San Jose Formation

San Jose Formation
San Jose Formation
Stratigraphic range: Wasatchian ; ~55.8–50 Ma PreꞒ Ꞓ O S D C P T J K Pg N
	San Jose Formation capping Mesa de Cuba, northern New Mexico
Type	Formation
Sub-units	Cuba Mesa, Ditch Canyon, Llaves, Regina & Tapicitos Members
Overlies	Nacimiento Formation
Thickness	430 m (1,410 ft)
Lithology
Primary	Sandstone
Other	Shale
Location
Coordinates	36°17′N107°04′W / 36.29°N 107.06°W
Approximate paleocoordinates	41°12′N91°42′W / 41.2°N 91.7°W
Region	New Mexico
Country	United States
Extent	San Juan Basin
Type section
Named for	San Jose Valley ( 36°10′48″N106°55′37″W / 36.180°N 106.927°W )
Named by	G.G. Simpson
Year defined	1948
	San Jose Formation (the United States) San Jose Formation (New Mexico)

Last updated January 30, 2023

The San Jose Formation is an Early Eocene (Wasatchian in the NALMA classification) geologic formation in the San Juan Basin of New Mexico and Colorado.^[1]

Description

The San Jose Formation is mostly sandstone but with some mudstone beds.^[2]^[3] The formation was deposited by high-energy streams on a muddy floodplain that was the last preserved sedimentation episode in the San Juan Basin. Stream direction was from the northwest, north, and east towards the south.^[4]

The basal Cuba Mesa Member is found throughout the depositional basin and is a coarse-grained sheet sandstone. The Regina Member is floodplain mudstone and disconnected sheet sandstone that intertongues with the sandstone-dominated Ditch Canyon Member in the northwestern part of the basin and the Llaves Member on the east side of the basin. The uppermost member is the siltstone-dominated Tapicitos Member. The Cuba Mesa Member was deposited during subsidence in the basin center, while the later members were deposited during episodes of monoclinal folding along the Nacimiento Fault on the west escarpment of the Nacimiento Mountains.^[4]

Paleontology

The mudstone beds of the San Jose Formation are locally rich in fossils.^[2] These include the Almagre and Largo faunas of the early Eocene.^[5]

Fossil content

Among others, the following fossils have been reported from the formation:^[1]

Mammals

Primates

Artiodactyls

Carnivora

Vulpavus australis ^[7]

Cimolesta

Esthonyx bisulcatus ^[8]

Ferae

Glires

Hyaenodonta

Hyaenodontidae indet. ^[8]

Insectivora

Apatemys bellulus ^[14]

Pantodonta

Coryphodon armatus ^[8]

Perissodactyla

Placentalia

Taeniodonta

Ectoganus gliriformis ^[19]

Theriiformes

Creodonta indet. ^[17]

Reptiles

Snakes

Cheilophis huerfanoensis ^[20]
Saniwa ensidens ^[20]
Sanjuanophis froehlichi ^[20]
cf. Calamagras primus ^[20]
cf. Saniwa sp. ^[20]

Turtles

Lizards

Paraglyptosaurus cf. yatkolai ^[20]
Lacertilia indet. ^[20]

History of investigation

In late 1874, Edward Drinker Cope was a member of the Wheeler Survey but ignored orders from Wheeler to proceed north from the Chama River to Colorado. Instead, he headed south to explore the area north of the San Pedro Mountains, where fossils had been reported. He found early Eocene fossils in the badlands north of Regina, New Mexico and spent about seven weeks collecting fishes, reptiles, and what was then the oldest known mammal fossils in North America. He also collected the fossil of a giant flightless bird. Cope later wrote his father that this was "the most important find in geology I have ever made".^[25]^[26]

In 1948, G.G. Simpson visited the same area and assigned the fossil beds to the San Jose Formation.^[2] In 1967, the formation was divided (in ascending order) into the Cuba Mesa Member, Regina Member, Llaves Member, and Tapicitos Member.^[5]

Related Research Articles

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The Glen Canyon Group is a geologic group of formations that is spread across the U.S. states of Nevada, Utah, northern Arizona, north west New Mexico and western Colorado. It is called the Glen Canyon Sandstone in the Green River Basin of Colorado and Utah.

