The Stratigraphy and Facies of the Mississippian Strata of Southwestern New Mexico Augustus K

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The stratigraphy and facies of the Mississippian strata of southwestern New Mexico Augustus K. Armstrong, 1965, pp. 132-140 in: Southwestern New Mexico II, Fitzsimmons, J. P.; Balk, C. L.; [eds.], New Mexico Geological Society 16th Annual Fall Field Conference Guidebook, 244 p.

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INTRODUCTION Group is Meramec in age and is defined as the first appearance of thin-bedded, argillaceous limestones and This paper is a brief resume of the Escabrosa Group shale beds. and Paradise Formation of extreme southwestern New Paleontologic and field studies indicate no signifi- Mexico. For detailed information on the Mississippian cant hiatus within the Escabrosa Group. The contact strata of the region see Laudon and Bowsher (1949) between the overlying Paradise Formation and the Es- and Armstrong (1958 a, 1958 b, 1962, 1963). Formal cabrosa Group (Hachita Formation) is gradational. systematic faunal studies and documentation of strati- The shales, silts, and shallow water thin-bedded lime- graphic zonation used in this paper are in Armstrong stones of the Paradise Formation reflect development (1958, 1962) and Hernon (1935). of the Chesterian highlands of central New Mexico The classification of carbonate rocks used in this and the resulting influx of terrigenous sediments into paper is that of Dunham (1962). A brief outline of the Paradise sea. Extensive erosion in southwestern Dunham's classification is given in table 1. and central New Mexico in late Chesterian and early Pennsylvanian time removed a considerable thickness ESCABROSA GROUP of Mississippian strata (fig. 5) and produced every- The Escabrosa Limestone of Mississippian age was where a pronounced unconformity between Mississip- named by Girty (1904) for the Lower Carboniferous pian and Pennsylvanian strata. section in the Escabrosa cliffs west of Bisbee, Ari- zona. The name "Escabrosa limestone" was extended KEATING FORMATION through Cochise County, Arizona, by the U.S. Geo- The type section of the Keating Formation (Arm- logical Survey in reports dealing with various mining strong 1962) is on the southeast side of Blue Moun- areas. The Escabrosa Limestone was elevated by Arm- tain, Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona. The thickest strong (1962) to the Escabrosa Group and divided section in New Mexico is on the north side of the Big into two formations: the Keating Formation with two Hatchet Mountains, where it is 590 feet thick. The members, A and B; and the Hachita Formation (fig. Keating Formation thins to the north in the Peloncillo 1.). This nomenclature was extended into Luna, Hi- Mountains and to the northeast in the Klondike dalgo, and Grant Counties, New Mexico. Within this Hills. The Keating Formation is readily divisible into region the Escabrosa Group is a thick sequence of two Ethic members, which are called in ascending shelf to miogeosynclinal bioclastic carbonates. The Es- order, members A and B. cabrosa Group is separated from the underlying Upper Member A contains a brachiopod and coral fauna Devonian rocks by a disconformity. This hiatus repre- (figs. 2 and 3) which is transitional between high up- sents a small portion of late Devonian and a significant per Kinderhook and lower Osage. It rests with a dis- part of Kinderhook time. The top of the Escabrosa conformity on marine shales and carbonates of late

TABLE 1. CLASSIFICATION OF CARBONATE ROCKS ACCORDING TO DEPOSITIONAL TEXTURE

DEPOSITIONAL TEXTURE RECOGNIZABLE DEPOSITIONAL TEXTURE NOT RECOGNIZABLE Original Components Not Bound Together Durii g Deposition Original components were bound together Contains mud Lacks mud during deposition . (particles of clay and fine silt size) and is as shown by intergrown Crystalline Carbonate grain-supported skeletal matter, Mud-supported Grain-supported lamination contrary to gravity, or sediment-floored cavities that Less than More than are roofed over by organic or (Subdivide according to 10 percent grains 10 percent grains questionably organic matter and classifications designed to bear are too large to be interstices. on physical texture or diagenesis.)

Mudstone \Vackestone Packstone Grainstone Roundstone NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY—SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE 133

Devonian age. The hiatus between the Devonian and ian and part, if not all, Kinderhook (Tournaisian) Mississippian Systems represents very late Late Devon- time.

c North c Trans-Pecos Central 0 0 o 0_ a) (1) c.) a) Region Extreme South West New Mexico CI CP — a Franklin S.E. Arizona Central Central Nacimiento 0 0 a) >, New Mexico New Mexico a Sangre LLJ ..... Mts. S• W. 7 (f) 1-- Texas New Mexico de Cristo < Mts.

