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The Piceance Creek basin formed as a continental foreland basin ca 53 to 48 Ma in the early to middle Eocene. On a global basis, the basin contains one of the richest oil shale resources known, where the profundal oil shale deposits, kerogen-rich mudstones (clay and carbonate), exist over most of the basin. Despite its economic importance, the evolution of the Piceance Creek basin is still somewhat unclear. Based on facies association analysis, depositional trends, and gamma ray and Fischer assay data, six evolutionary lake stages are recognized: (i) fresh lake; (ii) transitional lake; (iii) highly fluctuating lake; (iv) rising lake; (v) high lake; and (vi) closing lake. Lake stages are composed of depositional units and characterize large-scale changes in sedimentological patterns, depositional trends and fluctuations in the oil shale richness related to changes in climate and tectonics. Lake stage evolution is also consistent with the global Eocene climate trend. Stage 1 formed prior to the Eocene climate optimum. At the beginning of the Eocene climate optimum, a saline-restricted lake formed (Stage 2) and evolved into the highly fluctuating lake (Stage 3) indicating rapid climate changes during the peak of the Eocene climate optimum. This stage was followed by the rising and high lakes (Stages 4 and 5) after the climate optimum and during a change to a more humid climate. The closing of the lake (Stage 6) was caused by increased sand input from the north, indicating the influence of both tectonics and climate. Based on depositional trends and climate evolution, it is suggested that, during the arid climate, laterally heterogeneous highly cyclic depositional units dominate, whereas, during the humid climate, depositional units form laterally continuous sediments that can be traced over long distances.

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The Middle Devonian Narva succession in the Baltic Basin represents a significant turnaround in the history of the basin. The detailed study of core and outcrop sections and the three‐dimensional correlations across the Baltic Basin reveal a carbonate‐dominated, mixed retrogressive succession, overlain by a siliciclastic‐dominated, progradational succession. The palaeogeographic reconstructions show how the shallow, tide‐influenced basin expanded from south‐west to north‐east and, later during the transgression, also to the north, south and east. The transgressive portion of the basin fill is dominated by carbonate‐rich sabkha and supratidal to intertidal deposits on the basin margins, and subtidal carbonates in the basin centre. Siliciclastic material was derived by tidal currents and storm waves from the south‐west through a tidal inlet and flood‐tidal delta complex. This initial transgressive phase is characterized by the lack of subsidence or even episodic uplifts in the northern/north‐western part of the basin margin, shown by convergence of timelines and the thin (30 m) transgressive succession. In contrast, on the southern margin, the facies associations stack vertically into a 70 to 80 m thick succession, indicating significantly higher subsidence rates. The upper part of the transgressive phase indicates subsidence across the whole basin. The upper, progradational portion of the basin fill is dominated by coarse, siliciclastic, tide‐influenced deltaic deposits that rapidly prograded from north‐west to south‐east. This detailed study on the Narva succession shows that siliciclastic and carbonate deposition was coeval and that mixing occurred at different temporal and spatial scales. The mixing was controlled by grain‐size, volume and location of siliciclastic input rather than relative sea‐level changes as suggested in widely used reciprocal mixing models. It is suggested that the forebulge of the Scandinavian Caledonian fold‐and‐thrust belt migrated to the north‐western margin of the Baltic Basin during the earliest Eifelian, as indicated by the lack of subsidence and probable uplift in the northern/north‐western margin during the early transgressive phase. The forebulge migration ceased although the forebulge had already started to subside during the later stages of the transgressive phase. The deltaic progradation is interpreted to be associated with the orogenic collapse and uplift in the Scandinavian Caledonides that caused the erosion of the foreland basin fill and the coarse sediment transport into the Baltic Basin.