Chapter 6

Calculation of Overburden Above the

Mahogany Zone in the Piceance Basin,
Colorado
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By Tracey J. Mercier Volume Title Page

Chapter 6 of 7
Oil Shale and Nahcolite Resources of the Piceance
Basin, Colorado

By U.S. Geological Survey Oil Shale Assessment Team

U.S. Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–Y

U.S. Department of the Interior

U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Department of the Interior
KEN SALAZAR, Secretary

U.S. Geological Survey

Marcia K. McNutt, Director

U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 2010

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Suggested citation:
Mercier, T.J., 2010, Calculation of overburden above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin, Colorado: U.S.
Geological Survey Digital Data Series DDS–69–Y, chp. 6, 6 p.

ISBN: 1–4113–2668–2
 iii

Contents
Introduction.....................................................................................................................................................1
References Cited............................................................................................................................................1

Figures
1–5. Maps showing:
1. Mahogany zone structure contour lines drawn on the Digital Elevation
Model (DEM) clipped to the Piceance Basin............................................................................2
2. Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) model of the top of the Mahogany
zone subsurface structure...........................................................................................................3
3. Overburden above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin............................................4
4. Overburden above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin,
hillshade effect applied................................................................................................................5
5. Cubic miles (mi3) of overburden per section above the Mahogany zone
in the Piceance Basin...................................................................................................................6
Calculation of Overburden Above the Mahogany Zone in
the Piceance Basin, Colorado
By Tracey J. Mercier

to aid in visual analysis. In order to calculate the volume of

Introduction
As part of the National Oil Shale Assessment, the volume
of overburden material was calculated above the Mahogany
zone in the Piceance Basin. A common Geographic Informa-
tion System (GIS) method was used to calculate the amount of
overburden by subtracting a model of the Mahogany surface
from a Digital Elevation Model (DEM). To maintain consis-
tency with other models in the assessment, all overburden
calculations and resultant files were analyzed using a one-acre
(208.7 ft/63.615 m per side) raster-model cell size with an
effective area of 43,560ft2/4,047 m2.
The first step was to digitize the Mahogany ledge out-
crop, Parachute Creek Member outcrop, and detailed structure
lines (fig. 1) of the top of the Mahogany zone from two pub-
lished 1:100,000-scale geologic maps (Hail and Smith, 1994;
1997). The structure contour lines were converted to a point
file containing elevation values for the top of the Mahogany
zone. For the Mahogany outcrop, line surface elevation values,
in ft, were extracted from the DEM to obtain elevation values
for the Mahogany ledge. The two point files were merged to
generate a surface model in ArcGIS (ESRI, 2006) by using the
GeoStatistical Analyst’s Radial Basis Function (RBF) contour-
ing method. The RBF surface model was then converted to an
ESRI GRID as well as a Triangulated Irregular Network (TIN)
model (fig. 2) to use in ArcGIS’s 3D Analyst extension.
The Mahogany surface GRID was then subtracted from
the DEM GRID using the ArcGIS Spatial Analyst Raster
Calculator. The resultant GRID (fig. 3) contains values of total
overburden, in ft, above the Mahogany zone for each one-acre
cell. The overburden GRID was converted to a TIN. Figure 4
shows the effect of applying hillshade to the overburden TIN
overburden material contained in specific polygonal areas, we
used ArcToolbox’s TIN Polygon Volume function to calculate
the total volume of overburden, in mi3, found within the basin,
as well as the amount of overburden found within each Public
Land Survey System (PLSS) section (fig. 5).
This analysis found the total volume of overburden above
the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin to be approxi-
mately 192 mi3 of rock and other material. For comparison,
that amount is approximately equal to 22 times the volume of
water in Lake Mead; 320,000,000 Olympic-size swimming
pools; 286 times the amount of rock removed during the Mt.
St. Helens eruption; one-fifth the volume needed to fill the
Grand Canyon; and over seven billion hopper cars at 4,000 ft3
capacity.
References Cited
Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. (ESRI), 2006,
ArcMap, ver. 9.2.
Hail, W.J., and Smith, M.C., 1994, Geologic map of the north-
ern part of the Piceance Creek basin, northwestern Colo-
rado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations
Series Map I-2400, scale 1:100,000, http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/
usgspubs/i/i2400.
Hail, W.J., Jr. and Smith, M.C., 1997, Geologic map of the
southern part of the Piceance Creek basin, northwestern
Colorado: U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Inves-
tigations Series Map I-2529, scale 1:100,000, http://pubs.
er.usgs.gov/usgspubs/i/i2529.
2   Calculation of Overburden Above the Mahogany Zone in the Piceance Basin, Colorado

