Revised Slratigrapnic Nomenclature for Hie 

Wasatch and Green River Formations of 

Eocene Age, Wyoming* Utah, and Colorado

0.S. GE'Q¥,QG!QAL, SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1506-B
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Revised Stratigraphic Nomenclature for the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations of 

Eocene Age, Wyoming, Utah, and Colorado

By HENRY W. ROEHLER

GEOLOGY OF THE EOCENE WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER 

(WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS, GREATER GREEN RIVER BASIN, 

WYOMING, UTAH, AND COLORADO

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 1506-B

The intertonguing relationships of the Wasatch and 

Green River Formations are revised and four 

new Stratigraphic units are introduced

UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON: 199 1
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 

MANUEL LUJAN, JR., Secretary

U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY 

Dallas L. Peck, Director

Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for

descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the

U.S. Government

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Roehler, Henry W.

Revised stratigraphic nomenclature for the Wasatch and Green River formations of Eocene age, Wyoming, Utah, and 

Colorado / by Henry W. Roehler.

p. cm. (U.S. Geological Survey professional paper ; 1506-B) 

Includes bibliographical references. 

Supt. of Docs, no.: I 19.16: 1506-B

1. Geology, Stratigraphic Eocene Nomenclature. 2. Geology, Stratigraphic Nomenclature Wasatch Formation. 

3. Geology, Stratigraphic Nomenclature Green River Formation. I. Title. II. Series. 

QE692.2.R62 1991

551.7'84'0978-dc20 90-3088

CIP

For sale by the Books and Open-File Reports Section, U.S. Geological Survey, 

Federal Center, Box 25425, Denver, CO 80225
CONTENTS

Abstract ................................................................................................................

Introduction ...........................................................................................................

Nomenclature of the intertongued Wasatch and Green River Formations along the western 

margins of the Green River basin .....................................................................

History ...........................................................................................................

Proposed revisions ............................................................................................

Nomenclature of the Tipton Shale Member (or Tongue) of the Green River Formation .......

History ...........................................................................................................

Proposed revisions ............................................................................................

Description of new stratigraphic units .........................................................................

Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation .....................................................

Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River Formation .......................................

Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation ...................

Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation .........................

Paleontology and age of the new stratigraphic units ......................................................

References cited ......................................................................................................

Bl

1

2

2

3

7

7

9

13

13

19

26

32

37

38

ILLUSTRATIONS

Page

FIGURE 1. Generalized index map of greater Green River basin showing locations of major structural features, towns and cities,

and townships and ranges .......................................................................................................................... B2

2. Nomenclature correlation diagram of the Wasatch and Green River Formations along western margins of

Green River basin ..................................................................................................................................... 4

3. Cross sections showing correlations of intertongued Wasatch and Green River Formations along western margins of

Green River basin ..................................................................................................................................... 5

4. Nomenclature correlation diagram of part of the Wasatch and Green River Formations in northern Washakie basin ...... 8

5. Photograph of contact of the Rife and Scheggs Beds of the Tipton Shale Member south of Rock Springs uplift .............. 9

6. Photograph of contact of the Rife and Scheggs Beds on west flank of Rock Springs uplift .......................................... 9

7. Nomenclature correlation diagram of part of the Wasatch and Green River Formations on northwest flank of

Rock Springs uplift ................................................................................................................................... 10

8. Photograph of contact of the Rife and Scheggs Beds of the Tipton Shale Member on east slopes of Granary Draw ......... 11

9. Stratigraphic section showing contact of the Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member on east

slopes of Granary Draw ............................................................................................................................. 11

10. West-east stratigraphic correlation diagram of Eocene rocks across greater Green River basin ................................... 12

11. Photograph of outcrops of the Wasatch and Green River Formations 1.5 miles northeast of La Barge, Wyoming ........... 13

12. Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation, greater

Green River basin ..................................................................................................................................... 14

13. Map showing geographic location of the type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation ................. 15

14. Columnar section of the type Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks .................................................................... 16

15. Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River Formation ................ 20

16-18. Photographs showing:

16. Outcrops of delta sandstone in the Farson Sandstone Member on White Mountain ........................................ 21

17. Outcrops of fan delta sandstone in the Farson Sandstone Member 2 miles north of Oregon Buttes .................. 21

18. Outcrops of the Wasatch and Green River Formations on north slopes of Slate Creek ................................... 21

19. Electric log of the Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in the Simpson Gulch Well No. 1 ............................. 22

in
IV CONTENTS

Page

FIGURE 20. Map showing geographic location of the type section of the Farson Sandstone Member .............................................. B22

21. Photograph of outcrops of the type section of the Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks on White Mountain .......... 23

22. Photograph of crawling trace fossils on the surface of bed 22 in the type section of the Farson Sandstone Member ........... 23

23. Columnar section of the type Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks ............................................................... 24

24. Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member ......................................... 27

25. Map showing geographic location of the type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member ............................. 28

26. Columnar section of the type Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent rocks ........................................... 29

27. Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member ............................................... 33

28. Map showing geographic location of the type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member .................................. 34

29. Columnar section of the type Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent rocks ................................................ 35

TABLES

TABLE 1. Peak heights of minerals determined by X-ray diffraction in the Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member ......... Bll

2. Major constituents of oil shale samples from the Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member determined by

rapid rock analysis ........................................................................................................................................ 11
GEOLOGY OF THE EOCENE WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS, 

GREATER GREEN RIVER BASIN, WYOMING, UTAH, AND COLORADO

REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR THE WASATCH 

AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS OF EOCENE AGE, WYOMING,

UTAH, AND COLORADO

By HENRY W. ROEHLER

ABSTRACT

The nomenclature of the Eocene Wasatch and Green River 

Formations is revised in the greater Green River basin to correct major 

problems involving the definition and correlation of stratigraphic units. 

To implement these revisions, the names Alkali Creek Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation, Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River 

Formation, and Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member of 

the Green River Formation are introduced. The nomenclature 

revisions are necessary to establish an acceptable stratigraphic 

framework that permits the accurate interpretation of the sedimentary 

and tectonic evolution of the basin and the origin and distribution of 

mineral resources.

INTRODUCTION

The greater Green River basin is an intermontane 

desert basin that occupies about 20,000 mi2 of southwest 

Wyoming, northeast Utah, and northwest Colorado. It is 

bounded on the west by the Wyoming thrust belt, on the 

north by the Wind River Mountains and Sweetwater 

arch, on the east by the Rawlins uplift and Sierra Madre, 

and on the south by the Uinta Mountains. The basin is 

divided by the Rock Springs uplift into the Green River 

basin to the west and the Great Divide, Washakie, and 

Sand Wash basins to the east. Major structural features, 

towns and cities, and townships and ranges are indicated 

on a generalized index map, figure 1. A detailed 

description of the geologic and geographic setting of the 

greater Green River basin is given in chapter A of this 

volume.

Manuscript approved for publication September 26, 1989.

The stratigraphic nomenclature of the intertongued 

Wasatch and Green River Formations has undergone 

numerous revisions in the greater Green River basin 

since the formations were named by Hayden (1869). New 

tongue and member names have been added or abandoned and the boundaries of others redefined. Some of 

the most important nomenclature revisions are recorded 

in publications by Schultz (1920), Bradley (1926), Donavan (1950), Pipiringos (1955), and Bradley (1959). The 

Wasatch and Green River Formations cannot be satisfactorily studied in the greater Green River basin 

unless an acceptable stratigraphic framework is established that allows for the clear definition and basinwide 

correlation of lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic 

units. For that reason, I am revising the nomenclature to 

resolve two outstanding problems: the definition and 

correlation of (1) tongues and members of the Wasatch 

and Green River Formations along the western margins 

of the Green River basin, and (2) the Tipton Shale 

Member everywhere in the greater Green River basin. 

To implement these revisions, I am introducing the new 

names Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation, 

Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River 

Formation, and Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton 

Shale Member of the Green River Formation. The 

continued use of the names New Fork Tongue, Desertion 

Point Tongue, and upper tongue of the Wasatch 

Formation, and Fontenelle Tongue, upper Tipton Shale 

Member, middle tongue, and upper tongue of the Green 

River Formation is discouraged.

Bl
B2 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

o Bacjk B«itte

WASHAlEi 

BASIN

BOUNDARY OF GREATER 

GREEN RIVER BASIN

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FIGURE 1. Generalized index map of greater Green River basin showing locations of major structural features, towns and cities, and townships

and ranges.

NOMENCLATURE OF THE

INTERTONGUED WASATCH AND

GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS ALONG

THE WESTERN MARGINS OF THE

GREEN RIVER BASIN

HISTORY

The Wasatch and Green River Formations were 

divided into tongues and members along the western

margins of the Green River basin by Donavan (1950). 

Variegated clay and arkosic sandstone that underlie the 

lowest member of the Green River Formation were 

placed by him in the Knight Member (main body) of the 

Wasatch Formation, which had been previously named 

by Veatch (1907). Donavan applied the name Fontenelle 

Member (or Tongue) of the Green River Formation to a 

246-ft-thick sequence of alternating buff-brown sandstone and green and gray mudstone that conformably
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B3

overlies the Knight Member south of Fontenelle Creek in 

sec. 13, T. 24 N., R. 115 W. (Donavan, 1950, p. 21, 

40-41). A 300-ft-thick sequence of variegated clay, shale, 

sandstone and arkosic conglomerate overlying the Fontenelle Tongue near the Green River-New Fork River 

junction in sec. 35, T. 30 N., R. 110 W. was named the 

New Fork Tongue of the Wasatch Formation (Donavan, 

1950, p. 23-24). Lacustrine limestone, siltstone, shale, 

and oil shale overlying the New Fork Tongue were 

assigned to the Laney Member of the Green River 

Formation that had been named earlier by Schultz 

(1920). The nomenclature applied by Donavan is shown 

on a correlation diagram, figure 2. Donavan (1950) 

mapped the tongues and members of the Wasatch and 

Green River Formations from T. 30 N., R. 110 W. at the 

north, southward to T. 22 N., R. 114 W., a distance of 

about 75 mi.

The nomenclature of the Wasatch and Green River 

Formations applied by Donavan (1950) was modified by 

Oriel (1961). Most of Oriel's work centered in the Fort 

Hill quadrangle located southwest of La Barge, Wyo., 

where he recognized two tongues of the Wasatch Formation and three tongues of the Green River Formation. 

Oriel retained the names main body of the Wasatch 

Formation (divided locally into the La Barge and Chappo 

Members), Fontenelle Tongue, and New Fork Tongue. 

However, he restricted use of the name Fontenelle 

Tongue to the basal 50-60 ft of strata assigned to the 

tongue by Donavan (Oriel, 1961, p. B151). The stratigraphic units overlying Oriel's redefined Fontenelle 

Tongue were called the New Fork Tongue and upper 

tongue of the Wasatch Formation and the middle and 

upper tongues of the Green River Formation (fig. 2). 

Oriel (1961, p. B151) described the New Fork Tongue as 

a 250-ft-thick sequence of green and gray mudstone with 

numerous lenses of yellow, buff, and brown sandstone. 

In his middle tongue of the Green River Formation he 

combined two "readily distinguishable" units: "a lower 

white unit composed mainly of white-weathering lowgrade oil shale and white to gray limestone, and an upper 

buff to brown, locally pink, gray or white limestone, 

marlstone, mudstone, siltstone, and sandstone unit" 

(Oriel, 1961, p. B151). The name upper tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation was given to a 200-ft-thick wedge of 

fluvial gray mudstone and yellow to brown sandstone 

overlying the middle tongue of the Green River 

Formation. The upper tongue of the Green River 

Formation was described as tan, yellow to brown and 

gray limestone, marlstone, mudstone, siltstone, and 

sandstone containing ostracodes, gastropods, and algae, 

situated between the upper tongue of the Wasatch 

Formation and the overlying Bridger Formation.

Lawrence (1963) used the earlier nomenclature 

established by Oriel (1961). He divided the Wasatch 

Formation into the main body at the base with two 

overlying tongues, the New Fork Tongue and upper 

tongue (fig. 2). The Green River Formation was divided 

into the Fontenelle Tongue at the base and the overlying 

middle and upper tongues. The stratigraphic relationships envisioned by Lawrence along the west margins of 

the basin are shown in figure 3. Lawrence (1963, p. 154) 

believed that the New Fork Tongue was underlain by the 

Fontenelle Tongue and overlain by the middle tongue of 

the Green River Formation. However, in the southern 

part of the area near Carter, Wyo., the New Fork 

Tongue was believed to wedge out, and the middle tongue 

of the Green River Formation there was thought to rest 

upon the Fontenelle Tongue (note the dashed contact in 

fig. 3). Lawrence also believed that the middle tongue of 

the Green River Formation was underlain by the New 

Fork Tongue and overlain by the upper tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation, except in the vicinity of Big Piney, 

Wyo., to the north, where the upper tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation wedges out and the middle and 

upper tongues of the Green River Formation converge 

(fig. 3). Lawrence (1963, p. 154) assumed that part or all 

of the middle tongue of the Green River Formation was 

equivalent to the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green 

River Formation.

The stratigraphy of Eocene rocks in southwest 

Wyoming was reviewed by Sullivan (1980). The stratigraphic units recognized by him along the western 

margins of the Green River basin generally correspond 

to those identified earlier by Lawrence (1963), but he 

modified most of the nomenclature assignments (fig. 2). 

He thought the name Fontenelle Tongue of the Green 

River Formation should be discarded. He reassigned 

rocks formerly called Fontenelle Tongue by Lawrence to 

the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation, 

the middle tongue of the Green River Formation to the 

Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River Formation, the 

upper tongue of the Wasatch Formation to a newly 

named Desertion Point Tongue of the Wasatch Formation, and the upper tongue of the Green River 

Formation to the Laney Member of the Green River 

Formation (Sullivan, 1980, figs. 10, 24).

PROPOSED REVISIONS

The nomenclature employed by Donavan (1950), Oriel 

(1961), and Lawrence (1963) for the intertongued 

Wasatch and Green River Formations along the western 

margins of the Green River basin has long troubled me. 

