FIGURE 1 - uploaded by Spencer G. Lucas
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Map of part of southern New Mexico and West Texas showing distribution of mountain ranges with Hueco Group outcrops mentioned in the text. Numbers refer to Hueco Group sections discussed in the text: 1 = Franklin Mountains, 2 = Hueco Mountains, 3 = Robledo Mountains, 4 = Doña Ana Mountains, 5 = San Andres Mountains and 6 = Sacramento Mountains. Base map modified from Kottlowski (1963). Scale bar = 30 miles (~ 50 km).
Contexts in source publication
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... Hueco Group encompasses Lower Permian marine strata, predominantly limestone, that crop out across parts of West Texas and southern New Mexico (Fig. 1). These strata represent marine deposition on extensive carbonate platforms and deeper sea bottoms along part of the Pangean tropical shoreline during the Wolfcampian-early Leonardian (e.g., Kottlowski, 1963;Jordan, 1975). The Franklin Mountains, which divide El Paso in West Texas include substantial outcrops of the Hueco Group (Fig. ...
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... limestone beds represent stromatolites with micritic and pelmicritic matrix between the algal mats ( Fig. 5.1). Rarely, ostra- cods are present. The uppermost 10 m of the Panther Seep Formation are mostly a covered interval with two thin, laminated, gray limestone beds (Fig. 4). The top of the Panther Seep Formation consists of thin- bedded, gray ...
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... The base of this limestone is fusulinid-crinoid packstone to grainstone composed of abundant crinoid fragments and fusulinid tests (Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata) that are partly fragmented and abraded (Fig. 5.3). Subordinate bryozoan frag- ments, shell debris, brachiopod fragments, a few smaller foraminifers (Climacammina, Endothyra sp.: Fig. 12.4, Planotaxis sp.: Fig. 12.8), brachiopod spines and ostracods are present. Some of the crinoid frag- ments are partly replaced by chert. Micritic intraclasts are the only non- skeletal grains. The grains are cemented by ...
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... is fusulinid-crinoid packstone to grainstone composed of abundant crinoid fragments and fusulinid tests (Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata) that are partly fragmented and abraded (Fig. 5.3). Subordinate bryozoan frag- ments, shell debris, brachiopod fragments, a few smaller foraminifers (Climacammina, Endothyra sp.: Fig. 12.4, Planotaxis sp.: Fig. 12.8), brachiopod spines and ostracods are present. Some of the crinoid frag- ments are partly replaced by chert. Micritic intraclasts are the only non- skeletal grains. The grains are cemented by ...
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... fusulinid-crinoid packstone to grainstone is overlain by nonlaminated, poorly sorted packstone containing abundant echinoderms (crinoid fragments) and bryozoans, and subordinate brachiopod shells ( Fig. 5.4-5.5). Rare smaller foraminifers (Nodosinelloides bella: Fig. 12.10, Endothyra, Spireitlina sp.: Fig. 12.11, Globivalvulina ex gr. G. bulloides: Fig. 12.12), fusulinid tests and ostracods are present. The rock contains a micritic matrix, and calcite cement locally. Many echinoderm fragments display syntaxial ...
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... fusulinid-crinoid packstone to grainstone is overlain by nonlaminated, poorly sorted packstone containing abundant echinoderms (crinoid fragments) and bryozoans, and subordinate brachiopod shells ( Fig. 5.4-5.5). Rare smaller foraminifers (Nodosinelloides bella: Fig. 12.10, Endothyra, Spireitlina sp.: Fig. 12.11, Globivalvulina ex gr. G. bulloides: Fig. 12.12), fusulinid tests and ostracods are present. The rock contains a micritic matrix, and calcite cement locally. Many echinoderm fragments display syntaxial ...
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... packstone to grainstone is overlain by nonlaminated, poorly sorted packstone containing abundant echinoderms (crinoid fragments) and bryozoans, and subordinate brachiopod shells ( Fig. 5.4-5.5). Rare smaller foraminifers (Nodosinelloides bella: Fig. 12.10, Endothyra, Spireitlina sp.: Fig. 12.11, Globivalvulina ex gr. G. bulloides: Fig. 12.12), fusulinid tests and ostracods are present. The rock contains a micritic matrix, and calcite cement locally. Many echinoderm fragments display syntaxial ...
