The Nesson anticline extends for 75 mi (120 km) and is the most prominent surface structure in the North Dakota portion of Williston basin. First mapped in 1918 by A. G. Collier, its description was published in a bulletin of the U.S. Geological Survey. Its axis trends north-south and is crossed by several northeast-southwest and northwest-southeast subsidiary anticlinal folds. Oil was first discovered in commercial quantity in North Dakota on the Nesson anticline in 1951. Since that time, hydrocarbons have been produced from Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, Devonian, and Mississippian strata.

Available well control indicates that the Nesson anticline was initiated during the Precambrian. Indications are that the structure probably was normally faulted on the west margin. Structural deformation was episodic, with recurrent motion along the same fault system through time. Cross sections and isopach and structure maps document the changes in fault motion and basin communication with open marine waters.

Continuing movement of the border faults of the Nesson anticline probably have enhanced porosity development by fracturing and by creation of sedimentary and diagenetic environments which favor porosity development.

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