Tererro Formation

Tererro Formation
Stratigraphic range: Visean–Serpukhovian
Tererro Formation near its type section
TypeFormation
Unit ofArroyo Penasco Group
Sub-unitsMacho Member, Manuelitas Member, Cowles Member
UnderliesSandia Formation
OverliesEspiritu Santo Formation
Thickness130 ft (40 m)
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherSandstone, siltstone
Location
Coordinates35°44′31″N 105°40′44″W / 35.742°N 105.679°W / 35.742; -105.679
RegionNew Mexico
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forTererro, New Mexico
Named byBaltz and Read
Year defined1960
Tererro Formation is located in the United States
Tererro Formation
Tererro Formation (the United States)
Tererro Formation is located in New Mexico
Tererro Formation
Tererro Formation (New Mexico)

The Tererro Formation is a geologic formation in Sangre de Cristo Mountains of New Mexico.[1] It preserves fossils dating back to the early Mississippian.[2]

Description

Tererro Formation a short distance north of its type section.

The formation is mostly crystalline or calcarenite limestone with a total thickness of up to 130 ft (40 m). It is exposed throughout the Sangre de Cristo Mountains and in the San Luis, Las Vegas-Raton, Palo Duro, and Estancia Basins, as well in the western Tusas Mountains[1] and the Nacimiento Mountains.[3] It lies unconformably on the Espiritu Santo Formation[1] and is unconformably overlain by the Log Springs Formation in the Nacimiento Mountains, the Flechado Formation in the northern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, and the La Pasada Formation in the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains.[3]

The formation is divided into the Macho Member, which is a massive ledge-forming limestone breccia (thickness 30 feet (9.1 m));[1][4] the Turquillo Member, a thick-bedded mudstone;[3] the Manuelitas Member, which is a light to medium gray calcarenite, limestone-pebble conglomerate, and finely crystallized locally cherty limestone (thickness 39 feet (12 m)); and the Cowles Member, which is a light yellow gray to olive yellow cross-bedded silty calcarenite (thickness 50 feet (15 m).[1][4]

Fossils

The Manuelitas Member contains fossils of the foraminiferan Endothyra sp. of Meramecian (Visean) age. [2] The Macho, Turquillo, and Manuelitas Members contain microfossils characteristic of the Meramecian while the Cowles Member contains microfossils characteristic of the Chesterian (late Visean and Serpukhovian).[3]

History of investigation

The formation was first defined by Baltz and Read in 1960.[1] Armstrong and Mamet included it as the upper formation of their Arroyo Penasco Group in 1974 and added the Turquillo Member.[3]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Baltz, Elmer H.; Read, Charles B. (1960). "Rocks of Mississippian and Probable Devonian Age in Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico". AAPG Bulletin. 44. doi:10.1306/0BDA623C-16BD-11D7-8645000102C1865D.
  2. ^ a b Sutherland, P.K. (1963). "Paleozoic rocks" (PDF). In Miller, J.P.; Montgomery, Arthur; Sutherland, P.K. (eds.). Geology of part of the southern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico: New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir 11. pp. 22–44. Retrieved 29 July 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d e Armstrong, Augustus K; Mamet, Bernard L. (1974). "Biostratigraphy of the Arroyo Penasco Group, Lower Carboniferous (Mississippian), north-central New Mexico" (PDF). Annual NMGS Fall Field Conference Guidebooks. 25. Retrieved 22 May 2019.
  4. ^ a b Baltz, E.H.; Myers, D.H. (1999). "Stratigraphic framework of upper Paleozoic rocks, southeastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains, New Mexico, with a section on speculations and implications for regional interpretation of Ancestral Rocky Mountains paleotectonics". New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir. 48. Retrieved 29 July 2020.