Elk Basin is a valley on the border of

Montana Montana ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota to the east, South Dakota to the southeast, Wyoming to the south, an ...

and

Wyoming Wyoming ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States, Western United States. It borders Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho t ...

in the United States. It is an active

oil field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the prese ...

with hundreds of derricks operating in it. Geologically, it is a breached

anticline In structural geology, an anticline is a type of Fold (geology), fold that is an arch-like shape and has its oldest Bed (geology), beds at its core, whereas a syncline is the inverse of an anticline. A typical anticline is convex curve, c ...

formed by a deep subsurface thrust fault. Most of the rocks at the surface are

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 143.1 to 66 mya (unit), million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era (geology), Era, as well as the longest. At around 77.1 million years, it is the ...

in age, including the

Lance Formation The Lance (Creek) Formation is a division of Late Cretaceous (dating to about 69–66 Ma) rocks in the western United States. Named after Lance Creek, Wyoming, the microvertebrate fossils and dinosaurs represent important components of the lates ...

, Meeteetse Formation,

Mesaverde Formation History The Mesaverde Formation was first described by William Henry Holmes, W.H.Holmes in 1877 during the Hayden Survey. Holmes described the formation in the northern San Juan Basin as consisting of three units, which were a "Lower Escarpment ...

, Cody Shale, and Frontier Formation.

Teaching Geology

As the rock

strata In geology and related fields, a stratum (: strata) is a layer of Rock (geology), rock or sediment characterized by certain Lithology, lithologic properties or attributes that distinguish it from adjacent layers from which it is separated by v ...

in the basin are mostly exposed and relatively easy to identify, Elk Basin has long been used as a place for geology students to learn to practice

geological map A geological map or geologic map is a special-purpose map made to show various geological features. Rock (geology), Rock units or stratum, geologic strata are shown by color or symbols. Bed (geology), Bedding planes and structural features such ...

ping. Often mapping classes are supported by the Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association,Yellowstone Bighorn Research Association
/ref> located in Red Lodge, Montana.

References

{{coord, 44, 59, 50, N, 108, 52, 10, W, display=title, region:US_source:GoogleEarth Landforms of Carbon County, Montana Landforms of Montana Landforms of Park County, Wyoming Valleys of Wyoming Oil fields in Wyoming