Sedimentology and hydrocarbon source rock potential of Miocene-Oligocene strata, McGrath Quadrangle: An outcrop analog for the Holitna Basin

Summary of fossil fuel and geothermal resource potential in the Lower Yukon-Kuskokwim energy region

“…The Cenozoic-age Holitna basin is a teardrop-shaped basin along the Denali-Farewell fault zone and gravity data suggest it is filled with nearly 15,000 feet of younger sedimentary rocks (sheet 2; Kirschner, 1994). Based on regional geology, the basin fill is assumed to be exclusively nonmarine, although the actual rock types in the subsurface are unknown owing to the absence of well data or rock outcrops in the footprint of the basin (LePain and others, 2000;2003). The Cenozoic Bethel basin (sheet 2) is relatively thin, as indicated by the single exploration well that penetrated one of the deepest parts of the basin identified in gravity data (Mull and others, 1995).…”