Deposition of the Niobrara Formation, Eagle Sandstone, and equivalent Upper Cretaceous rocks was controlled by paleotectonic activity on lineament-bound basement blocks in Montana and South Dakota. Linear features observed on Landsat images provide an interpretation of lineament geometry that is independent of stratigraphic data. Paleotectonism on lineament-bound blocks is documented in three areas that were located in distinctly different depositional environments.

In central Montana, coastal and inner shelf sandstone and nonmarine coastal plain and wave-dominated deltaic deposits reflect paleotectonic control by lineaments trending north-south, east-west, northwest, and northeast. In the northern Black Hills, chalk and outer shelf sandstone reflect control by lineaments trending north-south, northwest, and northeast. In central South Dakota, erosion and deposition of chalk and calcareous shale on a west-sloping carbonate ramp were controlled by lineaments that generally trend northeast and northwest.

Paleotectonism on lineament-bound blocks characterized four tectonic zones located in the Late Cretaceous seaway: the western foredeep, the west-median trough, the east-median hinge, and the eastern platform. The regional geometry of all four tectonic zones appears to be related to the geometry of the convergent plate margin on the west. Paleotectonic activity on lineament-bound blocks may have been the result of horizontal forces related to the convergent margin and to vertical forces related to the movement of the North American plate.