Crevasse Canyon Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Formation |
Unit of | Mesaverde Group |
Sub-units | Dilco Coal, Dalton Sandstone & Gibson Coal Members |
Underlies | Point Lookout Sandstone |
Overlies | Gallup Sandstone |
Thickness | 700 ft (210 m) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone, mudstone, coal |
Location | |
Coordinates | 35°47′30″N108°56′41″W / 35.7916°N 108.9446°W |
Region | New Mexico, Arizona |
Country | United States |
Extent | San Juan Basin |
Type section | |
Named for | Crevasse Canyon |
Named by | Allen and Balk |
Year defined | 1954 [1] |
The Crevasse Canyon Formation is a coal-bearing Cretaceous geologic formation in New Mexico and Arizona.
The formation is divided into three members, in ascending stratigraphic order: Dilco Coal Member, Dalton Sandstone Member, and Gibson Coal Member. The Dilco Coal Member is described by Cather (2010) as "Drab mudstone, fine- to medium-grained sandstone, and coal. Sandstone is commonly crossbedded or ripple laminated." The Dalton Sandstone Member is described as "Gray to yellowish gray, fine- to medium-grained, cliff-forming sandstone." The Gibson Coal Member is described as "Drab mudstone, buff, brown, and greenish gray sandstone (commonly cross-bedded), and coal," with the coals typically less than 0.5 m thick. [2] Thickness is 700 feet (210 m) at the type section. [1]
In some exposures, the Dilco Coal Member is separated from the Dalton Sandstone Member by the Mulatto Tongue of the Mancos Shale. [3] A fourth member of the Crevasse Canyon Formation, the Borrego Pass Lentil, is found in a limited exposure area between the Dilco Coal Member and the Mulatto Tongue. The Borrego Pass Lentil is a highly variable sandstone. [4]
In southern New Mexico, the Crevasse Canyon Formation contains fossil soils (paleosols) typical of a humid climate (alfisol and inceptisols). The underlying Mojado Formation contains paleosols typical of an arid climate (aridisols), suggesting a shift from an arid to a humid climate across the lower Cretaceous - upper Cretaceous boundary in this region. [5]
Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus. [6] The formation is the type formation for Neurankylus notos, a baenid turtle that is the earliest representative of its genus. [7] Two dinosaur fossil trackways have been identified in the formation near Elephant Butte Reservoir. [8]
Petrified wood is common in the Gibson Coal Member. [2] [9]
Tschudy (1976) identified the Crevasse Canyon formation as Coniacian and Santonian by palynology of coal and shale. [10]
In the San Juan Basin, the Gibson Coal Member and the Dilco Coal Member were exploited for coal for steam locomotives from the 1940s to the 1990s. However, they constitute less than 1% of the original coal reserves of San Juan Basin. [11]
The formation was originally described in 1954 by Allen and Balk as part of the Mesaverde Group. [1]
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.
The Fruitland Formation is a geologic formation found in the San Juan Basin in the states of New Mexico and Colorado, in the United States of America. It contains fossils dating it to the Campanian age of the late Cretaceous.
The San Juan Basin is a geologic structural basin located near the Four Corners region of the Southwestern United States. The basin covers 7,500 square miles and resides in northwestern New Mexico, southwestern Colorado, and parts of Utah and Arizona. Specifically, the basin occupies space in the San Juan, Rio Arriba, Sandoval, and McKinley counties in New Mexico, and La Plata and Archuleta counties in Colorado. The basin extends roughly 100 miles (160 km) N-S and 90 miles (140 km) E-W.
The Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness is a 45,000-acre (18,000 ha) wilderness area located in San Juan County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Established in 1984, the Wilderness is a desolate area of steeply eroded badlands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, except three parcels of private Navajo land within its boundaries. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed March 12, 2019, expanded the Bisti/De-Na-Zin Wilderness by approximately 2,250 acres.
The Summerville Formation is a geological formation in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah of the Southwestern United States. It dates back to the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic.
The McRae Group is a geological group exposed in southern New Mexico whose strata, including layers of the Hall Lake Formation and Jose Creek Formation, date to the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from this unit.
The Pictured Cliffs Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus.
The Point Lookout Sandstone is a Cretaceous bedrock formation occurring in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Menefee Formation is a lower Campanian geologic formation found in Colorado and New Mexico, United States.
The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.
San Mateo Mesa is located in McKinley County, New Mexico, approximately 5 miles northwest of San Mateo. There are two large mesas, called San Mateo Mesa South and San Mateo Mesa North.
The Cliff House Sandstone is a late Campanian stratigraphic unit comprising sandstones in the western United States.
The Atarque Sandstone is a geologic formation in New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Cretaceous period.
The Gallup Sandstone is a geologic formation in the Gallup-Zuni basin of New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Cretaceous period.
The Cub Mountain Formation is a geologic formation in southern New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Eocene epoch. The formation also records the progressive unroofing of nearby mountainous uplifts during the Laramide orogeny.
The San Jose Formation is an Early Eocene geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado.
The Burro Canyon Formation is an Early Cretaceous Period sedimentary geologic formation, found in western Colorado, the Chama Basin and eastern San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico, and in eastern Utah, US.
Neurankylus is an extinct genus of turtles in the family Baenidae that lived between 112 and 61 million years ago in Canada and the United States. It was originally placed within the monotypic family Neurankylidae, but it has since been placed in the Neurankylinae, alongside Trinitichelys. The type species, Neurankylus eximius, was described by Lawrence Lambe in 1902. The species N. lithographicus was discovered in the Milk River Formation (Canada), alongside the holotype of the pachycephalosaurid dinosaur Acrotholus audeti.
The Chama Basin is a geologic structural basin located in northern New Mexico. The basin closely corresponds to the drainage basin of the Rio Chama and is located between the eastern margin of the San Juan Basin and the western margin of the Rio Grande Rift. Exposed in the basin is a thick and nearly level section of sedimentary rock of Permian to Cretaceous age, with some younger overlying volcanic rock. The basin has an area of about 3,144 square miles (8,140 km2).