The fluvial tongues of the Wasatch Formation there did 

not correlate to their stratigraphic counterparts in the 

eastern Green River basin, and lake sequences
GENERALIZED LITHOLOGIES, VICINITY 

OF FONTENELLE CREEK FEET

and interlammated gray shaly siltstone, gray-brown, silty shale, tan to light-brown clay shale, brown oil

shale, and sparse, thin beds of gray tuff and tan to

laminae; weathers tan to light gray / Unconformity 

crossbedded sandstone, and interbedded thin, gray, 

fine- to medium-grained, parallel-bedded sandstone,

gray to gray-green mudstone, gray shaly siltstone, 

and rare thin beds of tan clay shale and tan algal

limestone; intertongues with and grades laterally 

into red beds

Tan to dark-brown oil shale, and interbedded tan to 

brown clay shale, tan to rust tuff, gray, fine-grained 

sandstone, tan siltstone, gray to gray-green mudstone, and sparse thin beds of gray, clay-pebble conglomerate; weathers gray to tan

Brown oil shale and interbedded tan clay shale and 

gray-green mudstone; weathers gray

Gold-brown, very fine to medium grained, troughcfossbedded sandstone, and interbedded gray to 

light-gray-green mudstone, and rare thin beds of 

gray tuff and gray limestone; sandstones weather 

brown and other lithologies weather gray to graygreenGray to tan, very fine to medium grained, micaceous

sandstone in parallel to subparallel beds, rippledgray mudstone and gray shale; weathers gray

Tan to brown oil shale, and thin interbedded lightgray to tan siltstone, in parallel beds and laminae; 

weathers tan-grayRed, gray and green, silty to sandy mudstone, and 

interbedded gold-brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

trough-crossbedded sandstone, and thin gray, very fine grained, parallel-bedded sandstone

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Donavan 

(1950)

Laney Member of 

Green River Formation

Oriel 

(1961)

Upper tongue of 

Green River Formation

Lawrence 

(1963)

Upper tongue of 

Green River Formation

Sullivan 

(1980)

Laney Member of 

Green River Formation

Roehler 

(This report)

Laney Member of 

Green River Formation

td

New Fork Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Upper tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Upper tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Desertion Point Tongue 

of Wasatch Formation

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue 

of Wasatch Formation

Middle tongue of Middle tongue of 

Green River Formation Green River Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

Fontenelle Tongue of 

Green River Formation

New Fork Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

New Fork Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Alkali Creek Tongue 

of Wasatch Formation

New Fork Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Knight Member of 

Wasatch Formation

Fontenelle Tongue of 

Green River Formation

Fontenelle Tongue of 

Green Rive r Formation

Main body of 

Wasatch Formation

Main fa )dy of 

Wasatch Formation

Tipton Shale Member

of Green River

Formation

Main tody of 

Wasatch Formation

Farson Sandstone

Member of 

Green River Formation

Scheggs Bed of Tipton

Shale Member of Green

River Formation

Main body of 

Wasatch Formation

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FIGURE 2. Nomenclature of the Wasatch and Green River Formations along western margins of Green River basin.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS 

SOUTH

B5

SOUTH

Carter, Wyoming

NORTH

Big Piney Wyoming

Upper tongue of Green River Formation

Middle tongue of 

Green River Formation

Fontenelle Tongue of Green River Formation

Carter, Wyoming

NORTH

Big Piney, Wyoming

Laney Member of Green River Formation

Parson Sandstone Member of Green River Formation

FIGURE 3. Cross sections showing correlations of intertongued Wasatch and Green River Formations along western 

margins of Green River basin. A, modified from Lawrence (1963); B, Roehler (this report). The Wasatch Formation 

is shaded. Not to scale.

comprising the Green River Formation migrated 

strangely southward and then back northward in 

ascending succession along outcrops (see Fontenelle and

middle tongues of the Green River Formation, fig. 3). In 

an attempt to understand these peculiar relationships, a 

number of sections were measured along the outcrops
B6 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

down the western margins of the basin (Roehler, 1989). 

The first two sections measured were remeasurements 

of the type locality of the Fontenelle Tongue of the Green 

River Formation at Fontenelle Creek and the New Fork 

Tongue of the Wasatch Formation of Donavan (1950) at 

the Green River-New Fork junction. Problems involving 

the rocks at both localities immediately became apparent. The type Fontenelle Tongue included the unrecognized Tipton Shale Member at its base, a thick lacustrine 

unit composed chiefly of sandstone near its middle (the 

Farson Sandstone Member), and an unrecognized fluvial 

tongue of the Wasatch Formation (the Alkali Creek 

Tongue) near its top. More than 200 ft of lacustrine rocks 

overlying the Fontenelle section, that includes the 

middle tongue of the Green River Formation of Oriel 

(1961), was included in the interval mapped by Donavan 

(1950) as the Fontenelle Tongue. Thus the interval 

mapped by Donavan (1950) as the Fontenelle Tongue 

includes the Tipton Shale, Farson Sandstone, and 

Wilkins Peak Members of the Green River Formation, 

and the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation 

of this report.

Donavan (1950, p. 23-24) believed that from the Green 

River-New Fork junction the New Fork Tongue "interfingers with the Green River Formation in such a way 

that it thins and disappears to the south." My stratigraphic investigations indicate that the New Fork 

Tongue thins southward from the junction primarily by 

erosional truncation below the Laney Member (fig. 3). 

The stratigraphic position of the unconformity at the 

base of the Laney Member is discernible in outcrops in 

the La Barge, Wyo., area by a thick layer of whiteweathering algal limestone that rests upon the 

unconformity and forms a distinct stratigraphic marker 

bed.

Oriel (1961) recognized that rocks assigned by him to 

the New Fork Tongue had previously been included in 

the Fontenelle Tongue by Donavan (1950). He nonetheless moved the stratigraphic position of the New Fork 

Tongue down in section to the interval occupied by the 

Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation and the 

Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River Formation of this report (Oriel, 1961, p. B152). The New Fork 

Tongue of Oriel (1961) was neither the lithostratigraphic 

nor chronostratigraphic equivalents of the New Fork 

Tongue of Donavan (1950). What Oriel (1961) called 

Fontenelle Tongue is equivalent to what is herein defined 

as the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member.

Oriel (1961, p. B152) may have introduced the name 

upper tongue of the Wasatch Formation because the 

unit, although of fluvial origin, lacked the basic red colors 

normally associated with the Wasatch Formation. His 

uncertainty concerning the colors was apparent when he 

wrote, "Rocks considered to be of fluvial origin were

assigned to the Wasatch Formation; those of lacustrine 

origin to the Green River Formation. Lack of assurance 

regarding the origin of the green mudstone-brown 

sandstone facies, however, makes adoption of this 

criterion impractical." Had he correlated the fluvial 

green mudstone-brown sandstone facies comprising his 

upper tongue of the Wasatch Formation both to the 

north and to the south of his study area, he would have 

seen that the non-red colors grade into the normal red 

colors associated with the formation.

Another nomenclature problem that has troubled me 

was why the New Fork Tongue of the Wasatch Formation was older than the upper tongue of the Wasatch 

Formation (fig. 3) and why neither of these units was the 

stratigraphic equivalent of the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue. 

A major retreat of the Green River lakes (Lake Gosiute) 

that is indicated by the fluvial rocks comprising the 

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue over the central and eastern 

parts of the greater Green River basin would seemingly 

also be represented by a stratigraphically equivalent 

fluvial tongue along the western margins of the greater 

Green River basin. I resolved this problem by closely 

examining the geologic mapping of Donavan (1950) and 

the stratigraphic correlations of Oriel (1961) and 

Lawrence (1963). In sections measured by these authors 

near La Barge, Wyo., the strata were miscorrelated. 

The middle tongue of the Green River Formation (the 

Wilkins Peak Member of this report) that is present 

south of La Barge was correlated with the lower part of 

the Laney Member north of La Barge. This miscorrelation resulted from the fact that the erosion surface at the 

base of the Laney Member at La Barge rests upon the 

lower part of the middle tongue of the Green River 

Formation (fig. 3). Donavan, Oriel, and Lawrence did not 

recognize the unconformity. As a result, oil shale beds 

that are present in the basal part of the middle tongue of 

the Green River Formation were correlated northward 

across the unconformity to similar-appearing oil shale 

beds that are present laterally in outcrops at the base of 

the Laney Member. If the units are correlated in this 

way, the New Fork Tongue north of La Barge stratigraphically underlies the middle tongue of the Green 

River Formation, and the upper tongue of the Wasatch 

Formation south of La Barge stratigraphically overlies 

the middle tongue of the Green River Formation (fig. 3). 

In fact, the New Fork Tongue of Donavan and the upper 

tongue of the Wasatch Formation are one and the same 

unit, and both units have been proven by subsurface 

correlations (see later chapters in this volume) to be the 

stratigraphic equivalents of the Cathedral Bluffs 

Tongue. Although Sullivan (1980, p. 13) believed the 

Desertion Point Tongue of the Wasatch Formation was 

"a distinct and well definable stratigraphic unit," it now
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B7

appears that it too is the stratigraphic equivalent of the 

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue (fig. 2). As the Cathedral Bluffs 

Tongue was named by Schultz in 1920, it has precedence 

over the names New Fork Tongue (Donavan, 1950), 

upper tongue (Oriel, 1961), and Desertion Point Tongue 

(Sullivan, 1980).

NOMENCLATURE OF THE TIPTON

SHALE MEMBER (OR TONGUE) OF THE

GREEN RIVER FORMATION

HISTORY

The Tipton Shale Member of the Green River 

Formation was named by Schultz (1920, p. 30-31) for 200 

to 250 ft of fissile shale, conglomerate, oolitic limestone, 

shale, clay, and sandstone of lacustrine origin that crops 

out as steps and terraces south of Tipton Station on the 

Union Pacific Railroad (fig. 4). The locality is in T. 19 N., 

R. 96 W. at the northern edge of the Washakie basin. 

According to Schultz the Tipton Shale Member there is 

underlain by the main body of the Wasatch Formation 

and overlain by the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation. Schultz (1920, pi. 1) mapped the 

Tipton Shale Member around the Rock Springs uplift and 

Washakie basin and southward into northwest Colorado. 

Sears and Bradley (1924) changed the name Tipton Shale 

Member to the Tipton Tongue where the unit is overlain 

by the Cathedral Bluffs.

The Tipton Tongue was informally divided into upper 

and lower parts by Pipiringos (1961) during his investigations into uranium-bearing coal deposits in the Great 

Divide basin (fig. 4). Pipiringos' report included several 

measured sections and a geologic map of the central part 

of the Great Divide basin. In describing outcrops at Red 

Desert Station a few miles east of Tipton Station, he 

wrote, "The tongue is about 280 ft thick. The lower part 

consists of low-grade oil shale containing yellow dolomitic(?) limestone concretions and is about 160 ft thick. 

The upper part consists of loosely cemented sandstone 

and lesser amounts of clay shale, fine-grained calcareous 

sandstone, and algal reefs and is about 120 ft thick" 

(Pipiringos, 1961, p. A29). The contact of the upper and 

lower parts was mapped by him at the top of the lowest 

"algal ball zone" in the section. Pipiringos noted that the 

upper and lower parts of the Tipton Tongue differ 

strikingly in color and lithologic character.

In 1960 I had the opportunity while exploring for oil 

and gas to map Eocene outcrops along the flanks of the 

Rock Springs uplift. This work produced numerous measured sections and several detailed stratigraphic correlations. These correlations revealed that the upper

part of the type Tipton Shale Member of Schultz (1920) in 

the Washakie basin was the lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic equivalent of the lower part of the Wilkins 

Peak Member that had then recently been named by 

Bradley (1959) on the west flank of the Rock Springs 

uplift. To correct this discrepancy, I redefined the Tipton 

Shale Member near Tipton Station and designated a 

principal reference section that excluded rocks 

equivalent to the Wilkins Peak Member (Roehler, 1968). 

From 1968 to 19861 was involved in the appraisal of oil 

shale and coal resources in the greater Green River 

basin. This work indicated that the Tipton Shale Member 

as redefined by me in 1968 consists of two lithologically 

distinct and mappable parts: a light-gray-weathering, 

saltwater oil shale upper part and a drab-brownweathering, freshwater oil shale lower part. The upper 

part is mostly dark brown to black kerogenaceous dolomite characterized by thick and persistent beds of calcareous algal limestone (stromatolites), and very rare 

occurrences of mollusks. The lower part is mostly soft, 

fissile, tan to medium-brown kerogenaceous shale characterized by few algal limestones and abundant mollusks. 

For several reasons herein discussed, the upper saltwater part of the Tipton Shale Member was informally 

named the Rife bed (Roehler, 1974) and placed by me 

(Roehler, 1981) in the basal part of the Wilkins Peak 

Member:

1. Previous definition of units. The Tipton Shale 

Member was described by Bradley (1959, p. 1073) as the 

rocks deposited in a "very large freshwater lake." He 

further stated that deposition in this lake ended when the 

lake contracted and the water became saline. In a later 

report Bradley (1969, p. B7) defined the overlying 

Wilkins Peak Member "as the group of beds lying 

between the stratigraphically lowest and highest occurrence of saline minerals, or their molds." Following these 

definitions of the Tipton Shale and Wilkins Peak 

Members by Bradley, Goodwin (1971, p. 9) reported that 

"in the Diamond Alkali Company DACO number 1 drill 

hole (sec. 12, T. 18 N., R. 112 W.) two thin beds of trona 

were found near the top of the Tipton Shale." The top of 

the Tipton Shale Member (Rife Bed of this report) in this 

drill hole thus contains saline minerals associated with 

the Wilkins Peak Member.

2. Lithologic similarities. The oil shales of the Rife 

Bed intertongue with green mudflat mudstone around 

the former margins of the Rife lake. These mudstones 

are characteristic of the Wilkins Peak Member and are 

normally mapped in the Wilkins Peak Member. Consequently, based on lithostratigraphy, the Rife Bed and 

Wilkins Peak Member intertongue and are partly lateral 

equivalents.
GENERALIZED LITHOLOGIES, WASHAKIE 

BASIN AT TABLE ROCK FIELD FEET

Red, gray and green, variegated, silty, soft mudstone, and 

some thin interbedded tan algal limestone and gray siltstone

Gray-green to green, blocky mudstone, and interbedded gray, 

very fine grained, parallel-bedded sandstone, and some gray 

siltstone, gray ostracodal or oolitic limestone, tan algal 

limestone, brown oil shale, and gray, fine-grained, troughcrossbedded sandstone; weathers gray

Medium- to dark-brown, dolomitic oil shale, and thin interbedded tan algal limestone, light-brown dolomite, and tangray ostracodal limestone; weathers light gray

Tan to medium-brown, papery oil shale, with thin, gray, very 

fine grained sandstone containing Goniobasis sp. at the base; weathers brown |

Medium-gray-green, soft mudstone

Schultz 

(1920)

Pipiringos 

(1961)

Roehler 

(1968)

Roehler 

(This report)

w

oo

 100 Cathedral Bluffs Member 

of Green River Formation

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

 200

Upper part, Tipton Tongue of 

Green River Formation

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue 

of Wasatch Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

o ffi

§

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

 500

Wasatch

Lower part, Tipton Tongue of 

Green River Formation

Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

Formation Niland Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Rife Bed of Tipton Shale

Member of Green River

Formation

O£CO

Scheggs Bed ^f Tipton Shale Member of Green River Formation

Niland Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Niland Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

FIGURE 4. Nomenclature of part of the Wasatch and Green River Formations in northern Washakie basin.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B9

3. Mappability of contacts. The Rife Bed and 

Wilkins Peak Member both weather light gray in outcrops, and their contact is indistinguishable and 

generally unmappable.

4. History of mapping. Geologic quadrangle maps 

in the Rock Springs uplift-Washakie basin area 

(Roehler, 1985) and the geologic map of Wyoming (Love 

and Christiansen, 1985) restrict the Tipton Shale 

Member to the lower freshwater oil shales of the member 

that include rocks now assigned to the Scheggs Bed.

