A number of stratigraphic units in Nevada have been mentioned as potential source rocks for petroleum. They were shown, by age, based on the formation names and map unit descriptors for the map units that represent or include the potential source rocks. Some of the units are more inclusive than the formations listed below. The outcrops of these units are shown collectively on the map.
Miocene(?) -- lower Humboldt Formation of Frerichs and Pekarek (1994) [outcrops in the Windermere Hills northeast of Wells]. Ts1 as shown by Coats (1987). Reference: Frerichs and Pekarek, 1994.
Eocene/Oligocene(?) - Elko Formation - Ts1. References: Poole and others, 1983; . Poole and Claypool, 1984; Palmer, 1984.
Paleocene/Eocene/Cretaceous(?) - Sheep Pass Formation - Ts1. References: Poole and others, 1983; Poole and Claypool, 1984.
Late Cretaceous/Early Tertiary - Pansy Lee Formation - TKcg (Humboldt County only). Reference: Wilden, 1979.
Cretaceous - Newark Canyon Formation - Kcg (in Eureka, White Pine, Elko, and Nye Counties. Reference: Poole and others, 1983.
Cretaceous - King Lear Formation - Kcg (Humboldt County only). Reference: Willden, 1979.
Triassic - Favret Formation (part of the Star Peak Group) - TRc. Reference: Cook, 1987.
Permian - Phosphoria Formation [Park City Group] - Pc (Carbonaceous shale members in eastern Elko County as shown by Maughan, 1984, fig. 2). References: Maughan, 1984; Poole and Claypool, 1984, p. 196; Wardlaw and others, 1979.
Pennsylvanian/Permian - Bird Springs Formation - PlPc (Clark County only). Reference: Longwell and others, 1965, p. 160.
Mississippian - Chainman Shale, Webb Formation, Woodruff Formation - lPMcl, MDcl, MDst. References: Poole and others, 1983; Poole and Claypool, 1984.
Devonian/Mississippian - Pilot Shale - PlPc, MDcl, some MDst. Reference: Poole and Claypool, 1984, p. 196.
Ordovician - Vinini Formation (?) - DOts. References: Poole and others, 1983; Poole and Claypool, 1984.
REFERENCES
Barker, C.E., 1996, Resource assessment of the Bureau of Land Management's Winnemucca District and Surprise Resource Area, Northwest Nevada and Northeast California -- geochemical analysis and thermochronologic modeling to evaluate conceptual petroleum plays: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 96-051, 51 p.
Coats, R.R., 1987, Geology of Elko County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Bulletin 101, 112 p.
Cook, H.E., 1987, National Petroleum Assessment, western Basin and Range province: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 87-450-L.
Crafford, A.E.J., 2007, Geologic map of Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series DS-249, scale 1:250,000.
Epstein, A.G., Epstein, J.B., and Harris, L.D., 1977, Conodont color alteration -- an index to organic metamorphism: U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 995, 27 p.
Frerichs, W.E., and Pekarek, A.H., 1994, Lower Miocene petroleum potential of northeast Elko County, Nevada, in Schalla, R.A., and Johnson, E.H., eds., Oil fields of the Great Basin: Nevada Petroleum Society, Reno, p. 151-162.
Harris, A.G., and Crafford, A.E.J., 2007, A conodont database of Nevada, in Crafford, A.E.J., Geologic map of Nevada: U.S. Geological Survey Data Series DS-249, scale 1:250,000.
Harris, A.G., Wardlaw, B.R., Rust, C.C., and Merrill, G.K., 1980, Maps for assessing thermal maturity (conodont color alteration index maps) in Ordovician through Triassic rocks in Nevada and Utah and adjacent parts of Idaho and California: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigation Series Map I-1249.
Hulen, J.B., Pinnel, M.L., Nielson, D.L., Cox, J.W., and Blake, J., 1994, The Yankee gold mine occurrence, Alligator Ridge District, Nevada -- An exhumed and oxidized, paleogeothermal reservoir, in Schalla, R.A., and Johnson, E.H., eds., Oil fields of the Great Basin: Nevada Petroleum Society, Reno, p. 131-142.
Hulen, J.B., Collister, J.W., Johnson, S.D., and Allis, R., 1999, Oils in the Dixie Valley and Kyle Hot Springs geothermal systems, Nevada -- potentially sensitive indicators of natural and induced reservoir processes: Proceedings, Twenty-fourth Workshop on Geothermal Reservoir Engineering, Stanford University, January 25-27, 1999, 15 p. [SGP-TR-162].
Longwell, C.R., Pampeyan, E.H., Bowyer, B., and Roberts, R.J., 1965, Geology and mineral deposits of Clark County, Nevada: Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology, Bulletin 62, 218 p.
Maughan, E.K., 1984, Geological setting and some geochemistry of petroleum source rocks in the Permian Phosphoria Formation, in Woodward, J., Meissner, F.F., and Clayton, J.L., eds., Hydrocarbon Source Rocks of the Greater Rocky Mountain Region, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Denver, Colorado, p. 281-294.
Palmer, S.E., 1984, Hydrocarbon source potential of organic facies of the lacustrine Elko Formation (Oligocene/Oligocene), northeast Nevada, in Woodward, J., Meissner, F.F., and Clayton, J.L., eds., Hydrocarbon Source Rocks of the Greater Rocky Mountain Region, Rocky Mountain Association of Geologist, Denver, Colorado, p. 497-511.
Poole, F.G. and Claypool, G.E., 1984, Petroleum source-rock potential and crude-oil correlation in the Great Basin, in J. Woodward, F.F. Meissner, and J.L. Clayton, eds., Hydrocarbon source rocks of the Greater Rocky Mountain region: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists, Denver, p. 179-229.
Poole, F.G., Claypool, G.E., and Fouch, T.D., 1983, Major episodes of petroleum generation in part of the northern Great Basin: Geothermal Resources Council Special Report 13, p. 207-213.
Repetski, J.E., Ryder, R.T., Avary, K.L., and Trippili, M.H., 2005, Thermal maturity patterns (CAI and %Ro) in the Ordovician and Devonian rocks of the Appalachian basin in West Virginia: U.S. Geological Survey Open-File Report 2005-1078, 69 p.
Schalla, R.A., Barker, C.E., and Neumann, W.H., 1994, Hot water and oil from a shallow exploratory borehole, Buena Vista Valley, Pershing County, Nevada, in Schalla, R.A., and Johnson, E.H., eds., Oil fields of the Great Basin: Nevada Petroleum Society, Reno, p. 127-130.
Wardlaw, B.R., Collinson, J.W., and Ketner, K. B., 1979, Regional relations of middle Permian rocks in Idaho, Nevada, and Utah, in Newman, G.W., and Goode, H.E., eds., Basin and Range Symposium: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists and Utah Geological Association, p. 277-283.
Willden, Ronald, 1979, Petroleum exploration possibilities in northwestern Nevada, in Newman, G.W., and Goode, H.E., eds., Basin and Range Symposium: Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists and Utah Geological Association, p. 541-548.
Shape file is in UTM coordinates, zone 11, NAD 27 projection.