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... marl is intercalated with the lime- stone beds. Limestone is mostly bioclastic wackestone, rare packstone, grainstone and other microfacies types. The packstone of unit 27 (Fig. 4) is fine-grained, moderately sorted and indistinctly laminated. Skeletons include abundant echinoderms (crinoids), many small foraminifers (Geinitzina postcarbonica: Fig. 12.17-12.18, Eotuberitina, Tuberitina sp.: Fig. 12.9, Globivalvulina, Tetrataxis, Nodosinelloides netjachewi: Fig. 12.3, and Syzrania), ostracods and shell debris. Nonskeletal grains are peloids and micritic intraclasts. The rock contains small amounts of ...
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... Limestone is mostly bioclastic wackestone, rare packstone, grainstone and other microfacies types. The packstone of unit 27 (Fig. 4) is fine-grained, moderately sorted and indistinctly laminated. Skeletons include abundant echinoderms (crinoids), many small foraminifers (Geinitzina postcarbonica: Fig. 12.17-12.18, Eotuberitina, Tuberitina sp.: Fig. 12.9, Globivalvulina, Tetrataxis, Nodosinelloides netjachewi: Fig. 12.3, and Syzrania), ostracods and shell debris. Nonskeletal grains are peloids and micritic intraclasts. The rock contains small amounts of ...
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... and other microfacies types. The packstone of unit 27 (Fig. 4) is fine-grained, moderately sorted and indistinctly laminated. Skeletons include abundant echinoderms (crinoids), many small foraminifers (Geinitzina postcarbonica: Fig. 12.17-12.18, Eotuberitina, Tuberitina sp.: Fig. 12.9, Globivalvulina, Tetrataxis, Nodosinelloides netjachewi: Fig. 12.3, and Syzrania), ostracods and shell debris. Nonskeletal grains are peloids and micritic intraclasts. The rock contains small amounts of ...
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... massive limestone of unit 28 (Fig. 4) is wackestone to packstone, nonlaminated, poorly sorted and composed of abundant, completely recrystallized skeletons of probable phylloid algae and mol- lusks, subordinately of ostracods, echinoderms, echinoid spines, bra- chiopods, a few small foraminifers (mostly tubular forms, also Nodosinelloides bella: Fig. 14.5, Endothyra and Globivalvulina) and very rare fusulinids (Fig. 5.6). Peloids and a few micritic intraclasts are present. The matrix is micrite, and locally small amounts of calcite cement are ...
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... micrite that contains many ostracods and thin bivalve shells, and large oncoids (up to 1 cm) formed by cyanobacteria. Rarely, shell fragments form the nuclei of the oncoids. The uppermost limestone bed (Fig. 4, top of unit 36) is composed of oncoidal floatstone containing abundant oncoids up to 8 mm in diameter formed by Rivulariaceae(?) ( Fig. 12.1-12.2), and micritic intraclasts embedded in micrite to siltstone that contains abundant ostracods. Commonly, ostracod shells form the nuclei of oncoids. The portion of the lower Hueco Group (Hueco Canyon Forma- tion) we measured at Tom Mays Park indicates, as have earlier published sections here (Jordan, 1971;Harbour, 1972;LeMone, ...
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... 5 ( Fig. 2B: UTM zone 13, 355912E, 3527774N, datum NAD 27) is the location of Harbour's (1972) section 13, and the location of the type section of the Trans Mountain Road Member. The type section is ~ 45 m thick (Figs. 6-7). The member is underlain by thin, even and wavy-bedded limestone of the lower member of the Alacran Mountain Formation and overlain by massive, cliff-forming ...
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... overlying massive limestone at the base of the upper member of the Alacran Mountain Formation (Fig. 6, unit 18) is wackestone that contains abundant completely recrystallized fragments of (?)calcareous algae, subordinate bryozoans, bivalve shells, ostracods, Tubiphytes, rare smaller foraminifers and echinoderm fragments. The fossil fragments are embedded in micrite. Locally, where the fossils are densely packed, some calcite cement is present ...
