Devonian and Mississippian Rocks of Central Arizona
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Devonian and i Mississippian Rocks of Central Arizona GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 233-D Devonian and Mississippian Rocks of Central Arizona JOHN W. HUDDLE and ERNEST DOBROVOLNY SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 19 GEOLOGICAL SURVEY PROFESSIONAL PAPER 233-D Stratigraphic studies, in the central part of the State, as the basis for postulating stratigraphy and petroleum possibilities in northeastern Arizona UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, WASHINGTON : 1952 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR Oscar L. Chapman, Secretary GEOLOGICAL SURVEY W. E. Wrather, Director For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 65 cents (paper cover) CONTENTS Page Page Abstract.._ ________________________________ 67 Stratigraphy—Continued Introduction _______________________________ 67 Devonian rocks: Martin formation—Continued Purpose of the investigation-_________.__. 67 Paleogeography__ ________.-_-_-_____._____ 81 Location and geography-________________ Distribution of facies and conditions of Field work _____________________________ deposition. ________________ __ ___________ 83 Acknowledgments__ _ __________________ 68 Correlation ________________________________ 85 Stratigraphy _______________________________ 68 Carboniferous (Mississippian) rocks: Red wall lime Pre-Devonian rocks_____________________ 71 stone______________________________________ 86 Pre-Cambrian_ _____________________ 71 Terminology _______________________________ 86 Cambrian__ ______________________ 71 General description. ______________ __________ 86 Devonian rocks: Martin formation______ 71 Thickness__________________________ 87 Terminology ____•__________________- 71 Effects of pre-Pennsyl vanian erosion __________ 88 General description_________________ 73 Correlation ________________________________ 90 Divisions. __________________________ 73 History of Mazatzal land_________-_-_______-__-_____ 90 Lower member_________________ 74 Summary. _________________________________________ "92 Middle member._______________ 75 Upper member_________________ 75 Detailed stratigraphic sections______________________ 93 Relationship to underlying formations. 76 Literature cited__._________________-_-_________--___ 110 Relationship to overlying formation. __ 81 Index. _____--._________________________________ 111 ILLUSTRATIONS Page PLATE 11. Columnar sections along line A-A' from the East Verde River to the Black River, central Arizona______ In pocket 12. Columnar sections along line B-B' from Tornado Peak, central Arizona, to Cedar Mesa, Utah.___________ In pocket 13. Map showing the thickness and facies of the Martin formation in Gila and adjacent counties, Ariz____— In pocket FIGURE 8. Map showing the distribution of outcrops of Devonian and Mississippian. sedimentary rocks in Arizona. _____ 69 9. Index map of northeastern Arizona________----__-_________________-_-__-------_-----------------_--_- 70 10. Pre-Devonian rocks of central Arizona___________________________________-------_------_------------ 72 11. Generalized section of the Martin formation in central Arizona________________.--___-------_----__---- 73 12. View of the Devonian and Mississippian rocks exposed in the Salt River canyon, central Arizona_____-__--__ 74 13. Lower member of the Martin formation as exposed in a road cut on United States Highway No. 60, central Arizona _ ___-___-___-_---____________-_________________________-______-_-___------------__--_-_- 75 14. Diagrammatic sketch of the exposures in Cow Canyon, central Arizona.__________________________________ 77 15. Geologic sketch map of the Cliff House Canyon area, central Arizona_____-_---_-----------_-_----------- 78 16. Diagrammatic section of the Martin formation, near Cliff House Canyon_________________________________ 79 17. Map showing the distribution of Late Devonian paleogeographic elements in Arizona___________-_______ 80 18. Diagrammatic section across Pine Creek at Natural Bridge, northwest of Payson, Ariz__________________ 81 19. Contact between the Martin formation and the Redwall limestone in Flying "V" Canyon, central Arizona_ 81 20. Contact between the Redwall limestone and the basal members of the Naco formation on United States High way No. 60, central Arizona____-_____---_______________________-_______-________--_-_---__-------- 87 21. Contact of the Redwall limestone and the Naco formation near the confluence of Horton and Tonto Creeks, Gila County, Ariz_______________-____________________________________-____----__---__---_------ 88 22. Cave fillings in the Redwall limestone on United States Highway No. 60, central Arizona___________________ 89 23. Rubble breccia in