Investigations on the Structure Tectonics, Geophysics, Geochemistry, and Hydrocarbon Potential of the Black Mesa Basin, Northeastern Arizona

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has instituted a basin-analysis study program to encourage drilling in underexplored and unexplored areas and increase discovery rates for hydrocarbons by independent oil companies within the continental United States. The work is being performed at the DOE's National Institute for Petroleum and Energy Research (NIPER) in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, by the Exploration and Drilling Group within BDM-Oklahoma (BDM), the manager of the facility for DOE. Several low-activity areas in the Mid-Continent, west, and southwest were considered for the initial study area (Reeves and Carroll 1994a). The Black Mesa region in northwestern Arizona is shown on the U.S. Geological Survey 1995 oil and gas map of the United States as an undrilled area, adapted from Takahashi and Gautier 1995. This basin was selected by DOE s the site for the initial NIPER-BDM survey to develop prospects within the Lower-48 states (Reeves and Carroll 1994b).