C 0 %._ I 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 I a) E -t- o a)acn Z _c Helms U Fm. a_ Paradise ,,, (...n Z a) Fm.

o IIIIIII ? b Ste I Genevieve NU L.11 E : I- a St. Louis 11 (f) a) >-- c 2 Arroyo Penasco . Salem Hachita Fm Rancheria Fm. 1 1 Z wow 4111101 ,:t - Keokuk Fm. "Kelly Kelly CL Fm. a_ (f) U) a) Tierra Fm ." 1 1111 — 0 Burlington Blanca II- . 0 c.r) Keating ° _rs._4e....s. U) 0 - — Fm. Nunn 0 > Me m. .-- L.Li a) Alamogordo El-lc Caloso Fern Gle C o r al Andrecito ° Fm. ., M m -I assoill111111 zone •4111111 1 AO Caballero 1 C I 0 o F — o Cr) _c 1- O cu C -o D ._c O I-

FIGURE 1

Correlation diagram of the Mississippian rocks of Southwestern New Mexico 134 NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY—SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE

D E V. MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM PENN. ESCABROSA GROUP Portal Fm. Keating Formation Hachita Formation Paradise Fm. member A member B piquoutgiquilippgrupplorgoopli Iiiibillajlptpilgiliplilipprellill atoolgiorpoku loom 01:66.NI-or.c.q 1 1 pax 1 . 1 . tio • q• 1 It ij N 1 p . -. - - 1 I I

Osage Meramec Chester Morrow Endothyro? I I Plectogyro sP B D Pleclogyro sp. A Endothyro scilulo

Cryptob/ostus Melo Poromillerello C me/o lortu/o Penfremiles conoideus Werrieo keokuk

jerseyensis Perditocodinio dubia Chonefes Cho/7e/es off klonchloo glenporkensis p/rifer cj:J. bifurcolus

Spinfer cf. Unisp/r/fer gregeri cp /0/era/is • Unisprifer vernonensis

/mbrexio forbesi

Brochythyris Ty/orhyris cf )subcorchiformis novomexicano C Brachythyris B. suborbicu/oris peculioris B. ozorkensis

Syringothyris subcuspidatus Composifo g/oboso

0 Cleiorhyriclino hirsute

Cleiothyridino cf incrossotum

Composite trinuclea Bee cheria c7;;;uteouensis verneuiliono

v„a Beecherio formosum[Zj z21 E costoto

Die fasmo b/sinuato

FIGURE 2 Mississippian Brachiopods and other forms of Southwestern New Mexico and Southeastern Arizona NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY—SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE 135

D E V. MISSISSIPPIAN SYSTEM PENN. ESCABROSA GROUP Portal Fm. Keating Formation Hachita Formation Paradise Fm. member I member B R 119041.11,111111.11111111109111101111.11.111.0111$110MIERIMPI I;; Osage 1Meramec I Chester Morrow

Arnplexizaphrentts sonoroensis

I Gal

Horn opfly//He ca/ceo/us

H. circulorts

ICamnio cornuc poe

Vesiculophyllum sufherlandi

V indef. V cf incrassotum <1::• I

Rysfonto cf. feres

Lithos/rot/one/10 conf/uens

L /ochmonoe

S. off g gonteo

I S. surculorio

Michelin/a C:1 /eptosphrogma

FIGURE 3

Mississippian Corals of Southwestern New Mexico and Southeastern Arizona

1 36 NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY-SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE