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Navajosuchus is an extinct genus of alligatorine crocodylian. Its fossils have been found in the Paleocene-age Nacimiento Formation of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. It was named in 1942 by Charles C. Mook, and the original type species was N. novomexicanus. N. novomexicanus was based on AMNH 5186, a partial skull collected in 1913. Later research showed that Navajosuchus novomexicanus was the same as the earlier-named Allognathosuchus mooki. However, A. mooki does not belong to the genus Allognathosuchus, and so the name of the crocodilian becomes Navajosuchus mooki. Under whichever name is used, this animal would have been a generalized predator of the Nacimiento floodplains. It was the most common Nacimiento Formation crocodilian, found in both the Puercan and Torrejonian faunal assemblages.

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The Indian Meadows Formation is a Wasatchian geologic formation in Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene period.

The Pass Peak Formation is a Wasatchian geologic formation in Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ypresian stage of the Eocene period.

The Bridger Formation is a geologic formation in southwestern Wyoming. It preserves fossils dating back to the Ypresian Epoch of the Paleogene Period. The formation was named by American geologist Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden for Fort Bridger, which had itself been named for mountain man Jim Bridger. The Bridger Wilderness covers much of the Bridger Formation's area.

The DeBeque Formation is a geologic formation in Colorado's Piceance Basin, preserving fossils which date back to the Late Paleocene to Early Eocene period (Clarkforkian to Wasatchian in the NALMA classification. Examples of these fossils are held in the University of Colorado Museum of Natural History.

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References

Bibliography

Lichtig, A.; Hutchison, J. H.; Lucas, S. G. (2018). "Additional records of turtles from the Eocene San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin . 79: 319–322.
Lichtig, A. J.; Lucas, S. G. (2015). "Turtles of the lower Eocene San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico". New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin . 67: 161–177.
Kues, Barry S.; Lewis, Claudia J.; Lueth, Virgil W. (2014). A brief history of geological studies in New Mexico : with biographical profiles of notable New Mexico geologists (First ed.). New Mexico Geological Society. ISBN 978-1-58546-011-3.
Alroy, J (2002). "Synonymies and reidentifications of North American fossil mammals". _.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
Froehlich, D. J (2002). "Quo vadis Eohippus? The systematics and taxonomy of the early Eocene equids (Perissodactyla)". Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society . 134 (2): 141–256. doi: 10.1046/j.1096-3642.2002.00005.x .
Redline, A.D. (1997). "Revision of the Wind River faunas, early Eocene of central Wyoming. 13. Systematics and phylogenetic pattern of early Eocene Hyopsodus (Mammalia: Condylarthra)". Annals of Carnegie Museum. 66 (1): 1–81. doi: 10.5962/p.226625 . S2CID 90674869.
Williamson, T. E.; Lucas, S. G. (1992). "Meniscotherium (Mammalia, Condylarthra) from the Paleocene-Eocene of Western North America)". New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Bulletin . 1: 1–75.
Smith, Larry N. (1992). "Stratigraphy, sediment dispersal and paleogeography of the Lower Eocene San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico and Colorado" (PDF). New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series (43): 297–310. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
Sullivan, R. M.; Lucas, S. G. (1988). "Fossil Squamata from the San José Formation, Early Eocene, San Juan Basin, New Mexico". Journal of Paleontology . 62: 631–639.
Beard, K. C (1987). "Jemezius, a new omomyid primate from the early Eocene of northwestern New Mexico". Journal of Human Evolution . 16 (6): 457–468. doi:10.1016/0047-2484(87)90034-0.
Flanagan, K. M (1986). "Early Eocene rodents from the San Jose Formation, San Juan Basin, New Mexico". Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming Special Paper. 3: 197–220.
Krishtalka, L.; Stucky, R. K. (1986). "Early Eocene artiodactyls from the San Juan Basin, New Mexico, and the Piceance Basin, Colorado". Contributions to Geology, University of Wyoming Special Paper. 3: 183–196.
Schoch, R. M (1986). "Systematics, Functional Morphology and Macroevolution of the Extinct Mammalian Order Taeniodonta". Peabody Museum of Natural History Bulletin . 42: 1–320.
Korth, W.W. (1984). "Earliest Tertiary evolution and radiation of rodents in North America". Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History. 24: 1–71. doi: 10.5962/p.228603 . S2CID 198239228.
Bown, T.M.; Schankler, D (1982). "A review of the Proteutheria and Insectivora of the Willwood Formation (lower Eocene), Bighorn Basin, Wyoming". U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin. 1523. doi: 10.3133/b1523 .
Lucas, S. G.; Schoch, R. M.; Manning, E. (1981). "The Systematics of Forstercooperia, a Middle to Late Eocene Hyracodontid (Perissodactyla: Rhinocerotoidea) from Asia and Western North America". Journal of Paleontology . 55: 826–841.
Osborn, Henry Fairfield (1978) [1931]. Cope: Master Naturalist: Life and Letters of Edward Drinker Cope, With a Bibliography of His Writings. Manchester, New Hampshire: Ayer Com C. M. Bauer, 1916, U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. Paper 98-Ppany Publishing. ISBN 978-0-405-10735-1.
Gingerich, P. D.; Simons, E. L. (1977). "Systematics, phylogeny, and evolution of early Eocene Adapidae (Mammalia, Primates) in North America". Contributions from the Museum of Paleontology, University of Michigan . 24: 245–279.
Baltz, E.H. (1967). "Stratigraphy and regional tectonic implications of part of Upper Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks, east-central San Juan Basin, New Mexico". U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper. Professional Paper. 552. doi: 10.3133/pp552 .
Simpson, G. G (1951). "Hayden, Cope, and the Eocene of New Mexico". Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. 103: 1–21.
Simpson, G. G. (1948b). "The Eocene of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico; Part 2". American Journal of Science. 246 (6): 363–385. Bibcode:1948AmJS..246..363S. doi:10.2475/ajs.246.6.363.
Simpson, G. G. (1948a). "The Eocene of the San Juan Basin, New Mexico. Part 1". American Journal of Science. 246 (5): 257–282. Bibcode:1948AmJS..246..257S. doi:10.2475/ajs.246.5.257.
Denison, R.H. (1938). "The broad-skulled PseudoCreodi". New York Academy of Science Annals. 37: 163–256. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.1937.tb55483.x. S2CID 129936019.
Hay, O. P (1904). "On some fossil turtles belonging to the Marsh Collection in Yale University Museum". American Journal of Science . Fourth Series. 18 (106): 261–276. Bibcode:1904AmJS...18..261H. doi:10.2475/ajs.s4-18.106.261.
Cope, E. D (1875). "Systematic Catalogue of Vertebrata of the Eocene of New Mexico, Collected in 1874". Geographical Explorations and Surveys West of the 100th Meridian, Engineer Department, U. S. Army: 5–37.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

