Elk Basin is a valley on the border of Montana

Montana

Montana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...

 and Wyoming

Wyoming

Wyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...

 in the United States. It is an active oil field

Oil field

An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...

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

Anticline

In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is convex up and has its oldest beds at its core. The term is not to be confused with antiform, which is a purely descriptive term for any fold that is convex up. Therefore if age relationships In structural geology, an anticline is a fold that is...

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

Cretaceous

The Cretaceous , derived from the Latin "creta" , usually abbreviated K for its German translation Kreide , is a geologic period and system from circa to million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the...

 in age, including the Lance Formation

Lance Formation

The Lance Formation is a division of Late Cretaceous rocks in the western United States. Named after Lance Creek, Wyoming, the microvertebrate fossils and dinosaurs represent important components of the latest Mesozoic vertebrate faunas...

, Meeteetse Formation

Meeteetse Formation

The Meeteetse Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation occurring in Wyoming.The formation is described by W.G. Pierce as gray to white clayey sand, drab sandstone, gray and brown shale, and bentonitic clay...

, Mesaverde Formation

Mesaverde Formation

The Mesaverde Formation is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation.The formation is described by W.G. Pierce as interbedded light gray sandstone and gray shale in upper part; lower part massive, light-buff, ledge-forming sandstone containing thin lenticular coal beds.The formation occurs in various...

, Cody Shale

Cody Shale

The Cody Shale is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation. It is mapped in Wyoming, Idaho, and Montana.The formation is described by W.G. Pierce as follows: upper part is buff, sandy shale and thinly laminated buff sandstone; lower part is dark gray, thin-bedded marine shale.The formation is divided...

, and Frontier Formation

Frontier Formation

The Frontier Formation is a sedimentary geological formation whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. The formation's extents are: northwest Colorado, southeast Idaho, southern Montana, northern Utah, and western Wyoming. It occurs in many sedimentary basins and uplift areas.The formation...

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Teaching Geology

As the rock strata

Stratum

In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...

 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 geologic map

Geologic map

A geologic map or geological map is a special-purpose map made to show geological features. Rock units or geologic strata are shown by color or symbols to indicate where they are exposed at the surface...

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

Red Lodge, Montana

Red Lodge is a city in and the county seat of Carbon County, Montana, United States. It is part of the Billings, Montana Metropolitan Statistical Area...

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