Earth and Planetary Science

Surface and Subsurface Mapping of the Duchesne Fault Zone, Utah, USA

Alan Ketring

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

John McBride

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

A. Riley Brinkerhoff

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

Ronald A. Harris

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

Samuel M. Hudson

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

Kevin A. Rey

Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, USA

DOI: https://doi.org/10.36956/eps.v5i1.3063

Received: 6 January 2026 | Revised: 2 March 2026 | Accepted: 13 March 2026 | Published Online: 25 March 2026

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Abstract

The Duchesne Fault Zone (DFZ) consists of a series of east-west trending en echelon opening mode fractures in the Uinta Basin, eastern Utah (USA), which developed synchronously above the neutral surface of the Duchesne Anticline during the Laramide Orogeny. The Duchesne Graben (DG) was formed by decreasing displacement towards the neutral surface. Lake Canyon, an area exposing the subsurface geology on the western part of the DFZ, serves as an analogue for fold formation within the saline facies of the lower Green River Formation, while Indian Canyon, an area created by dip-slip faulting of the DG, exposes faulting within the sandstone-limestone facies of the lower Green River Formation. The two canyons illustrate different stress regimes during the formation of these structures influenced by the Laramide orogeny. The presence of an anticlinal fold within Indian Canyon, together with the overlying DG, indicates the coexistence of opposing stress regimes within the DFZ that accommodate space problems caused by contractional deformation at depth. Extension, above the folding as mapped in the DG, dominates the upper portions of a large anticlinal fold above the neutral surface. In this way, the DFZ acted as a hinge point in the developing Uinta Basin, with steeper stratigraphic dips to the north of the fault zone. Our results imply petroleum reservoir behaviour along the DFZ is influenced by opposing stress regimes that created faults that act both as conduits for increased permeability and as seals for reservoir compartmentalisation. 

Keywords: Uinta Basin; Duchesne Fault Zone; Geological Structure

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