108°30' 108°00'

EXPLANATION
Structure on top of Mahogany ledge, in ft
Mahogany ledge outcrop
> 9,000
Base of Parachute Creek Member
8,001–9,000
Faults
7,001–8,000

6,001–7,000
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
5,001–6,000
T
2 < 5,000
N
R 96 W R 95 W

T
1
N

40°00'
T
1
S

R 94 W

T
2
S

T
3
S

T
4
S

T
5
S

T
6
S
39°30'

T
7
S

T
8
S

R 94 W R 93 W
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
T
9 Piceance
0 3 6 12 MILES Basin
S

0 2.5 5 10 KILOMETERS
R 95 W COLORADO
R 96 W

Figure 1. Mahogany zone structure contour lines (Hail and Smith, 1994; 1997) drawn on the Digital Elevation Model
(DEM) clipped to the Piceance Basin.
 References Cited   3

108°30' 108°00'

EXPLANATION

Mahogany ledge outcrop Mahogany structure (TIN), elevation in ft

Base of Parachute Creek Member > 9,000 6,001–7,000

8,001–9,000 5,001–6,000

R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
7,001–8,000 ≤ 5,000

T
2
N
R 96 W R 95 W

T
1
N

40°00'
T
1
S

R 94 W

T
2
S

T
3
S

T
4
S

T
5
S

T
6
S
39°30'

T
7
S

T
8
S

R 94 W R 93 W
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
T
9 Piceance
0 3 6 12 MILES
S Basin

0 2.5 5 10 KILOMETERS
R 95 W COLORADO
R 96 W

Figure 2. Map showing the Triangular Irregular Network (TIN) model of the top of the Mahogany zone subsurface
structure.
4   Calculation of Overburden Above the Mahogany Zone in the Piceance Basin, Colorado

108°30' 108°00'

EXPLANATION

Mahogany overburden (GRID), in ft

Mahogany ledge outcrop
> 2,000
Base of Parachute Creek Member
1,501–2,000

1,001–1,500
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
501–1,000
T
2 ≤ 500
N
R 96 W R 95 W

T
1
N

40°00'
T
1
S

R 94 W

T
2
S

T
3
S

T
4
S

T
5
S

T
6
S
39°30'

T
7
S

T
8
S

R 94 W R 93 W
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
T
9 Piceance
0 3 6 12 MILES
S Basin

0 2.5 5 10 KILOMETERS
R 95 W COLORADO
R 96 W

Figure 3. Map showing the overburden above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin.
 References Cited   5

108°30' 108°00'

EXPLANATION

Mahogany overburden, in ft
Mahogany ledge outcrop
> 2,000 751–1,000
Base of Parachute Creek Member
1,751–2,000 501–750

1,501–1,750 251–500

R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
1,251–1,500 ≤ 250

T
1,001–1,250
2
N
R 96 W R 95 W

T
1
N

40°00'
T
1
S

R 94 W

T
2
S

T
3
S

T
4
S

T
5
S

T
6
S
39°30'

T
7
S

T
8
S

R 94 W R 93 W
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
T
9 Piceance
0 3 6 12 MILES
S Basin

0 2.5 5 10 KILOMETERS
R 95 W COLORADO
R 96 W

Figure 4. Map showing the overburden above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance Basin, hillshade effect applied.
6   Calculation of Overburden Above the Mahogany Zone in the Piceance Basin, Colorado

108°30' 108°00'

EXPLANATION

Mahogany overburden, in mi3

Mahogany ledge outcrop
0.31–0.40
Base of Parachute Creek Member
0.21–0.30

0.11–0.20
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W

< 0.10
T
2
N
R 96 W R 95 W

T
1
N

40°00'
T
1
S

R 94 W

T
2
S

T
3
S

T
4
S

T
5
S

T
6
S
39°30'

T
7
S

T
8
S

R 94 W R 93 W
R 101 W R 100 W R 99 W R 98 W R 97 W
T
9 Piceance
0 3 6 12 MILES
S Basin

0 2.5 5 10 KILOMETERS
R 95 W COLORADO
R 96 W

Figure 5. Map showing cubic miles (mi3) of overburden per section above the Mahogany zone in the Piceance
Basin.
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