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. ~ ~ ~ Cb . . petroleum prices rapidly changing and with the dwindling of petroleum resetves, interest in United States develop~ent of a shale oil industry is reviving. GEOGRAPHY OF OIL SHALE There are several areas in the United States where oil shale depos- its can be found. These are principally in the Appalachian region of the eastern United States, northern Michigan, eastern Oklahoma, and parts of western Texas. Deep-lying deposits exist throughout much of the ~!Ldwest, but these constitute only a resource potential, not an identified reserve. The major focus and emphasis of the renewed and continuing interest in oil shale in this country is in the Upper Colorado River Basin states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, which concain the world's largest known reserves (Fig. C.l). It is in this area that the richest resources have been identified. Here, also, ~ining potential seems much more likely since the deposits consist of thick layers (several hundred feet in many cases) of material. The extensive research which has been conducted on the resource in this area has proven that there is a tre- mendous amount of energy potential stoTed in what are considered to be high-grade deposits. Table C.l indicates the magnitude of the potential resources which could be recov~red from this area. The specific geographic area of the location of the deposits is the site of two shallow ancient Eocene lakes. These lakes covered several basin areas: in northwestern Colorado, the Piceance and Sand Wash basins; in southwest Wyoming, the Green River, Fossil, and Wa3h- akie basins; and in northeast Utah, the Uinta Basin (Fig. C.2). Accord- ing to Jaffe (1967), "the largest kno.~ reserves in the ~orld are con- centrated in the Western part of (this) territory, in the Green River formation. The Piceance Creek Basin, Colorado, is without doubt the largest single known oil shale deposit in the world." The Green K~ver Formation underlies approximately 16,300 square miles, and in this deposit occurs the richest oil shale resource in the United States. Oil yield varies from about 10 gallons per ton (gpt) to more than SO gpt in some places. Deposits in Wyoming and Utah in the Green River and Uinta basins, respectively, are commer- cially significant, but deposits in Colorado are of the highest quality. Smaller and leaner beds are found in the Fossil, Washakie, and Great Divide.basins in southwest Wyoming. In The Rock That Burns, Savage (1967) breaks down the areas of oil shale resources as follows: 9,200 square miles in Wyoming, 4,700 square miles in Utah, and 2,600 square miles in Colorado. c-z