Stratigraphic Nomenclature of Proterozoic Rocks, Northern New
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Stratigraphicnomenclature ol proterozoic rocks, northern NewMexico-revisions, redefinitions, andformalization byPaul W' Bauer, New MexicoBureau ol Minesancl Mineral Resources, Socono, NM 87801 , and Michaet L. Wiltiams,Department of Geology and Geography, Universityof Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 Abstract lithotectonic nomenclature for the supra- Much of the exposed Proterozoic rock in crustal Precambrianrocks exposed in north- This paper proposes formal northern New Mexico can be assignedto one revisions of ern New Mexico. the lithostratigraphicnomenclature for some of four major lithologic assemblages:1) se- Early Proterozoic rocks in northern New quencesdominated by metamorphosedmafic volcanicrocks, ca 1,755-I,720 Ma in age;2) sequencesdominated by metamorphosed felsic volcanic rocks and immature clastic sedimentaryrocks, ca 1,700Ma and ca 1,500- tains, the Truchas Peaksarea, the Rio Mora- 1,650Ma in age;3)massive clean quartzite(s) and sequencesof interlayered pelitic schist and quartzite, 1,700-1,650Ma; and 4) intru- sive rocks that range widely in age and com- position (Robertsonet al., in press).Each of these is discussed separately.Table L sum- marizes both existing and proposed new no- Kiowa Mountain in the Tusas Mountains. menclature for stratified units. Several distinctive units are designated as of northern and central New Mexico, and formations: Big Rock Formation, Burned perhaps in parts of Arizona and southern Mafic metavolcanic sequences Mountain Formation, Marquenas Forma- Colorado (Burns and Wobus, 1.983;Wobus, tion, Clenwoody Formation. Extensive terrains dominated by amphi- The metase- 1985;Bauer and Williams, 1985;Grambling dimentary sequencepreviously bolite and mafic schist of igneous parenfage called the and Williams, 1985;Williams, Ortega Group is,renamedthe Hondo 1987). and immature metasediments Group, In have been and a principal referencesection is pro- the following sections,changes in no- posed in the Hondo Canyon area of'the menclature are proposed for many of the ma- northern PicurisMountains. Formations in jor and minor lithotectonic assemblages the unit include the Ortega Formation, Rin- currently recognized in northern New Mex- Alsoin thisissue conada Formation, Pilar Formation, and Piedra Lumbre Formation. The name Em- NMGS1990 fallfield budo Granite is abandoned in the picuris conference p.52 Mountains but provisionally retained in the Geologybeneath and around SantaFe Range.Nomenclaiure for all other plutonic rocks is provisionally retained the WestPotrilb names and rankings has not been changed pgndjlg further research.These proposals basalts p. 53 should provide a foundation for the devel- dramatically.Wher"e the nomenclatureis'un- opment of a consistent,coherent, inte- changed or-where proposed changesare mi- NMGS1989 spring meeting grated nomenclature for the Precambrian nor, appropriate referencesare given in lieu abstracts p. 59 rocks of New Mexico. of details of unit descriptions.All proposed NMGS1989 fallfield changes conform to the guidelines outlined by the North American conference p. 60 Introduction Commission on Galleryof geology-Navajo The stratigraphic nomenclature proter- of p. ozoiq rocks in northern New Mexico has de- Church 69 veloped gradually over the past fifty years. Donationsto NMBMMRand Consequently, the literature ii burderiei with Museum p.62 conflicting_and obsolete stratigraphic names, Service/News p. most of which do not conform io the pub- 66 lished rules of the North American iom- Upcomingmeetings p. 67 Staffnotes p. 68 Gomingsoon Oil andgas discovery wells drilled in NewMexico in 1988 northern New Mexico now make well-con- sistentyet flexiblenomenclature that canserve SugariteCanyon State Park strained regional correlations possible. The as a common basisfor further discussionand purpose of this paper is to propose a unified analysis. FentonHill granodiorite identified in several uplifts in northern New Iiminary U-Pb zircon isotopic age Moppin Complex (formerly Moppin Mexico (Fig. 1). The three best-documented determinations suggestthat although the in- Metavolcanics)-Tusas Mountains terrains are the Moppin Metavolcanicsof the dividual sequencesmay be as old as 1,765 The mafic metavolcanic sequence of the northern Tusas Mountains (Barker, 1958; Ma, all are older than about 1,710Ma (Wil- northern Tusas Mountains was named the Wobus, 1985), the Pecos greenstone belt of liams, 1982).We suggestthat they informally Moppin metavolcanicseries by Barker (1958) the Santa Fe Range (Robertsonand Moench, be designated mafic metavolcanic se- and renamed the Moppin Metavolcanicsby L979;Robertson and Condie, 1989),and a quences. Wobus (1985).The geographicname Moppin + sequence of