Trinidad Sandstone | |
---|---|
Stratigraphic range: | |
Type | Formation |
Underlies | Vermejo Formation |
Overlies | Pierre Shale |
Thickness | 70–300 ft (21–91 m) |
Lithology | |
Primary | Sandstone |
Location | |
Coordinates | 37°10′N104°31′W / 37.17°N 104.51°W |
Region | New Mexico Colorado |
Country | United States |
Type section | |
Named for | Trinidad, Colorado |
Named by | R.C. Hills |
Year defined | 1899 |
The Trinidad Sandstone is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico and southeastern Colorado. [1] It was formed during the Campanian Age of the Cretaceous Period and contains fossils. [2]
The Trinidad Formation consists of a massive fine- to very fine-grained arkosic sandstone some 70–300 feet (21–91 m) in thickness. [1] [3] It rests conformably on the Pierre Shale and is in turn conformably overlain by the Vermejo Formation. [4] [2]
The formation is interpreted as shore deposits marking the final regression of the Western Interior Seaway from northeastern New Mexico. It is correlative with the Fox Hills Sandstone and the Pictured Cliffs Sandstone. [5]
The formation contains trace fossils of Ophiomorpha and, in a few locations, Diplocraterion . "Ladders" of Diplocraterion are over 1 meter (3.3 ft) long in the lower part of the formation at Cerrososo Canyon. [3]
There is potential for natural gas extraction from the Trinidad Sandstone. The gas originates in interbedded coal formations. [6]
The beds making up this unit were originally included in Hayden's Raton Hills group in 1869. The name, Trinidad, was first applied by R.C. Hills in 1899, and W.T. Lee (1917) further refined the definition to include only Hills' "Upper Trinidad". [1]
The Morrison Formation is a distinctive sequence of Upper Jurassic sedimentary rock found in the western United States which has been the most fertile source of dinosaur fossils in North America. It is composed of mudstone, sandstone, siltstone, and limestone and is light gray, greenish gray, or red. Most of the fossils occur in the green siltstone beds and lower sandstones, relics of the rivers and floodplains of the Jurassic period.
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 Laramie Formation is a geologic formation of the Late Cretaceous (Maastrichtian) age, named by Clarence King in 1876 for exposures in northeastern Colorado, in the United States. It was deposited on a coastal plain and in coastal swamps that flanked the Western Interior Seaway. It contains coal, clay and uranium deposits, as well as plant and animal fossils, including dinosaur remains.
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 Raton Basin is a geologic structural basin in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. It takes its name from Raton Pass and the town of Raton, New Mexico. In extent, the basin is approximately 50 miles (80 km) east-west, and 90 miles (140 km) north-south, in Huerfano and Las Animas Counties, Colorado, and Colfax County, New Mexico.
The Vermejo Formation is a geologic formation of Upper Cretaceous age. It outcrops in the Raton Basin of northeastern New Mexico and southern Colorado.
The Raton Formation is a geological formation of Upper Cretaceous and Paleocene age which outcrops in the Raton Basin of northeast New Mexico and southeast Colorado.
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 Crevasse Canyon Formation is a coal-bearing Cretaceous geologic formation in New Mexico 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 Mancos Shale or Mancos Group is a Late Cretaceous geologic formation of the Western United States.
The Thermopolis Shale is a geologic formation which formed in west-central North America in the Albian age of the Late Cretaceous period. Surface outcroppings occur in central Canada, and the U.S. states of Montana and Wyoming. The rock formation was laid down over about 7 million years by sediment flowing into the Western Interior Seaway. The formation's boundaries and members are not well-defined by geologists, which has led to different definitions of the formation. Some geologists conclude the formation should not have a designation independent of the formations above and below it. A range of invertebrate and small and large vertebrate fossils and coprolites are found in the formation.
The Poison Canyon Formation is a geologic formation in the Raton Basin of Colorado and New Mexico. The formation was deposited from the late Cretaceous through the Paleocene.
The Cub Mountain Formation is a geologic formation in southern New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Eocene epoch. The formation also records the progressive unroofing of nearby mountainous uplifts during the Laramide orogeny.
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 Mesaverde Group is a Late Cretaceous stratigraphic group found in areas of Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming, in the Western United States.
Juana Lopez refers to both the uppermost member of the Carlile Shale formation and to the environment that caused it to form. The Juana Lopez Member is calcareous sandstone dated to the Turonian age of the Upper Cretaceous and is exposed in the southern and western Colorado, northern and central New Mexico, and northeastern Utah. The unit has been described as "the most enigmatic" member of the Carlile Shale.
The Beclabito Formation is a late Jurassic sedimentary geologic formation, found in northwestern New Mexico and northeastern Arizona.