V- DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director PROFESSIONAL PAPER 108 C A COMPARISON OF PALEOZOIC SECTIONS IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO BY N. H. DARTON Published May 29,1917 Shorter contributions to general geology, 1917 (Pages 31-55) WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1917 DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR FRANKLIN K. LANE, Secretary UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY GEORGE OTIS SMITH, Director Professional Paper 108 C A COMPARISON OF PALEOZOIC SECTIONS IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO BY N. H. DARTON Published May 29,1917 Shorter contributions to general geology, 1917 (Pages 31-55) WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1917 CONTENTS. Page. Page. Introduction..................................... 31 Silurian system Continued, Cambrian system................................ 32 Fusselman limestone Continued. General features............................ 32 41 Bliss sandstone............................... 32 41 Franklin Mountains....................... 32 Caballos Mountains. ................... 41 Florida Mountains and Cooks Range...... 32 42 Silver City region.... + .................... 32 42 Caballos Mountains.. .j................... 33 42 San Andres Mountains..................... 33 42 Sacramento Mountains.................... 33 43 Mimbres Mountains..................... 33 43 Ordovician system................................ 34 44 General features............................ 34 44 El Paso limestone............................ 34 44 Franklin Mountains....................... 34 44 Florida Mountains........................ 34 44 Cooks Range............................. 34 Florida Mountains .................... 44 Snake Hills.............................. 35 Silver City. ........................... 44 Victorio Mountains........................ qc 44 Klondike Hills............................ 35 45 Silver City region......................... qc 45 Caballos Mountains...................... qc San Andres Mountains. ................ 45 Lake Valley district..................... 35 45 Mimbres Mountains....................... qc Age and correlation ................... 46 San Andres Mountains................... 35 46 Sacramento Mountains.................... 36 46 Fossils................................... q« 47 Age and correlation........................ q« 47 Montoya limestone............................ q7 Orvnlra "RdTiom 48 General relations...........:.............. q7 48 Franklin Mountains....................... q7 48 Luna County............................. q7 48 Silver City region......................... qo 48 Caballos Mountains and adjoining regions. qc 49 Lake Valley............................... qc 49 Mimbres Mountains...................... qa 50 San Andres Mountains................... qq 50 Sacramento Mountains.................... qq Magdalena group ............................ 53 Fossils................................... qq Cooks Range. .......................... 53 Age and correlation....................... 40 Silver City region....................... 53 Silurian system.................................... 41 53 Fusselman limestone......................... 41 53 Franklin Mountains and eastward........ 41 Gym limestone ............................. 53 Cooks Range............................. 41 Hueco limestone. f ..................... 55 Florida Mountains........................ 41 Geologic history. .............................. 55 ni ILLUSTRATIONS. PLATE XIII. Map of part of New Mexico and adjoin­ FIGURE 2. Columnar sections showing atratigraphic ing regions, showing relations of relations of Paleozoic rocks in southern lower Paleozoic rocks.............. 32 New Mexico........................ 31 XIV. A, Bliss sandstone in Bennett Can­ 3. Section across the Franklin Mountain? yon, 18 miles northeast of Las 3 miles north of El Paso, Tex......... 32 Cruces, N. Mex.; B, West face of 4. Section across Cooks Range at Cooks, Sandia Mountains at Bernalillo, N.Mex............................. 35 N. Mex.......................... 32 5. Section through the Klondike Hills, XV. Views on east side of San Andres Luna County, N. Mex................ 36 Mountains, west of Alamogordo, 6. Section through the Snake Hills, south­ N. Mex.: A, View looking east out west of Deming, N. Mex............. 37 of mouth of Hembrillo Canyon; B, 7. Cross section showing relations of Paleo­ View looking northeast in Good- zoic rocks in the Silver City region, fortune Canyon................... 