Petroleum The basin itself forms a
petroleum province. Oil and gas have been produced from the Denver Basin since the discovery in 1901 of oil in fractured
Pierre Shale at the
McKenzie Well, part of the
Boulder oil field in
Boulder County. The great majority of Denver Basin oil and gas fields produce from
Cretaceous sandstones, although the
Permian Lyons Sandstone is also a producer. Oil has also been produced from Permian sandstones and dolomites and
Pennsylvanian limestones in the
Nebraska part of the basin. The
Wattenberg Gas Field, one of the largest
natural gas deposits in the
United States, is a basin-centered gas field just north of the Denver metropolitan area. The field has produced more than 4.0 trillion cubic feet (TCF) of natural gas from the
J Sandstone,
Codell Sandstone,
Niobrara Formation, and the
Hygiene Sandstone, and
Terry Sandstone members of the
Pierre Shale, (all
Cretaceous). In 2007, the field made 11 million barrels of oil and 170 billion cubic feet (BCF) of gas from more than 14,000 wells, making it the 9th largest source of natural gas in the United States.
Biogenic natural gas is recovered from shallow gas fields (less than 3,000 feet) of the
Niobrara Formation in
Yuma,
Phillips, and
Washington counties of northeastern
Colorado and
Cheyenne and
Sherman counties of northwestern
Kansas. To date, 2,900 wells have produced of gas. Drilling is currently very active, and the play is expanding into
Perkins,
Chase, and
Dundy counties, Nebraska.
Coal Bituminous coal has been mined by underground methods in the Denver Basin, at
Superior and
Louisville, Colorado and other locations along the western edge of the basin. The coal comes from the
Cretaceous Laramie Formation. Mining began in the late 1850s and stopped in 1979. Large
lignite deposits are present in the
Paleocene Denver Formation in the central part of the basin, in a north-south belt east of
Denver and
Colorado Springs, in
Adams,
Arapahoe,
Elbert, and
El Paso counties. Some mining was done from about 1886 to 1940, but was reportedly minor.
Groundwater The Denver Basin aquifer system consists of a layered sequence of four aquifers in beds of permeable conglomerate, sandstone, and siltstone. Layers of relatively impermeable shale separate the aquifers and impede the vertical movement of ground water between the aquifers. The northern part of this aquifer system underlies the surficial aquifer of the South Platte River. Although the Denver Basin aquifer system and the surficial aquifer are hydraulically connected in part of this area, they primarily function as separate aquifer systems which serve as important sources of water supply in the region. Denver and its suburbs such as the communities in Douglas County draw ground water from the aquifers in the Denver Basin. There is recharge of about 40,000 acre-feet per year from the broken land to the west of the basin and withdrawals of about 10 times as much. Ground water levels have dropped in the aquifers especially near population centers which draw on the aquifers for water.
Cement, construction aggregate and dimension stone Raw materials are mined from the
Niobrara Formation and
Pierre Shale and made into
cement at the
Cemex plant near
Lyons, Colorado. Sand and gravel for
construction are a major mineral resource in the Denver Basin. The Lyons Formation provides
flagstone from quarries in Boulder and Larimer counties, along the western edge of the basin.
Gold Small amounts of
gold have been mined from sands and gravels in the Denver area since the
Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1858. Some sand and gravel pits still recover gold in their washing operations.
Uranium A small amount of uranium ore has been mined from the
Dakota Sandstone at
Morrison, Colorado, where the sandstone is impregnated with petroleum.
Uranium is known to exist in roll-front type deposits in the Denver Basin, but the basin has never been a major source of uranium. ==References==