El Paso Formation

El Paso Formation
Stratigraphic range: Early Ordovician PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
El Paso Formation in road cut near Lake Valley, New Mexico, USA
Type	Formation
Sub-units	See text
Underlies	Portal Formation, Montoya Group
Overlies	Bliss Formation, Coronado Sandstone, Precambrian basement
Thickness	137–300 meters (449–984 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Limestone, dolomite
Other	Siltstone
Location
Coordinates	31°54′N106°29′W / 31.90°N 106.49°W / 31.90; -106.49
Region	Texas, New Mexico, Arizona
Country	United States
Type section
Named for	El Paso, Texas
Named by	G.B. Richardson
Year defined	1904
El Paso Formation (the United States) Show map of the United States El Paso Formation (New Mexico) Show map of New Mexico

The El Paso Formation is a geologic formation that is exposed from the Permian Basin of New Mexico and Texas to southeastern Arizona. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ordovician period. ^{[1] [2] [3]}

Description

El Paso Formation forms the lowest part of the massive limestone beds atop Timber Mountain, New Mexico, USA.

The formation is composed of gray cherty dolomite, limestone, and smaller amounts of siltstone. ^[4] The formation often has a mottled appearance. ^[5] Total thickness is 137–300 meters (449–984 ft). ^{[1] [6] [4]} It lies unconformably on the Bliss Formation, ^{[1] [6]} the Coronado Sandstone, ^[4] or (in the Florida Mountains) Precambrian basement, ^[5] and is overlain by the Montoya Group ^[2] or Portal Formation. ^[4]

Fossils

The formation is only sparsely fossiliferous, but contains fossils of echinoderms, gastropods, trilobites, sponge spicules, and Nuia. Rare ostracods, cephalopods, and brachiopods are also found, as is the trace fossil Planolites . Bioherms up to 6 meters (20 ft) high are found in the McKelligon Member, built up of siliceous sponges and receptaculitid Calathium . ^[7]

History of investigation

The formation was first named by George Burr Richardson in 1904 for exposures in the Franklin and Hueco Mountains. All Ordovician beds of the Franklin Mountains were originally included in the formation. ^[1] Richardson later (1908) mapped the formation into the Permian Basin and assigned the upper Ordovician beds to the Montoya Limestone. ^[2] In 1965, Zeller divided the formation in southwestern New Mexico into the Sierrita and Bat Cave Members. ^[8] Clemons (1991) divided the formation differently, into the Hitt Canyon, Jose, McKelligon, and Padre Members. ^[9]

In 1964, R.H. Flower proposed promoting the El Paso Formation to group rank and recommended several divisions into formations, based largely on biostratigraphy, such as the Big Hatchet Formation, the Cooks Formation, the Florida Mountain Formation, the Scenic Drive Formation, or the Victorio Hills Formation. ^[10] However, this has not been widely accepted, ^{[11] [4]} and Greg H. Mack rejected both the promotion of the El Paso Formation to group rank and the designation of biostratigraphic zones within the El Paso as formations. ^[7]

See also

• Earth sciences portal
• Texas portal
• Paleontology portal

• List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Texas
• Paleontology in Texas

Footnotes

1. Richardson 1904.
2. Richardson 1908.
3. Gillerman 1958.
4. Drewes, Du Bray & Pallister 1995.
5. Lawton & Clinkscales 2018.
6. Drewes 1991.
7. Mack 2004.
8. Zeller 1965.
9. Clemons 1991.
10. Flower 1964.
11. Hayes 1972.

References

• Clemons, R.E. (1991). "Petrography and depositional environments of the Lower Ordovician El Paso Formation". New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin. 125.
• Drewes, Harald (1991). "Geologic map of the Big Hatchet Mountains, Hidalgo County, New Mexico". U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series. Map I-2144. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
• Drewes, Harald; Du Bray, E.A.; Pallister, J.S. (1995). "Geologic map of the Portal quadrangle and vicinity, Cochise County, Arizona". U.S. Geological Survey Miscellaneous Investigations Series. Map I-2450. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
• Flower, R.H. (1964). "The nautiloid order Ellesmeroceratida (Cephalopoda)". New Mexico Bur. Mines and Mineral Resources Mem. 12.
• Gillerman, Elliot (1958). "Geology of the central Peloncillo Mountains, Hidalgo County, New Mexico, and Cochise County, Arizona". New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin. 57.
• Hayes, P.T. (1972). "Stratigraphic nomenclature of Cambrian and Lower Ordovician rocks of easternmost southern Arizona and adjacent westernmost New Mexico". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1372-B: B1 –B21.
• Lawton, Timothy F.; Clinkscales, Christopher A. (2018). "Superposed reverse and normal faults in the central Florida Mountains, southwestern New Mexico, and their implications for post-Cretaceous crustal deformation" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series. 69: 119–125. Retrieved 4 March 2021.
• Mack, Greg H. (2004). "The late Cambro-Ordovician Bliss and lower Ordovician El Paso Formations, southwestern New Mexico and west Texas". In Mack, G.H.; Giles, K.A. (eds.). The geology of New Mexico. A geologic history: New Mexico Geological Society Special Volume 11. pp. 95–136. ISBN   9781585460106.
• Richardson, G.B. (1904). "Report of a reconnaissance in Trans-Pecos Texas north of the Texas and Pacific Railway". University of Texas, Mineral Survey Bulletin. 9.
• Richardson, G.B. (1908). "Paleozoic formations in Trans-Pecos Texas". American Journal of Science. 4th Series. 25 (49): 474–484.
• Zeller, R.A. Jr. (1965). "Stratigraphy of the Big Hatchet Mountains Area, New Mexico". New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Memoir. 16.