Member A carbonates are the initial phase of a car- ciable amounts of brachiopod and bryozoan remains. bonate transgression over a weathered and peneplaned The thickest known section of the Hachita Forma- Devonian surface. The lowest beds contain appreciable tion is at the northern end of the Big Hatchet Moun- amounts of calcareous shale, silt, and fine-grained sand- tains, where the maximum thickness is 380 feet. Be- size quartz disseminated in the limestone. The higher cause of original deposition, the Hachita Formation beds of member A are almost pure carbonates of bryo- thins to the north and west (fig. 4) . West of the zoan, echinoderm, brachiopod, and coral lime wacke- Chiricahua Mountains in Arizona, where the Cheste- stones and packstones with occasional lenticular bodies rian Paradise Formation is absent, the Hachita Forma- of oolite packstones. tion thins, partly because of erosion during the pre- Member A was deposited in shallow marine waters Pennsylvanian and early Pennsylvanian time. To the of open circulation. The zones of oolites and bioclastic east, because of the sparseness of exposures, the com- grainstones are believed to reflect recurrent disjunct plexity of Cenozoic faulting and, in the Klondike shoaling environments. In the field the most diagnos- Hills, the presence on some of the Hachita exposures tic feature of member A is its massive bedding and of extensive late-Cenozoic pediment surfaces, the exact chert-free carbonates. thickness of the formation is not known. In the Klon- In contrast, member B is characterized by thin- dike Hills northeast of the Big Hatchet Mountains, bedded mudstone and wackestone to packstones with the Hachita Formation is at least 350 feet thick and dark-gray to black lenticular chert. The chert bodies may be considerably thicker. are generally parallel to the bedding but are commonly grown together in coalescing masses. The chert, both PARADISE FORMATION from field observations and from thin-section study, is clearly the result of diagenetic or post-diagenetic re- The Paradise Formation is a sequence of alternating placement of the original carbonate. thin-bedded limestones, shales, and occasional fine- The contact between members A and B is gradation- grained sandstones. It is 250 to 300 feet thick in the al. It is a zone 10 to 30 feet thick in which the bedding Big Hatchet Mountains. It thins rapidly to the north becomes thinner and the percentage of chert increases and east due to late Chesterian and early Pennsylva- upward. nian erosion. It is 150 feet thick at Blue Mountain, The lower horizons of member B are soft pellet lime Chiricahua Mountains, Arizona, and less than 50 feet mudstones and pellet packstones, but higher horizons in the Peloncillo Mountains north of Granite Gap. contain progressively larger percentages of echinoderm The fauna of the Paradise Formation in the Chirica- bioclasts. The upper horizons of member B generally hua Mountains was studied and described by Hernon are echinoderm packstones and grainstones. The high- (1935) . A cursory review of the Paradise fauna and er beds of member B at Blue Mountain contain an lithology within the region was given by Armstrong angular intraformational conglomerate which is com- (1962) . posed of material similar to that in the enclosing strata. The thin-bedded carbonates and terrigenous elastics of the Paradise Formation clearly indicate that it was deposited in very shallow to shoaling waters and that HACHITA FORMATION the younger beds were deposited under lagoonal to fluctuating shoreline conditions. Within the Paradise The type section of the Hachita Formation is at the Formation the overall trend was one of marine regres- south end of Blue Mountain, Chiricahua Mountains, sion and increasing influence of terrestrial elastics. Arizona. The Hachita Formation is lithologically and topographically the most characteristic part of the Es- cabrosa Group. It forms a persistent cliff throughout its REGIONAL FACIES RELATIONSHIPS area of exposure. This cliff is due primarily to the mas- The time-stratigraphic relationships of the Escabrosa sive nature of the encrinites, in part to the weak De- Group and Paradise Formation to adjacent time equiv- vonian argillaceous limestone and shale below and in alent strata are graphically shown in figures 1 and 5. part to the thinner-bedded, less resistant Paradise For- Member A of the Keating Formation is a carbonate mation (Chesterian age) above. The lower two-thirds transgressive facies. To the northeast it is represented of the Hachita Formation is almost devoid of bed- by the Andrecito and Alamogordo Members of the ding and is composed of crinoid fragments to the Lake Valley Formation and farther north by the Cal- virtual exclusion of other organic remains. The upper oso Formation of central New Mexico. The abundant third of the formation is darker gray, has persistent chert and dark color of member B probably represent massive bedding, and is composed to a large extent the deepest water carbonates of the Escabrosa Group of crinoid packstone, although it also contains appre- and a short interval of time in which subsidence out-

Blue Mtn , Chiricahua Granite Gap Big Hatchet Mountains Santa Rita Section Mountains, Arizona Peloncillo Mountains SE k4 , Sec. 30, T. 30 S , R 15 W. NE kg, Sec-20, T 17 S , RUN,. ,;„, SW /4I , Sec 20 , 726S , R 30E. SW4, Sec. 22, T.252 , R.21 E War Type Section Ems

:11 erosion surface Pennsylvanian Ism z Rich brachiopod B foraminifers nr fauna 200 r14 Predominately broken and abraded fragments E of echinoderms. Either 100 O o lime packstone or a. wanic groinstone generally a very 50 C") poor fauna P1 0 =MO 0 Scale in Feet MUM -IC O C) 1=.1 orooL L EMI z IENCI IMOD 0 MEI HEM =PI 101■/ iori Abundant fauna C/] IMa71 of brachiopods MR.7,. 4I I ° IEMVe a Corals . Z MAU 0 nor 0 I x .1010 z min..; I Santa ( a. • Rita 1 0 MOM Silver ra City Lithologic Symbols U- Ln cc IL171M• i 3L CD mgfr!. wan Z mom ■■111 e 1.== fn U.- WW1 ♦Las Limestone Shale 0 Colonial Corals rn 0 rer. i Granite Gap • Deming Cruces 0 Oolites CP .Peloncillo Mts. 0 nun -Mow 1171E111 o Lithoclosts =1 MUIC11 • 1E1.! cam o Chert LUNE L El Cherty Sandstone Blue Mtn. P1 Limestone Chiricahuia Mts. I Paso zP1 aicruorr MEXICO ••■■•111 r • I ■■■••11A >z Big Hatchet 0 20 4B Argilloceous Dolomitic Scole in Miles Limestone Limestone LaZo