I now believe that the Rife Bed should be recognized 

as a distinct member of the Green River Formation and 

should not be included in either the Wilkins Peak or 

Tipton Shale Members. However, M.E. MacLachlan 

(U.S. Geological Survey, written commun., 1989) 

believes that the Tipton Shale Member "should not be 

revised again" and I am therefore forced to abandon the 

name Tipton, or as an alternative, formally name the 

Rife as the upper bed of the Tipton Shale Member. The 

latter alternative retains the same contacts for Tipton as 

those used at the principal reference section (Roehler, 

1968). The compositional differences of the rocks that 

make up the saltwater (Rife Bed) and freshwater 

(Scheggs Bed) parts of the Tipton Shale Member are 

discussed later in this chapter.

PROPOSED REVISIONS

To distinguish the two parts of the Tipton Shale 

Member as it was redefined by me in 1968, the upper oil 

shale beds of saltwater origin are herein named the Rife 

Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River 

Formation, and the lower oil shale beds of freshwater 

origin are herein named the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton 

Shale Member of the Green River Formation (fig. 4). The 

Rife and Scheggs Beds are in conformable contact across 

the southern and eastern parts of the greater Green 

River basin (figs. 5, 6), but are never in contact across 

the central part of the Green River basin and along the 

northwest flank of the Rock Springs uplift. On the 

northwest flank of the Rock Springs uplift, the Rife Bed 

and Scheggs Bed are separated by a persistent tan 

sandstone (the Farson Sandstone Member) that thins 

southward and wedges out in outcrops along White 

Mountain a few miles northwest of the city of Rock 

Springs. The Rife Bed, Farson Sandstone Member, and 

Scheggs Bed were previously combined as the Tipton 

Shale member (fig. 7) by Schultz (1920) and Bradley 

(1959) along the northwest flank of the Rock Springs 

uplift. The Rife Bed and Scheggs Bed were both called 

the Tipton Shale Member by Culbertson and others 

(1980), who placed the intervening sandstone (the Farson Sandstone Member) in the New Fork Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation. The placement of the intervening

FIGURE 5. Contact of light-gray-weathering Rife Bed (Tgtr) and 

brown-weathering Scheggs Bed (Tgts) of the Tipton Shale Member in 

SEV4 sec. 19, T. 13 N., R. 103 W., south of Rock Springs uplift.

^te ^^kZ-* ^.^ftk ^t

FIGURE 6. Contact of light-gray-weathering Rife Bed (Tgtr) and 

brown-weathering Scheggs Bed (Tgts) of the Tipton Shale Member 

near base of White Mountain, south-center of sec. 30, T. 19 N., 

R. 105 W., on west flank of Rock Springs uplift. View is east toward 

city of Rock Springs, Wyo.

sandstone in the New Fork Tongue is unusual, for the 

sandstone is neither red in color nor fluvial in origin. 

Along the western margins of the Green River basin, the 

Alkali Creek Tongue, as well as the Farson Sandstone 

Member, separates the Rife Bed from the Scheggs Bed 

(fig. 2).

The contact of the Scheggs and Rife Beds is visible in 

outcrops along the east slopes of Granary Draw in NW 

sec. 33, T. 14 N., R. 100 W., in the southwest part of the 

Washakie basin (fig. 1). At that locality, five oil shale 

samples were collected for X-ray diffraction analyses and 

two samples were collected for rapid rock analyses (figs. 

8 and 9, tables 1 and 2). The X-ray analyses (table 1) 

clearly show high concentrations of quartz in the Scheggs
GENERALIZED LITHOLOGIES, WHITE MOUNTAIN 

AT 14-MILE RESERVOIR

FEET

Tan, very fine grained, calcareous sandstone, and interbedded

gray siltstone and light-brown mudstone; weathers brown Unconformity 

limy siltstone and tan to white tuff; weathers tan

Gray to green dolomitic mudstone, and interbedded gray to

Dark-brown oil shale and thin gray tuff; weathers gray

Tan to brown, very fine grained sandstone, and interbedded 

tan to brown siltstone, brown, silty shale, brown oil shale and

gray tuff; weathers tan 

Brown oil shale with thin beds of gray, very fine grained

gray i 

Gray, green, and red mudstone, and interbedded tan, fine- to

medium-grained, micaceous trough-crossbedded sandstone 

and gray, very fine to fine grained parallel-bedded sandstone

^v'ii'.vV'iiivivji'-.'i-'iiv.V;;;':

 /^ S'SK/tiftSiSf;Pj^i-Miigggj:

 ^ 

««, ,

^:.=^^^= --------- |

^:^2^2^

- 100

- 200- 300- 400

- 500 - 600- 700

Schuttz (1920)

Tower Sandstone

Bradley 

(1959)

Laney Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

Culbertson and others 

(1980)

Laney Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

Roehler 

(This report)

Sand Butte Bed of Laney 

Member of Green River Formation

wI Io

Laney Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

LaClede Bed of Laney Member 

of Green River Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation Green River Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

Tipton Shale Member 

of Green River Formation

Wasatch Formation

Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation

Tipton ShaleMember of Green River, Formation

New Fork Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation

Tipton Shale^Member of Green RiverFormation

Wasatch Formation

verFoi

Wasatch Formation

Rife Bed of Tiptpri Shale Member of Green River Formation

Farson Sandstone Member of 

Green River Formation

Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shaje Member of Green Riverl Formation

Main body of 

Wasatch Formation

GO

S3

O

§o^GO

FIGURE 7. Nomenclature of part of the Wasatch- and Green River Formations on northwest flank of Rock Springs uplift.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS Bll

TABLE 1. Peak heights of minerals determined by X-ray diffraction

[OS, off scale. Samples 1-3, Scheggs bed of Tipton Shale Member; samples 4-5, Rife Bed of 

Tipton Shale Member. See figures 8 and 9 for the stratigraphic location of the samples]

Sample No.

5

4

3

2

1

Quartz

53

84

OS

OS

OS

Calcite

20

0

3

47

13

Dolomite

66

67

0

4

44

r'

TABLE 2. Major constituents of oil shale samples from 

the Scheggs and Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member 

of the Green River Formation determined by rapid rock 

analysis (Shapiro and Bannock, 1962)

[See figures 8 and 9 for locations of sample sites. Values are percent of 

whole rockj

Rock 

constituent

Si02

A1203

Fe203

FeO

MgO

CaO

NagO

K20

H20 +

H20-

Ti02

P205

MnO

C02

Other volatiles

Sample No. 2 

(Scheggs Bed)

53.2

16.0

3.5

.88

1.6

.40

.46

2.5

5.8

3.7

.67

.18

.00

<.05

11.2

Sample No. 5 

(Rife Bed)

29.1

7.0

1.3

1.4

7.0

16.0

.25

2.3

3.7

1.4

.30

.07

.07

17.8

12.4

^s^^^^^j^^^iy^'-

FIGURE 8. Contact of light-gray-weathering Rife Bed (Tgtr) and 

brown-weathering Scheggs Bed (Tgts) of the Tipton Shale Member of 

the Green River Formation in NWV4 sec. 33, T. 14 N., R. 100 W., 

along east slopes of Granary Draw, southwest part of Washakie 

basin. Sites where samples were collected for analysis are numbered 

1-5. Lithologies are illustrated in figure 9.

EXPLANATION 

Oil shale

Mudstone 

Siltstonc 

Dolomite 

Limestone 

Algal limestone

FIGURE 9. Stratigraphic section across contact of the Scheggs and 

Rife Beds of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River 

Formation on east slopes of Granary Draw. Sample collection 

sites are numbered 1-5. Scheggs Bed patterns shaded to indicate 

darker color. Photograph of outcrops at the locality, figure 8.

Bed and high concentrations of dolomite in the Rife Bed. 

The rapid rock analyses (table 2) indicate a high percentage of Si02 and low percentages of MgO, CaO, and 

C02 in the Scheggs Bed (typical of shale) and high 

percentages of MgO, CaO, and C02 in the Rife Bed 

(typical of dolomite). Additional information concerning
B12 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS
B13

EXPLANATION

Arkose (pediment) deposits 

Lacustrine sandstone deposits 

Red flood-plain deposits 

Gray and green flood-plain deposits

Mixed freshwater lacustrine and gray 

and green flood-plain deposits

Mud flat and some saltwater lacustrine 

oil shale deposits

Cyclic saltwater lacustrine oil shale, 

evaporite, and mudflat deposits

Saltwater lacustrine (rich) oil shale deposits 

Freshwater lacustrine (lean) oil shale deposits

Paludal (coal-bearing) deposits 

Unconformity

FIGURE 10 (above and facing page). West-east stratigraphic correlation of Eocene rocks across greater Green River basin. Not to 

scale.

the mineral composition of the Scheggs and Rife Beds is 

presented in chapter D of this volume.

DESCRIPTION OF NEW 

STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS

The stratigraphic positions, depositional environments, and intertonguing relationships of the Alkali 

Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation and the Farson 

Sandstone Member and Scheggs and Rife Beds of the 

Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation are 

indicated on a west-east cross section of Eocene rocks in 

the greater Green River basin, figure 10. As indicated in 

figure 10, the Alkali Creek Tongue intertongues with the 

Farson Sandstone Member, which in turn intertongues 

with the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member. The 

three units are all of freshwater origin and are essentially 

lateral equivalents. The Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale 

Member of the Green River Formation is of saltwater 

origin and rests conformably upon the Alkali Creek 

Tongue, Farson Sandstone Member, and Scheggs Bed of 

the Tipton Shale Member.

ALKALI CREEK TONGUE OF THE 

WASATCH FORMATION

The name Alkali Creek Tongue is herein applied to a 

wedge of interbedded brown, green, and gray sandstone,

FIGURE 11. Outcrops of the Wasatch and Green River Formations in 

bluffs east of the Green River, 1.5 mi northeast of La Barge, Wyo. 

View is to the north. 1, red beds in the main body of the Wasatch 

Formation; 2, gray siltstone ledges in the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton 

Shale Member; 3, gray and brown sandstone and siltstone in the 

Farson Sandstone Member; 4, light-gray-green mudstone and siltstone and brown sandstone in the Alkali Creek Tongue; 5, white algal 

limestone that rests on the unconformity at the base of the Laney 

Member; and 6, tan, brown, and gray oil shale, siltstone and 

sandstone in lower part of the Laney Member.

siltstone, mudstone, and shale, and locally conglomerate 

lenses situated between the overlying Wilkins Peak 

Member or Cathedral Bluffs Tongue and the underlying 

Farson Sandstone Member in outcrops along the 

northwestern part of the Green River basin (fig. 3). The 

tongue is well exposed in west-facing escarpments along 

the west margins of the Green River basin from about 25 

mi south of Kemmerer, Wyo., where it loses its identity 

by intertonguing with red beds comprising the main body 

of the Wasatch Formation, to the area northeast of Big 

Piney, Wyo., where it is mostly covered by Quaternary 

alluvium. Near La Barge, Wyo., it crops out as brightgray-green mudstone and thin brown sandstone situated 

between drab-brown-weathering overlying and underlying members of the Green River Formation (fig. 11). 

The tongue normally is 100-250 ft thick along outcrops, 

but thins by intertonguing and lateral replacement 

northwestward (toward the basin margins) with the main 

body of the Wasatch Formation and southeastward 

(basinward) with the Farson Sandstone Member of the 

Green River Formation (fig. 10).

The Alkali Creek Tongue was deposited as a band of 

northwest-trending sediments, about 25 mi wide, that 

extended from the front of the Wyoming thrust belt, 

near Kemmerer, Wyo., to the front of the Wind River 

Mountains, near Pinedale, Wyo. The Eocene geographic
B14 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

OUNDARY OF GREATER 

GREEN RIVER BASIN

25 50 MILES

FIGURE 12.-Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation (shaded), northwestern part of

greater Green River basin.

distribution of the Alkali Creek Tongue is shown in 

figure 12.

The Alkali Creek Tongue was mostly deposited on 

flood plains and consists of brown and gray fluvialchannel and flood-plain-splay sandstone, and interbedded gray and green flood-basin mudstone. A few thin 

beds of fossiliferous gray to green lacustrine sandstone, 

siltstone, and shale are present locally.

The type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue is located 

on the east slopes of Alkali Creek, a tributary of the
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B15

110°25'

Ml

R 115 W R114W 

1MILE

FIGURE 13. Geographic location of the type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch Formation in sees. 14 and 23, 

T. 21 N., R. 115 W. Base from U.S. Geological Survey, Willow Springs (Wyo.) quadrangle; scale 1:24,000; contour interval 

20 feet.

Hams Fork River, in T. 21 N., R. 115 W. (fig. 13). It is 

accessible by an unimproved road that branches northward from U.S. Highway SON, in the west-center of sec. 

30, T. 21 N., R 114 W., 10 mi southeast of Kemmerer, 

Wyo. The type section is included on a columnar section

(fig. 14) composed of rocks that crop out along Alkali 

Creek and along the north side of U.S. Highway SON 

(fig. 13). Depositional environments and thicknesses of 

the rock units illustrated on the columnar section are 

identified in the following lithologic descriptions.
B16 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

FORMATION 

(THICKNESS IN FEET) DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation (part)

Wilkins Peak Member of

Green River Formation

195.4

Alkali Creek Tongue (type)

of Wasatch Formation

108.5

Farson Sandstone Member of

Green River Formation

26.7

Scheggs Bed of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

38.6

Main body of 

Wasatch Formation (part)

Red flood-plain deposits

Gray and green flood-plain and 

some saltwater lacustrine deposits

Saltwater lacustrine, mudflat and 

channel deposits

Saltwater and freshwater lacustrine 

deposits

Brown, green, and gray flood-plain 

and freshwater lacustrine deposits

Freshwater lacustrine delta and 

mudflat deposits

Freshwater lacustrine deposits

Gray and green flood-plain deposits 

Red flood-plain deposits

EXPLANATION

Red mudstone

Gray and green mudstone

Brown or gray channel sandstone

Tan or gray beach, splay, or delta sandstone

Tan or gray siltstone

Tan or gray conglomerate

Brown to black oil shale

Tan clay shale

White tuff

° Ostracodes

^ Gastropods

O Pelecypods

<cx Fish

U Burrows

~=-~- Algal limestone

 100 FEET

 50
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS BIT

82.

81.

Type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks in the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations

[Measured by Jacob's staff on the east slopes of Alkali Creek in south-center of sec. 14 and 

north-center of sec. 23, T. 21 N., R. 115W. Strata overlying the type section were measured 

across east-center of sec. 25, T. 21 N., R. 115 W., and west-center of sec. 30, T. 21 N., R. 

114 W.]

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of Wasatch Formation (part): 

83. Mudstone, red, gray, gray-green, variegated, 

silty, soft, and some very thin interbedded 

sandstone, gray, very fine to fine-grained; floodplain and flood-plain-splay deposits ................

Mudstone, gray-green, silty, firm; flood-plain 

deposits.....................................................

Sandstone, medium-gray, medium-grained, fairly 

well sorted, subangular, calcareous; abundant 

black grains; in subparallel beds; abundant 

burrows; flood-plain-splay deposit..................

Mudstone, gray, gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; 

and some thin interbedded siltstone, gray, 

calcareous, massive; parallel bedded; flood-plain 

and flood-plain-splay deposits........................

Mudstone, green, blocky, firm; weathers to a 

brown band in outcrops; flood-plain deposit.....

Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, massive; floodplain-splay deposit ......................................

