Presented Before the Society December 29, 1894'
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BULLETIN OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA CRETACEOUS OF WESTERN TEXAS AND COAHUILA, MEXICO BY E. T. DUMBLE (Presented before the Society December 29, 1894') CONTENTS Page Introduction................................................................................................................... 376 Localities of occurrence, character and relations of the rock................................ 376 San Lorenzo section...................................................................................................... 376 Its location and the character of the country................................................... 376 Details of the section............................................................................................ 377 Lower Cretaceous......................................................................................................... 378 Bosque division...................................................................................................... 378 Its members.................................................................................................... 378 Flat Mesa section..................................... ; ....................................... ............ 378 K ent section.................................................................................................... 378 Exposures in the Arboles and Burras mountains .................................. 379 Episodes of the Bosque period...................................................................... 379 Fredericksburg division........................................................................................ 379 West of the Pecos river................................................................................. 379 In the San Lorenzo section.......... .............................................................. 379 Caprina crassifibra as a criterion of Fredericksburg age.......................... 380 The Kent locality.......................................................................................... 380 Washita division.................................................................................................... 380 In the Trans-Pecos area................................................................................. 380 At the Kent locality...................................................................................... 380 Devils River section....................................................................................... 381 In the San Lorenzo section.......................................................................... 381 The Finley-Eagle Mountains section........................................................... 382 Comparisons with other localities............................................................... 382 Upper Cretaceous.......................................................................................................... 383 Geologic succession and correlations.................................................................. 383 Dakota division...................................................i ................................................. 384 Colorado division............... : ................................................................................ 384 Montana division.................................................................................................. 385 Its importance................................................................................................ 385 Areas investigated by the author................................................................. 385 General section............................................................................................... 386 Fossils................................................................................................................ 386 Dikes........................................................................... ...................................... 387 Folds, faults and lava-flows.......................................................................... 387 LIV—Bum.. Oxoi.. Soc. Am., Vol. 6, 1894. (375) 376 E. T. DUMBLE— CRETACEOUS OP TEXAS AND MEXICO. I ntroduction . While in its broader features the Cretaceous of western Texas and of the northern portion of the Mexican state of Coahuila corresponds closely with that of the Colorado River section east of it, there are, nevertheless, many important differences in the stratigraphy and faunal relations well worth more detailed study than they have yet received. A few of these differences, which have come under my personal observation during trips made through various parts of the region, are presented as indicating the general character of the formation. L o c a l it ie s o f O c c u r r e n c e , C h a r a c t e r a n d R e l a t io n s o f t h e R o c k . Only a few remnants of areas are found north of the Texas and Pa cific railroad, and that line may well be taken as marking the northern boundary of the Cretaceous deposits of western Texas, since, as a body, they pass north of it only (if at all) under that portion of the road which crosses the Llano Estacado. In Trans-Pecos Texas the basal rocks of this Cretaceous system are best exposed in the vicinity of the railroad, and, as the Rio Grande river is neared in going south from it, beds higher and higher in the section are found. The country, as a whole, slopes rapidly from the north toward the river, and, while in the southern portion of the area the Cretaceous rocks'are found at some of the highest altitudes, along the railroad they occur as the foot-hills of the mountain-blocks, whose cliffs of Silurian and Carboniferous limestones tower from 1,000 to 2,000 feet above them, or as detached mesas, buttes or ridges in the wide spread flats which separate these mountains. Much of the limestone of the Lower Cretaceous is metamorphosed as highly as is that of the Carboniferous, and is consequently as well adapted to withstand erosion, yet no trace of it has been observed upon the tops of the ranges north of the railway. Even where it now occupies higher altitudes in this region, as on Sierra Blanca and in the vicinity of Gomez peak, in the northern portion of the Davis or Apache mountains, its posi tion is evidently due to the orographic action which formed the moun tains. So far as I have observed, while the Carboniferous rests indiscrimi nately on various horizons of Algonkian and Cambrian, the Cretaceous has only been found in contact with the Carboniferous, Permian and Triassie. S a n L o r e n z o S e c t io n . ITS LOCATION AND THE CHARACTER OF THE COUNTRY. This section was made in northern Coahuila, beginning at the head of the San Diego river, in that portion of the Burras range known as the DETAILS OF THE SAN LORENZO SECTION. 377 Arboles mountains, and extending eastward and northward to the con fluence of El Soro creek and the Rio Grande river, a distance of nearly 60 miles. The uplift which formed the Arboles mountains brought up the basal divisions of the Lower Cretaceous series and gave them a strong tilt to the east and northeast, thus forming a synclinal of Cretaceous rocks in the area between the mountains and the highlands north of Del Rio. Near the river the country is somewhat hilly; but between these hills and the mountains lies an undulating plain, the highest point of which is formed by the crest of a gentle fold of Washita limestone. On reach ing the San Diego river the country becomes rugged and mountainous, rising rapidly, and the peak near what is known as the Saddle is 3,700 feet above sealevel, while the plain is only about 1,500 feet. DETAILS OF THE SECTION. The highest beds, geologically, are found on El Soro creek, and it is at this locality only that beds of the Upper Cretaceous (or Black Prairie series of Hill) are found, and even here they have a very limited extent. The entire area may be said to be Lower Cretaceous. The general section is as follows: Postr Cretaceous. Feet. Stream gravel and brown silt covering part of flat between Las Vacas and the San Diego river. Reynosa conglomerate. On hilltops and along the San D iego.................................................................................................... Upper Cretaceous. Eagle Ford stage.—Limy clay, shales and flags. Soro creek....................... 40 Lower Cretaceous. Vola stage.—Heavy bedded semicrystalline limestone of creamy white color. Void roemeri, Hill. El Soro creek..................................................... 80 Exogyra arietina stage. Blue, yellow and red clays, with bands of sandy flagstones and concretionary limestones. Exogyra arietina, Roem.; E. drakei,* Crag.; Nodosaria texana, C on.; Pecten, sp. undet. Hills near Rio Grande................................................................................................................. 110-140 Washita Limestone stage.—Marly limestone, white to blue in color, semi crystalline in places, arenaceous and bituminous at base. Ostrea carinala, Lam. Surface rock of the plain...................................................................... 300-400 Caprina stage.—Dark blue or gray semicrystalline limestone, massive or heavy bedded, with much flint. Caprina crassifibra, Roem. ; Qryphxa and sponges. Along the San Diego river and in Arboles mountains ... 600- (?) * Professor Cragin says of the specimens of E. drakei which I submitted to him : “ The tendency to freer beak than is usually seen in north Texas specimens makes it bear a degree of resemblance to E. arietina,