FIGURE 4 Columnar Sections of Mississippian Rocks (modified after Armstrong, 1962)

v.)

ttZ A West East Sea level, r=i4 Hachito Formation, retrogressive enconite packstone-grainstones Chert derived from -200 200- plankton and sponges C)

7 Member B, lime w v v -400 400- 2 ackestones and poc kstone V 7 7 Intermediate facies between member B V -- ° V ° -----. V 7, 7 7- 7 with abundant chert, deeper water shelf t9 v carbonates v ° and starved basin facies 0 V ° RancheTio Fm, _ v v_ ,, - - r, ; _ _ -600 O 600- ,7., F- _ starv ed basin, lime rnudstones and cherts Member A, transgressive lime mudstone to pac ksto ne sequence _ V, V - _ V V v 0 700- V 7 , V- V Hiatus, most if not all of Kinderhook Las C uces Fm lime -BOO Upper Devonian shales and carbonates ▪ o ne ° o Upper Devonian black shales -1000

North South B Early Pennsylvanian Hiatus represents To the Arroyo Peliasco Frn, erosion surface middle Osage time of northern and central New Mexico Ly 0 Co encrinites Hachita Formation Kelly Fm retrogressive enconite Hiatus 200 Fm packstones - groinstones 11-1erro r7;7,, — ttt: en■tes Precambrian = mh2ale a h v unn Alamgordo, Time 400- v • tio/lbe,r,nnbdeorr,te, ado aese kpe;rt ownae, se r ,n fo c ks tones with Precambrian carbonates Andre Caloso Formation, restricted marine -1 600- P Member A, transgressvei lime mudstones f not all of Kinderhook shallow water lime i NT1 to packstones sequence Hiatus, most mudstone to wackestone 5 800 Upper Devonian shales and carbonates nAlbuquerque tzt LadronA/ Schematic restoration of the Escabrosa Group at the end of Meramec time Mtn Socorro illustrating its relationship to the: Zts1 Chise,O, (A) Starved–basin Rancheria Formation to the east, (B) Shelf carbonates of the Lake Valley, Kelly, and Caloso Formations CP7 kiakl / - - c-)Ztt to the north. _ A 1.-0711,1in Mts. Blue Mtn ■ El Paso Modified after Armstrong, (1958,1962,1963); for details of factes relationship between Rancherto Big Hatchet Mts. Formation and shelf carbonates of the Lake Valley Formation in the Sacramento Mts., see Armstrong (1963, fig. 8)

