The Cambro-Ordovician Bliss Formation, southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.—Progradational sequences on a mixed siliciclastic and carbonate shelf

Chafetz, Henry S.; Meredith, John C.; Kocurek, Gary

doi:10.1016/0037-0738(86)90039-4

Cited by 12 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…The Bliss Formation was deposited in a shallow-marine environment during the Cambrian and Early Ordovician eustatic transgression, an interpretation that is in general agreement with previous workers (Lewis, 1962;Kottlowski, 1963;Hoffman, 1976;Thompson and Potter, 1981;Ottensman, 1983;Chafetz et al, 1986;Stageman, 1987). The basal conglomerate is interpreted to be a transgressive lag that formed by the process of shoreface erosion (Swift, 1968).…”

Section: Bliss Formationsupporting

confidence: 86%

Geology of Garfield quadrangle, Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico

Seager¹,

Mack²

1991

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The Garfield quadrangle is located along the Rio Grande in south-central New Mexico, approximately 40 km (25 mi) south of Truth or Consequences. Located in the Rio Grande rift, the quadrangle encompasses part of the Palomas Basin, as well as outlying fault blocks of the Caballo Mountains. Whereas the Rio Grande and its tributaries have sculpted the prevailingly fine-grained, soft sedimentary deposits of the Palomas Basin into badlands, the far more ancient and durable rocks of the Caballo Mountains have yielded more rugged topography, featuring deeply incised canyons, high peaks, impressive cliffs, and a succession of cuestas.The fault blocks consist mostly of Precambrian granite and syenite, unconformably overlain by Paleozoic and lower Tertiary sedimentary strata. Totaling approximately 885 m (2,900 ft) in thickness, the exposed sedimentary section includes basal Bliss Formation (Cambrian and Ordovician; 33 m, 108 ft thick); El Paso Formation (Ordovician; 152 m, 499 ft thick); Montoya Formation (Ordovician; 116 m, 381 ft thick); Fusselman Dolomite (Silurian; 26 m, 85 ft thick); Percha Formation (Devonian; 19 m, 62 ft thick); Magdalena Group (Pennsylvanian; 277 m, 909 ft thick); Abo Formation (Permian; 141 m, 463 ft thick); Yeso Formation (Permian; 30 m, 100 ft thick); Love Ranch Formation (Eocene; 30 m, 100 ft thick); and Palm Park Formation (Eocene; 60 m, 200 ft thick). Cambrian through Pennsylvanian strata are almost entirely shallow marine in origin, consisting of limestone, sandstone, and shale. Much of the El Paso and virtually all of the Montoya and Fusselman Formations are dolomitized to such an extent that original textures and most fossil remains are obscured. Regional unconformities slightly truncate the top of the El Paso, Montoya, Fusselman, and Percha Formations. Uppermost Magdalena strata mark a transition to nonmarine conditions, and the overlying Abo and Yeso red beds are fluvial and eolian in origin, respectively.An angular unconformity separates Paleozoic strata from lower to middle Tertiary Love Ranch and Palm Park clastics. The unconformity is a product of deformation and erosion of Paleozoic, Cretaceous, and Precambrian rocks during the Laramide orogeny, and the fanglomerates of the Love Ranch and Palm Park Formations document erosion deep into the basement rocks of Laramide uplifts. Southwest-verging, overturned folds and associated thrust faults, exposed in the Derry Hills, are structural elements of an uplifted Laramide block that extended across most of the southern Caballo Mountains region. By middle Tertiary time this block was deeply buried, not only by Love Ranch and Palm Park fanglomerate, but also by a thick succession of andesitic, rhyolitic, and basalticandesite volcanic rocks; most of these were removed from the Garfield quadrangle by erosion during Neogene evolution of the Rio Grande rift.Laramide uplifts and basins and the deposits that buried them were segmented in late Tertiary time by normal faults of the Rio Grande rift. In the Garfield quadrangle, major normal faults include the Red Hills and Derry Hills faults, which separate the Red Hills-Nakaye Mountain and Derry Hills fault blocks from the Palomas Basin. Both faults show evidence for late Quaternary movement; movement along the Red Hills fault probably occurred in Holocene time. Slightly deformed playa deposits of the Miocene Rincon Valley Formation are the oldest exposed basin fill in the Palomas Basin in the Garfield quadrangle. Only the upper 15 m (50 ft) of a section that is at least 600 m (1,968 ft) thick is exposed. Much more widespread is the late Pliocene-middle Pleistocene Palomas Formation. At least 90 m (295 ft) thick, the Palomas Formation consists of an axial fluvial fades, the deposits of an ancestral Rio Grande, as well as alluvial-fan and piedmont-slope deposits derived from both the Black Range and Caballo Mountains. Along the eastern margin of the Palomas Basin, fan and river deposits of the Palomas Formation overlapped adjacent uplifts, burying all or parts of the Derry Hills, Red Hills, and Nakaye Mountain fault blocks by middle Pleistocene time. Late Pleistocene and Holocene deposits include arroyo, terrace, fan, and river alluvium related to periods of entrenchment and backfilling by the modern Rio Grande and its tributaries. Erosional episodes resulted in exhumation of the fault blocks and superposition of drainage across them.