Mudstone, gray, green, blocky, firm; flood-plain 

deposit......................................................

Sandstone, gray, fine- to medium-grained, poorly 

sorted, subangular; abundant dark grains; in 

trough crossbeds; fluvial-channel deposit.........

Mudstone, green, gray-green, blocky, firm, and 

some very thin interbedded lenticular 

sandstones, gray, fine-grained; flood-plain and 

flood-plain-splay deposits..............................

Sandstone, gray, very fine to fine-grained, 

calcareous; abundant dark grains; in trough 

crossbeds; fluvial-channel deposit...................

Mudstone, gray-green, gray, silty, blocky, and 

some very thin interbedded lenticular sandstones, gray, fine-grained; flood-plain and floodplain-splay deposits.....................................

Algal limestone, tan, gray; in parallel, wavy beds 

composed mostly of algal fragments; nearshore 

lacustrine deposit........................................

Mudstone, gray, silty, blocky, firm; flood-plain 

deposit......................................................

Clay shale, light-gray, hard; in subparallel laminae; lacustrine deposit....................................

Mudstone, gray, sandy, firm; lacustrine deposit..

Algal limestone, tan; toadstool-shaped colonies ...

Mudstone, gray, sandy, firm; flood-plain deposit.

Mudstone, gray-green, silty, blocky, and some 

very thin interbedded sandstone, gray, finegrained, in small lenses; flood-plain deposits....

79.

78.

77.

76.

75.

74.

73.

72.

71. 

70.

69. 

68. 

67. 

66.

Feet

37.0

11.0

1.9

12.5

8.7

2.4

15.0

7.4

18.0 

5.0

33.0

2.4 

8.3

2.6 

1.0 

0.4

8.2

10.0

FIGURE 14 (facing page). Columnar section of the type Alkali Creek 

Tongue and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and Green River 

Formations. Locations of outcrops measured, figure 12.

Feet

Type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks in the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations Continued

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of Wasatch Formation 

(part) Continued

65. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, silty, very 

poorly sorted, subangular; in thin parallel beds; 

the top 0.5 ft has abundant pencil-size vertical 

burrows; flood-plain-splay deposits. . ...............

Mudstone, green, blocky; and interbedded clay 

shale, light-gray, in thin parallel laminae; mudflat and shallow lacustrine deposits ................

Sandstone, medium-gray, medium-grained, fairly 

well sorted, subangular; abundant dark grains; 

trough crossbedded; scoured base; fluvialchannel deposit...........................................

Mudstone, gray, sandy, flaky to platy, brittle, 

hard, and some thin interbedded sandstone, 

gray, fine- to medium-grained, in currentrippled laminae; flood-plain and flood-plain-splay 

deposits.....................................................

Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, silty; in thin, 

parallel beds; flood-plain-splay deposits...........

Mudstone, gray, silty, firm; flood-plain deposits..

64.

63.

62.

61.

60.

Total Cathedral Bluffs Tongue measured

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River Formation:

59. Sandstone, gray, fine- to coarse-grained, calcareous; abundant dark grains; in thin, parallel, 

current-rippled beds and laminae with scattered 

clay pebbles on the upper surface; lacustrine 

beach deposit.............................................

58. Mudstone, gray-green, blocky, firm; and interbedded clay shale, tan, platy, hard; some kerogen 

content; mudflat and lacustrine deposits .........

57. Conglomerate, gray, calcareous; composed mostly 

of randomly oriented gray clay pebbles and algal 

fragments in a very coarse grained sandstone 

matrix; pebbles are matrix supported; lacustrine 

beach deposit.............................................

56. Mudstone, gray-green, silty, soft, and some thin 

interbedded sandstone, gray, fine to very coarse 

grained, calcareous, hard; in current-rippled 

beds containing scattered clay pebbles; mudflat 

and lacustrine beach deposits........................

55. Sandstone, gray, fine- to coarse-grained, poorly 

sorted, subangular, calcareous; abundant dark 

grains; scattered small gray clay pebbles, 

becoming more abundant near the base; trough 

crossbedded; fluvial-channel deposit...............

54. Mudstone, gray-green, soft, silty; 0.7 ft white tuff 

near the middle; mudflat deposits ..................

53. Sandstone, gray, fine- to medium-grained, calcareous, hard; in current-rippled beds and laminae; lacustrine beach deposit.........................

52. Mudstone, gray, very sandy, soft; mudflat deposit.

51. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, calcareous; in thin 

parallel beds; lacustrine beach deposit............

50. Mudstone, gray-green, gray, partly clayey; mudflat deposit ................................................

3.2

5.4

15.6

21.0

4.6 

6.2

240.8

14.3

4.6

21.9

9.0 

4.5

0.9 

1.0

0.4 

3.5
B18 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

Type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks in the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations Continued

Thickness 

Feet

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River Formation 

Continued

49. Sandstone, gray, very coarse grained, calcareous,

hard; lacustrine beach deposit....................... 0.3

48. Mudstone, gray-green, silty, blocky; mudflat

deposit...................................................... 4.0

47. Clay shale, tan, dolomitic, platy; low kerogen

content; lacustrine deposit............................ 0.5

46. Mudstone, gray, clayey, blocky, soft; mudflat

deposit...................................................... 2.3

45. Clay shale, tan, flaky, dolomitic, brittle; low kerogen content; lacustrine deposit...................... 1.6

44. Clay shale, tan, flaky, soft; very low kerogen

content; lacustrine deposit............................ 1.9

43. Oil shale, brown, flaky, brittle; weathers light

gray; lacustrine deposit................................ 1.5

42. Mudstone, gray-green, blocky, soft; mudflat

deposit...................................................... 4.7

41. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous; in 

thin parallel beds and laminae; lacustrine beach 

deposit...................................................... 0.7

40. Oil shale, brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle;

weathers light gray; lacustrine deposit........... 1.8

39. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, calcareous;

massive..................................................... 0.8

38. Mudstone, gray-green, gray-brown, silty, blocky,

soft; mudflat deposit.................................... 14.7

37. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, fairly well sorted, 

calcareous; in parallel and current-rippled laminae; lacustrine beach deposit......................... 3.4

36. Mudstone, gray, silty to sandy, blocky, soft, and 

two very thin interbedded sandstones, gray, 

very fine grained; in current-rippled laminae; 

mudflat deposits ......................................... 9.7

Bed 36 marks the base of measurements in sec. 25, 

T. 21 N., R. 115 W. The section continues at northcenter of sec. 23, T. 21 N., R. 115 W. 

35. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, silty; in 

current-rippled laminae at the base with some 

small-scale trough-crossbedded laminae at the 

top; abundant small crawling trace fossils on the 

upper surface; lacustrine deposit................... 3.9

34. Mudstone, gray-green, green, very silty to sandy,

blocky, firm; mudflat deposits ....................... 29.4

33. Sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

poorly sorted, subangular; abundant dark 

grains, abundant biotite; trough crossbedded; 

scoured base; fluvial-channel deposit.............. 4.9

32. Mudstone, light-gray-green, blocky, hard; mudflat

deposit...................................................... 2.3

31. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, fairly well sorted, 

calcareous, and some interbedded mudstone, 

gray-green, sandy; subparallel, wavy bedded; 

abundant crustacean burrows; splay deposit.... 5.0

30. Mudstone, green, flaky to blocky, firm; mudflat

deposit...................................................... 7.7

Type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks in the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations Continued

Thickness 

Feet

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River Formation 

Continued

29.

28.

27.

26.

25.

24.

23.

Sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

poorly sorted, subangular, micaceous; lenticular; scoured base; fluvial-channel deposit.........

Mudstone, gray-green, silty to sandy, blocky, 

firm; mudflat deposit...................................

Sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

poorly sorted, subangular, micaceous, calcareous, firm; abundant colored grains; trough 

crossbedded; scoured base; fluvial-channel 

deposit......................................................

Mudstone, gray-green, silty, firm; mudflat 

deposit......................................................

Sandstone, gray-brown, very fine grained, 

calcareous, firm; in current-rippled laminae.....

Clay shale, light-gray, silty, soft; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

Siltstone, light-gray, limy, hard; in subparallel 

wavy beds and laminae; scattered ostracodes 

and mollusks including Goniobasis sp. and Viviparus sp.; weathers to a distinct white ledge in 

outcrops; lacustrine deposit..........................

Alkali Creek Tongue (type) of Wasatch Formation:

22. Mudstone, gray-green, silty, blocky, soft; top 0.5 

ft very silty; flood-plain deposit.....................

21. Sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

poorly sorted, subangular, micaceous; abundant 

dark grains; in thin parallel beds at the top and 

bottom, and thick parallel beds in the middle; 

splay deposit..............................................

20. Mudstone, gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; floodplain deposit..............................................

19. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, in thin parallel, 

wavy, rippled laminae, at the top and bottom; 

and mudstone, gray-green, silty, blocky, in the 

middle; lacustrine deposits............................

18. Mudstone, light-gray-green, blocky, hard; floodplain deposit..............................................

17. Sandstone, brown, very fine grained, fairly well 

sorted; lenticular; in small-scale trough crossbeds; scoured base; fluvial-channel deposit......

16. Mudstone, light-gray-green, blocky, hard; floodplain deposit ..............................................

15. Sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

poorly sorted, subangular; lenticular; abundant 

biotite and muscovite, abundant dark grains; in 

small-scale trough crossbeds; scoured base; 

fluvial-channel deposit.................................

14. Mudstone, green, blocky, hard; flood-plain 

deposit......................................................

2.5 

6.5

3.0 

1.5

4.4

4.7

Total thickness of Wilkins Peak Member...... 195.4

8.4

8.3 

3.3

4.0 

5.1

4.6 

3.0

6.7 

2.3
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B19

Type section of the Alkali Creek Tongue and adjacent rocks in the 

Wasatch and Green River Formations Continued

Alkali Creek Tongue (type) of Wasatch FormationContinued

13. Siltstone, light-gray, calcareous, hard; in thin, 

parallel, wave-rippled beds and laminae; 

scattered ostracodes and fish bones, and thin 

interbedded shale, green, silty, soft; freshwater 

lacustrine deposits ......................................

12. Mudstone, light-gray-green, silty, blocky, hard; 

flood-plain deposit.......................................

11. Sandstone, brown, fine-grained, fairly well sorted, 

micaceous; abundant dark grains; lenticular; in 

small trough crossbeds; fluvial-channel deposit. 

10. Mudstone, medium-green, light-green-weathering, silty, blocky, firm, and interbedded 

sandstone, brown, fine- to medium-grained, 

micaceous, soft, loose; no visible bedding........

Total Alkali Creek Tongue ........................

Farson Sandstone Member of Green River Formation: 

9. Sandstone, brown, very fine to coarse-grained, 

very poorly sorted, subangular; scattered 

colored grains, abundant biotite, chlorite and 

muscovite, soft and loose; no visible bedding ... 

8. Mudstone, gray-brown, sandy, blocky, soft; lacustrine deposit ..............................................

Total Farson Sandstone Member................

Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation:

7. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous; in 

thin current-rippled laminae; lacustrine beach 

deposit......................................................

6. Oil shale, brown, fissile, soft; lacustrine deposit..

5. Shale, gray-brown, silty, and interbedded siltstone, light-gray, calcareous, blocky; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

4. Sandstone, gray, very fine to fine-grained, silty, 

calcareous, hard; abundant ostracodes and 

scattered Goniobasis sp.; lacustrine beach 

deposit......................................................

3. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, silty, 

limy; abundant randomly oriented Goniobasis 

sp.; lacustrine beach deposit.........................

Total Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member

Main body of Wasatch Formation (part):

2. Mudstone, green, silty, soft; flood-plain deposit ..

1. Mudstone, red, gray, green, variegated, blocky, 

silty, soft, and a few thin interbedded 

sandstones, gray, fine- to medium-grained, 

calcareous, firm; flood-plain deposits ..............

Total main body of Wasatch Formation 

measured.............................................

Thickness 

Feet

4.4 

9.6

10.8

108.5

16.7

10.0

26.7

0.7 

20.0

14.4

0.6

2.9

38.6

18.3

145.0'

163.3

FARSON SANDSTONE MEMBER OF THE GREEN 

RIVER FORMATION

The Farson Sandstone Member comprises gray, tan, 

and brown sandstone and thin interbedded gray shale 

and siltstone, and locally conglomerate of lacustrine 

origin situated stratigraphically between the Rife and 

Scheggs Beds of the Tipton Shale Member along the 

northwest flank of the Rock Springs uplift and between 

the Alkali Creek Tongue and Scheggs Bed of the Tipton 

Shale Member along the western margins of the Green 

River basin. It receives its name from the town of 

Farson, Wyo., where it is nearly 400 ft thick in oil and 

gas drill holes. The Farson Sandstone Member intertongues with and is replaced laterally across the Green 

River basin by the Alkali Creek Tongue of the Wasatch 

Formation and the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale 

Member of the Green River Formation (fig. 10).

The Farson Sandstone Member consists of a tongue of 

coarse elastics that is more than 400 ft thick near the 

Wind River Mountains at the northern margins of the 

Green River basin. It thins progressively southward 

from the Wind River Mountains across the northern and 

central parts of the Green River basin before wedging 

out across the southern part of the Green River basin 

(fig. 15). Parts of the member lapped eastward onto what 

is now the northwest flank of the Rock Springs uplift and 

westward onto the east margins of the Wyoming thrust 

belt. The overall configuration and trend of thickening 

indicate that the sediments composing the Farson 

Sandstone Member were mainly derived from the Wind 

River Mountains following a major tectonic disturbance. 

The nature of this disturbance has not been determined, 

but the huge volume of sediments involved suggests that 

a significant mountain-building event had occurred. The 

sandstones of the Farson Sandstone Member contain 

lenses of conglomerate composed of pebbles of gray and 

white chert and quartzite, gray quartz, gray-green to 

black schist, and tan gneiss in outcrops north of the Rock 

Springs uplift. The composition of these conglomerates 

indicates that the Wind River Mountains had been 

breached to their Precambrian core prior to deposition of 

the Farson Sandstone Member. Increased percentages 

of dark-colored rock fragments and mica grains in the 

sandstones along the western margins of the Green 

River basin suggest that the adjacent Wyoming thrust 

belt probably also contributed sediments to the Farson 

Sandstone Member. The Rock Springs uplift did not have 

topographic expression during this period and was not a 

source area for sediments.

The sediments of the Farson Sandstone Member 

completely filled the northwest part of Lake Gosiute 

during the deposition of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton 

Shale Member, reducing the lake size by nearly 6,500 

mi2. The lake infilling took place by the slow basinward
B20 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

0Creston / Ravvlins

o °Wamsutter

BOUNDARY OF GREATER 

GREEN RIVER BASIN

WYOMING y- /x

COLORAD

r-Jr/^''-"--^

50 MILES

FIGURE 15.-Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Farson Sandstone Member of the Green River Formation (shaded), greater

Green River basin.

accretion of sediments deposited primarily as fan deltas. 