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... in a fine bioclastic matrix (Fig. 8.3). The following fusulinids were identified: Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni, P. ex gr. P. beedei and Advenella? sp. The matrix contains abundant sponge spicules, subordi- nate echinoderms, ostracods, gastropods, a few smaller foraminifers (calcivertellids, Endothyra, Eotuberitina, Nodosinelloides longa: Fig. 12. 13-12.16 and Tetrataxis), echinoid spines, rare bryozoans and Tubiphytes. The sponge spicules are locally densely packed and include in-situ fragments (Fig. 8.7-8.8). Completely recrystallized fragments of phylloid algae are also present. The interiors of brachiopods are filled with pelmicritic matrix. A few echinoderms and brachiopod ...
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... Hill 1 (Fig. 2B: UTM zone 13, 355278E, 3530462N, datum NAD 27), yellow and pale green, slope-forming siltstones underlie a 4 m FIGURE 5. Thin section photographs of limestone from the Panther Seep Formation (Figs. 1-2) and lowermost Hueco Canyon Formation (Figs. 3-6) at Tom Mays Park. For position of samples see measured section in Figure 4. 1, Bioturbated peloidal wackestone to ...
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... Hill 1 (Fig. 2B: UTM zone 13, 355278E, 3530462N, datum NAD 27), yellow and pale green, slope-forming siltstones underlie a 4 m FIGURE 5. Thin section photographs of limestone from the Panther Seep Formation (Figs. 1-2) and lowermost Hueco Canyon Formation (Figs. 3-6) at Tom Mays Park. For position of samples see measured section in Figure 4. 1, Bioturbated peloidal wackestone to packstone present between algal mats. Sample TMP 1, width 6.3 mm. 2, Brachiopod floatstone containing abundant small brachiopods, many with both valves preserved. The ...
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... ostra- cods, foraminifers and other skeletons (recrystallized); (4) rare siltstone; (5) chert grains that appear mostly homogenous; in a few chert grains outlines of fossils are visible, indicating that they represent silicified limestone; and (6) a few subangular detrital quartz grains of silt to sand size cemented by coarse, sparry calcite ( Fig. ...
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... Hill 2 ( Fig. 2B: UTM zone 13, 355949E, 3528910N, datum NAD 27), conglomerates and red beds crop out around and over a hill of tectonically mixed rocks, including recognizable units of the Ordovician El Paso and Montoya groups. Here, bedded cherty limestone is overlain by 15-20 m of mostly covered reddish mudstone, siltstone and sandy mudstone with three intercalated beds of ...
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... Mountains, the base of the Leonardian is ~ 85 m above the top of the Deer Mountain Red Shale Member, which is of late Wolfcampian age (Thompson, 1954;Williams, 1963 Mountain Formation stratigraphically well below the base of the type section of the Trans Mountain Road Member (Fig. 6). The sample con- tains Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.8, 11.10-11.11), Pseudoschwagerina morsei ( Fig. 11.4, 11.9), Thompsonites sp. (Fig. 11.12) and Pseudoschwagerina cf. P. rhodesi ( Fig. 11.13) 2. NMMNH locality 8290 is from the basal bed (bed 17) of the Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4). Here, we have collected Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata ( Fig. 10.2, ...
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... the Deer Mountain Red Shale Member, which is of late Wolfcampian age (Thompson, 1954;Williams, 1963 Mountain Formation stratigraphically well below the base of the type section of the Trans Mountain Road Member (Fig. 6). The sample con- tains Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.8, 11.10-11.11), Pseudoschwagerina morsei ( Fig. 11.4, 11.9), Thompsonites sp. (Fig. 11.12) and Pseudoschwagerina cf. P. rhodesi ( Fig. 11.13) 2. NMMNH locality 8290 is from the basal bed (bed 17) of the Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4). Here, we have collected Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata ( Fig. 10.2, 10.3, 10.5 and ...
