Expression of Syndepositional Tectonic Uplift in Permian Goose Egg Formation (Phosphoria Equivalent) Carbonates and Red Beds of Sheep Mountain Anticline, Bighorn Basin, Wyoming

Scott P. Simmons, Dana S. Ulmer, Peter A. Scholle

Based on detailed field observations at Sheep Mountain, a doubly plunging anticline in the northeastern Bighorn basin in Wyoming, there appears to have been active tectonic uplift at this site contemporaneous with Pennsylvanian and Permian sedimentation.

The Permian (Leonardian to Guadalupian) Goose Egg Formation at Sheep Mountain consists of 25-60 m of silty red beds (including minor carbonate and evaporite units) capped by 15-30 m of dominantly intertidal carbonates (the Ervay Member). A strong lateral variation of facies normal to the trend of the anticline is found within the red-bed sequence: carbonate beds on the anticline flanks are transitional with a gypsum/anhydrite facies along the crest. Similarly, shales on the anticline limbs grade into sandstones near the fold axis, indicating a paleo-high roughly coincidental with the present-day anticline crest.

Ervay deposition (late Guadalupian) was marked by a more extensive uplifted structure in a marginal marine setting. On Sheep Mountain the unit is typified by intertidal fenestral carbonates, whereas outcrops to the east suggest a restricted marine facies and outcrops to the west reflect a more open marine environment. Thin sand lenses present in the Ervay are thought to represent terrigenous sediments blown onto the sometimes emergent bank which were then captured through adhesion and cementation.

Anticlinal features similar to Sheep Mountain are common along the eastern margin of the Bighorn basin. When found in the subsurface, these structures are often associated with hydrocarbon production from the Ervay Member. Tectonic uplift contemporaneous with deposition of this unit may explain the localization of the productive fenestral facies on the present-day anticlines.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #91022©1989 AAPG Annual Convention, April 23-26, 1989, San Antonio, Texas.