33 N.Mex............................. 38 XVI. A, West face of Caballos Mountains 8. Section across the Caballos Mountains, near Apache Canyon, Sierra County, southwest of Engle, N. Mex......... 39 N. Mex.; B, Paleozoic rocks on 9. Sections across the San Andres Moun­ granite at Capitol Dome, Florida tains, Socorro and Dona Ana counties, Mountains, Luna County, N. Mex.. 34 N. Mex............................ 42 XVII. A, Sierra Cuchillo west of Palomas 10. Section through the Lake Valley mining- Springs, N. Mex.; B, Fault in lime­ district, Sierra County, N. Mex...... 44 stone at Palomas Gap, Caballos 11. Columnar sections showing stratigraphic Mountains, Sierra County, N. Mex.. 35 variations in lower Paleozoic rocks in XVIII. A, Limestones from Ordovician to the San Andres Mountains, Dona Ana Pennsylvanian on granite, Sheep and Socorro counties,N.Mex......... 45 Mountain, San Andres Mountains, 12. Section from the Mimbres Mountainr Socorro County, N. Mex.; B, East eastward through Kingston and Hilla- face of San Andres Mountains at boro. N. Mex....................... 48 Rhodes Canyon, Socorro County, 13. Section of the west front of the Sacra­ N.Mex.......................... 36 mento Mountains, 12 miles southeast XIX. A, North side of entrance to Alamo of Alamogordo, N. Mex.............. 50 Canyon, 3 miles southeast of Alamo­ 14. Section along western slope of the gordo, N. Mex.; B, Kelly limestone Sacramento Mountains east of Alamo­ at Graphic mine, near Magdalena, gordo, N. Mex., from La Luz Canyor N.Mex.......................... 37 to Grapevine Canyon............... 51 XX. View looking southeast along weat 15. Section across the southern part of the front of Sacramento Mountains Florida Mountains, Luna County, from Alamogordo, Otero County, N.Mex............................. 54 N.Mex.......................... 50 XXI. View along west front of Sacramento Mountains at Agua Chiquita Can­ yon, Otero County, N. Mex........ 51 COS I.:; *-JIJ NVS Mxr»o*iD j,siocno3") HO A COMPARISON OF PALEOZOIC SECTIONS IN SOUTHERN NEW MEXICO. By N. H. DABTON. INTRODUCTION. in publications by Gordon and Graton, Lee, In studying the geology oi different parts Herrick, and others. of southern New Mexico the writer has ob­ It has been known for some time that in tained many new data on the distribution southern New Mexico there are representa­ and relations of the sedimentary rocks. The tives of portions of later Cambrian, Ordovi- stratigraphy of the Pennsylvanian series was cian, Silurian, Devonian, earlier Mississippian, investigated in detail, and in Luna County all and Pennsylvanian time, and that the lower the formations were studied.1 A recently formations thin out to the north, so that in Frankli n F lorid 3 ( :ooks Silver C aballc s Lake K hgst 3n- SanAnd res Sac rame nto Mts MtS. F City Mts. Valley H llsbo TO Mts Mts. TERTIARY *~t**tf; TERTIARY _i— 1_ agglom­ jK Red beds \ erate erate 2,000 (Abo) 10 soo/ o 1 !_!_ FCoJpfSab' £00+ a i 1 Colorado 1 //|r l,000± 1,800 + Hueco 300 "-- o 1 1 ' $ ^ m Gap ~"~ — -i?~ Red beds . cc • ' Gym \ S 1 1 i i 1 1 i i / . 1 1 i i / I,IOO± 1 1 Gym / limestone i i Fierro i / * — i— i- / 600 \\ \ -U-L- 800 \ \ • 650 i ' i ' / •z. 1,200,' ^ \ 1 1 i i i i •> Lake i ' i 1 CL i i _J_ L _• Valley --t^r i i 300 JD;50 •i i fe---_ i i :75^ to _,- ^r- i i 500 ,' i i 163-—- - —— JTjf i i 300 i — r i i i i . 50 IS ^-aoo — 7 —— —— - i i = !<=!= 200 -~? 350 ZOO ORDOVICIANSIU.CAMBRIANORDOVICIAN Montoya 300 250 350 / 1 1 to 350 150 -i- i i 400 j —i — n75--~ 200 tt &£ U^- 300 ^&? 300 600 to i^ PRE-LATEEARLYLATE 800 900- 400 v s' 1,000+ i El Paso -100+ —— ^s / 20ti\ / / 180' . L _., L, 200,--^ "Oto f Bliss 2OO ____- Scale 500 0 5CX3 1 000 Feet Granite,etc. P i 'S-^T? mf Mississippian fossi s m Magdalena fossils FIGURE 2. Columnar sections showing stratigraphic relations of Paleozoic rocks in southern New Mexico. published folio 2 gives many new facts for the central New Mexico the strata of the Penn­ stratigraphy of the Silver City region, some of sylvanian series lie directly on the pre-Cam- which are utilized in the present paper. Rich­ brian crystalline rocks, as shown in Plate ardson's work in the El Paso region 3 estab­ XIV, B. There are also numerous irregulari­ lished the succession in the southeastern part ties in the overlap relations of the formations. of New Mexico. There are also many details The broader features of the stratigraphy of this region are here presented. The principal 1 Darton, N. H., Geology and underground waters of Luna County, N. Mex.: U. S. Geol. Survey Bull. 618, 188 pp., 13 pi., 1916. Paleozoic formations in southern New Mexico- 2 Paige, Sidney, U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, Silver City folio (No. are shown in the columnar sections (fig. 2), 199), 1916. s Richardson, G. B., U. S. Geol. Survey Geol. Atlas, El Paso folio and some conditions of the distribution of the (No. 166), 1909. formations are indicated on the map (PI. XIII). 31 32 SHORTER CONTRIBUTIONS TO GENERAL GEOLOGY, 1917. CAMBRIAN SYSTEM. beds comprise Lingulepis acuminata, Obolus matinalis ?, and fragments of Lingulella. Some