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... which is of late Wolfcampian age (Thompson, 1954;Williams, 1963 Mountain Formation stratigraphically well below the base of the type section of the Trans Mountain Road Member (Fig. 6). The sample con- tains Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.8, 11.10-11.11), Pseudoschwagerina morsei ( Fig. 11.4, 11.9), Thompsonites sp. (Fig. 11.12) and Pseudoschwagerina cf. P. rhodesi ( Fig. 11.13) 2. NMMNH locality 8290 is from the basal bed (bed 17) of the Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4). Here, we have collected Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata ( Fig. 10.2, 10.3, 10.5 and ...
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... 1963 Mountain Formation stratigraphically well below the base of the type section of the Trans Mountain Road Member (Fig. 6). The sample con- tains Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.8, 11.10-11.11), Pseudoschwagerina morsei ( Fig. 11.4, 11.9), Thompsonites sp. (Fig. 11.12) and Pseudoschwagerina cf. P. rhodesi ( Fig. 11.13) 2. NMMNH locality 8290 is from the basal bed (bed 17) of the Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4). Here, we have collected Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata ( Fig. 10.2, 10.3, 10.5 and ...
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... P. uddeni ( Fig. 11.1-11.3, 11.5-11.8, 11.10-11.11), Pseudoschwagerina morsei ( Fig. 11.4, 11.9), Thompsonites sp. (Fig. 11.12) and Pseudoschwagerina cf. P. rhodesi ( Fig. 11.13) 2. NMMNH locality 8290 is from the basal bed (bed 17) of the Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4). Here, we have collected Thompsonites ex gr. T. emaciata ( Fig. 10.2, 10.3, 10.5 and ...
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... NMMNH locality 8291 is from the basal part of the section at Hill 4 (Fig. 6). Here, we have collected Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 10.1, 10.4), Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. beedei (Fig. 10.6) and Advenella? sp. (Fig. 10.7, ...
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... NMMNH locality 8291 is from the basal part of the section at Hill 4 (Fig. 6). Here, we have collected Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 10.1, 10.4), Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. beedei (Fig. 10.6) and Advenella? sp. (Fig. 10.7, ...
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... NMMNH locality 8291 is from the basal part of the section at Hill 4 (Fig. 6). Here, we have collected Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. uddeni ( Fig. 10.1, 10.4), Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. beedei (Fig. 10.6) and Advenella? sp. (Fig. 10.7, ...
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... a broad sense, limestone-dominated marine strata termed Hueco Group across West Texas and southern New Mexico have long been recognized as laterally equivalent to red, non-marine siliciclastics of the Abo Formation in central New Mexico (Fig. 13). This general strati- graphic relationship has long been understood (e.g., Kottlowski, 1963;Kottlowski et al., 1975), but detailed correlation of the Hueco and Abo lithosomes has been problematic, in large part because of a lack of de- tailed lithostratigraphy and biostratigraphy of many of the relevant out- ...
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... of the Trans Mountain Road Member and its precise age contributes to our understanding of the correlation of the Hueco and Abo lithosomes. In the mountain ranges of southern New Mexico and West Texas near the Franklin Mountains (Fig. 1), the upper part of the Hueco Group includes a red-bed siliciclastic interval long (and we believe correctly) viewed as a tongue of the Abo Formation, or red beds correla- tive to part of the upper Abo ...
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... in the Robledo Mountains of Doña Ana County, New Mexico, northwest of the Franklin Mountains (Fig. 1), the upper part of the Hueco Group includes a stratigraphic interval of interbedded marine shale/limestone and nonmarine red beds long termed "Abo tongue" or "member" (e.g., Seager et al., 1976;Mack and James, 1986;Mack et al., 1988), now named Robledo Mountains Formation of the Hueco Group ( Lucas et al., 1995Lucas et al., , 1998b). ...
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... the Doña Ana Mountains and the southern San Andres Moun- tains of southern New Mexico (Fig. 1), the Hueco Group section is very similar to that in the Robledo Mountains ( Krainer et al., 2005Krainer et al., , 2009, although the upper part of the Robledo Mountains Formation and the entire Apache Dam Formation do not crop out (Fig. 13). Non-fusulinid foraminiferans indicate that the Robledo Mountains Formation in the Doña Ana ...
