West and East Palisades Roadless Areas, Idaho and Wyoming

Studies from 1979 to 1982 of the West and East Palisades Roadless Areas, which lie within the Idaho-Wyoming thrust belt, document structures, reservoir formations, source beds, and thermal maturities comparable to those in producing oil and gas fields farther south in the belt. Therefore, the areas are highly favorable for the occurrence of oil and gas. Phosphate beds of appropriate grade within the roadless areas are thinner and less accessible than those being mined from higher thrust sheets to the southwest; however, they contain 98 million tons of inferred phosphate rock resources in areas of substantiated phosphate resource potential. Sparsely distributed thin coal seams occur in the roadless areas. Although moderately pure limestone is present, it is available from other sources closer to markets. Geochemical anomalies from stream-sediment and rock samples for silver, copper, molybdenum, and lead occur in the roadless areas but they offer little promise for the occurrence of metallic mineral resources. A possible geothermal resource is unproven, despite thermal phenomena at nearby sites.