Chapter 3

The GIS Project for the Geologic 

Assessment of Undiscovered Oil and Gas 

in the Powder River Basin, Wyoming and 

Montana

By Christopher P. Anderson

Chapter 3 of

Total Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and 

Gas Resources in the Powder River Basin Province, 

Wyoming and Montana

By U.S. Geological Survey Powder River Basin Assessment Team

U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–U

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey

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U.S. Department of the Interior

KEN SALAZAR, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Marcia K. McNutt, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2010

Revised: April 2010

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Suggested citation:

Anderson, Christopher P., 2010, The GIS project for the Geologic Assessment of undiscovered oil and gas in the 

Powder River Basin, Wyoming and Montana, in Total Petroleum Systems and Geologic Assessment of Oil and Gas 

Resources in the Powder River Basin Province, Wyoming and Montana: U.S. Geological Survey Series DDS–69–U, 

chap. 3, 1 p. Revised April 2010.
A geographic information system (GIS) focusing on 

the Powder River Basin was developed as a visual-analysis 

tool for the U.S. Geological Survey’s 2006 assessment of 

undiscovered, technically recoverable oil and natural gas 

resources in the Powder River Basin Province. The Central 

Energy Resources Team of the U.S. Geological Survey has 

also developed an Internet Map Service to deliver the GIS 

data to the public. This mapping tool utilizes information 

from a database about the oil and natural gas endowment of 

the United States—including physical locations of geologic 

and geographic data—and converts the data into visual layers. 

Portrayal and analysis of geologic features on an interactive 

map provide an excellent tool for understanding domestic oil 

and gas resources for strategic planning, formulating economic 

and energy policies, evaluating lands under the purview of the 

Federal Government, and developing sound environmental 

policies. Assessment results can be viewed and analyzed or 

downloaded from the Internet Web site. 

Hydrocarbon assessment-unit boundaries include the 

assessment results as attributes. Specialized maps, which we 

in the Central Energy Resources Team refer to as “cell maps,” 

illustrate the degree of exploration and the type and distribution of production for each assessment unit. Other data that are 

also available in the interactive map include the following:

•	 Cities

•	 Roads

•	 Geologic provinces

•	 Total petroleum system

•	 States

•	 Counties

•	 Streams and water bodies

•	 Federal surface ownership

Click on the map below to access the Powder River Basin 

Province Internet Map Service.

The spatial data that formed the basis of the GIS for the 

Powder River Basin are provided online at the USGS National 

Oil and Gas Assessment Web site (NOGA Online: http://

energy.cr.usgs.gov/oilgas/noga/) and are also contained on 

this CD–ROM in the Spatial folder. The Doc folder contains 

metadata documentation in HTML format that is also incorporated in each shapefile in XML format. Most of the base

cartographic data layers used in the GIS project were obtained 

from the U.S. Department of the Interior National Atlas Web 

site, www.nationalatlas.gov.

The GIS Project for the Geologic Assessment of 

Undiscovered Oil and Gas in the Powder River Basin, 

Wyoming and Montana

By Christopher P. Anderson
Publishing support provided by: 

Denver Publishing Service Center

For more information concerning this publication, contact:

Team Chief Scientist, USGS Central Energy Resources

Box 25046, Mail Stop 939

Denver, CO 80225

(303) 236-1647

Or visit the Central Energy Resources Team site at:

http://energy.cr.usgs.gov/

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