Pictured Cliffs Formation

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Pictured Cliffs Formation
Stratigraphic range: Campanian
Pictured Cliffs Formation.jpg
Pictured Cliffs Formation at its type location near Fruitland, New Mexico
Type Geological formation
Underlies Fruitland Formation
Overlies Lewis Shale
Thickness60 feet (18 m)
Lithology
Primary Sandstone
Location
Coordinates 36°44′14″N108°25′40″W / 36.7373°N 108.4277°W / 36.7373; -108.4277
Region New Mexico
CountryFlag of the United States.svg  United States
Type section
Named forPictured Cliffs of the San Juan River
Named by W.H. Holmes
Year defined1877
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Pictured Cliffs Formation (the United States)
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Pictured Cliffs Formation (New Mexico)

The Pictured Cliffs Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico. [1] Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus. [2]

Contents

Description

The formation consists of yellowish-gray to grayish-orange cliff-forming sandstone. The upper beds are massive and crossbedded, consisting of well-sorted, fine-grained, friable sandstone. The lower beds are alternating thin beds of sandstone and light- to dark-gray silty shale. The upper part of the shale beds contains up to 6.5 feet (2.0 m) of discontinuous ironstone beds. The total thickness is about 60 feet (18 m). The formation is transitional with both the underlying Lewis Shale and the overlying Fruitland Formation. [1]

The formation is interpreted as a marine littoral formation deposited during the final regression of the Western Interior Seaway from the San Juan Basin, with recognizable delta-front and barrier island facies. [3] The regression was interrupted by at least three brief transgressions that produced tongues of the upper Pictured Cliff Sandstone in the northern San Juan Basin. [4]

Fossils

The formation contains fossil marine invertebrates and trace fossil Ophiomorpha major, typical of a nearshore marine environment. [1]

Economic geology

The formation serves as a reservoir rock for natural gas. Production by 1988 amounted to 87.7 x 109 cubic meters with remaining reserves estimated at that time as 127.4 x 109 cubic meters. The gas likely originated both in the underlying Lewis Shale and the coal beds of the overlying Fruitland Formation. [5]

History of investigation

The formation was first described as the Pictured Cliffs group or Pictured Cliffs sandstone by W.H. Holmes in 1877. [6]

See also

Footnotes

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References