Bell Canyon Formation
{{Short description|Geologic formation ion New Mexico and Texas, US}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Bell Canyon Formation
| image =
| caption =
| type = Formation
| age = {{Geological range|Guadalupian}}
| period = Guadalupian
| prilithology = Sandstone, siltstone
| otherlithology = Limestone
| namedfor = Bell Canyon
| namedby = DeFord and Lloyd
| year_ts = 1940
| region = New Mexico
Texas
| country = United States
| coordinates = {{coord|31.9359|N|104.7237|W|display=inline}}
| unitof = Delaware Mountain Group
| subunits =
| underlies = Castile Formation
| overlies = Cherry Canyon Formation
| thickness = {{convert|200-300|meters|feet|abbr=on}}
| extent =
| area =
| map = {{Location map+ | United States#Texas
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | United States#Texas
| lat_deg = 31.9359
| lon_deg = -104.7237
| mark = Red pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| map_caption =
}}
The Bell Canyon Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian Age of the Permian Period.{{sfn|Kues|Giles|2004|p=100}}
Description
The formation consists mostly of marine sandstone and siltstone, but with five interfingering tongues of gray limestone. These extend from the Capitan reef into what was then deep, anoxic water {{convert|300-500|meters|feet|sp=us}} deep of the Permian Basin. Total thickness of the formation is {{convert|200-300|meters|feet|sp=us}}.{{sfn|Kues|Giles|2004|pp=125-127}}
Fossils
The formation's Lamar Limestone Member of Guadalupe Mountains National Park has produced fossil holocephalan teeth.{{sfn|Hunt|Santucci|Kenworthy|2006|p=64}}
History of investigation
The unit was first designated as a formation by DeFord and Lloyd in 1940, who raised the Delaware Mountain Formation to group rank and designed its previously informal members as formations.{{sfn|DeFord | Lloyd |1940}}{{sfn|King|1942}}
Footnotes
{{Reflist|3}}
References
- {{cite journal |last1=DeFord |first1=Ronald K. |last2=Lloyd |first2=E. Russell |title=West Texas-New Mexico Symposium: Part I Editorial Introduction |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1940 |volume=24 |doi=10.1306/3D933188-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D}}
- {{cite journal |last1=King |first1=P.B. |title=Permian of West Texas and Southeastern New Mexico: PART 1 |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1942 |volume=26 |doi=10.1306/3D933466-16B1-11D7-8645000102C1865D}}
- {{cite encyclopedia |last1=Kues |first1=B.S. |last2=Giles |first2=K.A. |year=2004 |title=The late Paleozoic Ancestral Rocky Mountain system in New Mexico |editor1-last=Mack |editor1-first=G.H. |editor2-last=Giles |editor2-first=K.A. |encyclopedia=The geology of New Mexico. A geologic history: New Mexico Geological Society Special Volume 11 |pages=95–136 |isbn=9781585460106}}
- {{cite book |last1=Hunt |first1=Rebecca K. |first2=Vincent L. |last2=Santucci |first3=Jason |last3=Kenworthy |year=2006 |chapter=A preliminary inventory of fossil fish from National Park Service units |editor-first1=S.G. |editor-last1=Lucas |editor-first2=J.A. |editor-last2=Spielmann |editor-first3=P.M. |editor-last3=Hester |editor-first4=J.P. |editor-last4=Kenworthy |editor-first5=V.L. |editor-last5=Santucci |title=Fossils from Federal Lands. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin |volume=34 |pages=63–69}}