Todilto Formation | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Formation |
Sub-units | Luciano Mesa Member, Tonque Arroyo Member |
Underlies | Beclabito Formation |
Overlies | Entrada Formation |
Thickness | 70 m (230 ft) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Gypsum |
Other | Calcareous shale |
Location | |
Coordinates | 35°54′40″N108°57′22″W / 35.911°N 108.956°W |
Region | New Mexico |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Todilto Park, San Juan Basin |
Named by | Herbert E. Gregory |
The Todilto Formation is a geologic formation in northern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. It preserves fossils dating back to the Callovian stage of the middle Jurassic period.
The formation consists of evaporites. It is divided into a lower calcareous shale (the Luciano Mesa Member) up to 6 meters (20 feet) thick, and an upper gypsum bed (the Tonque Arroyo Member). [1] [2]
Based on varve counts in the Luciano Mesa Member, the formation was laid down in a geologically brief period of time, [3] likely in a salina (a coastal body of saline water) that was replenished both by rivers and by seepage or periodic flooding from the Sundance Sea. [2] The varves show a 10 to 13 year periodicity that is interpreted as the solar sunspot cycle, showing that this cycle has existed for at least 160 million years. [3] The contact with the underlying Entrada Formation is very sharp and may indicate the Todilto Sea formed catastrophically from a breach in a barrier between the basin and the Sundance Sea. [4] The presence of dasyclad algae in the Luciano Mesa Member indicates at least some marine flooding. [5]
Dasyclad algae have been found in the Luciano Mesa Member. Evidence has been found for stromatolites in the formation near Mesa Montañosa 35°22′50″N107°52′35″W / 35.3806°N 107.8763°W . [6]
The formation is mined for gypsum in the northern Albuquerque Basin, including along the La Bajada escarpment south of I-25, near San Felipe Pueblo, and at White Mesa near San Ysidro. [7] It has also yielded uranium ore. [8]
The formation was first described by H.E. Gregory in 1917 for exposures at Todilto Park in the San Juan Basin. He assigned it to his (now defunct) La Plata Group. [9] It has sometimes been included in the Morrison Formation. [10]
The Entrada Sandstone is a formation in the San Rafael Group found in the U.S. states of Wyoming, Colorado, northwest New Mexico, northeast Arizona, and southeast Utah. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was deposited during the Jurassic Period sometime between 180 and 140 million years ago in various environments, including tidal mudflats, beaches, and sand dunes. The Middle Jurassic San Rafael Group was dominantly deposited as ergs in a desert environment around the shallow Sundance Sea.
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. In New Mexico, it is often raised to the status of a geological group, the Chinle Group. Some authors have controversially considered the Chinle to be synonymous to the Dockum Group of eastern Colorado and New Mexico, western Texas, the Oklahoma panhandle, and southwestern Kansas. The Chinle Formation is part of the Colorado Plateau, Basin and Range, and the southern section of the Interior Plains. A probable separate depositional basin within the Chinle is found in northwestern Colorado and northeastern Utah. The southern portion of the Chinle reaches a maximum thickness of a little over 520 meters (1,710 ft). Typically, the Chinle rests unconformably on the Moenkopi Formation.
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.
The San Rafael Group is a geologic group or collection of related rock formations that is spread across the U.S. states of New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. As part of the Colorado Plateau, this group of formations was laid down in the Middle Jurassic during the Bajocian, Bathonian and Callovian Stages.
The Carmel Formation is a geologic formation in the San Rafael Group that is spread across the U.S. states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, north east Arizona and New Mexico. Part of the Colorado Plateau, this formation was laid down in the Middle Jurassic during the late Bajocian, through the Bathonian and into the early Callovian stages.
The Summerville Formation is a geological formation in New Mexico, Colorado, and Utah of the Southwestern United States. It dates back to the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic.
The Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.
Uteodon is a genus of herbivorous iguanodontian dinosaur. It is a basal iguanodontian which lived during the late Jurassic period in what is now Uintah County, Utah. It is known from the middle of the Brushy Basin Member, Morrison Formation. The genus was named by Andrew T. McDonald in 2011 and the type species is U. aphanoecetes.
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 San Andres Formation is a geologic formation found in New Mexico and Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the late Leonardian (Kungurian) Age) of the Permian Period.
The Abo Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico. It contains fossils characteristic of the Cisuralian epoch of the Permian period.
The Yeso Group is a group of geologic formations in New Mexico. It contains fossils characteristic of the Kungurian Age of the early Permian Period.
The Burro Canyon Formation is an Early Cretaceous Period sedimentary geologic formation, found in western Colorado, the Chama Basin and eastern San Juan Basin of northern New Mexico, and in eastern Utah, US.
The Curtis Formation is a geologic formation in Utah. It preserves fossils dating back to the Callovian age of the Jurassic period.
The Mesaverde Group is a Late Cretaceous stratigraphic group found in areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, in the Western United States.
The Zuni Sandstone is a geologic formation in west-central New Mexico. It marks the southernmost limit of Jurassic fluvial and lacustrine sedimentary formations, which pinch out to leave a single sandstone body.
The Beclabito Formation is a late Jurassic sedimentary geologic formation, found in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.
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).
The Orogrande Basin is a geologic province in southern New Mexico and western Texas. It includes Doña Ana, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, and Otero Counties in New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas. The province takes its name from the community of Orogrande, New Mexico.