These deltas are characterized by parallel beds of 

sandstone and siltstone in coarsening-upward parallel 

laminae (fig. 16). Some of the beds exhibit low-angle, 

basinward-dipping foresets. Between the beds of 

sandstone and siltstone are occasional thin beds of shale 

or clay shale and a few lenticular beds of distributary 

channel sandstone. The distributary channel sandstones 

are fine- to coarse-grained, poorly sorted, micaceous,

and arkosic. They occur in large-scale, low-angle, trough 

crossbeds containing lenses of pebble conglomerate. 

Near Oregon Buttes in sec. 21, T. 27 N., R. 101 W., the 

Farson Sandstone Member is composed of three cyclic 

fan delta sequences, from 50 to 120 ft thick, consisting of 

trough-crossbedded distributary channel sandstone at 

the top, planar-crossbedded sandstone with southdipping foresets in the middle, and parallel-bedded 

sandstone at the base (fig. 17). These sandstone units
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B21

fcShf^S

FIGURE 16. Parallel-bedded delta sandstones in the Farson 

Sandstone Member on White Mountain in SW1/4SE1/4 sec. 13, T. 15 

N., R. 105 W. The sandstones are part of bed 23 in the type section 

of the member. Jacob's staff is 5 ft long.

FIGURE 17. Outcrops of fan delta sandstone in the Farson Sandstone 

Member 2 mi north of Oregon Buttes, south-central sec. 21, T. 27 N., 

R. 101 W. View is toward the west. 1, variegated mudstone in the 

main body of the Wasatch Formation; 2, thin parallel-bedded 

sandstone containing Viviparus sp.; 3, planar-crossbedded sandstone 

with south-dipping foresets; 4, trough-crossbedded sandstone.

correspond to the proximal, medial, and distal parts of 

prograding fan delta systems. On the north slopes of 

Slate Creek in sec. 24, T. 23 N., R. 115 W., the Farson 

Sandstone Member consists of a single 60-ft-thick 

sandstone that forms a Gilbert-type delta. The topset 

beds of this delta consist of 7 ft of parallel-bedded 

sandstone; the middle foreset sandstones are 42 ft thick 

and exhibit low-angle, basinward dips; the bottomset 

beds consist of 11 ft of parallel-bedded sandstone 

(fig. 18).

FIGURE 18. Outcrops of the Wasatch and Green River Formations on 

north slopes of Slate Creek, south-center sec. 24, T. 23 N., 

R. 115 W. View is northwest. 1, variegated mudstone in the main 

body of the Wasatch Formation; 2, brown and gray oil shale and 

siltstone in the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member; 3, 4, 5, 

bottomset, foreset, and topset beds of a Gilbert-type delta in the 

Farson Sandstone Member; 6, Alkali Creek Tongue. Cliff face is 

about 60 ft high.

The Farson Sandstone Member has distinctive electric 

log characteristics in oil and gas drill holes in the 

northern part of the Green River basin. The resistivity 

curves on these logs are consistently amplified through 

the member, contrasting sharply with the lower 

amplitude of the curves produced by underlying and 

overlying members of the Green River and Wasatch 

Formations. The Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale 

Member underlying the Farson Sandstone member is 

identified by a sharp resistivity "spike." From surface 

correlations this spike is believed to be the resistivity 

response of a thick oolitic limestone. Typical resistivity 

curves are shown on a segment of an electric log from the 

Davis Oil Company and Southland Royalty Company, 

Simpson Gulch Well No. 1, drilled in sec. 31, T. 24 N., R. 

107 W., 8 mi west of Farson, Wyo. (fig. 19).

The type section of the Farson Sandstone Member is 

located on the east slopes of White Mountain in the 

south-center of sec. 13, T. 23 N., R. 105 W., about 14 mi 

southeast of Farson, Wyo. (fig. 20). It lies 3 mi directly 

west of a prominent volcanic feature known as the Boars 

Tusk. The type section is 256 ft thick, well exposed, and 

contains an abundance of trace fossils (figs. 21, 22). It is 

accessible by an unimproved road that branches 

eastward from U.S. Highway 191, 8 mi south of Farson, 

Wyo. From this road junction the unimproved road 

winds eastward for 10 mi, skirting the south edge of an 

area of sand dunes, to the type section located on White 

Mountain. The type section is included on a columnar
B22 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

SPONTANEOUS

POTENTIAL RESISTIVITY

FEET

Laney Member of 

Green River Formation

Wilkins Peak Member of 

Green River Formation

Farson Sandstone Member of 

Green River Formation

Scheggs Bed of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

Main body of 

Wasatch Formation

109°16' 109°15'

41°

57' 

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FIGURE 20. Geographic location of the type section of the Farson

Sandstone Member of the Green River Formation in sec. 13,

T. 23 N., R. 105 W. Base from U.S. Geological Survey White Rocks

(Wyo.) quadrangle; scale 1:24,000; contour interval 20 feet.

FIGURE 19 (facing column). Electric log of the Farson Sandstone 

Member and adjacent parts of the Green River and Wasatch 

Formations in the Davis Oil Company and Southland Royalty 

Company, Simpson Gulch Well No. 1, drilled 8 mi west of Farson, 

Wyo.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B23

FIGURE 21. Outcrops of the type section of the Farson Sandstone 

Member on White Mountain in south-central sec. 13, T. 23 N., R. 

105 W. View is toward the west. 1, Farson Sandstone Member; 2, 

Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member; 3, Wilkins Peak Member; 4, Laney 

Member. Location of section, figure 19.

FIGURE 22. Crawling trace fossils on the surface of bed 22 in the type 

section of the Farson Sandstone Member at White Mountain in sec. 

13, T. 23 N., R. 105 W. Pocket knife for scale, 0.3 ft long.

section composed of rocks measured from the base to the 

top of White Mountain (fig. 23). Depositional environments and thicknesses of the rock units illustrated on the 

columnar section are identified in the following lithologic 

descriptions.

Type section of the Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in 

the Green River and Wasatch Formations

[Measured by Jacob's staff on the east slopes of White Mountain in south-center of sec, 13, 

T. 23 N., R. 105 W.J

Laney Member of Green River Formation (part):

111. Oil shale, brown, flaky, and some thin interbedded 

sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard; lacustrine deposit................................

110. Tuff, gray, hard; lacustrine deposit (airfall ash)...

109. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; lacustrine deposit...

108. Tuff, gray, hard; lacustrine deposit (airfall ash); 

marks color change of white-weathered rocks 

below to tan-brown-weathered rocks above .....

107. Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Total Laney Member measured.....................

Wilkins 

106.

105.

104.

103.

102.

101.

100.

99.

97.

96. 

95. 

94.

92. 

91.

90.

87.

85. 

84. 

83. 

82. 

81. 

80.

Peak Member of Green River Formation: 

Tuff, tan, rust, hard; lacustrine deposit (airfall

ash) ..........................................................

Clay shale, tan, flaky, soft; low kerogen content;

lacustrine deposit........................................

Tuff, rust; airfall ash ......................................

Mudstone, gray-green, firm; mudflat deposit......

Clay shale, brown, flaky, brittle; some kerogen

contents; lacustrine deposit...........................

Tuff, rust; airfall ash ......................................

Clay shale, brown, flaky; very low kerogen

content; lacustrine deposit............................

Mudstone, gray-green, blocky; mudflat deposit... 

Clay shale, brown, flaky; some kerogen; lacustrine

deposit......................................................

Mudstone, gray-green, blocky, soft; mudflat

deposit......................................................

Tuff, white, hard; airfall ash............................

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Clay shale, tan, platy; some kerogen content;

lacustrine deposit........................................

Tuff, tan; airfall ash .......................................

Mudstone, gray-green, blocky; mudflat deposit... 

Tuff, tan; airfall ash .......................................

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Mudstone, gray-green, blocky, firm; mudflat

deposit......................................................

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Mudstone, gray-green, blocky, firm; mudflat

deposit......................................................

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Mudstone, gray-green, soft; mudflat deposit.......

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Mudstone, gray, soft; mudflat deposit...............

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Mudstone, gray-green, soft; mudflat deposit.......

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Thickness 

Feet

31.0 

0.5 

5.4

0.4 

34.0

71.3

0.8

8.1 

0.2 

1.5

9.0 

0.3

9.2

2.0

5.0

10.0 

0.2 

1.5

5.7 

0.3 

2.5 

0.3 

4.6

4.9 

9.0

3.4 

3.8 

2.6 

0.6 

1.7 

2.6 

2.8 

1.6
B24 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

FORMATION 

(THICKNESS IN FEET) DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Laney Member of Green 

River Formation (part)

Wilkins Peak Member of

Green River Formation

216.7

Cathedral Bluffs(?) 

Tongue of Wasatch - 

Formation

Rife Bed of Tipton \ 

Shale Member of Green 

River Formation 

23.5

Saltwater lacustrine deposits

Farson Sandstone Member

(type) of Green River

Formation

256.5

Scheggs Bed of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

54.6

Main body of Wasatch -~ ~ ~ ~. 

Formation (part)

Saltwater lacustrine deposits

Saltwater lacustrine and mudflat 

deposits

Gray and red flood-plain, saltwater 

lacustrine and mudflat deposits

Saltwater lacustrine and mudflat 

deposits

USGS Locality D790: 

Bird bones 

Turtle scutes 

Coryphodon sp. 

Phenacodus wortmani 

Hyracotherium vasacciense 

Heptodon sp. 

Lambdotherium cf. popoagicum

Freshwater lacustrine delta 

deposits

Freshwater lacustrine deposits

Gray and green flood-plain deposits

EXPLANATION 

Red mudstone

Gray or green mudstone 

Tan or gray dolomite 

Tan channel sandstone 

Tan to gray conglomerate 

Tan or gray sandstone 

Tan or gray siltstone 

Brown to black oil shale 

Tan clay shale 

Tan or gray tuff

Mudcracks 

Burrows 

Ostracodes 

Algal limestone

rlOCFEET

- 5C

FIGURE 23. Columnar section of the type Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in the Green River and

Wasatch Formations. Location of section, figure 20.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B25

Type section of the Far son Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in 

the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River FormationContinued

79. Mudstone, gray-green, flaky, soft; mudflat 

deposit......................................................

78. Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

77. Mudstone, gray-green, flaky; mudflat deposit.....

76. Clay shale, tan; grades upward into oil shale, 

brown, flaky; lacustrine deposits ...................

Note: Beds 65-75 have some red coloration and could be 

included in the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation.

75. Siltstone, gray, calcareous, hard; in thin currentrippled beds; some synaeresis cracks..............

74. Mudstone, gray-green, flaky to blocky; mudflat 

deposit......................................................

73. Tuff, white, silty; weathers to small blocks; airfall 

ash...........................................................

72. Siltstone, light-gray, calcareous, hard; in thin 

parallel laminae; some synaeresis cracks .........

71. Tuff, light-gray, very silty; airfall ash ...............

70. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, blocky; mudflat 

deposit......................................................

69. Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

68. Clay shale, brown, flaky, brittle; some kerogen 

content......................................................

67. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, blocky; flood-plain 

deposit?.....................................................

66. Tuff, white, silty; airfall ash ............................

65. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, blocky, firm; one 

layer in the lower part has red mottling; floodplain deposit ..............................................

64. Clay shale, tan, light-brown, flaky; some kerogen 

content......................................................

63. Siltstone, gray-brown, shaly to sandy; in parallel 

laminae; flood-plain deposit...........................

62. Mudstone, very dark green, blocky; weathers to 

dark band in slopes; flood-plain deposit...........

61. Clay shale, tan, flaky, dolomitic, brittle, hard; 

some kerogen content; lacustrine deposit........

60. Tuff, white; airfall ash ....................................

59. Clay shale, tan, dolomitic, platy; some kerogen 

content; lacustrine deposit............................

58. Mudstone, gray-green, soft; mudflat deposit.......

57. Clay shale, tan, platy, dolomitic, hard; some kerogen content; lacustrine deposit......................

56. Mudstone, gray, soft; mudflat deposit ...............

55. Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

54. Mudstone, gray-green, flaky; mudflat deposit.....

53. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky; weathers gray; lacustrine deposit ..............................................

52. Clay shale, light-tan, platy; some kerogen content; 

lacustrine deposit........................................

51. Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

50. Mudstone, gray-green, soft; mudflat deposit.......

49. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, platy; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

48. Mudstone, gray-green, silty; mudflat deposit......

Thickness 

Feet

4.6 

2.8 

1.5

4.3

0.6

13.8

4.2

0.4 

1.4

1.9 

1.6

0.7

7.9 

1.8

8.3 

1.5 

8.5 

4.4

1.2

0.3

2.2

0.9

1.4 

1.0 

1.5 

1.5

0.4

2.3

5.4 

1.6

1.6 

12.5

Type section of the Far son Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in 

the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River Formation 

Continued 

47. Tuff, rust, powdery; airfall ash.........................

Mudstone, gray, soft; mudflat deposit ...............

Clay shale, tan, brown, dolomitic, platy; some 

kerogen content; lacustrine deposit................

Mudstone, gray, silty, soft; mudflat deposit........

Clay shale, tan, dolomitic, platy; some kerogen 

content; lacustrine deposit............................

Mudstone, gray, silty, soft; mudflat deposit........

Clay shale, tan, dolomitic, platy; some kerogen 

content; lacustrine deposit............................

Mudstone, dark-green, soft; mudflat deposit.......

Total Wilkins Peak Member..........................

46. 

45.

44. 

43.

42. 

41.

40.

Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation:

39. Clay shale, tan, brown, dolomitic, platy; some 

kerogen content; lacustrine deposit................

38. Limestone, tan, gray; contains some flat gray clay 

pebbles, some coarse sand grains, some oolitelike grains of sandstone and limestone, and algal 

fragments; lacustrine beach deposit................

37. Mudstone, gray-green, silty; mudflat deposit......

36. Siltstone, light-gray, limy; in thin current-rippled 

beds..........................................................

35. Mudstone, dark-green, silty, soft; mudflat deposit.

34. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, brittle, dolomitic; 

weathers gray; lacustrine deposit ..................

33. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained; and interlaminated gray siltstone, gray shale and brown oil 

shale; lacustrine deposits..............................

32. Sandstone, light-gray, fine-grained, firm, 

massive, well-sorted; mostly quartz grains with 

a few red and black grains; lacustrine beach 

deposit......................................................

31. Algal limestone, gray; in a continuous layer of 

large rounded heads up to 2 ft in diameter; 

hummocky upper surface; lacustrine deposit....

Total Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member.......

Farson Sandstone Member (type) of Green River 

Formation:

30. Sandstone, gray, fine- to medium-grained, poorly 

sorted, subangular, micaceous; in large trough 

crossbeds with some gray siltstone drape; a 

distributary channel deposit in a lacustrine 

delta.........................................................

29. Sandstone, gray, fine- to very coarse grained, 

conglomeratic, poorly sorted; abundant colored 

grains; abundant disarticulated vertebrate 

fossils; a distributary channel deposit in a lacustrine delta .................................................

28. Sandstone, gray, calcareous, current-rippled; and 

interbedded siltstone, gray, very shaly; lacustrine delta deposit.......................................

Thickness 

Feet

0.5 

5.0

2.3

1.7

0.7

2.2

2.3

3.8

216.7

3.4

0.7 

1.8

0.2 

2.6

5.2

2.5

2.3 

23.5

13.1

1.6

4.2
B26 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

Type section of the Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in 

the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Farson Sandstone Member (type) of Green River 

Formation Continued

27. Sandstone, brown, fine-grained, fairly well sorted, 

micaceous; in thin parallel beds; lacustrine delta 

deposit......................................................

26. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, and thin interbedded gray siltstone, and some shale, gray, very 

silty, flaky; lacustrine delta deposit................

25. Sandstone, gray-brown, fine-grained, fairly well 

sorted, micaceous; in partly current-rippled thin 

beds and laminae; lacustrine delta deposit.......

24. Sandstone, gray-brown, fine-grained, in thin 

parallel laminae at the base; grading upward 

into siltstone, gray, shaly, in parallel currentrippled laminae; lacustrine delta deposit.........

23. Sandstone, gray-brown, fine-grained, fairly well 

sorted, soft; abundant muscovite and biotite; in 

thin parallel beds less than 1 ft thick; lacustrine 

delta deposit..............................................

22. Siltstone, gray, very shaly in layers; and some thin 

interbedded sandstone, gray, very fine grained, 

in parallel laminae. Bed near the top contains 

large crawling trace fossils; lacustrine delta 

deposits.....................................................

21. Sandstone, gray, very fine to fine-grained, fairly 

well sorted; abundant dark grains; and thin 

interbedded siltstone, gray, very shaly. The top 

of the interval is a 2.5-ft-thick sandstone 

containing abundant trace fossils; lacustrine 

delta deposit..............................................

20. Sandstone, tan-brown, fine-grained, fairly well 

sorted; abundant dark grains, abundant 

muscovite and biotite; in thin parallel beds and 

laminae; some parallel beds have south-dipping 

foreset laminae; lacustrine delta deposit..........

19. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, silty, very 

shaly; lacustrine delta deposit.......................

18. Sandstone, gray, fine-grained, fairly well sorted; 

abundant dark grains, abundant muscovite and 

biotite; in thin parallel beds that coarsen 

upward; lacustrine delta deposit....................

17. Siltstone, gray, platy, hard; in thin parallel laminae; lacustrine delta deposit..........................

16. Sandstone, gray, very fine to fine-grained, fairly 

well sorted; abundant muscovite and biotite 

grains; tan brown weathering; in thick and thin 

parallel beds; lacustrine delta deposits............

15. Clay shale, gray, sandy, argillaceous; weathers to 

small plates; lacustrine delta deposit..............

14. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, fairly well 

sorted, soft; abundant muscovite and biotite 

grains; tan gray weathering; in thin parallel 

beds and laminae; lacustrine delta deposit.......

Thickness 

Feet

3.4

7.7

25.5

5.8

23.1

32.0

Total Farson Sandstone Member.

8.3 

9.8

7.5 

4.6

28.4

10.0

9.7

256.5

Type section of the Farson Sandstone Member and adjacent rocks in 

the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Thickness 

Feet

Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation:

13. Clay shale, gray, silty, firm to hard; in thin parallel 

laminae; becomes sandy in the upper part, with 

some very thin interbedded sandstone the upper 

5 ft; dolomitic in the lower part; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

Clay shale, tan, very dolomitic, very hard, platy; 

lacustrine deposit........................................

Tuff, tan, powdery, soft; airfall ash deposit........

Analcimized tuff, very dark gray, hard, platy.....

Oil shale, brown, flaky, hard and dolomitic the top 

1 ft; lacustrine deposit.................................

Dolomite, dark-gray-brown, hard, dense; capped 

by gray, flat-clay-pebble conglomerate; lacustrine shoreline deposit.................................

Oil shale, brown, flaky, firm; lacustrine deposit ..

Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, very 

calcareous, hard; lacustrine deposit................

Oil shale, brown, flaky; lacustrine deposit..........

Ostracodal limestone, gray, silty, hard; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; lacustrine deposit...

Ostracodal limestone, gray, silty, hard; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

12.

11. 

10. 

9.

30.3

1.3 

0.5 

0.1

0.3 

7.9

0.2 

5.1

0.1 

1.7

0.4

Total Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member . 54.6

Main body of Wasatch Formation (part):

1. Mudstone, gray-green, silty, soft; flood-plain 

deposit................................................. 25.0

SCHEGGS BED OF THE TIPTON SHALE 

MEMBER OF THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION

The Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member is named 

for 59 ft of oil shale of freshwater lacustrine origin that 

crops out on the east slopes of Scheggs Draw near the 

southwest edge of the Washakie basin (fig. 24). The 

Scheggs Bed was deposited across most of the ancestral 

greater Green River basin area during the Eocene 

Epoch. It crops out around the margins of the Green 

River, Washakie, and Sand Wash basins, and is present 

in east-west-trending outcrops across the central and 

western parts of the Great Divide basin. The bed intertongues laterally with the Farson Sandstone Member of 

the Green River Formation and Battle Spring 

Formation, and at its base it intertongues with the 

underlying Niland Tongue or main body of the Wasatch 

Formation (fig. 10). Its upper contact with the Rife Bed 

is sharp and everywhere clearly defined by lithologic and
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B27

BOUNDARY OF GREATER 

GREEN RIVER BASIN

::' 0\v^V> VC'

 i \ i 1 I . _ \ y \ ' '". ~-

25 50 MILES

FIGURE 24. -Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation (shaded),

greater Green River basin area.

color changes (discussed previously) that take place 

within the oil shale section that makes up the Tipton 

Shale Member.

The Scheggs Bed was deposited during a freshwater 

stage of Lake Gosiute that occupied about 15,000 mi2 of 

the ancestral greater Green River basin in southwest 

Wyoming and northwest Colorado (fig. 24). The lake 

originated in a shallow east-west-trending trough located

north of the Uinta Mountains. From this trough it 

expanded across the southern part of the Green River 

basin, Rock Springs uplift, and Washakie basin, and 

eventually expanded to its maximum areal extent shown 

in figure 24. The rocks deposited in the central parts of 

the lake are mostly oil shale with a few beds of thin 

interbedded tuff, but nearshore and onshore (beach) 

areas usually contain additional thin beds of limestone,
B28 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

108°57'30 dolomite, conglomerate, sandstone, siltstone, carbonaceous shale, and coal. The overall thickness of the bed in 

various parts of the greater Green River basin ranges 

from less than 10 to nearly 275 ft. Ostracodes are 

abundant in most of the oil shale beds, and in nearshore 

areas they occasionally form thin coquinas. The basal few 

feet of the Scheggs Bed usually contains concentrations 

of the freshwater gastropods Goniobasis tenera and 

Viviparus sp., and the pelecypod Lampsilis sp. These 

fossil concentrations generally occur in limestone, 

sandstone, or oil shale deposits laid down along the 

shorelines as the lake expanded.

The type section of the Scheggs Bed is located in the 

northern one-half of sec. 36, T. 15 N., R. 101 W., and the 

southern one-half of sec. 25 (irregular section), T. 15 N., 

R. 100V2 W. (fig. 25). The type section is accessible by an 

unimproved road that parallels Scheggs Draw. This road 

branches eastward from Wyoming Highway 430, 35 mi 

southeast of Rock Springs, Wyo. The type section and its 

relationship to adjacent rocks measured on the east 

slopes of Scheggs Draw are shown on a columnar section, 

figure 26. The thickness and depositional environments 

of rocks in the type section are indicated in the following 

lithologic descriptions.

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations

[Measured by Jacob's staff on the east slopes of Scheggs Draw in the NVa sec. 36, T. 15 N., 

R. 101 W., and SV2 sec. 25, T. 15 N., R. 100V2 W.]

Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation (part):

101. Algal limestone, tan, silty, dolomitic; brain type; 

saltwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.............

100. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; saltwater lacustrine deposit...............................

99. Dolomite, tan-brown, silty, hard; saltwater lacustrine deposit..............................................

98. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; light 

gray weathering; saltwater lacustrine deposit.. 

97. Dolomite, tan-brown, silty, hard; mud-cracked 

upper surface; weathers yellow; saltwater lacustrine deposit..............................................

Feet

1.0 

5.5 

0.2 

6.2

0.2

FIGURE 25 (facing column). Geographic location of the type section of 

the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River 

Formation in sec. 36, T. 15 N., R. 101 W., and sec. 25, T. 15 N., 

R. 100 W. Base from U.S. Geological Survey Chicken Creek 

West (Wyo.) quadrangle; scale 1:24,000; contour interval 20 feet.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B29

FORMATION 

(THICKNESS IN FEET)

DEPOSITIONAL 

ENVIRONMENT

Rife Bed of Tipton

Shale Member of Green

River Formation (part)

103.0

Scheggs Bed (type) of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

59.1

Niland Tongue of

Wasatch Formation

292.3

Luman Tongue of

Green River Formation

262.2

Main body of

Wasatch Formation (part)

28.0

Saltwater lacustrine deposits 

(weathers gray)

Freshwater lacustrine deposits 

(weathers brown)

,....y-v^

Freshwater lacustrine, paludal, 

and flood-plain deposits

5f>

Freshwater lacustrine, paludal 

and flood-plain deposits

Gray flood-plain deposits

EXPLANATION 

E~~ j Gray mudstone

Freshwater lacustrine deposits

' ' > M Tan-brown or gray dolomite 

|^^^| Gray channel sandstone

L...........J

krcaiffl Gray beach or overbank sandstone 

pir^ed Gray or brown siltstone

Brown to black oil shale 

p" ~-| Gray or brown carbonaceous shale 

p^-~^ Gray or brown slightly carbonaceous shale

Coal

Tan algal limestone

Gastropods 

Pelecypods 

Leaves

 ICO FEET

-5G

FIGURE 26. Columnar section of the type Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent rocks in the Green River 

and Wasatch Formations. Locations of outcrops measured, figure 25.
B30 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations Continued

Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation (part) Continued

96. Oil shale, dark-brown, dolomitic, brittle; light gray 

weathering; saltwater lacustrine deposit.........

95. Oil shale, brown, flaky, firm; drab brown 

weathering; saltwater lacustrine deposit.........

94. Algal limestone, tan, silty, dolomitic; brain type; 

weathers to bench; saltwater lacustrine 

shoreline deposit.........................................

93. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; saltwater lacustrine deposit...............................

92. Algal limestone, tan, silty, dolomitic; brain type; 

saltwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.............

91. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; saltwater lacustrine deposit...............................

90. Algal limestone, tan, silty, dolomitic; brain type; 

saltwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.............

89. Oil shale, brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; light 

gray weathering; saltwater lacustrine deposit..

88. Algal limestone, tan, silty, dolomitic; brain type; 

saltwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.........

Total Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member

measured...............................................

Scheggs Bed (type) of Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation:

87. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, soft; brown 

weathering; freshwater lacustrine deposit.......

86. Dolomite, tan, silty; weathers to small yellow 

plates; freshwater lacustrine deposit..............

85. Oil shale, dark-brown, papery, soft; drab brown 

weathering; freshwater lacustrine deposit.......

84. Coquinal oil shale, brown, crumbly; abundant 

Goniobasis tenera, Viviparus sp., and Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine deposit..............

Total Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale

Member.............................................

Niland Tongue of Wasatch Formation:

33. Shale, dark-gray, silty, soft; flood-plain deposit...

82. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard, ripple-marked; flood-plain-splay deposit..

81. Shale, gray, very sandy, soft; flood-plain deposit.

80. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard, ripple-marked; flood-plain-splay deposit..

79. Shale, gray, sandy, soft; flood-plain deposit........

78. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, fairly well 

sorted, calcareous, hard, ripple-marked; 

weathers to small ledge; flood-plain-splay 

deposit......................................................

77. Shale, gray, silty, soft; flood-plain deposit..........

76. Siltstone, gray, dolomitic, hard; freshwater lacustrine deposit..............................................

Thickness 

Feet

1.0 

46.9

1.4 

8.4 

1.0 

8.1 

1.1 

20.9 

1.1

103.0

3.3

0.4 

55.0

0.4 

59.1

2.1

2.3 

7.0

1.3 

2.7

0.6 

2.9

0.8

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations Continued

Niland Tongue of Wasatch Formation Continued

75. Oil shale, brown, papery, soft; freshwater lacustrine deposit ..............................................

74. Coquinal sandstone, gray, calcareous, limonitic, 

crumbly; poorly preserved Goniobasis sp., Viviparus sp., and Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit .................................

73. Shale, dark-gray, very carbonaceous, silty, soft, 

and thin interbedded sandstone, gray, very fine 

grained, argillaceous, slightly calcareous; paludal deposit.................................................

72. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, soft; freshwater 

lacustrine deposit........................................

71. Coquinal sandstone, gray, crumbly, hard; 

abundant Goniobasis sp., Viviparus sp., and 

Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline 

deposit......................................................

70. Shale, dark-gray, dark-brown, fissile, silty, 

slightly carbonaceous; paludal deposit.............

69. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, very soft, 

limonitic, nonresistant; fluvial-channel deposit .

68. Shale, gray, sandy, soft; flood-plain deposit........

67. Shale, dark-gray, silty, very carbonaceous, firm; 

thin beds of coal in the lower and upper parts; 

paludal deposits..........................................

66. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

soft; nonresistant, and interbedded shale, gray, 

sandy, soft; flood-plain and fluvial-channel 

deposits.....................................................

65. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard; caps small bench; fluvial-channel deposit.

64. Shale, gray, brown, slightly carbonaceous, 

limonitic, silty, firm; paludal deposit ..............

63. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

62. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained; very argillaceous at the base with shaly streaks, becomes 

very calcareous and hard at the top; caps bench; 

freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit ...........

61. Shale, dark-gray, silty, soft; flood-plain deposit...

60. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, partly 

calcareous and hard, partly argillaceous and 

soft; fluvial-channel deposit...........................

59. Shale, dark-brown, carbonaceous, silty; paludal 

deposit......................................................

58. Coal.............................................................

57. Shale, dark-gray, carbonaceous, silty, firm; paludal deposit.................................................

56. Shale, gray-brown, silty, soft, and interbedded 

sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

soft; flood-plain and flood-plain-splay deposits ..

55. Limestone, gray, brown, silty, hard, dense; 

contains Physa pleromatis and Anisus sp.; 

freshwater pond deposit...............................

54. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

soft; fluvial-channel deposit...........................

Thickness 

Feet

3.7 

0.6

11.6

5.4

0.8 

3.8

17.0 

3.0

3.7

35.0

12.0

9.0

15.0

12. 5 

1.5

18.2

1.1

1.0

1.2

27.8

0.8 

9.0
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B31

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations Continued

Th

Niland Tongue of Wasatch Formation Continued

53. Shale, dark-gray, carbonaceous, silty, firm; paludal deposit.................................................

52. Shale, gray, gray-brown, silty, soft; paludal 

deposit......................................................

51. Shale, dark-gray, silty, very carbonaceous, and 

interbedded siltstone, light-gray, calcareous, 

firm; paludal deposits ..................................

50. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained; silty in the 

upper part, argillaceous in the lower part; the 

upper 3.0 ft is a coquina composed of Goniobasis 

sp., Viviparus sp., and Lampsilis sp.; 

freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit...........

49. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

in part calcareous, ripple-marked; and interbedded mudstone, gray, silty; contains wellpreserved fossil leaves; flood-plain and floodplain-splay deposits.....................................