layered amphibolite biotite Major- and trace-elementanalyses of the is appropriate for this successionof rocks gneiss in the Taos Range (Condie and Moppin sequence(Barkerand Friedman, 1974; and need not be changed. However, series McCrink, 1982;Reed, 1984; Lipmanand Reed, Binglea 1974;Boadi, 1986;Smith, 1986;Ga- designation (chronostratigraphic category) 1989)south of Questa.An assemblageof am- belman, 1988), the Pecos greenstone belt is inappropriate and Metavolcanicsdoes not phibolite and schist in the southern Picuris (Robertson and Moench, 1979;Klich, 1983; accurately reflect the diverse volcanic, vol- Mountains may represent a similar lithotec- Robertsonand Condie, 1989),and mafic rocks caniclastic,and epiclasticlithologies present. tonic sequence(Bauer, 1988).Each of these of the TaosRange (Condie and McCrink, 1982) Although this unit does contain local se- mafic-dominatedsequences is associatedwith suggestthat these mafic suites are geochem- quences of rock with distinctive character- a diverse suite of metaplutonic rocks. In all ically similar to modern tholeiitic and/or calc- istics that are individually mappable, these uplifts, the mafic-dominated rocks are inter- alkaline rocks found in arc or back-arc vol- sequencesare not regionally correlable. In preted to be the oldest exposed units. Pre- canicassemblages. addition, the unit is metamorphosed and multiply deformed and contains intrusive TABLE l-Stratigraphic nomenclature of supracrustal Proterozoicrocks in northem New Mexico. rocks. We therefore suggest the lithodemic rank of complex for the Moppin. Stratotype or Previous The Moppin Complex is exposed in the Proposed nomenclature reference section(s) nomenclature Age (Ma) northern Tusas Mountains in a northwest- trending belt extending from American Creek HONDO GROUP Picuris Mtns Ortega Group Younger than (southwestem Mule Canyon 7tlz-min quad- Hondo Canyon (Long, 1976) 7,700 rangle, T28N, R8E) to Hopewell Lake and Placer Creek (northeasternEast Gavilan Piedra Lumbre Formation Picuris Mtns Piedra Lumbre Formation Hondo Canyon (Long,1976) Canyon 7rlz-min quadrangle, T29N, R6E), and along the easternside of |awbone Mountain. Pilar Formation Picuris Mtns Pilar Formation Its exposed primary thickness, though dif- Hondo Canyon (Long, 1976) ficult to determine due to structural com- plexities, is probably at least several thousand Rinconada Formation Picuris Mtns RinconadaFormation feet (Barker, 1958). Hondo Canyon (Nielsen, 1972) The Moppin Complex is dominated by chlorite schist and./oramphibolite with lesser Ortega Formation Picuris Mtns Ortega Quartzite 1) Hondo Canyon (Nielsen, 1972) 2) Pilar cliffs 3) Copper Hill AAexfic@ TusasMtns New 1) Ortega Mtns 2) fawbone Syndine GEOLOGY o $Gienceand Senice Volume 11, No. 3, August 1989 VADITO GROUP Tusas Mtns Vadito Group ca 1,700 Mesa la Jarita (Williams et al., 1986) Etlitor: Ctol A. Hjellming Dralting resistance: Rebecca Titus, Michael Wmldridge Published ouatslv bv Big Rock Formation TusasMtns Big Rock Conglomerate New Mexico Breau of Mins and Mineml Remrc Mesa la Jarita (Barkea 1958) a divisin of New Mqb InstitrrF of Mining & Tedrndog1f BOARD OF REGENTS Bumed Mtn Formation TusasMtns Bumed Mtn Metarhyolite Ex Officio Burned Mtn (Barker, Garey Caruthers, Cwmr ol Nru Mtxia 1958) Alan Morgan, Superintendentol Pilblic Instruction Appointed Marquenas Formation Picuris Mtns Marquenas Quartzite Lenton Malry, Pr6., lq!5-1991, Abuqwqre Cerro de los (Long,1976) Robert O. Andemn, tu.|Irrc., 187-1993, Rwll Lt. Gen. Leo Marquez,7989-7995,Albuquaqw Marquenas Carcl A. Rymer. M.D. 1989-195, Albuqwqw Steve Torcs, 1967-1991, Albuqunqw Glenwoody Formation Picuris Mtns Felsicschist at Pilar New Mexico lnstitute of Mining & Tchnology Pilar cli-ffs (Bauer, Pr6illent-. ...... laurcneH.lattman 1988) New Msico B@au of Min6 & Minsal Rsm Dir6tu .. ....... FrankE.Kotdowski As#inte Dirttor . Jam6 M. Robqtrcir MAFrC METAVOLCANTC SEQUENCES Sufuriptims: Issued quarterly, Febmry, May, August, Novembe4 subscription prie 96.00elendar year. PECOS COMPLEX Pecosgreenstone belt ca L,720 Aittrial Mttd: Arlicle submitted for publietion should be in the edito/s hands a minimm of five (5) months (Robertsonand Moench, before date of publi@tion (Februry, May, AuSust, or 1979) November) and should be no longer than m tyFuit- ten, doublespaced pat6. All rientific papen will be GOLD HILL COMPLEX Taos Range reviewed by at least two p@ple in the apprcpriate field Unnamed ca 1,765 of study. Address inquirie to Carcl A. Hiellming, Editor Gold Hill (Reed, 19&t) ot Nru Mcxio Gedogy,New Mqico Breau of Mine & Mnenl Rercrc, Srcrc, NM E7801 MOPPIN COMPLEX TusasMtns Moppin Metavolcanics older than Publishd re pulnic dmin, thnelue reprdrcible uirrou, per- 1) Brazos Box (Wobus, 1985) t,755 nission. fuure dedit reCwld. 2) Iron Mtn Cirahtim:7,ffi 3) Cleveland Gulch Prif,rt; Univsity