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... the Doña Ana Mountains and the southern San Andres Moun- tains of southern New Mexico (Fig. 1), the Hueco Group section is very similar to that in the Robledo Mountains ( Krainer et al., 2005Krainer et al., , 2009, although the upper part of the Robledo Mountains Formation and the entire Apache Dam Formation do not crop out (Fig. 13). Non-fusulinid foraminiferans indicate that the Robledo Mountains Formation in the Doña Ana Mountains is of middle/late Wolfcampian age ( Krainer et al., ...
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... the southern San Andres Mountains (Fig. 1), the Robledo Mountains Formation is overlain by an interval of fluvial Abo red beds, which in turn is overlain by the base of the Yeso Group ( Kottlowski et al., 1956;Bachman and Myers, 1969;). Age data to constrain correlations are not well understood in this section, but corre- lation of the Robledo Mountains Formation to similar ...
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... type section of the Hueco Group in the Hueco Mountains of West Texas (Fig. 1) includes a poorly exposed, slope-forming unit of marine limestone and red-bed shale, the Deer Mountain Red Shale Mem- ber of the Alacran Mountain Formation ( King and King, 1929;King, 1934;King et al., 1945;Williams, 1963). This unit is bracketed by fusulinid biostratigraphy that indicates it is of late Wolfcampian age (Williams, ...
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... complicated and less agreed on is correlation of the Hueco- Abo section in the Sacramento Mountains of Otero County, New Mexico. Here, an upper red-bed tongue of the Abo Formation (Lee Ranch Tongue of Bachman and Hayes, 1958) overlies and grades southward into lime- stone-dominated strata of the Hueco Group (Fig. 13). Gypsum and dolomitic limestone beds are the basal part of the Yeso Group and di- rectly overlie the Lee Ranch Tongue. Southward, on Otero Mesa (T21S, R11E), the lower part of the Yeso Group contains a red-bed interval of sandstone and shale above its basal gypsum and dolomite beds, the Otero Mesa Member of the Yeso of Bachman and ...
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... data reviewed here thus indicate a broad middle to late Wolfcampian age for the red-bed intervals that are tongues of the Abo lithosome into the upper part of the Hueco Group lithosome across part of southern New Mexico and West Texas (Fig. 13). Ross and Ross (1985) identified two tectonic events (successive episodes in the Ouachita orogeny) during Wolfcampian time that are evident in West Texas. They (Beede, 1916). 6, Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. beedei Dunbar andSkinner, 1937. 7, 9, Advenella? sp. (see Wilde, 2006). 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 are from Hill 4, unit 1 (Fig. 6); 2, 3, 5, 8, ...
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... events (successive episodes in the Ouachita orogeny) during Wolfcampian time that are evident in West Texas. They (Beede, 1916). 6, Pseudoschwagerina ex gr. P. beedei Dunbar andSkinner, 1937. 7, 9, Advenella? sp. (see Wilde, 2006). 1, 4, 6, 7, 9 are from Hill 4, unit 1 (Fig. 6); 2, 3, 5, 8, are from base of Hueco Canyon Formation at Tom Mays Park (Fig. 4, unit 17). (Cherdyntsev, 1914), sample TMP 5. 4, Endothyra sp., sample TM 4. 5, 10, Nodosinelloides bella (Lipina, 1949), 5 = sample TMP 6, 10 = sample TMP 4. 6, Eoschubertella sp. or Schubertellina sp., sample TMP 4. 7, Insolentitheca horrida (Brazhnikova in Brazhnikova et al., 1967emend. Vachard in Bensaïd et al., 1979, sample FH 4. 8, ...
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... in Bensaïd et al., 1979, sample FH 4. 8, Planotaxis sp., sample TMP 4. 9, Tuberitina sp., sample TMP 5. 11, Spireitlina sp., sample TMP 4. 12, Globivalvulina ex gr. G. bulloides (Brady, 1876), sample TMP 4. 13-16, Nodosinelloides longa (Lipina, 1949), sample FH 4. 17-18, Geinitzina postcarbonica Spandel, 1901, sample TMP 5. posited these events were due to thrusting of an allochthon (their Mara- thon allochthon) onto the southern margin of the North America craton during movements of Gondwana relative to Euramerica during the accre- tion of Pangea. The older event, their Marathon orogeny, is well repre- sented by the unconformity at the base of the classic Wolfcamp section in the Glass Mountains of West Texas (base of the Neal Ranch section), which is recorded to the west by deposition of the Powwow Conglom- erate at the base of the Hueco Group and the base of the Abo Formation across much of central New Mexico. ...
