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Plio-Pleistocene Stratigraphy, Paleoecology, and Mammalian

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Plio-Pleistocene Stratigraphy, Paleoecology, and Mammalian Plio-Pleistocenestratigraphy, paleoecology, andmammalian biochronology,Tijeras Arroyo, Albuquerque area, New Mexico by SpencerG. Luus,Thonas E. Williamson,New Mexico Museum of NaturalHistory, 1801 Mountain Road N.W., Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87104; andJaySobus, College ol HumanEcology, 2100 Marie Mount Hall, University ol Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742-7531 Abstract Strata assignedto the SierraLadrones Formationof the SantaFe Group in Ti- jeras Arroyo near the Albuquerque In- ternational Airport are more than 75 m thick and consistof sandstones,pumi- ceous sandstones,gravels, and minor claystones.These are deposits of a main- stem (axial)Rio Grande that intertongue eastward with alluvial-fan faciesderived from the Sandia and Manzanita uplifts. Fossil mammals from the Sierri La- drones Formation in Tiieras Arrovo in- dicate it is of Plio-Pleistocene(Blancan- Irvingtonian)age. Blancan mammals are HypolaguscI. H. gidleyi and Equuscum- minsii; lrvingtonian mammals are GIyp- totheriumcf . G. arimme, Equuscf . E sotti, cf. Camelopssp., Mammuthusmeridion- alis. and M imperator.Fossils of these taxa, their taphonomy, and the enclos- ing sedimentssuggest that during the early Pleistocenethe TijerasArroyo area was a semiarid piedmont plain with a nearby flora dominated by open grass- land or short-grassprairie. FIGURE 1-Albuquerque Basin with distribu- tion (after Tedford, 1982) of Santa Fe Group strata(shaded) and key sectionsmentioned in the text: 1, type Ceja Formation; 2, section in Tijeras Arroyo (Figs. 2, 3); 3, type Cochiti For- matron. Alsoin this issue Laramidestratigrapy of the LittleHatchet Mountains p. 9 Galleryof Geology-Killion Canyon p.16 Geographicnames p. 17 1992Mineral Symposium abstracts p.18 1993NMGS Fall Field Conference p.20 Service/News p.21 Upcomingmeetings p.22 1994NMGS Fall Field area in Fig. 2 Conference p.22 Staffnotes p.23 Introduction 1978).Subsequent mapping by Kelley sparseBlancan vertebrate fauna has been Although Pleistocene mammals were (1977)reflected Lamberfs extension of the describedin the formation (asmapped by first reported from the Albuquerque area upper buff member to east of the Rio Machette, 1978b)in the Ceja del Rio Puerco (Fig. 1) by Herrick and fohnson (1900,p. Grande. However, Kelley (1977) coined escarpmentabout 10km south of the type 224), no serious effort has been under- and applied the name CejaMember of the Ceja Member section (Tedford, 1981).The taken to document these fossils until re- Santa Fe Formation to these rocks, in- Sierra Ladrones depositional environ- cently. This documentation (O'Neill and tending it to replaceBryan and McCann's ment in the Albuquerque Basin has re- Rrgby,1982;Lucas and Logan, 1984;Lucas, (1937)informal term "upper buff." cently been described by Lozinsky et al. 1987; Lucas et al., 1988)has focused on Kelley's (1977)type section of the Ceja (1ee1). the late Pleistocene(Rancholabrean) Member of the SantaFe "Formation" (Fig. mammals collected ftom gravel pits de- 1) is along the Ceja del Rio Puerco (sec. TABLE l-Stratigraphic section veloped in relatively young terrace de- 19 T10N R1E) and representsthe upper of the Sierra part of the section that Bryan and Mc- Ladrones Formations exposed in Tijeras Arroyo, posits inset into the Rio Grande valley, the NE1/+ Cann (1937)originally designated '/upper sec. 17 and NW1L sec. 16 T9N R3E, Ber- Edith Formationof Lambert(1968). Fossil nalillo County, New Mexico. mammalsfrom the Edith Formationwithin buff". Lambert (1968)had already de- the Albuquerque city limits are Glosso- scribed a reference section of his "Upper Thickness theriumharlani,Equus cf . E. occidentalis,Bi- Buff" formation at the same site, but he Unit Lithology (m) son sp., Camelopshesternus and Mammuthus included "middle" Santa Fe beds under- Sierral-adrones F ormation: columbi,a typical assemblageof large Ran- lying Kelley's Ceja Member in this for- mation, as had been previously done by 10. Sandstone, noncalcareous, cholabrean (Wisconsin-age)mammals. very (N8) Wright (1946; Iight gray and light Older Quaternary and latest Pliocene seealso Lambert, t978, p. bluish-gray (58 7/L); me- mammals, however, are alsciknown from 151).Unfortunately, no detailed map- dium-to very coarsegrained within the Albuquerquecity limits. These ping, or tracing of key beds, has ever been in two populations: me- low-diversitv faunas, of Blancanand done between the type Ceja locality and dium- to coarse-grained Irvingtonian age, were first discoveredby the JemezValley (Rincones de Zia,35km (2.0-0.0 {) subrounded to Lambert (1968)and subsequentlydevel- to the north) where Bryan and McCann angular quartz grains and oped by T. R. Logan (1984;Logan et al., originally defined theii lower gray-mid- coarse- to very coarse grained (> 1 rounded 1984)and us during the mid-1980's.Here, dle red-upper buff stratigraphic sequence 0); as the referencesection for their SantaFe pumice grains; trough we describethese fossils that spanthe Plio- crossbedded;top of unit is Formation in the Pleistoceneboundary and interpret their northern Albuquerque airport surface. 