Point Lookout Sandstone | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Formation |
Unit of | Mesaverde Group |
Sub-units | Hosta Tongue |
Underlies | Menefee Formation |
Overlies | Crevasse Canyon Formation |
Thickness | 300 ft (91 m) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Other | Shale |
Location | |
Coordinates | 37°18′58″N108°25′08″W / 37.316°N 108.419°W |
Region | Paradox Basin, San Juan Basin |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Point Lookout |
Named by | A. J. Collier |
Year defined | 1919 |
The Point Lookout Sandstone is a Cretaceous bedrock formation occurring in New Mexico and Colorado.
The formation consists of two informal members. The lower is a sequence of thinly bedded sandstone and shale, [1] while the upper is a massive medium- to fine-grained cross-bedded sandstone, light gray to buff in color, that is a conspicuous cliff-forming unit. [1] [2] Maximum thickness is 131 meters (430 feet). [1]
The lower contact is placed at the first thin sandstone bed above the shale of the Mancos Shale. The formation is overlain by the Menefee Formation. [1]
The Point Lookout Sandstone was deposited in the Cretaceous Interior Seaway, as part of a regressive sequence as the seaway was receding. It is transitional between the marine environment of the underlying Mancos and the coastal plain environment of the overlying Menefee Formation.
Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, although none have yet been referred to a specific genus. [3]
The ammonite Clioscaphites vermiformis was identified in the formation. [4]
Exposures of the Point Lookout Sandstone at Apache Mesa in New Mexico contain heavy mineral deposits, rich in titanium, zirconium, rare earth elements, and other valuable metals. However, the deposits are much too small to be economical to mine as of 2021. The deposits represent a beach placer deposit similar to ones seen in the southeastern U.S. Atlantic coast, southeastern Australia, and India. [5]
The sandstone was first described by A. J. Collier for exposures in cliffs at Point Lookout, in Mesa Verde National Park, Montezuma County, Colorado, in the Paradox Basin, [6] and later described by Allen and Balk in 1954 as part of the Mesaverde Group in the San Juan Basin in New Mexico. [7]
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 Cedar Mountain Formation is the name given to a distinctive sedimentary geologic formation in eastern Utah, spanning most of the early and mid-Cretaceous. The formation was named for Cedar Mountain in northern Emery County, Utah, where William Lee Stokes first studied the exposures in 1944.
The Dakota is a sedimentary geologic unit name of formation and group rank in Midwestern North America. The Dakota units are generally composed of sandstones, mudstones, clays, and shales deposited in the Mid-Cretaceous opening of the Western Interior Seaway. The usage of the name Dakota for this particular Albian-Cenomanian strata is exceptionally widespread; from British Columbia and Alberta to Montana and Wisconsin to Colorado and Kansas to Utah and Arizona. It is famous for producing massive colorful rock formations in the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains of the United States, and for preserving both dinosaur footprints and early deciduous tree leaves.
The Moreno Hill Formation is a geological formation in western New Mexico whose strata were deposited in the Late Cretaceous. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation.
The Crevasse Canyon Formation is a coal-bearing Cretaceous geologic formation in New Mexico and Arizona.
The Moenave Formation is a Mesozoic geologic formation, in the Glen Canyon Group. It is found in Utah and Arizona.
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 Ringbone Formation is a Campanian geologic formation in southwestern New Mexico.
The Tres Hermanos Formation is a geologic formation in central and west-central New Mexico. It contains fossils characteristic of the Turonian Age of the late Cretaceous.
The Tropic Shale is a Mesozoic geologic formation. Dinosaur remains are among the fossils that have been recovered from the formation, including Nothronychus graffami. The Tropic Shale is a stratigraphic unit of the Kaiparowits Plateau of south central Utah. The Tropic Shale was first named in 1931 after the town of Tropic where the Type section is located. The Tropic Shale outcrops in Kane and Garfield counties, with large sections of exposure found in the Grand Staircase–Escalante National Monument.
The Menefee Formation is a lower Campanian geologic formation found in Colorado and New Mexico, United States.
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 Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.
The Cliff House Sandstone is a late Campanian stratigraphic unit comprising sandstones in the western United States.
The Greenhorn Limestone or Greenhorn Formation is a geologic formation in the Great Plains Region of the United States, dating to the Cenomanian and Turonian ages of the Late Cretaceous period. The formation gives its name to the Greenhorn cycle of the Western Interior Seaway.
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.
Chimney Rock is an 6,110-foot (1,860 meter) elevation pillar located within the Ute Mountain Tribal Park, in Montezuma County of southwest Colorado. This landmark is situated one mile southeast of the junction of U.S. Route 491 and US 160, and towers 900 feet above the floor of the Mancos River Valley. This geographical feature is also known as Jackson Butte, named for William Henry Jackson (1843–1942), photographer and explorer famous for his images of the American West who visited this area during the Hayden Survey. He was the first to photograph the cliff dwellings in this Mesa Verde region of the Four Corners area.
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).