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Section: Bliss Formationsupporting

confidence: 86%

Geology of Garfield quadrangle, Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico

Seager¹,

Mack²

1991

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“…There is no evidence in the three sections measured in this study for sub-aerial expo sure, stromatolites, or limestone deposition other than by storms. Consequently, there is no indication of the upward-shallowing cycles described by Chafetz et al (1986) for the Bliss near Silver City. The one exception might be a bed of whitish medium sand stone directly above the green, glauconitic, very fine sandstone marker bed (Fig.…”

Section: Depositional Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 94%

“…Most previous workers concluded that the Bliss is shallow-marine to shoreline in origin, although considerable variation exists in the details of the depo sitional models (cf. Lewis, 1962;Kottlowski, 1963;Hoffman, 1976;Thompson and Potter, 1981;Ottensman, 1983;Chafetz et al, 1986;Stageman, 1987).…”

Section: Depositional Environmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geology of the Caballo Mountains, New Mexico

Seager¹,

Mack²

2003

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The Caballo Mountains, just south of Truth or Consequences, rise to an elevation of 7,065 feet. Today they are flanked on the west side by Caballo Reservoir and on the east side by the Jornada del Muerto. An extraordinary geologic section is preserved here. Precambrian igneous and metamorphic rocks (granites and schists) provide a view of the Precambrian history of this part of the country, and an extraordinary thickness of sedimentary rocks (whose collective thickness is more than 3.5 miles) gives us an unparalleled picture of the evolution of southern New Mexico. Development of these mountains began with compression and uplift associated with the Laramide orogeny, at the end of the Mesozoic. Since then the complex geologic history of this part of New Mexico has included uplift, erosion, faulting, volcanic activity, continental deposition, and, finally, the development of the Rio Grande rift. That complex geologic history is well documented in this volume. This memoir is the result of many years of study and field work on the part of the authors, who have drawn together in one place this comprehensive description of the region. The volume is heavily illustrated with photographs, maps, stratigraphic sections, and other graphics. It contains both an index and a glossary.

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“…For the purpose of mapping we defined the top of the Bliss as the top of the youngest sandstone unit. This overall transgressive unit includes a basal beach deposit, overlain by a series of regressive packages consisting of shallow shelf to tidally influenced shoreface and tidal flat deposits (Chafetz et al, 1986).…”

Section: Cbmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geologic map and cross sections of the Silver City Range, Grant County, New Mexico

Copeland¹,

Murphy²,

Dupré³

2010

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QTg Gila Conglomerate (Miocene-Pleistocene?): consists of semi-consolidated conglomerates, sandstones, and minor amounts of mudrocks. Estimated thickness up to 300 meters; deposited in part as syntectonic (Basin and Range) alluvial fan, river, and lacustrine deposits. Best developed on LS Mesa and in the bolson fill of the Mangas Valley. Includes some small areas of undifferentiated Holocene alluvial and colluvial deposits (Trauger, 1972).

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The Cambro-Ordovician Bliss Formation, southwestern New Mexico, U.S.A.—Progradational sequences on a mixed siliciclastic and carbonate shelf

Cited by 12 publications

References 11 publications

Geology of Garfield quadrangle, Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico

Geology of Garfield quadrangle, Sierra and Dona Ana Counties, New Mexico

Geology of the Caballo Mountains, New Mexico

Geologic map and cross sections of the Silver City Range, Grant County, New Mexico

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