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The Cherry Canyon Formation is a
geologic formation A geological formation, or simply formation, is a body of rock having a consistent set of physical characteristics (lithology) that distinguishes it from adjacent bodies of rock, and which occupies a particular position in the layers of rock expo ...
found in the Delaware Basin of southeastern New Mexico and western Texas. It contains fossils characteristic of the Guadalupian
Age Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...
of the Permian
Period Period may refer to: Common uses * Era, a length or span of time * Full stop (or period), a punctuation mark Arts, entertainment, and media * Period (music), a concept in musical composition * Periodic sentence (or rhetorical period), a concept ...
.Kues and Giles 2004, p.100


Description

The formation consists mostly of cyclic marine sandstone and
siltstone Siltstone, also known as aleurolite, is a clastic sedimentary rock that is composed mostly of silt. It is a form of mudrock with a low clay mineral content, which can be distinguished from shale by its lack of fissility.Blatt ''et al.'' 1980, ...
, but with interfingering tongues of gray limestone (the Getaway, South Wells, 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 . The formation rests on the
Brushy Canyon Formation The Brushy Canyon Formation is a Permian geologic unit in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. The formation contains fan sandstones that were deposited under ancient seawater during the Middle Permian The Guadalupian is the second and middle seri ...
, but the lower tongue fills a few deep
paleochannel A palaeochannel, also spelt paleochannel and also known as palaeovalley or palaeoriver, is a geological term describing a remnant of an inactive river or stream channel that has been filled or buried by younger sediment. The sediments that the ...
s that cut down through the Brushy Canyon and the underlying Cutoff Formation into the
Victorio Peak Formation 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.Kues and Giles 2004 Description The formation consists of light ...
.Kues and Giles 2004, p.124 A
hiatus Hiatus may refer to: * Hiatus (anatomy), a natural fissure in a structure * Hiatus (stratigraphy), a discontinuity in the age of strata in stratigraphy *''Hiatus'', a genus of picture-winged flies with sole member species '' Hiatus fulvipes'' * G ...
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''.


Economic resources

The Cherry Canyon Formation has been exploited for its hydrocarbon resources. Some of the hydrocarbons present in the formation may have leaked into nearby
gypsum Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral composed of calcium sulfate dihydrate, with the chemical formula . It is widely mined and is used as a fertilizer and as the main constituent in many forms of plaster, blackboard or sidewalk chalk, and drywa ...
beds of the
Castile Formation The Castile Formation is a geologic formation in west Texas and southeastern New Mexico, United States. It was deposited in the Ochoan Stage of the Permian period. Description The formation consists of up to of gypsum or anhydrite with a few t ...
, producing sulfuric acid that contributed to the formation of
Carlsbad Cavern Carlsbad Caverns National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains of southeastern New Mexico. The primary attraction of the park is the show cave Carlsbad Cavern. Visitors to the cave can hike in on their own via the natural ...
.


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 A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
rank and designed its previously informal members as formations.DeFord and Lloyd 1940King 1942


Footnotes


Bibliography

* * 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 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 Geologic formations of Texas Permian System of North America Permian formations of New Mexico Permian geology of Texas Roadian Wordian Limestone formations Paleontology in Texas