FIGURE 5 NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY-SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE 139 paced carbonate production. (Water depth probably The facies relationship of the shallow water lime- never exceeded 100 feet with member B.) stones of the Lake Valley Formation to the starved The origin of widespread bodies of encrinite pack- basin Rancheria Formation is demonstrable in out- stones and grainstone in Osage and Meramec times is crops in the Sacramento Mountains of south-central difficult to explain in terms of modern marine analogs. New Mexico. This relationship is graphically illus- All of the Paleozoic crinoid orders became extinct in trated by Armstrong (1962, fig. 8). the Permian, and the modern order Articulata first The concept of Laudon (1948) and Laudon and appeared in the stratigraphic record in the Middle Bowsher (1949) that the Rancheria Formation of Triassic. Hyman (1955, p. 112) stated that crinoid the southern San Andres Mountains and Sacramento faunas are rich in the littoral zones of the Indo-Pacific Mountains forms a lower Meramecian overlap north- region as compared to their paucity in the Atlantic and ward onto an eroded Lake Valley Formation (Osa- eastern Pacific regions. In the areas of research on gian) surface is rejected by this writer. modern carbonates, the Bahama platform, southern In southeastern Arizona, Nations (1963) has proved, Florida, and the Persian Gulf, living crinoids arc rare by means of a rich coral fauna, that the Black Prince to absent. Thus there is little or no factual knowledge Limestone overlies the Escabrosa Group with an un- as to the ecology of shallow water crinoids and their conformity and is not a localized member of the role in formation of encrinite packstones. Meramecian Hachita Formation as proposed by Arm- The development of massive encrinite beds such as strong (1962). the Hachita Formation of the Escabrosa Group or the Strata of the Paradise Formation are not known Tierra Blanca Member of the Lake Valley Formation north of Highway 60 or west of the Chiricahua Moun- of central New Mexico is believed by the writer to tains. This is believed due to original depositional have been the result of an encrinite or crinoid bank patterns, but also to extensive early Pennsylvanian or banks which prograded across the shallow shelf erosion. The Helms Formation of the Franklin Moun- areas. The face of the bank supported active growth tains, Texas, appears to be of Chesterian age. The of crinoids which upon their death contributed bio- distinctive coral fauna described by Armstrong (1962) clasts to the sediments. The rate at which wedges of and characterized by Dibunophyllum bipartitum kon- encrinite packstone could prograde forward and up- incki (Milne-Edwards and Haime) is typical of the ward would have been a function of substance and upper Visean and lower Namurian of Europe and is echinoderm bioclast production. The upper limits of strongly suggestive of a Chesterian age. No detailed growth would have been probably controlled by the study of the large brachiopod and foraminifera fauna depths of normal wave base. of Helms Formations has been made. Preliminary stud- Paleontologic and field studies indicate that the con- ies on these collections do indicate that the Paradise tact between the Hachita and Paradise Formations is and Helms Formation have no species of megafossils gradational and represents a shift in ecology and type in common. Lithologic investigations further support of sedimentation. The Paradise Formation of late Mer- the view that the Helms and Paradise Formations are amecian and Chesterian age with its thin-bedded lime two distinct lithologic facies of probable similar age. mudstone to packstone and its increasing amounts of The chronological and facies relationship is obscure terrigenous elastics in higher horizons represents a between the Helms and Paradise Formations. These marked environmental change from the deposition problems may be resolved when the lithology, mega- that occurred during Osagian and early Meramecian fossils, and microfossils of the Helms Formation are time in the Escabrosa Group. studied in detail to discover its depositional environ- The Rancheria Formation of the Franklin Moun- ment and its age. tains, Texas, is a starved basin facies of the platform carbonates of the Escabrosa Group and the Lake Val- REFERENCES ley Formation. Paleontologic evidence to support this Armstrong, A. K., 1958a, The Mississippian of west-central New view is now meager, but a detailed study on the for- Mexico: New Mexico Bur. Mines and Mineral Res. Mem. 5, 32 aminifera of the Rancheria Formation is in process by p., 6 pl. , 1958b, Meramecian (Mississippian) endothyrid fauna Dr. James Conkin of the University of Louisville. from the Arroyo Penasco formation, northern and central New Field and lithologic studies clearly indicate this facies Mexico: Jour. Paleontology, v. 32, p. 970-976, pl. 127. relationship. In the southern Florida Mountains, south , 1962, Stratigraphy and Paleontology of the Mississippian System in southwestern New Mexico and adjacent southeastern of Deming, New Mexico, outcrops of Mississippian Arizona: New Mexico Bur. Mines and Mineral Res. Mem. 8, 95 rock equivalent to member B, Keating Formation, p., 12 pl. 1963 Biostratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Mississip- have a chert and limestone lithology transitional to pian System, west-central New Mexico, New Mexico Geol. Soc. that of the Rancheria Formation. Guidebook of the Socorro Region, 14th Field Conf.: p. 112-122. 140 NEW MEXICO GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY-SIXTEENTH FIELD CONFERENCE

Dunham, R. J., 1962, Classification of carbonate rocks according Laudon, L. R., 1948, Osage-Meramec Contact in Weller, J. M., ed., to deposition texture, in Classification of Carbonate Rocks, a sym- Symposium on problems of Mississippian stratigraphy and correla- posium: Am. Assoc. Petroleum Geologists, Mem. 1, p. 108-112. tion: Jour. Geology, v. 56, p. 288-302. Girty, G. H., 1904, in Ransome, F. L. The geology and ore de- Laudon, L. R. and Bowsher, A. L., 1949, Mississippian formations posits of the Bisbee quadrangle, Arizona: U.S. Geol. Survey Prof. of southwestern New Mexico: Geol. Soc. America Bull., v. 60, p. Paper 21, 168 p., pl. 1-29. 1-87. Hernon, R. M., 1935, The Paradise formation and its fauna: Jour. Nations, J. D., 1963, Evidence for a Morrowan age for the Black Paleontology, v. 9, p. 653-696, 3 pl. Prince Limestone of southeastern Arizona: Jour. Paleontology, v. Hyman, L. H., 1955, The Invertebrates, v. 4: New York, McGraw- 37, p. 1252-1264, pls. 175-177. Hill, 763 p.