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... (1985) is represented by deformed strata overlain by the basal conglomerate of late Wolfcampian Lenox Hills Formation in the type section of the Wolfcamp Series. This corre- lates within resolution with the age inferred (middle/late Wolfcampian boundary) for the upper, red-bed intervals of the Hueco Group in south- ern New Mexico and West Texas (Fig. 13). Thus, the Dugout orogeny likely was responsible for regional tectonism that drove deposition of the Trans Mountain Road Member and broadly correlative strata of the upper part of the Hueco Group. Indeed, given that the Ouachita orogeny continued into the middle Wolfcampian, basement faults in the hinter- land (Ancestral Rockies) might ...
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... Late Pennsylvanian-Early Permian of Alborz and Central Iran (e.g., Davydov & Arefifard, 2007;Yarahmadzahi et al., 2016). Early Permian of Nevada (Davydov, 2011) and Texas (Lucas et al., 2011); Afghanistan; and Darvaz (Uzbekistan) (Davydov & Arefifard, 2007). Middle Permian of NW Iran (Ebrahim-Nedjad et al., 2015). ...
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... The older nonmarine Lower Permian strata in New Mexico encompass siliciclastic red beds of the Cutler Group, Sangre de Cristo and Abo formations and the Robledo Mountains Formation, a red-bed tongue of the upper part of the Abo Formation intercalated with Hueco Group strata in south-central New Mexico (Fig. 2) (Lucas et al., 2013e;. Other red-bed tongues of the Abo Formation are intercalated with the Hueco Group to the southeast, in the Sacramento Mountains of southeastern New Mexico, and in the Franklin Mountains of western Texas (Bachman and Hayes, 1958;Pray, 1961;Williams, 1963;Lucas et al., 2011cLucas et al., , 2014Lucas 2014). The base of the Abo Formation correlates to the middle Wolfcampian (Nealian) Powwow Conglomerate at the Hueco Group base (Pray, 1961;Williams, 1963;Lucas et al., 2011a), and records a pulse of the ARM orogeny, the Dugout orogeny of Ross and Ross (1987). ...
... The earliest definite reference is Darton (1928, p. 326), who mentioned the Robledo Mountains (as "Roblero Mountain"), and believed that most of the limestones in the range belonged to the "Magdalena Group" and therefore are pre-Hueco and of Pennsylvanian age (Fig. 2). Indeed, in far western Texas and in southern New Mexico, Darton (1928, p. 20) only identified Hueco strata in the northern Franklin Mountains (see Lucas et al., 2011a) and in the Sacramento Mountains (see Pray, 1961). Dunham (1935, p. 166-167, 247) also identified most of the Paleozoic limestones exposed in the Robledo Mountains as Magdalena "Series" (Pennsylvanian) and noted that these strata are intertongued with red beds of the Abo "Sandstone." ...
... Although the Abo Formation in this area has not been definitively dated either biostratigraphically or chronostratigraphically, the Abo Formation regionally is known to be of middle-late Wolfcampian (approximately Sakmarian-Artinskian) age. This is based primarily on the fact that in northern and central New Mexico it disconformably overlies the mixed marine-nonmarine lower Wolfcampian Bursum Formation (e.g.,Lucas and Krainer, 2004;Krainer and Lucas, 2010), and in southern New Mexico the Abo Formation laterally interfingers with middle-late Wolfcampian marine strata of the Hueco Group (e.g.,Lucas et al., 1995Lucas et al., , 1998Lucas et al., , 2011). The Mud Springs track and plant locality is in the lower part of the Abo Formation, so it is almost certainly of middle Wolfcampian age. ...