1.2.0+ biochronological significance. In this ar- Basin. ticle, NMMNH refers to the New Mexico Manley (1978)and Tedford (1982)have Museum of Natural History, Albuquerque suggestedthat the Ceja Member and the and UNM to the Universitv of New Mex- more broadly defined "upper buff" mem- ico, Albuquerque. ber (formation) interfinger to the north with volcaniclastic sandstone and con- New AAexnc@ glomeratethatBailey et al. (1969)and Smith Stratigraphy et al. (1970)termed the Cochiti Formation GEOLOGY Upper Cenozoic deposits of the Rio of their KeresGroup (seealso discussion Grande rift, from Colorado to Texas,have by Hawley and Galusha, 1978).However, . Scienceand Service generally been referred to as the SantaFe the latter unit has never been well defined tssN 0196-948X Glg.rp (Hawley, 1978; Lucas and Inger- in its JemezMountains type area, and re- Volume 15, No. 1, February 1993 soll, 1981).However, in the Albuquerque cent dating of associatedKeres Group vol- Editor: Carcl A. I{jellming Basin, the term Santa Fe Formation, ln- canics by Gardner et al. (1985)brackets troduced Publishedquarterly by hereby Bryan and McCann (1937, the age of the type Cochiti between 13.5 New Mexico Bureau of Mines and 1938), has long been used. Bryan and and 5.5 million years (mid- to late Mio- Mineral Resources McCann (1937,L938) divided the SantaFe a division of New Mexico lnstitute of cene). Mining & Tchnology Formation in the Albuquerque Basin into CejaMember (upper "upperbuff") strata three informal members:lower gray, mid- BOARD OF REGENTS along the Ceja del Rio Puerco correlate Ex-Officio dle red, and upper buff. The lower gray with at least the middle part of the Sierra Bruce King, Gomor of Nru Muim and middle red members are now iub- Ladrones Formation (Machette L978a,b; Alan Morgan, Superintendeil ol Public In;ttuction sumed APPointed in the Zia Formation of Miocene Hawley, L978, chart 1), which has a type Lt. Gen. Leo Marqtez, Pres.,1989-796, Albu4uoque (late Arikareean-Clarendonian) age (Gal- area at the southern end of the Albu- Charfes Zmmerly, Se.lTreas.,1997-7997, Sxorro usha, L966;Gawne, 1981;Tedford, l91l, Diane D. Denish, 1992-1997,Albuquerque querque Basin near San Acacia. A Sierra J. Michael Kelly, L992-I997,Rrewll re82). Ladrones Steve Tores, 7997-797, Albuqwque /'upper Formation referencesection has The overlying buff member" of New Mexico Institute of Mining & Tehnology recently been described in the lower Rio Prqidnt.. ... LaurenceH.Lattman the Santa Fe Formation was originally Puerco valley (Gabaldonbadland area)by New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Rercurces conceivedby Bryan and McCann-(lg3i, Lozinsky and Tedford (1991).At ttraf lo- Dir@torond StateGNWist . Charles E. Chapin pp. 815-816) for buff-colored, generally Subwi/iore: Issued qurterlt FebMry, May, AugusL cality the formation is underlain by "mid- November; subscription price year. coarse-grained("fan deposits") $6.00/calendar stratathat dle" SantaFe Group bedsof Hemphlllian Editorial mattq: Articles submitted for Dubliation are at the top of the Santa Fe Formation (lateMiocene) age iorrelated withihe up- should be in the editor's hands a minimum of five along the Ceja del Rio Puerco west of Al- (5) months before date of publication (Februry per Popotosa Formation of Denny (1940) May, Autust, or November) and should be no longer buquerque (Fig. 1). Lambert (1968)used //upper and Machette (1978a).Machette's type Si- than 20 typwitten, double-spacedpages. All the term buff formation" to refer erra Ladrones comprises ancestral Rio scientific papers will be reviewed by at least two to Bryan people in the apprcpriate field of study. Address and McCann'sunit and also ex- Grande and intertonguing piedmont al- inquirie to Carol A. Hielming, Editor of Nm Meim tended to it into the (current) Albuquer- luvial deposits. It overlies the Popotosa Ceology, New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Minenl Resources,Sorcro, NM 87W4n6- que city limits by identifying it east of the west of San Acacia and south of the Lad- Rio Publishedas publk dowin, thercforereprdrcibk without Grande in the walls of Tiieras Arroyo ron Mountains. Basalt flows interbedded Sourcecredit requested. (secs. Wrmission. 1 and 12 T9N R3E)and in the scarp with the lower SierraLadrones Formation Circulation:1,ffi southwest of the Albuquerque Interna- in the San Acacia and Socorro area have P/irra: University of New Mexico Printing Sewices tional Airport (Fig. 1; see also Lambert, K-Ar ages of 4 to 4.5 million
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