Travesser Formation
{{short description|Geologic formation in New Mexico, United States}}
{{Infobox rockunit
| name = Travesser Formation
| image = Steamboat Butte New Mexico.jpg
| caption = Steamboat Butte, showing tilted teds of Travesser Formation in its lower half
| type = Formation
| age = {{Geological range|late Triassic}}
| period = late Triassic
| prilithology = Siltstone, sandstone
| otherlithology = Conglomerate
| namedfor = Travesser Creek
| namedby = Baldwin and Muelberger
| year_ts = 1959
| region = New Mexico
| country = United States
| coordinates = {{coord|36.93|N|103.48|W|display=inline}}
| unitof = Dockum Group
| subunits =
| underlies = Sloan Canyon Formation
| overlies = Baldy Hill Formation
| thickness = {{convert|550|feet|meters}}
| extent =
| area =
| map = {{Location map+ | United States#New Mexico
| relief = 1
| width = 250
| float = center
| places =
{{Location map~ | United States#New Mexico
| lat_deg = 36.93
| lon_deg = -103.48
| mark = Lightgreen pog.svg
| marksize = 12
}}
}}
| map_caption =
}}
The Travesser Formation is a geologic formation in northeastern New Mexico, southeastern Colorado, westernmost Oklahoma, and northwestern Texas,{{cite journal |last1=Baldwin |first1=Brewster |last2=Muehlberger |first2=W.R. |year=1959 |title=Geologic studies of Union County, New Mexico |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines and Mineral Resources Bulletin |volume=63-2 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/63/Bulletin63_nc.pdf |accessdate=27 April 2021}} particularly in the Dry Cimarron valley.{{cite journal |last1=Lucas |first1=S.G. |author1-link=Spencer G. Lucas |last2=Hunt |first2=A.P. |last3=Hayden |first3=S.N. |year=1987 |title=The Triassic System in the Dry Cimarron Valley, New Mexico, Colorado, and Oklahoma |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Guidebook |volume=38 |pages=97-117 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/38/38_p0097_p0117.pdf |accessdate=17 September 2020}} It preserves fossils dating back to the late Triassic period.
Description
The formation is mostly reddish-brown clay-rich siltstone and fine-grained sandstone, with sandstone beds up to {{convert|20|feet|meters}} thick. The formation also contains conglomerate lenses up to {{convert|20|feet|meters}}. The total thickness of the formation is {{convert|550|feet|meters}}. The formation unconformably overlies the Baldy Hill Formation and underlies the Sloan Canyon Formation or locally the Exeter Sandstone.{{cite journal |last1=Ziegler |first1=Kate E. |last2=Ramos |first2=Frank C. |last3=Zimmerer |first3=Matthew J. |title=Geology of Northeastern New Mexico, union and Colfax Counties, New Mexico: A Geologic Summary |journal=New Mexico Geological Society Field Conference Series |date=2019 |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=47-54 |url=https://nmgs.nmt.edu/publications/guidebooks/downloads/70/70_p0047_p0054.pdf |accessdate=1 September 2020}}
The formation is usually assigned to the Dockum Group. The proposal of Spencer G. Lucas and his collaborators to abandon the Dockum Group, possibly in favor of the Chinle Group, is highly controversial.{{cite journal |last1=Lehman |first1=T.M. |year=1994 |title=The saga of the Dockum Group and the case of the Texas/New Mexico boundary fault |journal=New Mexico Bureau of Mines & Mineral Resources Bulletin |volume=150 |pages=37-51 |url=https://geoinfo.nmt.edu/publications/monographs/bulletins/downloads/150/B150.pdf |accessdate=1 September 2020}}
Fossils
A fossil phytosaur skull and metoposaurids have been found in the formation.
History of investigation
The formation was first named by Baldwin and Muelberger in 1959. Lucas et al. rejected the assignment of the formation to the Dockum Group and adjusted the lower contact.
See also
{{Portal|Earth sciences|Paleontology}}