Buda Limestone

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Buda Limestone
Stratigraphic range: Late Cretaceous
Cenomanian
Type Geological formation
Unit of Washita Group
Underlies Eagle Ford Group, Woodbine Formation, Boquillas Formation
Overlies Del Rio Formation and Grayson Formation
Thickness100 feet (30 m)
Lithology
Primary Limestone
Location
Coordinates 30°05′06″N97°51′03″W / 30.0849°N 97.8507°W / 30.0849; -97.8507
Region North America
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named for Buda, Texas
Named byT.W. Vaughan
Year defined1900
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Buda Limestone (the United States)
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Buda Limestone (Texas)
Buda Limestone stratigraphic column in Texas Austin Chalk stratigraphic column in Texas.png
Buda Limestone stratigraphic column in Texas

The Buda Limestone is a geological formation in the High Plains and Trans-Pecos regions of West Texas [1] and in southern New Mexico, [2] whose strata date back to the Late Cretaceous. Pterosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. [3]

Contents

Description

Terlingua stratigraphic column - Buda Limestone Terlingua stratigraphic column.png
Terlingua stratigraphic column – Buda Limestone

The Buda Limestone is a dense white to yellow sparry limestone with numerous calcite veins that weathers to yellowish or pinkish due to its iron content. In far western Texas, the formation overlies the Del Rio Formation and is in turn overlain by the Eagle Ford Group. The total thickness is about 100 feet (30 m). [1] [4] In trans-Pecos Texas, the formation rests on the Grayson Formation and is overlain by the Boquillas Formation. [5]

In the Big Bend National Park area, the formation is divided into three informal members. The lowest is 25 feet (7.6 m) of hard microgranular grayish-white limestone that breaks with a conchoidal fracture. The middle member is about 30 feet (9.1 m) of an argillaceous or marly nodular grayish-white limestone. The upper member is up to 60 feet (18 m) of limestone similar to the lower member. [6]

Fossils

Foraminifera are poorly preserved, but may include Globigerina . [1] Gastropods, a few Gryphaea oysters, [2] and the bivalve Alectryonia carinata [1] has also been found in the formation. Abundant bivalve fossils are found in the formation east of Big Bend National Park. [6]

Exposures in Hays County, Texas have yielded fossil remains of Pterodactyloidea , Ornithocheiroidea and Ornithocheiridae . [3]

Type locality for Graptocarcinus texanus Roemer, 1887 [7] (Decapoda: Brachyura).

Economic resources

The Buda Limestone is an important petroleum reservoir that has been exploited for decades via conventional vertical drilling. It is now being exploited using techniques such as horizontal and underbalanced drilling. [8] While the vertical wells relied on the porosity of the formation (up to 6%), the horizontal wells exploit a system of natural vertical fractures in the formation. [9]

History of investigation

The formation was originally named the Shoal Creek Limestone, but this name was preempted, and the formation was renamed the Buda Limestone by T.W. Vaughan in 1900. [1] By 1935, the formation had been included in the Washita Group. [10]

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Vaughan, T.W. (1900). "Reconnaissance in the Rio Grande coal fields of Texas, including a report on igneous rocks from the San Carlos coal field by C.E. Lord" (PDF). U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 164. Retrieved 11 September 2020.
  2. 1 2 Lovejoy, E.M.P. (1976). "Geology of Cerro de Cristo Rey uplift, Chihuahua and New Mexico" (PDF). New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir. 31. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
  3. 1 2 Barrett, P.M., Butler, R.J., Edwards, N.P., & Milner, A.R. Pterosaur distribution in time and space: an atlas. p61-107. in Flugsaurier: Pterosaur papers in honour of Peter Wellnhofer. 2008. Hone, D.W.E., and Buffetaut, E. (eds). Zitteliana B, 28. 264pp.
  4. ↑ Saribudak, Mustafa (September 2016). "Geophysical mapping of Mount Bonnell fault of Balcones fault zone and its implications on Trinity-Edwards Aquifer interconnection, central Texas, USA". The Leading Edge. 35 (9). Society of Exploration Geophysicists: 752–758. Bibcode:2016LeaEd..35..752S. doi:10.1190/tle35090752.1 . Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  5. ↑ Goldich, Samuel S.; Elms, Morris A. (1949). "Stratigraphy and Petrology of the Buck Hill Quadrangle, Texas". Geological Society of America Bulletin. 60 (7): 1133. Bibcode:1949GSAB...60.1133G. doi:10.1130/0016-7606(1949)60[1133:SAPOTB]2.0.CO;2. S2CID   140622822.
  6. 1 2 Barnes, V.E. (1977). Geologic atlas of Texas. University of Texas-Austin, Bureau of Economic Geology.
  7. ↑ Roemer, F.A. (1887). "Graptocarcinus texanus, ein Brachyure aus der Kreide von Texas". Neues Jahrbuch für Mineralogie, Geologie, und Paläontologie. 1887: 173–176.
  8. ↑ Davis, G..; Wilcox, G..; Arnone, M..; Bruington, S.. (12 April 2016). "Rejuvenating the Buda Limestone Reservoir in Texas by Using Crude Oil and Nitrogen Injection in Underbalanced Regime: Case History". All Days: SPE–179715–MS. doi:10.2118/179715-MS.
  9. ↑ Ledoux, R; Gottardi, R. (2018). "Characterizing the Natural Fracture System of the Buda Formation, South Texas". Gulf Coast Association of Geological Societies Transactions. 68: 605–610.
  10. ↑ Wilmarth, M.G. (1938). "Lexicon of geologic names of the United States (including Alaska)". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 896.
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