesis (Wu, 2021) and two articles in a Utah Geological Association publication (Boak and others, in press; Wu and others, in press).

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