Little is known about the habit and spatial distribution of Early Permian tropical vegetation, a sharp contrast with the Pennsylvanian from which many in-situ ''T 0 '' assemblages are known. Even less is known about the potential interaction of plants and vertebrates. Here we report the discovery of a small stand of 34 probable Supaia White plants from the Abo Formation of New Mexico. The plants were growing on a mudflat, subject to periodic flooding and exposure. The same mudflat hosts trackways of vertebrates that appear to have walked around or between the Supaia plants. The stems are preserved as molds, and vary from 20 mm to 70 mm in diameter, averaging 42.4 mm, indicating heights of approximately 2.5–4 m. The plants, which may be described as small trees given their estimated height, are as close as 110 mm to their nearest neighbor and average nearly 300 mm apart. A series of lines or filled fissures, which we interpret as roots, radiates from the base of each stem. Leaves of Supaia thinfeldioides White are the only foliage found in association with these stems, on bedding planes above and at the base of the lowest expression of the stem molds. Associated vertebrate trackways either congregate around some of the stems or wend their way between the stems and include those of a single large temnospondyl amphibian (Limnopus Marsh) and many of small predatory parareptiles (Dromopus Marsh). This study demonstrates that S. thinfeldiodes were small-statured, weedy, opportunistic plants. It also shows that contemporaneous vertebrates prowled such environments, presumably either for food, shelter, or both given detectable pace and path.
At Carrizo Arroyo southwest of Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA, an approximately 105-m-thick section of upper Paleozoic clastic and carbonate rocks yields extensive fossil assemblages of marine and nonmarine origin. Most of the section at Carrizo Arroyo belongs to the Red Tanks Member of the Bursum Formation, similar to 100m thick and mostly variegated shale, mudstone and siltstone of nonmarine origin, intercalated with some beds of limestone and shale of marine origin. Red Tanks Member fossils include palynomorphs, charophytes, plant megafossils, non-fusulinid foraminifers, fusulinids, bryozoans, brachiopods, gastropods, bivalves, nautiloids, eurypterids, ostracods, syncarid crustaceans, conchostracans, insects and some other arthropods, echinoids, crinoids, conodonts, fish ichthyoliths and bones of amphibians and reptiles. At stratigraphic levels 43m and 68m above the base of the section are Lagerstatten of plants, insects, crustaceans, eurypterids and other fossils that form unique Late Paleozoic nearshore arthropod assemblages. Most of the fossil groups from the Red Tanks Member have been used to support diverse placements of the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary at Carrizo Arroyo. We review previous placement of the Pennsylvanian-Permian boundary in the Carrizo Arroyo section and present newly collected insect and conodont data. The insects indicate that the two Lagerstatten in the Red Tanks Member are of early Asselian age. The new conodont data include the presence of Streptognathodus virgilicus in the uppermost part of the Atrasado Formation, which constrains its age to the middle to upper part of the Virgilian and to a comparable position in the Gzhelian. The only biostratigraphically-significant conodont assemblage in the Red Tanks Member comes from a marine horizon near the middle of the member, and the assemblage is probably equivalent in age to the Midcontinent Streptognathodus nevaensis Zone, of early to middle Asselian in age. A significant amount of latest Pennsylvanian to earliest Permian time apparently is not represented by rock record at the Carrizo Arroyo section, most likely at a major disconformity at the top of the Atrasado Formation and smaller ones at the bases of depositional sequences in the lower part of the Red Tanks Member. Conodont biostratigraphy provides compelling evidence that Bursum Formation deposition was not simply driven by glacio-eustatic cyclicity, but in this area it was partly overprinted by local tectonics..
