The
Wind River Basin or
Shoshone Basin is a semi-arid
intermontane foreland basin in central
Wyoming,
USA. It is bounded by
Laramide uplifts on all sides. On the west is the
Wind River Range and on the North are the
Absaroka Range and the
Owl Creek Mountains. The Casper Arch separates the Wind River from the
Powder River Basin to the east and the Sweetwater Uplift (
Granite Range) lies to the south. The basin contains a sequence of 10,000-12,000 feet (3000-3700 meters) of predominantly marine sediments deposited during the
Paleozoic and
Mesozoic Eras. During the Laramide over 18,000 feet (5500 meters) of
Eocene lacustrine and fluvial sediments were deposited within the basin. Following the Eocene an additional 3,000 feet (900 meters) of sediments were deposited before, and as the basin was uplifted in the late
Tertiary.