Punchbowl Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: Mid-Late Miocene (Clarendonian-Hemphillian) ~ | |
Type | Formation |
Underlies | Crowder Formation [1] |
Overlies | Paradise Springs Formation |
Lithology | |
Primary | Conglomerate, sandstone |
Other | Mudstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 34°00′N118°12′W / 34.0°N 118.2°W |
Approximate paleocoordinates | 33°24′N114°24′W / 33.4°N 114.4°W |
Region | Los Angeles County, California |
Country | United States |
Extent | San Gabriel Mountains |
Type section | |
Named for | Devil's Punchbowl |
Named by | Noble |
Year defined | 1953 |
The Punchbowl Formation is a sedimentary sandstone geologic formation in the northern San Gabriel Mountains, above the Antelope Valley in Los Angeles County, southern California. [2] [3]
The sandstone beds of the formation are exposed in the walls of the Devil's Punchbowl, a scenic gorge within the Devil's Punchbowl Natural Area, an L.A. County park within the Angeles National Forest. Three separate faults have folded and uplifted the formation in view. [2] The Devil's Punchbowl is a large plunging sandstone syncline, where the edges of the formation have been folded upward, and the center has dipped. It was formed by the Punchbowl Fault, which is near the San Andreas Fault to the north.
The Punchbowl Formation crops out in the Punchbowl Block and comprises approximately 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) of fluvial and alluvial conglomerates, sandstones, and minor mudstones, which accumulated during the middle-late Miocene. A distinct basal member is middle Miocene in age. The underlying Paradise Springs and Vasquez Formations were formerly interpreted as either part of the basal Punchbowl Formation, or deposits in a fault-bounded sliver along the Punchbowl Fault that originated in a separate basin. [4]
The Devil's Punchbowl drainage flows into Sandrock Creek, a tributary of Big Rock Creek, which disappears into the Mojave Desert. [2]
The uplifted formation preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period of the Cenozoic geologic era, [3] formed during the lower Pliocene to upper Miocene Ages (~5-10 million years ago). [2] [5]
Cormohipparion is an extinct genus of horse belonging to the tribe Hipparionini that lived in North America during the late Miocene to Pliocene. They grew up to 3 feet long.
Scaphohippus is an extinct Miocene genus of equine, with two known species, known from fossils found in California, New Mexico, Montana, and Nebraska.
The Barstow Formation is a series of limestones, conglomerates, sandstones, siltstones and shales exposed in the Mojave Desert near Barstow in San Bernardino County, California.
The Alachua Formation is a Miocene geologic formation in Florida. The claystones, sandstones and phosphorites of the formation preserve many fossils of mammals, birds, reptiles and fish, among others megalodon.
The Ash Hollow Formation of the Ogallala Group is a geological formation found in Nebraska and South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period. It was named after Ash Hollow, Nebraska and can be seen in Ash Hollow State Historical Park. Ashfall Fossil Beds State Historical Park is within this formation.
The Valentine Formation is a geologic unit formation or member within the Ogallala unit in northcentral Nebraska near the South Dakota border. It preserves fossils dating to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period and is particularly noted for Canid fossils. This unit consists of loosely-consolidated sandstone that crumbles easily. These sands carry the water of the Ogallala Aquifer and is the source of much of the water in the Niobrara River. A particular feature of the Valentine is lenticular beds of green-gray opaline sandstone that can be identified in other states, including South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. Although three mammalian fauna stages can be mapped throughout the range of the Ogallala, no beddings of the Ogallala are mappable and all attempts of formally applying the Valentine name to any mappable lithology beyond the type location have been abandoned. Even so, opaline sandstone has been used to refer to this green-gray opalized conglomerate sandstone that is widely found in the lower Ogallala Formation.
The Thin Elk Formation is a geologic formation in South Dakota. It preserves fossils dating back to the Neogene period.
The Runningwater Formation is a geologic formation in Nebraska. It preserves fossils dating back to the Hemingfordian of the Early Miocene of the Neogene period. The sandstones and conglomerates of the formation were deposited in a fluvial environment. The formation has provided many fossil mammals.
The San Jose Formation is an Early Eocene geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado.
The Plush Ranch Formation is a geologic formation in the Transverse Ranges of southern California. The formation preserves fossils dating back to the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene.
The Dove Spring Formation is a geologic formation in the western Mojave Desert of California. It preserves fossils dating back to the Miocene epoch of the Neogene period.
The Crowder Formation is a geologic formation in the Central and Western Mojave Desert, in northern Los Angeles County and eastern San Bernardino County, in Southern California.
The Mint Canyon Formation (Tm) is a Miocene geologic formation in the Sierra Pelona Mountains of Los Angeles County, southern California. The formation preserves fossils dating back to the Middle to Late Miocene.
The Diligencia Formation (Td) is a geologic formation cropping out in the Orocopia Mountains in southern California. It preserves mammal fossils dating to the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene.
The Tick Canyon Formation (Tt) or Tick Canyon strata, is an Early Miocene geologic formation in the Sierra Pelona Ridge of the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles County, California.
The Gracias Formation is a geologic formation in Honduras. The mainly sandstones, siltstones and claystones preserve vertebrate fossils dating back to the Neogene period.
Sivalhippus is an extinct genus of horse that lived in Africa and the Indian subcontinent during the late Miocene.
The Onzole Formation is an Early Pliocene geologic formation in the Borbón Basin of northwestern Ecuador. The formation consists of a shallow marine sandstone member containing many fish fossils, among which megalodon, and a deep water member comprising tuffaceous shales and mudstones containing gastropods, bivalves and scaphopods.
The Calvert Formation is a geologic formation in Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware. It preserves fossils dating back to the early to middle Miocene epoch of the Neogene period. It is one of the three formations which make up the Calvert Cliffs, all of which are part of the Chesapeake Group.
The Vasquez Formation (Tvz) is a geologic formation cropping out at the eponymous Vasquez Rocks in southern California. The formation dates to the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene.