Published Articles & Research by Riley Brinkerhoff

Riley Brinkerhoff is a petroleum geologist with seventeen years of unconventional exploration and development experience across the continental United States. His research and industry writing focus on the Uinta Basin of Utah — including the Uteland Butte play, the Green River Formation, and the Duchesne Fault Zone — as well as the Bakken–Three Forks petroleum system of the Williston Basin. His work has appeared in peer-reviewed journals, AAPG Search and Discovery, and The Outcrop, the monthly publication of the Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists (RMAG). His published works are collected below.

Peer-Reviewed Research

• Geosciences (MDPI) · Journal Article · 2025 Erosion and Karst in Subsurface Middle Paleozoic Rocks in the Arkoma Basin, Oklahoma, USA

  Open-access, peer-reviewed study of erosional surfaces and karst development in Middle Paleozoic carbonate rocks of the Arkoma Basin, and their implications for interpreting the subsurface.

• Geology of the Intermountain West · Utah Geological Association · Vol. 50, 2022 Strain Partitioning Between Ductile and Brittle Stratigraphy — Characterizing the Sand Wash Fault System, Uinta Basin, Utah

  With John McBride, Sam Hudson, Douglas A. Sprinkel, Ron Harris, Kevin Rey, and Eric Tingey. Characterizes the segmented, ~34-kilometer Sand Wash fault zone and its unusually wide damage zone, superbly exposed by incision of the Green River and its tributaries.

Industry Publications — RMAG Outcrop

• RMAG Outcrop · Lead Article · March 2021 Uinta Enigma: The Duchesne Fault Zone and Its Impact on the Development of the Uinta Basin

  With Douglas A. Sprinkel. Lead article in The Outcrop (v. 70, no. 3) examining the Duchesne Fault Zone and what it means for horizontal development across the Uinta Basin.

• RMAG Outcrop · January 2024 Gilsonite: Next Level Hydrocarbons

  An exploration of gilsonite, the rare solid hydrocarbon found in vertical veins across the eastern Uinta Basin — its geology, history, and modern uses.

• RMAG Outcrop · Lead Article · October 2024 Desolation: Report of the UGS Float Trip Down the Green River Through Desolation Canyon

  With Lisa Wolff, Michael Vanden Berg, and Ryan Gall. A field report from the Utah Geological Survey float trip through Desolation Canyon, where state and industry geoscientists collaborated to investigate the Green River and Flagstaff formations.

Conference Papers — AAPG Search & Discovery

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2025 Harvesting the Garden Gulch: Exploring the Newest Play in the Uinta Basin

  On the Garden Gulch Member of the Green River Formation — the lacustrine transition between the Douglas Creek deltaics and the oil shales of the Parachute Creek — as an emerging Uinta Basin target.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2024 Expanding the Heart of the Uinta Oil Play: The Douglas Creek Member of the Eocene Green River Formation

  Examines the Douglas Creek Member — long the most important producing zone in the Uinta Basin's conventional fields — and its expanding role in the modern horizontal play.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2022 Structural Geometry, Kinematics, and Timing of the Duchesne Fault Zone, Uinta Basin, Northeastern Utah, USA

  With Douglas A. Sprinkel. A structural analysis of the Duchesne Fault Zone's geometry, movement history, and multi-event tectonic timing.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2022 The Duchesne Fault Zone's Impact on Horizontal Development Within the Burgeoning Green River Oil Play

  With Douglas A. Sprinkel. How this major structural feature — with evidence of movement as recently as the Quaternary — affects horizontal well planning in the Green River oil play.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2022 Pitfalls of Model Driven Unconventional Development: The Stratigraphic Trends That Drive Oil & Gas Productivity in Divide County, North Dakota

  With Tim Nesheim and Mark Millard. A Williston Basin case study on how stratigraphic trends — not just models — drive productivity in the Bakken–Three Forks system.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2019 Using Pore System Characterization to Subdivide the Burgeoning Uteland Butte Play, Green River Formation, Uinta Basin, Utah

  With Mark Millard. Uses pore-system analysis to explain the decidedly variable results among the 100-plus horizontal wells drilled in the Uteland Butte's first decade — and to map where the best rock lies.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2019 Characterizing Outcrop Growth Faults, Slump Blocks, Mud Volcanoes and Other Sedimentary Deformation Features in the Green River Formation

  Documents soft-sediment deformation features in outcrop for use as reservoir analogues for features observed in targeted Green River Formation reservoirs.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2018 Characteristics of Sandy Hyperpycnite Deposits on the Shallow, Southern Margin of Eocene Lake Uinta

  With Kurtus Woolf. On sandy hyperpycnite deposits along the southern margin of ancient Lake Uinta in the Green River Formation of northeastern Utah.

• AAPG Search & Discovery · 2016 Pitfalls in Geological Mapping Within Unconventional Plays: A Bakken–Three Forks Case Study

  Integrates geochemical, stratigraphic, and production data to improve geological models in the Bakken–Three Forks petroleum system of North Dakota.

• American Rock Mechanics Association (ARMA) · 2022 The Effect of Rock Anisotropy on Hydraulic Fracture Containment in the Bakken Formation

  With H.A.K. Chellal, A. Merzoug, and V. Rasouli. Presented at the ARMA symposium in San Francisco; examines how rock anisotropy controls hydraulic fracture containment in the Bakken.

Presentations & Video

• RMAG Luncheon Talk · Video Losing at the Margins: What the Uteland Butte Play Can Teach Us About the Technical and Economic Boundaries of Modern Unconventional Oil Plays

  Recorded Rocky Mountain Association of Geologists presentation on the Uteland Butte — the most important oil target in the Uinta Basin — and what its margins reveal about the limits of unconventional development.

• RMAG Luncheon · February 2026 The Ongoing Development of the Upper Cube: Adding Sticks in the Uinta Basin

  RMAG luncheon presentation on Upper Cube development in the Uinta Basin, closing with predictions on where near-term development will occur and the drivers and risks operators are weighing.

• Montana Geological Society Luncheon · January 2026 Montana Geological Society Presentation — Uinta Basin Horizontal Development

  Invited luncheon presentation to the Montana Geological Society on Uinta Basin horizontal development and the Upper Cube.

This page is updated as new research and articles are published. To follow Riley's ongoing field work and Uinta Basin commentary, connect with him on LinkedIn.