The Early Permian (early Leonardian) Robledo Mountains Formation of the Prehistoric Trackways National Monument (PTNM) near Las Cruces, south-central New Mexico, contains one of the most abundant and most extensively discussed assemblages of Paleozoic tetrapod footprints in the world. More than 700 specimens with tetrapod footprints from this place, housed at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science, Albuquerque, have recently been subjected to an anatomical-feature-based ichnotaxonomic analysis. Based on the results of this study, the tracks belong to eight tetrapod ichnotaxa Matthewichnus caudifer Kohl and Bry Marsh, 1894, which can be referred to lepospondyl, temnospondyl, seymouriamorph, pelycosaurian-grade syn-apsid, protorothyridid, captorhinid, and araeoscelid trackmakers. About 90% of the material comprises tracks of Batrachichnus, Dimetropus, and Dromopus, suggesting that temnospondyl amphibians, pelycosaurs, and early diapsids represented the most common individuals of the ancient terrestrial tetrapod fauna of the study area. The ichnoassemblage is of typical Early Permian aspect and, in view of the low number and diversity of advanced captorhinomorph footprints (Hyloidichnus), supports assignment to the Artinskian stage. Notable features are the rare occurrence of two more typically Pennsylvanian ichnotaxa (Matthewichnus, Notalacerta) as well as the only occurrence of the proposed basal non-diapsid eureptilian track Robledopus. The exceptional status of the PTNM track assemblages is paleoecologically based, rather than reflecting a biostratigraphic acme, as the Roble-do Mountains Formation in the Robledo Mountains yields the best studied marginal marine vertebrate footprint assemblage of Early Permian age.
The spiloblattinid insect zonation combined and cross-correlated with the branchiosaurid amphibian zonation of the European, North American and North African Late Carboniferous and Early Permian has delivered so far a very applicable and reliable tool for the correlation of nonmarine deposits in the numerous continental basins of this time in this area. Links to the global marine scale were thus far based on rare and ambiguous isotopic ages only. Here, for the first time, five co-occurrences of spiloblattinid zone species with marine index fossils in North America and the East European Donets basin are used for the construction of a robust biostratigraphical framework for the direct correlation of continental deposits to the Late Pennsylvanian (Kasimovian and Ghzelian) up to the Early Permian (Asselian). This correlation indicates that the base of the Central European regional stage Stephanian is the earliest Kasimovian, the Stephanian B straddles the Late Kasimovian to Early Gzhelian, and the Stephanian C ranges from about the middle to later Gzhelian. The top of the Stephanian (or the base of the lithostratigraphical Rotliegend) is tentatively set at 300 Ma in the Late Gzhelian. The base of the Rotliegend is marked by the base of the Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis zone and slightly higher base of the Apateon dracyiensis-Melanerpeton sembachense amphibian zone. The Sysciophlebia ilfeldensis zone stretches across the Ghzelian/Asselian boundary, which is supported by an occurrence in New Mexico in Streptognathodus nevaensis conodont zone, which is early to middle Asselian in age. The West European regional stages can be redefined by insect zone fossils for the here proposed Hermundurian (replacing the interminable and confusing Autunian) and the Saxonian, and by conodonts for the Thuringian. Future syntheses of insect zones with land-vertebrate faunachrons, as well as conchostracan and tetrapod track biostratigraphy will extend the combined marine nonmarine biostratigraphy up to the Permian/Triassic boundary.
The Early Permian Robledo Mountains Formation of the Hueco Group in the Robledo Mountains, south-central New Mexico, U.S.A., is a world-class ichnofossil Lagerstätte of supposed peritidal origin. Abundant and diverse invertebrate and vertebrate trace fossils occur in several thin horizons of siliciclastic red beds that are intercalated with thick successions of shallow marine limestone and shale. The depositional environment of the red beds has been discussed for decades but without any detailed sedimentary facies analysis. A recently completed systematic excavation shows that the majority of trace fossils is related to mud-draped surfaces within distal crevasse-splay siltstone to fine-grained sandstone. Interbedded mudstone with well-preserved macrofloral remains and a lungfish aestivation burrow represents a hitherto disregarded facies in overbank fines. Both environmental subzones were at least loosely covered with low-growing plants and experienced common periods of subaerial exposure. None of the physical and biological structures recorded in the measured section indicates tidal influence, but instead they support the reconstruction of a freshwater ecosystem dominated by arthropods and tetrapods. Given their proximity to carbonates of unambiguous subtidal origin, we propose that the trace-fossil-bearing red beds of the Robledo Mountains Formation formed in distal parts of an extensive coastal floodplain during alternating wet and dry conditions. If this interpretation is correct, it provides an impetus to continue ichnological and sedimentological field research in the study area, because the true tidal-flat ichnoguilds still await elucidation.
