The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown here as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water bounda ...

This data release contains the boundaries of assessment units and input data for the assessment of undiscovered continuous oil and gas resources in the Bakken formation of Northwest Montana. The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown herein as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border a Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary. In addition to the shapefile, for U.S. assessments, allocation tables are provided that enumerate percentages assigned to various land categories. Machine-readable tables are also provided that contain the input and results for each assessment unit summarized in the USGS Fact Sheet. Methodology of assessments are documented in USGS Data Series 547 for continuous assessments (https://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/547) and USGS DDS69-D, Chapter 21 for conventional assessments (https://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-d/REPORTS/69_D_CH_21.pdf). See supplemental information for a detailed list of files included this data release.

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This data release contains the boundaries of assessment units and input data for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources in the Bakken and Three Forks formations in the Williston Basin province in Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown herein as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary. Methodology of assessments are documented in USGS Data Series 547 for continuous assessments (https://pubs.usgs.gov/ds/547) and USGS DDS69-D, Chapter 21 for conventional assessments (https://pubs.usgs.gov/dds/dds-069/dds-069-d/REPORTS/69_D_CH_21.pdf). See supplemental information for a detailed list of files included this data release.

The USGS Central Region Energy Team assesses oil and gas resources of the United States. The onshore and State water areas of the United States comprise 71 provinces. Within these provinces, Total Petroleum Systems are defined and Assessment Units are defined and assessed. Each of these provinces is defined geologically, and most province boundaries are defined by major geologic changes. The Williston Basin Province is located in North Dakota, eastern Montana, and northwestern South Dakota, encompassing all or parts of Divide, Burke, Renville, Bottineau, Rolette, Towner, Cavalier, Pembina, Walsh, Grand Forks, Nelson, Ramsey, Benson, Eddy, Foster, Wells, Griggs, Steele, Traill, Cass, Barnes, Ransom, Richland, Sergeant, Dickey, Lamoure, Logan McIntosh, Emmons, Burleigh, Kidder, Stutsman, Sheridan, McLean, Mountrail, Ward, McHenry, Pierce, Williams, McKenzie, Dunn, Mercer, Oliver, Morton, Sioux, Grant, Adams, Hettinger, Bowman, Slope, Golden Valley, Billings counties North Dakota and all or parts of Valley, Daniels, Sheridan, Roosevelt, Richland, Dawson, McCone, Wibaux, Prairie, Fallon, Custer, Carter, Garfield counties, Montana, and Harding, Butte, Lawrence, Pennington, Haakon, Jackson, Jones, Stanley, Ziebach, Dewey, Perkins, Corson, Campbell, Walworth, McPherson, Edmunds, Potter, Sully, Hughes, Stanley, and Meade counties South Dakota. The main population centers within the study area are Minot, Fargo, Grand Forks, and Bismarck, North Dakota; and Rapid City and Pierre, South Dakota. The main highways, I-94 and I-90, generally traverse the area from east to west. The Missouri River and its tributaries drain the area. The province boundary was drawn to include the geologic structures generally considered to be in or bounding the Williston Basin.

Geospatial data about Bakken Play Boundary. Export to CAD, GIS, PDF, CSV and access via API.

The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown here as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary.

The USGS Central Region Energy Team assesses oil and gas resources of the United States. The onshore and State water areas of the United States comprise 71 provinces. Within these provinces, Total Petroleum Systems are defined and Assessment Units are defined and assessed. Each of these provinces is defined geologically, and most province boundaries are defined by major geologic changes.

The Montana Thrust Belt Province is located in western Montana, encompassing all or parts of Beaverhead, Broadwater, Cascade, Deer Lodge, Flathead, Gallatin, Glacier, Granite, Jefferson, Lake, Lewis and Clark, Lincoln, Madison, Meagher, Mineral, Missoula, Park, Pondera, Powell, Ravalli, Sanders, Silver Bow, and Teton counties in Montana. The main population centers (greater than 15,000 residents) within the study area are Butte, Helena, Kalispell, and Missoula. The main highways, I-90 and I-15 generally traverse the area from east to west and north to south, respectively. The province boundary was drawn to include the geologic structures generally considered to be in or bounding the Montana Thrust Belt basin, including the Thrust Belt, Helena Salient, Blacktail Salient, and Tertiary Basins.

The Assessment Unit is the fundamental unit used in the National Assessment Project for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Assessment Unit is defined within the context of the higher-level Total Petroleum System. The Assessment Unit is shown here as a geographic boundary interpreted, defined, and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates a set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic, and temporal properties within the Total Petroleum System, such as source rock, timing, migration pathways, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type. The Assessment Unit boundary is defined geologically as the limits of the geologic elements that define the Assessment Unit, such as limits of reservoir rock, geologic structures, source rock, and seal lithologies. The only exceptions to this are Assessment Units that border the Federal-State water boundary. In these cases, the Federal-State water boundary forms part of the Assessment Unit boundary.

The Total Petroleum System is used in the National Assessment Project and incorporates the Assessment Unit, which is the fundamental geologic unit used for the assessment of undiscovered oil and gas resources. The Total Petroleum System is shown here as a geographic boundary defined and mapped by the geologist responsible for the province and incorporates not only the set of known or postulated oil and (or) gas accumulations, but also the geologic interpretation of the essential elements and processes within the petroleum system that relate to source, generation, migration, accumulation, and trapping of the discovered and undiscovered petroleum resource(s).