the Redwall limestone on United States Highway No. 60, central Arizona___________ 89 24. Chert breccia in the base of the Naco formation, central Arizona_________________________--_---_-__--_-_- 90 25. Restored section across the northern part of Mazatzal land at the end of Mississippian deposition_________ 91 26. Early Mississippian paleogeography of the southwestern United States________-__-________-_-__-_-_-----_ 91 in DEVONIAN AND MISSISSIPPI AN ROCKS OF CENTRAL ARIZONA By JOHN W. HUDDLE and ERNEST DOBROVOLNY ABSTRACT to the Defiance uplift. The mountains, folded in pre-Cambrian time, were deeply eroded, after which late pre-Cambrian and Stratigraphic studies of the late Paleozoic rocks of central Cambrian sediments were deposited on their flanks. Near the Arizona form the basis for postulating the extent and the petro Mogollon Rim three prominent ridges of quartzite on Mazatzal leum-bearing possibilities of Devonian and Mississippian rocks land formed peninsulas, islands, or rocky reefs in the Devonian in northeastern Arizona. and Mississippian seas. A northward extension of the ancient The Martin formation of Late Devonian age consists of a mountain chain is indicated by the granitic ridge encountered lower member of conglomeratic sandstone and dolomitic lime in wells drilled near Holbrook and by the northeastward trend stone, a middle member of sandstone and cliff-forming limestone, of pre-Cambrian rocks in the Defiance uplift. A gap in the and an upper member of sandstone, sandy limestone, and shale. land mass immediately north of the Mogollon Rim probably per The formation, as traced from southeastern Arizona toward mitted the Devonian and Mississippian seas to extend unbroken the central part of the State, becomes increasingly sandy and in from southeastern to northwestern Arizona. the vicinity of the Mogollon Rim laps against ridges of quartzite Mazatzal land, the granitic Holbrook ridge, and the Defiance of Cambrian and pre-Cambrian age. Between these quartzite uplift were residual mountain masses rather than rapidly rising ridges, the Martin formation is present in normal thickness and sources of sediments like the "ancestral Rockies" in Colorado character. It is equivalent, in part, to the Temple Butte lime and New Mexico. The distribution and character of late pre- stone of the Grand Canyon area, Merriam's Devils Gate forma Oambrian, Cambrian, and Devonian sediments were influenced tion of Nevada, Stevenson's Sly "Gap formation and the Percha by Mazatzal land, which also affected Mississippian sedimenta shale of New Mexico, and the Upper Devonian rocks of Colorado tion, although to a less extent. By Pennsylvanian time Maza and Iowa. The contact with the overlying Redwall limestone tzal land probably was covered with sediments. The Defiance of Mississippian age is unconformable. uplift, however, was not buried until Permian time. The thin limestone of Mississippian age in central Arizona is Devonian and, Mississipian strata probably are present in the equivalent of the Redwall limestone of northwestern Arizona the subsurface southeast of the granitic Holbrook ridge and and the Escabrosa limestone of southeastern Arizona. The perhaps may be present in the Black Mesa basin to the north. name "Redwall limestone" is extended for use in central Arizona Although this basin owes its shape to Laramide movements, because it is the older of the two names. Typically, the Red- its position may be related to a Paleozoic depositional area. wall consists of a lower impure dark-gray limestone, a middle Deposition in the Black Mesa basin during Devonian and Mis massive cliff-forming limestone, and an upper thin- to medium- sissippian time is indicated by the Devonian (?) and Mississip bedded cherty limestone. North of the Salt River, however, pian strata found in one of the wells drilled south of Holbrook; these subdivisions tend to disappear, the formation there con by Devonian strata at Elden Mountain, about 4 miles northeast sisting of loose blocks of limestone, surrounded by red sandy of Flagstaff; by a thick section of Devonian strata at Jerome; mudstone, and a few solid limestone beds. The Redwall is thin and by thick sections of Devonian and Mississippian strata in in central Arizona; the thinness and fragmentation of the wells in southeastern Utah. The Black Mesa basin probably limestone beds were caused by the erosion that occurred before had a history similar to that of the San Juan basin in New the Pennsylvanian epoch. Principally by solution, the erosion Mexico, where there are Devonian and Mississippian strata produced a red residual soil containing blocks of undissolved containing oil and gas. Hence Devonian and Mississippian limestone and chert. Caves and sinkholes in the limestone later rocks in the Black Mesa basin may also contain some oil and were