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[FW-1] 1 2 San Jose Formation at Fossilworks.org

[FOOTNOTESimpson1948a-2] 1 2 3 Simpson 1948a.

[FOOTNOTESimpson1948b-3] Simpson 1948b.

[FOOTNOTESmith1992-4] 1 2 Smith 1992.

[FOOTNOTEBaltz1967-5] 1 2 Baltz 1967.

[FOOTNOTEGingerichSimons1977-6] Gingerich & Simons 1977.

[FOOTNOTELucasSchochManning1981-7] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Lucas, Schoch & Manning 1981.

[FOOTNOTEAlroy2002-8] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Alroy 2002.

[FOOTNOTEBeard1987-9] 1 2 Beard 1987.

[FOOTNOTEKrishtalkaStucky1986-10] 1 2 Krishtalka & Stucky 1986.

[FOOTNOTEDenison1938-11] Denison 1938.

[FOOTNOTEKorth1984-12] Korth 1984.

[FOOTNOTEFlanagan1986-13] Flanagan 1986.

[FOOTNOTEBownSchankler1982-14] Bown & Schankler 1982.

[FOOTNOTEFroehlich2002-15] 1 2 Froehlich 2002.

[FOOTNOTERedline1997-16] 1 2 3 Redline 1997.

[FOOTNOTESimpson1951-17] 1 2 Simpson 1951.

[FOOTNOTEWilliamsonLucas1992-18] Williamson & Lucas 1992.

[FOOTNOTESchoch1986-19] Schoch 1986.

[FOOTNOTESullivanLucas1988-20] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Sullivan & Lucas 1988.

[FOOTNOTELichtigLucas2015-21] 1 2 3 4 5 6 Lichtig & Lucas 2015.

[FOOTNOTEHay1904-22] Hay 1904.

[FOOTNOTECope1875-23] Cope 1875.

[FOOTNOTELichtigHutchisonLucas2018-24] 1 2 Lichtig, Hutchison & Lucas 2018.

[FOOTNOTEOsborn1978-25] Osborn 1978.

[FOOTNOTEKuesLewisLueth2014-26] Kues, Lewis & Lueth 2014.

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