48. Oil shale, brown, flaky; silty at the top; freshwater 

lacustrine deposit........................................

47. Coquinal sandstone, gray, limy, hard; abundant 

Goniobasis sp., Vivipanis sp., and Lampsilis 

sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.....

46. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

limonitic, very soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

45. Coquinal sandstone, gray, limy, hard; crumbly at 

the top; abundant Goniobasis sp., Viviparus 

sp., and Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine 

shoreline deposit.........................................

44. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, micaceous, 

calcareous; parallel bedded; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.................................

43. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

micaceous, soft, and interbedded shaly siltstone, 

gray, firm; freshwater lacustrine shoreline 

deposit......................................................

42. Shale, dark-gray, partly very carbonaceous, fissile, soft, and interbedded siltstone, gray, 

sandy, argillaceous, firm; paludal deposits.......

41. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, partly calcareous, partly argillaceous, limonitic; resistant 

at the top and bottom; fluvial-channel deposit..

Total Niland Tongue.................................

Luman Tongue of Green River Formation:

40. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, silty; freshwater 

lacustrine deposit........................................

39. Coquinal sandstone, gray, crumbly, firm; abundant Goniobasis tenera, Viviparus paludinaeformis, and ?Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposits................................

38. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, soft; freshwater 

lacustrine deposit........................................

37. Coquinal sandstone, gray, crumbly, firm; 

abundant Goniobasis tenera, Viviparus trochiformis, and Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.................................

1.5 

5.1

3.3

14.5

5.2

2.7

1.1

11.5

10.8

7.6

292.3

1.2

0.9 

76.9

2.0

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations Continued

Luman Tongue of Green River Formation Continued

36. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, very 

calcareous, hard; some Goniobasis sp.; 

freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit...........

35. Shale, dark-gray, dark-brown, carbonaceous, 

limonitic, silty; paludal deposit......................

34. Shale, gray, silty, soft; flood-plain deposit..........

33. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, poorly sorted, 

subangular, calcareous; small-scale crossbedding; flood-plain-splay deposit..................

32. Mudstone, dark-gray, sandy, firm; flood-plain 

deposit......................................................

31. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

30. Coquinal sandstone, gray, limy, crumbly, hard; 

abundant Goniobasis sp., Viviparus sp., and a 

few Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine 

shoreline deposit.........................................

29. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

28. Coquinal sandstone, gray, very fine grained, limy, 

hard; crumbly at the top; abundant Goniobasis 

tenera, some Viviparus sp., and a few Lampsilis sp.; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.

27. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard; trough crossbedded; some Goniobasis sp.; 

freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit...........

26. Mudstone, gray, sandy, soft; and interbedded 

sandstone, gray, very fine grained, argillaceous, 

soft, and a few thin beds of gray shale; floodplain deposits.............................................

25. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

24. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard, ripple-marked; freshwater lacustrine 

shoreline deposit.........................................

23. Shale, gray, fissile, soft; silty at the top; floodplain deposit ..............................................

22. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, soft; a few laminae of 

coquinal siltstone, gray; freshwater lacustrine 

deposits.....................................................

21. Coquinal sandstone, gray, crumbly, hard; 

abundant Goniobasis tenera, Viviparus paludinaeformis, and a few ?Lampsilis sp.; 

freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit...........

20. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

19. Shale, dark-brown, carbonaceous, soft; 0.3-ft-thick 

coal bed near the base; paludal deposits..........

18. Oil shale, dark-brown, silty, soft; abundant mollusk shell fragments; freshwater lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

17. Coquinal sandstone, gray, crumbly, hard; 

abundant Goniobasis tenera and Viviparus 

paludinaeformis; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit................................................

Thickness 

Feet

1.1

5.8 

2.0

1.0 

7.1 

8.1

6.5

2.8

5.5

40.0

3.0

0.8

3.1

10.2

1.2 

0.9 

2.2

0.4
B32 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

Type section of the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the

Green River Formation and adjacent rocks in the Wasatch and

Green River Formations Continued

Thickness 

Feet

Luman Tongue of Green River Formation Continued 

16. Shale, light-gray, silty, fissile, soft; flood-plain

deposit...................................................... 1.3

15. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, calcareous, 

hard, ripple-marked and crossbedded; freshwater lacustrine shoreline deposit.................. 7.3

14. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, sandy, firm; floodplain deposit .............................................. 3.5

13. Shale, dark-gray-brown, silty, carbonaceous,

limonitic, firm; paludal deposit...................... 1.8

12. Siltstone, gray, sandy, calcareous; in thin parallel 

beds; ripple marked; and interbedded mudstone, 

gray, sandy, firm; flood-plain and flood-plainsplay deposits............................................. 20.9

11. Siltstone, gray-brown, very carbonaceous in 

parts, argillaceous, firm; in thin parallel beds; 

paludal deposit........................................... 6.0

10. Coal............................................................. 0.6

9. Siltstone, brown, carbonaceous, calcareous, hard;

paludal deposit........................................... 0.3

8. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, soft; freshwater

lacustrine deposit........................................ 7.9

7. Shale, dark-gray, dark-brown, very carbonaceous,

silty, soft; paludal deposit............................. 0.8

6. Coquinal sandstone, gray, calcareous, crumbly; 

abundant Goniobasis tenera, Viviparus paludinaeformis, and Lampsilis sp.; freshwater 

lacustrine shoreline deposit........................... 2.6

5. Shale, dark-brown, very carbonaceous, very

sandy, soft; paludal deposit........................... 4.9

4. Oil shale, brown, flaky, soft; freshwater lacustrine

deposit...................................................... 15.0

Total Luman Tongue................................ 262.2

Main body of Wasatch Formation (part):

3. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, sandy, soft; floodplain deposit.............................................. 1.0

2. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, silty, hard, 

ripple-marked; weathers to ledge; flood-plainsplay deposit.............................................. 3.0

1. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, sandy, soft, and a 

thick interbedded sandstone, gray, very fine 

grained, calcareous, trough-crossbedded, near 

the middle of the interval; flood-plain and 

fluvial-channel deposits................................ 24.0

Total main body of Wasatch Formation

measured............................................ 28.0

RIFE BED OF THE TIPTON SHALE MEMBER OF 

THE GREEN RIVER FORMATION

The oil shale beds of saltwater lacustrine origin that 

conformably overlie the Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale 

Member and Farson Sandstone Member of the Green 

River Formation and Alkali Creek Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation and underlie and partly intertongue 

with the Wilkins Peak Member of the Green River

Formation (fig. 10) are herein named the Rife Bed of the 

Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation. The 

Rife Bed was deposited across most of the central part of 

the greater Green River basin area (fig. 27). The bed is 

well exposed across the northern part of the Great 

Divide basin, around the northern and western parts of 

the Washakie basin, and along the west flank of the Rock 

Springs uplift. It was not deposited in the northwest part 

of the Green River basin. Outcrops of the member 

normally range in thickness from 25 to 150 ft; they reach 

a maximum recorded thickness of 315 ft a few miles 

southwest of Wamsutter, Wyo.

During the deposition of the Rife Bed, Lake Gosiute 

had an irregular shape but occupied an area of about 

7,000 mi2. The lake extended from the eastern margin to 

near the southwestern margin of the ancestral greater 

Green River basin, a distance of about 140 mi, and 

northward from the north edge of the Uinta Mountains 

across the Rock Springs uplift, a distance of more than 75 

mi (fig. 27). A notable feature of the lake was an 

embayment that was present at the east end of the Uinta 

Mountains.

The Rife Bed comprises light-gray-weathering black 

to brown dolomitic oil shale that contains scattered thin 

lenses and small podlike inclusions of tan- to orangeweathering, gray to gray-brown dolomite, and widely 

spaced, thin layers of tan siltstone and tan-gray- or 

rust-weathering, white tuff. The oil shale beds are 

mostly replaced by gray or green mudstone deposited as 

mudflats at the margins of the lake where the Rife Bed 

intertongues with the Wilkins Peak Member (fig. 10). 

Shorelines of the lake are characterized by layers of tan 

to gray algal limestone that developed as linear reefs 

parallel to the shorelines, and in a few places by thin, 

white, wave-rippled siltstone. The shorelines along the 

northern margins of the Uinta Mountains are largely 

sandstone and conglomerate deposited as deltas and 

alluvial fans.

The type section of the Rife Bed is located south of the 

Rock Springs uplift in SWV& sec. 13 and NWV& sec. 24, 

T. 13 N., R. 103 W. (figs. 27, 28). It is situated on the 

east slopes of Salt Wells Creek, a few miles west of the 

Rife Ranch buildings. The type section is accessible by 

Wyoming Highway 430. Forty-four miles south of Rock 

Springs, Wyo., an unimproved road branches westward 

from the highway at Rifes Rim. From this junction the 

unimproved road trends westward along the crest of 

Rifes Rim for 7 mi to the valley of Salt Wells Creek and 

then 2 mi south along the creek to the area of the type 

section. A columnar section, figure 29, includes the type 

Rife Bed and adjacent rocks in the Green River and 

Wasatch Formations. Depositional environments and 

thicknesses of rock units illustrated on the columnar 

section are identified in the following lithologic 

descriptions.
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B33

r % \ _. i- -> '_ v /_' -- I _ ' 

.;- \/\rs£\ N./X'

y'^*T<<

i/\f\'.--^,vi;-

~x '.-\ *,~^s<' IUNDARY OF GREATER 

GREEN RIVER BASIN

, 7-x^^?77 \Manila K ^-N

/N /i o v^^.v r\> \7\ /^-i>. -

WASH BASIN

25 50 MILES

FIGURE 27.-Map showing the Eocene areal distribution of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation (shaded) in

the greater Green River basin area.

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations

[Measured by Jacob's staff on the east slopes of Salt Wells Creek in SWV4 sec. 13 and 

sec. 24, T. 13 N., R. 103 W.J

Thickness 

Feet

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of Wasatch 

Formation (part): 

66. Mudstone, dark-maroon-red, sandy, blocky, hard;

flood-plain deposits. ..................................... 30.9

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River 

Formation:

65. Siltstone, gray, dolomitic, hard; grades upward 

into sandstone, gray, very fine grained, very 

calcareous, platy, hard; rust brown weathering; 

forms ridge; lacustrine deposits.....................

64. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; 

mudflat deposit................... ........................

Thickness 

Feet

4.6 

2.5
B34 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

108°57'30"

MILE

FIGURE 28. Geographic location of the type section of the Rife Bed of 

the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation in sees. 13 

and 24, T. 13 N., R. 103 W. Base from U.S. Geological Survey Four 

J Rim (Wyo.-Colo.) quadrangle; scale 1:24,000; contour interval 

20 feet.

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River 

Formation Continued

63. Dolomite, light-brown, very silty, platy, hard; 

mudflat deposit...........................................

62. Mudstone, dark-green, blocky, hard; mudflat 

deposit......................................................

Thickness 

Feet

0.3 

3.5

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued.

Thickness 

Feet

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River 

Formation Continued

61. Dolomite, light-brown, very silty, platy, hard;

mudflat deposit........................................... 0.6

60. Mudstone, dark-green, blocky, hard; with a 0.2- 

ft-thick layer of sandstone, red, fine-grained, 6 

ft above the base; mudflat deposit................. 9.9

59. Dolomite, light-brown, very hard, sandy;

weathers to small blocks; mudflat deposit....... 0.4

58. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, dark-gray-brown,

silty, blocky, firm; mudflat deposit................. 15.5

57. Dolomite, light-brown, very hard, dense, sandy; 

yellow brown weathering; mud-cracked upper 

surface; mudflat deposit............................... 0.3

56. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm;

mudflat deposit........................................... 9.4

55. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, fairly 

well sorted, subangular, biotitic, calcareous, 

firm; lacustrine deposit................................ 0.6

54. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; a

few laminae of siltstone, gray; mudflat deposit. 41.9

53. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, fairly 

well sorted, subangular, biotitic, soft, friable; 

some gray, black, and red grains; trough 

crossbedded; fluvial channel deposit............... 8.2

52. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, dark-gray-green, 

silty, blocky, firm, and some very thin interbedded lenses of siltstone and sandstone, gray, 

limy, platy, hard; mudflat and lacustrine 

deposits..................................................... 16.3

51. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, limy, 

platy, hard; rust brown weathering; forms 

ledge; lacustrine shoreline deposit.................. 1.8

50. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, silty, blocky, firm, 

and some thin interbedded siltstone, gray, 

dolomitic, platy, hard; rust brown weathering; 

lacustrine deposit........................................ 12.4

49. Analcimized tuff, gray, hard; airfall ash............. 0.2

48. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, silty, blocky, firm; 

and some very thin interbedded siltstone, gray, 

dolomitic, platy, hard; rust brown weathering; 

lacustrine deposit........................................ 12.7

47. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, very 

calcareous, platy, hard; rust brown weathering; 

forms ledge; lacustrine deposit...................... 3.1

46. Mudstone, dark-gray-green to dark-gray-brown, 

silty, blocky, firm; mudflat and lacustrine 

deposits..................................................... 50.3

45. Sandstone, gray, very fine grained, fairly well 

sorted, very calcareous, platy; in thin, parallel, 

wave-rippled laminae; lacustrine shoreline 

deposit...................................................... 1-8

44. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, some dark-graygreen toward the top, silty, blocky, firm, and 

very thin interbedded siltstone, tan, gray, 

dolomitic, hard; mudflat and lacustrine deposits. 23.5

43. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle;

lacustrine deposit........................................ 0.5
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B35

FORMATION 

(THICKNESS IN FEET) DEPOSITIONAL ENVIRONMENT

Cathedral Bluffs Tongue of 

Wasatch Formation (part) Red flood-plain deposits

Wilkms Peak Member of Rl-I 

Green River Formation 

 398.2

Mudflat, saltwater lacustrine and 

fluvial deposits (weathers gray)

. ^ / v

EXPLANATION

Red mudstone

Gray or green dolomitic mudstone

Tan or gray dolomite

Tan channel sandstone

Tan or gray beach or overbank sandstone

Tan or gray siltstone

Brown to black oil shale

Brown carbonaceous shale

Coal

Tan or gray tuff

Mudflat and saltwater lacustrine 

deposits (weathers gray)

Mudcracks

Burrows

Synaeresis cracks

Ostracodcs

Gastropods

Pelecypods

Rife Bed (type) of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

149.2

Saltwater lacustrine and some mudflat 

deposits (weathers gray)

100 FEET

 50

Scheggs Bed of

Tipton Shale Member of

Green River Formation

74.3

Freshwater lacustrine deposits 

(weathers brown)

Niland Tongue of Wasatch 

Formation (part) Paludal deposits

FIGURE 29. Columnar section of the type Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent rocks in the Green River and Wasatch

Formations. Location of the type section, figure 27.
B36 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Wilkins Peak Member of Green River 

Formation Continued

42. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; 

mudflat deposits.........................................

41. Siltstone, gray, very dolomitic, very hard; in thin 

parallel beds; abundant vertical burrows; lacustrine shoreline deposit.................................

40. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, dark-gray-green, 

silty, blocky, firm; mudflat and lacustrine 

deposits.....................................................

39. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, fairly 

well sorted, very calcareous, very hard, platy; in 

thin, parallel, wave-rippled beds; lacustrine 

shoreline deposit.........................................

38. Mudstone, dark-green, dark-gray-green, darkgray-brown, silty, blocky, firm, and thin interbedded siltstone, gray, dolomitic; in thin waverippled laminae; mudflat and lacustrine 

shoreline deposits .......................................

37. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, dark-gray-green, 

silty, blocky, firm; mudflat deposits ...............

36. Siltstone, gray, dolomitic, platy, hard; in thin 

parallel beds; lacustrine shoreline deposit........

35. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, very silty, blocky, 

firm; mudflat deposit...................................

34. Oil shale, medium- to dark-brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle; lacustrine deposit.....................

33. Oil shale, gray-brown, dolomitic, flaky, hard; 

lacustrine deposit........................................

32. Siltstone, light-gray, dolomitic, platy, in thin 

parallel laminae, and very thin interbedded 

dolomite, gray-brown, silty, hard; lacustrine 

shoreline deposits .......................................

31. Mudstone, dark-gray-brown, dolomitic, platy; mudflat deposit ................................................

30. Oil shale, medium-gray-brown, silty, flaky, very 

dolomitic; lacustrine deposit..........................

29. Oil shale, dark-gray-brown to dark-brown, silty, 

blocky, firm, and some very thin interbedded 

dolomite, tan-gray, silty, hard; lacustrine 

deposits.....................................................

28. Oil shale, dark-gray-brown, very flaky, very 

dolomitic, brittle; lacustrine deposit...............

27. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm; 

mudflat deposit...........................................

Total Wilkins Peak Member.......................

Rife Bed (type) of Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation: 

26. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, brittle; lacustrine

deposit......................................................

25. 'Oil shale, very dark brown, flaky, dolomitic,

brittle; lacustrine deposit .............................

24. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, blocky to platy,

dolomitic; mudflat deposit.............................

23. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle;

lacustrine deposit........................................

Thickness 

Feet

15.2

0.4

13.6

2.2

29.0

24.9

3.1

8.2 

0.8 

7.3

0.6

26.0

1.9

15.7 

1.6

27.4

398.2

12.5 

3.0 

5.3 

6.7

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Rife Bed (type) of Tipton Shale Member of 

Green River Formation Continued

22. Mudstone, dark-gray-green, silty, blocky, firm, 

and three very thin beds of interbedded 

dolomite, tan-gray, silty, very hard, dense; in 

parallel laminae; mudflat deposits ..................

21. Oil shale, very dark brown, flaky, dolomitic, 

brittle; lacustrine deposit .............................

20. Oil shale, dark-brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle; 

light gray weathering; lacustrine deposit........

19. Oil shale, medium- to dark-brown, flaky, 

dolomitic, brittle; light gray weathering; lacustrine deposit..............................................

18. Dolomite, gray-brown, very hard, dense, silty; 

orange weathering; lacustrine deposit.............

17. Mudstone, medium-gray-brown, dolomitic, 

blocky, hard; mudflat deposit........................

16. Dolomite, gray-brown, at the top and bottom, and 

mudstone, gray-brown, dolomitic, blocky, hard, 

in the middle; mudflat deposit.......................

15. Oil shale, medium-brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; 

light gray weathering; lacustrine deposit........

14. Dolomite, tan-gray, silty, very hard, very dense; 

orange weathering; lacustrine deposit.............

13. Oil shale, medium-brown, flaky, dolomitic, brittle; 

light gray weathering; lacustrine deposit........

12. Dolomite, tan-gray, silty, very hard, very dense; 

orange weathering; lacustrine deposit.............

11. Oil shale, medium-gray-brown, dolomitic, flaky, 

brittle; light gray weathering; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

10. Dolomite, gray-brown, very hard, dense, silty; 

rust brown weathering; forms a small ledge; 

lacustrine deposit........................................

9. Oil shale, medium- to dark-brown, dolomitic, 

platy, brittle; light gray weathering; lacustrine 

deposit......................................................

8. Siltstone, tan-brown, limy, dolomitic, platy, hard; 

lacustrine deposit........................................

7. Oil shale, dark-brown, dolomitic, flaky, brittle; 

light gray weathering; lacustrine deposit........

6. Siltstone, tan, limy, platy, hard, shaly; abundant 

ostracodes in the lower part; lacustrine deposit.

4.

Thickness 

Feet

10.0

9.6

23.4

20.0 

2.3 

2.6

0.9 

12.5 

0.8 

3.6 

0.4

2.9

0.5

7.1

1.0

22.7

1.7

Total Rife Bed of Tipton Shale Member....... 149.2

Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member of Green River 

Formation:

5. Oil shale, dark-brown, papery, soft; drab brown 

weathering; lacustrine deposit.......................

Coquinal sandstone, fine-grained, limy, crumbly; 

abundant Goniobasis sp., Viviparus sp., and 

Lampsilis sp.; lacustrine shoreline deposit......

72.0

2.3

Total Scheggs Bed of Tipton Shale Member . 74.3

Niland Tongue of Wasatch Formation (part): 

3. Coal; paludal deposit .................... 0.6
REVISED STRATIGRAPHIC NOMENCLATURE FOR WASATCH AND GREEN RIVER FORMATIONS B37

Type section of the Rife Bed of the Tipton Shale Member and adjacent 

rocks in the Green River and Wasatch Formations Continued

Niland Tongue of Wasatch Formation (part) Continued 

2. Sandstone, light-gray, very fine grained, very 

soft, argillaceous; nonresistant; top 0.5 ft 

calcareous; splay deposit..............................

1. Shale, dark-brown, fissile, very carbonaceous, 

firm; paludal deposit....................................

Total Niland Tongue measured...................

Thickness 

Feet

7.0

2.0 

9.6

PALEONTOLOGY AND AGE OF THE 

NEW STRATIGRAPHIC UNITS

The Rife and Scheggs Beds of the Tipton Shale 

Member and the Farson Sandstone Member of the Green 

River Formation, and the Alkali Creek Tongue of the 

Wasatch Formation, are late early Eocene age based on 

the taxonomy of vertebrate fossils collected at widely 

separated localities across the greater Green River basin. 

Vertebrate fossils have been collected in the area for 

more than 100 years, beginning with Cope (1872). 

Unfortunately, the geographic location and stratigraphic 

position data on the fossil collection sites recorded in the 

area by Cope and by more recent paleontologists are 

either vague or nonexistent, and thus this information 

has little stratigraphic value. Consequently, the age of 

the new units has been determined from four small 

vertebrate collections that were made by me between 

1957 and 1968. The specimens that I collected consisted 

mostly of individual crowns of mammal teeth. They were 

sent to C. Lewis Gazin at the Smithsonian Institution, 

United States National museum, and Paul 0. McGrew at 

the University of Wyoming for identification. The 

assigned late early Eocene age is based primarily on the 

presence of Lambdotherium (a late early Eocene perissodactyl) and (or) Hyracothenum (an early Eocene perissodactyl). The four fossil localities are listed in 

ascending stratigraphic order and occur either within one 

of the new stratigraphic units or in subjacent or superjacent units.

The Pinnacles locality. The collection site is located 

in the center of NE^NW1^ sec. 25, T. 24 N., R. 101 W., 

4 mi southwest of a cluster of small buttes known as The 

Pinnacles. The Pinnacles form a prominent landmark in 

the western part of the Great Divide basin. The fossils at 

the locality weather from a knobby outcrop of goldbrown fluvial channel sandstone situated within gray 

flood-plain mudstone. The fossils accumulate in loose 

sand along the base of the outcrop. The fossil-bearing 

sandstone is situated in the main body of the Wasatch 

Formation, 95 ft below the base of the Scheggs Bed of

the Tipton Shale Member of the Green River Formation. 

The mammal assemblage includes Lambdotherium sp., 

Meniscotherium sp., Notfiarctus sp., Hyracothenum 

sp., and Hyopsodus sp.

Parnell Creek locality. The collection consists of 

isolated specimens from three sites along the slopes of 

Parnell Creek, a tributary of Morrow Creek located in 

T. 24-25 N., R. 102 W., a few miles north of the Rock 

Springs uplift. In SW1/4NW1/4NW1/4 sec. 28, T. 24 N., 

R. 102 W., a mold of a ramus of Hyracothenum was 

found in an ostracodal limestone 3 ft above the base of the 

Scheggs Bed of the Tipton Shale Member, which is 

locally 47 ft thick. The incisors of the ramus were present 

in the matrix in the frontal part of the mold, but only 

impressions remained of the teeth posterior to the 

incisors. A second collection site is located in NEViSE^ 

NWV4 sec. 25, T. 25 N., R. 102 W., where specimens of 

Lambdotherium and Cynodontomys were found in 

conglomerate 8 ft below the top of the Farson Sandstone 

Member. The Farson Sandstone Member is locally 67 ft 

thick and consists mostly of interbedded oil shale and 

sandstone. The third collection consists of a single 

specimen of Notharctus collected from gray mudstone 42 

ft above the base of the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue in 

NE1/4NE1/4NW1/4 sec. 25, T. 25 N., R. 102 W. The Rife 

Bed of the Tipton Shale Member is absent at this locality 

and the non-red Cathedral Bluffs Tongue rests upon the 

Farson Sandstone Member.

White Mountain locality. The type section of the 

Farson Sandstone Member contains abundant disarticulated vertebrate remains in a conglomerate at the base of 

a distributary channel sandstone near the top of the 

section (fig. 23). Most of the identifiable material at the 

locality was collected from outcrops in the center of 

SW^NE^NW^ sec. 24, T. 23 N., R. 105 W., a few 

hundred feet south of the type section as located on 

figure 20. The collections contain Coryphodon sp., Phenacodus sp., Hyracothenum vasacciense, Heptodon sp., 

and Lambdotherium cf. popoagicum, clearly demonstrating a late early Eocene age. Fragments of bird 

bones collected at the site were identified as belonging to 

a primitive flamingo.

East Hiawatha locality. The locality is situated 

near the Wyoming-Colorado State line in NWV4NWV4 

sec. 24, T. 12 N., R. 99 W., at the east edge of Hiawatha 

gas field. Hyracothenum sp., an unidentified miacid 

carnivore, fish and bird bones, and reptile scutes were 

collected from an outcrop of tan fluvial channel sandstone 

situated near the contact of the Cathedral Bluffs Tongue 

and the Wilkins Peak Member. The Wilkins Peak 

Member is about 350 ft thick; the underlying Rife Bed of 

the Tipton Shale Member is about 170 ft thick. The 

occurrence of HyracotJierium at this stratigraphic
B38 WASATCH, GREEN RIVER, AND BRIDGER (WASHAKIE) FORMATIONS

position indicates that the lower part of the Wilkins Peak 

Member and equivalent parts of the Cathedral Bluffs 

Tongue, as well as the Rife Bed, are early Eocene age.

REFERENCES CITED

Bradley, W.H., 1926, Shore phases of the Green River Formation in 

northern Sweetwater County, Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey 

Professional Paper 140-D, p. D121-D131.

____ 1959, Revision of the stratigraphic nomenclature of Green 

River Formation of Wyoming: American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists Bulletin, v. 43, no. 5, May 1959, p. 1072-1075.

1969, Geochemistry and paleolimnology of the trona deposits

and associated authigenic minerals of the Green River Formation 

of Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 496-B, 

71 p.

Cope, E.D., 1872, On the definition of Metalophodon: American 

Philosophical Society, v. 12, p. 542-545.

Culbertson, W.C., Smith, J.S., and Trudell, L.G., 1980, Oil shale 

resources of the Green River Formation in the Green River Basin, 

Wyoming: U.S. Department of Energy, Laramie Energy 

Technology Center, Report of Investigations 80/6, pi. 1, 102 p.

Donavan, J.H., 1950, Intertonguing of Green River and Wasatch 

Formations in part of Sublette and Lincoln Counties, Wyoming, in 

Harrison, J.W., ed., Wyoming Geological Association Guidebook, 

5th Annual Field Conference, Southwest Wyoming: Casper, Wyo., 

p. 59-67.

Goodwin, J.H., 1971, Geochemical history of Lake Gosiute, in 

Contributions to Geology, Trona Issue: University of Wyoming, 

v. 10, no. 1, Spring, 1971, p. 9-13.

Hayden, F.V., 1869, U.S. Geological and Geographical Survey of the 

Territories, 3d Annual Report, 148 p.

Lawrence, J.C., 1963, Origin of the Wasatch Formation, Cumberland 

Gap area, Wyoming, in Contributions to Geology: University of 

Wyoming, v. 2, p. 151-158.

Love, J.D., and Christiansen, A.C., 1985, Geologic map of Wyoming: 

U.S. Geological Survey, scale 1:500,000, 2 sheets.

Oriel, S.S., 1961, Tongues of the^Wasatch and Green River Formations, Fort Hill area, Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey 

Professional Paper 424-B, Article 63, p. B151-B152.

Pipiringos, G.N., 1955, Tertiary rocks in the central part of the Great 

Divide Basin, Sweetwater County, Wyoming, in Berg, R.R., 

Barlow, J.A., Jr., and Skeeters, W.W., eds., Wyoming Geological 

Association Guidebook, 10th Annual Field Conference: Casper, 

Wyo., p. 100-104.

____ 1961, Uranium-bearing coal in the central part of the Great 

Divide Basin: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 1099-A, 104 p., 1 pi.

Roehler, H.W., 1968, Redefinition of Tipton Shale Member of Green 

River Formation of Wyoming: American Association of Petroleum 

Geologists Bulletin, v. 52, no. 11, pt. I, November 1968, 

p. 2249-2257.

____ 1974, Depositional environments of rocks in the Piceance 

Creek Basin, Colorado, in Murray, O.K., ed., Guidebook to the 

energy resources of the Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, Rocky 

Mountain Association of Geologists, 25th Field Conference: 

Denver, Colo., fig. 4, p. 57-64.

____ 1981, Description of Eocene rocks in White Mountain at Rock 

Springs, Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Oil and Gas Investigations Chart OC-117.

____ 1985, Geologic map of the Kinney Rim 30 x 60-minute quadrangle, Wyoming and Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series Map 1-1615.

____ 1989, Correlation of surface sections of the intertongued

Eocene Wasatch and Green River Formations along the western

margins of the greater Green River basin in southwest Wyoming:

U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Field Studies Map

MF-2103, one sheet. 

Schultz, A.R., 1920, Oil possibilities in and around Baxter Basin, in the

Rock Springs uplift, Sweetwater County, Wyoming: U.S.

Geological Survey Bulletin 702, 107 p. 

Sears, J.D., and Bradley, W.H., 1924, Relations of the Wasatch and

Green River formations in northwestern Colorado and southern

Wyoming, with notes on oil shales in the Green River formation:

U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 132-F, p. 93-107. 

Sullivan, Raymond, 1980, A stratigraphic evaluation of the Eocene

rocks of southwestern Wyoming: The Geological Survey of

Wyoming, Report of Investigations 20, 107 p. 

Veatch, A.C., 1907, Geography and geology of a portion of

southwestern Wyoming: U.S. Geological Survey Professional

Paper 56, 178 p.

*U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1991-573-049/26023
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