Cherry Canyon Formation
{{Short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico and Texas, US}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Cherry Canyon Formation
| image = Cherry Canyon Fm.jpg
| caption = Cherry Canyon Formation exposed in roadcut near its type location
| type = Geological formation
| period = Wordian
| age = Roadian-Wordian
~{{fossil range|272|266}}
| prilithology = Sandstone, siltstone
| otherlithology = Limestone
| namedfor = Cherry Canyon
| namedby = DeFord and Lloyd
| year_ts = 1940
| region = New Mexico, Texas
| country = United States
| coordinates = {{coord|31.899|N|104.780|W|display=inline,title}}
| paleocoordinates = {{coord|3.7|N|34.1|W|display=inline}}
| unitof = Delaware Mountain Group
| subunits = Getaway, South Wells, and Manzanita Members
| underlies = Bell Canyon Formation
| overlies = Brushy Canyon Formation
| thickness = {{convert|400|m|ft|abbr=on}}
| extent = Guadalupe and Delaware Mountains
| area =
| map = {{Location map+ | United States#Texas
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | United States#Texas
| lat_deg = 31.899
| lon_deg = -104.780
| mark = Red pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| map_caption =
}}
The Cherry 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.Kues and Giles 2004, p.100
Description
The formation consists mostly of cyclic marine sandstone and siltstone, but with interfingering tongues of gray limestone (the Getaway, South Wells,King 1948, p.36 and Manzanita Members). These extend from the Goat Seep reef, an earlier and much smaller precursor to the Capitan reef, into what was then deep, anoxic water of the Permian Basin. A lower tongue of the formation extends across the basin margin to grade into the nearby San Andres Formation. Maximum thickness of the Cherry Canyon Formation is {{convert|400|meters|feet|sp=us}}. The formation rests on the Brushy Canyon Formation, but the lower tongue fills a few deep paleochannels that cut down through the Brushy Canyon and the underlying Cutoff Formation into the Victorio Peak Formation.Kues and Giles 2004, p.124 A hiatus in deposition, marking a substantial drop in sea level, separates the Cherry Canyon Formation from the overlying Bell Canyon Formation.Kues and Giles 2004, p.126
The Getaway Member contains carbonate debris flow beds. All three carbonate members grade into sandstone channel deposits deeper in the basin.
Fossils
The formation contain abundant fish fossils, such as sharks' teeth, preserved within small phosphatic nodules. Ostracods have been identified in the Getaway Member, including Amphissites, Aurikirkbya, Ceratobairdia, Polytylites, and Roundyella.{{cite journal |last1=Tarnac |first1=Anaëlle |last2=Forel |first2=Marie-Béatrice |last3=Nestell |first3=Galina |last4=Nestell |first4=Merlynd |last5=Crasquin |first5=Sylvie |title=Middle Permian ostracods (Crustacea) from the Guadalupe Mountains, West Texas, USA |journal=European Journal of Taxonomy |date=22 September 2021 |issue=770 |pages=1–60 |doi=10.5852/ejt.2021.770.1499|doi-access=free }}
Economic resources
The Cherry Canyon Formation has been exploited for its hydrocarbon resources.{{cite journal |last1=Montgomery |first1=S.L. |last2=Hamilton |first2=D. |last3=Hunt |first3=T. |last4=Worrall |first4=J. |title=Delaware Mountain Group, West Texas, A Case of Refound Opportunity: Part 2--Cherry Canyon Formation (E & P Notes) |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=2000 |volume=84 |issue=1 |pages=1–11 |doi=10.1306/C9EBCD47-1735-11D7-8645000102C1865D}} Some of the hydrocarbons present in the formation may have leaked into nearby gypsum beds of the Castile Formation, producing sulfuric acid that contributed to the formation of Carlsbad Cavern.{{cite journal |last1=Hill |first1=C.A. |title=Sulfuric Acid Speleogenesis of Carlsbad Cavern and Its Relationship to Hydrocarbons, Delaware Basin, New Mexico and Texas (1) |journal=AAPG Bulletin |date=1990 |volume=74 |issue=11 |pages=1685–1694 |doi=10.1306/0C9B2565-1710-11D7-8645000102C1865D}}
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.DeFord and Lloyd 1940King 1942
Footnotes
= Bibliography =
- {{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}}
- Hunt, ReBecca K., Vincent L. Santucci and Jason Kenworthy. 2006. "A preliminary inventory of fossil fish from National Park Service units." in S.G. Lucas, J.A. Spielmann, P.M. Hester, J.P. Kenworthy, and V.L. Santucci (ed.s), Fossils from Federal Lands. New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science Bulletin 34, pp. 63–69
- {{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Philip B. |title=Geology of the Southern Guadalupe Mountains, Texas |journal=U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper |date=1948 |volume=215 |page=36 |doi=10.3133/pp215|url=https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1036553/ }}
- {{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}}
Category:Geologic formations of Texas
Category:Permian System of North America
Category:Permian formations of New Mexico
Category:Permian geology of Texas
Category:Limestone formations of the United States
Category:Paleontology in Texas