Paradox Basin

The basin is a large elongate northwest to southeast oriented depression formed during the late Paleozoic Era.

"The fresh influx would have been delivered by rainfall, snow melt or natural aquifers as recently as between 400,000 and 1.1 million years ago.

Much of the petroleum production in the basin has come from porous carbonate deposits, such as algal mounds, of Pennsylvanian age.

Additional reservoir types include uplifted fault blocks and discontinuous clastic beds with both stratigraphic and structural traps.

[5] Discoveries in the Cane Creek Shale of the Paradox Formation have resulted in new oil production near Moab, Utah.