Mesa Rica Sandstone Stratigraphic range: Albian | |
---|---|
Type | Formation |
Unit of | Dakota Group |
Underlies | Pajarito Formation |
Overlies | Tucumcari Shale, Glencairn Formation |
Thickness | 33 meters (108 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 35°13′37″N104°13′23″W / 35.227°N 104.223°W |
Region | New Mexico, Oklahoma |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Mesa Rica |
Named by | Dobrovolny, Summerson, and Bates |
Year defined | 1947 |
The Mesa Rica Sandstone is a geologic formation in Oklahoma and New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Cretaceous period. [1]
The Mesa Rica Sandstone consists of crossbedded white to buff sandstone. The sandstone is massive and medium- to coarse-grained. It is a very mature sandstone, consisting of almost pure quartz and kaolin, which may reflect its provenance as reworked sediments of the Morrison Formation, or may be due to a slow rate of deposition that permitted meteoric water (water originating as rain or snow) to circulate through the sediments for an unusually long time. [2] In some locations, there is minor quartz-pebble conglomerate at the base of the formation, which lies on the Tucumcari Shale [3] or Glencairn Formation. It is overlain by the Pajarito Formation and has a thickness of up to 33 meters (108 ft). [1]
The formation was laid down in a low-accommodation deltaic environment. [2]
Dinosaur remains diagnostic to the genus level are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation. [4]
The upper part of the formation preserves dinosaur trackways and is part of the "dinosaur freeway" megatracksite of New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma. Dinosaur tracks were discovered in the formation at the spillway of Clayton Lake State Park in 1982, at Mosquero Creek in 1986, and at Mills Canyon in 1995. The Mills Creek site shows twelve distinct trackways. The Clayton Lake trackways are unusual in showing trail dragging traces. The trackways here are accessible by a trail with interpretive signage but are rapidly eroding in the lake spillway. Most of the tracks at the three sites have been identified as Charirichnium leonardii. [5]
The Mosquero Creek tracks represent 81 individual ornithopod dinosaurs, of two distinct species, and includes a rare limping track. [5] The trackways also preserve evidence of movement as a group. [6]
The lower part of the Mesa Rica Sandstone preserves marine invertebrate fossils, including the ammonite Mortoniceras equidistans (Cragin) [7]
The unit was first named the Mesa Rica sandstone member of the Purgatoire Formation by Ernest Dobrovolny, Charles Summerson, and Robert Bates in 1947. [3] It was raised to formation rank by Robert Griggs and Charles Read in 1959, who also abandoned the use of the Purgatoire Formation in northeastern New Mexico. [8]
The Moenkopi Formation is a geological formation that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, northern Arizona, Nevada, southeastern California, eastern Utah and western Colorado. This unit is considered to be a group in Arizona. Part of the Colorado Plateau and Basin and Range, this red sandstone was laid down in the Lower Triassic and possibly part of the Middle Triassic, around 240 million years ago.
The Chinle Formation is an Upper Triassic continental geological formation of fluvial, lacustrine, and palustrine to eolian deposits spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, western New Mexico, and western Colorado. The Chinle is controversially considered to be synonymous to the Dockum Group of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle, and southwestern Kansas. The Chinle is sometimes colloquially named as a formation within the Dockum Group in New Mexico and in Texas. The Chinle Formation is part of the Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range, and the southern section of the Interior Plains.
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 Dockum is a Late Triassic geologic group found primarily on the Llano Estacado of western Texas and eastern New Mexico with minor exposures in southwestern Kansas, eastern Colorado, and Oklahoma panhandle. The Dockum reaches a maximum thickness of slightly over 650 m but is usually much thinner. The Dockum rests on an unconformity over the Anisian aged Anton Chico Formation.
The Purgatoire River track site, also called the Picketwire Canyonlands tracksite, is one of the largest dinosaur tracksites in North America. The site is located on public land of the Comanche National Grassland, along the Purgatoire ("Picketwire") River south of La Junta in Otero County, Colorado.
The Crevasse Canyon Formation is a coal-bearing Cretaceous geologic formation in New Mexico and Arizona.
The Garita Creek Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico that contains vertebrate fossils characteristic of the Carnian Age of the late Triassic.
The Point Lookout Sandstone is a Cretaceous bedrock formation occurring in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Pajarito Formation is a geologic formation in eastern New Mexico and west Texas. It preserves fossils dating back to the Albian Age of the Cretaceous Period.
The Festningen Sandstone is an Early Cretaceous (Barremian) geologic formation in Svalbard, in the far north of Norway. Fossil ornithopod tracks have been reported from the formation.
Paleontology in New Mexico refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of New Mexico. The fossil record of New Mexico is exceptionally complete and spans almost the entire stratigraphic column. More than 3,300 different kinds of fossil organisms have been found in the state. Of these more than 700 of these were new to science and more than 100 of those were type species for new genera. During the early Paleozoic, southern and western New Mexico were submerged by a warm shallow sea that would come to be home to creatures including brachiopods, bryozoans, cartilaginous fishes, corals, graptolites, nautiloids, placoderms, and trilobites. During the Ordovician the state was home to algal reefs up to 300 feet high. During the Carboniferous, a richly vegetated island chain emerged from the local sea. Coral reefs formed in the state's seas while terrestrial regions of the state dried and were home to sand dunes. Local wildlife included Edaphosaurus, Ophiacodon, and Sphenacodon.
The Bell Ranch Formation is a Late Jurassic (Kimmeridgian) geologic formation in eastern and northeastern New Mexico and the western Oklahoma panhandle. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Redonda Formation is a geologic formation exposed in eastern New Mexico. It contains vertebrate fossils of the late Triassic Period. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Purgatoire Formation is an abandoned (1987) Cretaceous period geologic formation classification. The classification was used in Colorado, New Mexico, and Oklahoma, with mentions in older geologic literature in neighboring states.
The Sheep Pen Sandstone is a late Triassic geologic formation exposed in northeastern New Mexico. Fossil theropod tracks have been reported from the formation.
The Tucumcari Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Albian Age of the early Cretaceous period.
The Baca Formation is a geologic formation in southern New Mexico and Arizona. It preserves fossils dating back to the Eocene period.
The Travesser Formation is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, westernmost Oklahoma, and northwestern Texas, particularly in the Dry Cimarron valley. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic period.
The Glencairn Formation is a geologic formation found in Colorado and New Mexico. It preserves fossils characteristic of the Albian Age of the Cretaceous Period.
The Romeroville Sandstone is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico. It likely was deposited in the Cenomanian Age of the Cretaceous Period.