Earth:Victorio Peak Formation

From HandWiki
Victorio Peak Formation
Stratigraphic range: Kungurian
TypeFormation
UnderliesCutoff Shale
Thickness1,000 m (3,300 ft)
Lithology
PrimaryLimestone
OtherDolomite
Location
Coordinates [ ⚑ ] 31°19′31″N 104°52′47″W / 31.3254°N 104.8798°W / 31.3254; -104.8798
RegionTexas
New Mexico
CountryUnited States
Type section
Named forVictorio Peak (Texas)
Named byKing and King
Year defined1929
Lua error in Module:Location_map/multi at line 27: Unable to find the specified location map definition: "Module:Location map/data/Texas" does not exist.

The Victorio Peak Formation is a geologic formation found in the Delaware Basin in Texas and New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the Leonardian Age of the Permian Period.[1]

Description

The formation consists of light gray limestone and dolomite[1] The total thickness over 1,000 meters (3,300 ft).[2] The base of the formation is largely concealed in the subsurface, and the formation is overlain by the Cutoff Shale.[1] The formation grades laterally to the southeast into the Bone Spring Formation, representing the change from shallow shelf carbonate deposition to deep marine carbonate deposition. To the northwest, the Victorio Peak Formation grades into the Yeso Group and the lower part of the San Andres Formation.[3][4]

Fossils

The formation contains fossil brachiopods, include Productus ivesii,[5] Dichtyoclostus, and Neospirifer, fusulinids such as Parafusilina, crinoids, corals, and euomphalid gastropods[6] characteristic of the Leonardian.

History of investigation

The formation was first designated the Victorio Peak Member of the (now-abandoned) Leonard Formation by King and King in 1929.[5] It was reassigned as the Victorio Peak Member of the Bone Spring Formation by King in 1942,[2] and finally removed as its own formation by Hay-Roe in 1957.[7]

Economic geology

See also

  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in New Mexico
  • List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Texas


Footnotes

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 Kues and Giles 2004
  2. 2.0 2.1 King 1942
  3. Kerans et al. 1993
  4. Kues and Giles 2004, p.100
  5. 5.0 5.1 King and King 1929
  6. Boyd 1958
  7. Hay-Roe 1957

References