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Laborcita Formation
The Laborcita Formation is a geologic formation in the Sacramento Mountains of New Mexico. It preserves fossils dating back to the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian.Otté 1959 Description The formation is composed mostly of marine beds consisting of alternating cycles of limestone and siliciclastic sedimentary bedsKrainer ''et al.'' 2003 with a thickness of about at the type section. It is exposed only in a small area of the northernmost Sacramento Mountains, and transitions to mostly continental red mudstones some thick before abruptly pinching out to the southeast. The formation lies on the Holder Formation and is overlain by the Abo Formation. The formation is interpreted as cyclic sequences of terrestrial and shallow marine carbonate rocks deposited on a narrow shelf lying between the Pedernal Uplift to the east and the Orogrande Basin to the west. Cycles are generally transgressive (recording the advance of the sea), with basal conglomerate giving way to increasingly fin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Formation (stratigraphy)
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 exposed in a geographical region (the stratigraphic column). It is the fundamental unit of lithostratigraphy, the study of strata or rock layers. A formation must be large enough that it can be mapped at the surface or traced in the subsurface. Formations are otherwise not defined by the thickness of their rock strata, which can vary widely. They are usually, but not universally, tabular in form. They may consist of a single lithology (rock type), or of alternating beds of two or more lithologies, or even a heterogeneous mixture of lithologies, so long as this distinguishes them from adjacent bodies of rock. The concept of a geologic formation goes back to the beginnings of modern scientific geology. The term was used by Abraham Gottlob W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Type Section
A stratotype or type section in geology is the physical location or outcrop of a particular reference exposure of a stratigraphic sequence or stratigraphic boundary. If the stratigraphic unit is layered, it is called a stratotype, whereas the standard of reference for unlayered rocks is the type locality. Also it can be defined as "The particular sequence of strata chosen as standard of reference of a layered stratigraphic unit." When a stratigraphic unit is nowhere fully exposed, the original type section may be supplemented with reference sections covering the full thickness of the unit. A reference section may also be defined when the original type section is poorly exposed, or for historical units which were designated without specifying a type section according to more modern standards. See also * Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point A Global Boundary Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) is an internationally agreed upon reference point on a stratigraphic sec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foraminifera
Foraminifera (; Latin for "hole bearers"; informally called "forams") are single-celled organisms, members of a phylum or class of amoeboid protists characterized by streaming granular ectoplasm for catching food and other uses; and commonly an external shell (called a "test") of diverse forms and materials. Tests of chitin (found in some simple genera, and Textularia in particular) are believed to be the most primitive type. Most foraminifera are marine, the majority of which live on or within the seafloor sediment (i.e., are benthic), while a smaller number float in the water column at various depths (i.e., are planktonic), which belong to the suborder Globigerinina. Fewer are known from freshwater or brackish conditions, and some very few (nonaquatic) soil species have been identified through molecular analysis of small subunit ribosomal DNA. Foraminifera typically produce a test, or shell, which can have either one or multiple chambers, some becoming quite elaborate in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Calcivertellinae
Calcivertellinae is a subfamily of foraminifera belonging to the order Miliolida. Calcivertellids have been found in Pennsylvanian to Triassic The Triassic ( ) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.6 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago (Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.36 Mya. The Triassic is the first and shortest period ... beds and had a cosmopolitan distribution. The calcivertellids are characterized by a porcelain-like test consisting of a single tube, initially forming a spiral but opening out into a zigzag shape. They live attached to a surface or to other organisms. References Tubothalamea {{foram-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Girvanella
''Girvanella'' is a fossil thought to represent the calcified sheath of a filamentous cyanobacterium known from the Burgess Shale and other Cambrian fossil deposits. ''Girvanella'' was originally described as a foraminifera. It was later assigned to the now-obsolete family porostromata. In 2020, it was assigned to the order Oscillatoriales. ''Girvanella'' is characterised by having flexing, tubular filaments with a uniform diameter usually between 10 and 30 microns (rarely up to 100 microns). The walls of these tubules are relatively thick and calcareous. These tubules are typically (but not always) twisted together into nodules, and often encrust other objects including foraminifera. Fossils of ''Girvanella'' are found from the Cambrian through the Cretaceous. ''Girvanella'' fossils are found in a wide range of environmental conditions, most commonly shallow-shelf carbonate facies, but also in nonmarine limestones. Recent caliche deposits in Barbados Barbados is an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cyanobacteria
Cyanobacteria (), also known as Cyanophyta, are a phylum of gram-negative bacteria that obtain energy via photosynthesis. The name ''cyanobacteria'' refers to their color (), which similarly forms the basis of cyanobacteria's common name, blue-green algae, although they are not usually scientifically classified as algae. They appear to have originated in a freshwater or terrestrial environment. Sericytochromatia, the proposed name of the paraphyletic and most basal group, is the ancestor of both the non-photosynthetic group Melainabacteria and the photosynthetic cyanobacteria, also called Oxyphotobacteria. Cyanobacteria use photosynthetic pigments, such as carotenoids, phycobilins, and various forms of chlorophyll, which absorb energy from light. Unlike heterotrophic prokaryotes, cyanobacteria have internal membranes. These are flattened sacs called thylakoids where photosynthesis is performed. Phototrophic eukaryotes such as green plants perform photosynthesis in plasti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bioherm
A reef knoll is a land-based landform that comprises an immense pile of calcareous material that accumulated on a previously existing ancient sea floor. At the time of its accumulation it may have had enough structure from organisms such as sponges to have been free-standing and to withstand the sea currents as material accumulated, and was likely an atoll. Another possibility is the remains of deep water coral. Such structures are thus often fossil-rich. A bioherm is a sedimentary rocky landform enclosed or surrounded by rock of different origin. A biostrome is a distinctly bedded or broadly lenticular sedimentary rocky landform. Krumbein defines these terms as types of stromatolites: "Distinctly bedded, widely extensive, blanketlike build-ups are biostromes. Nodular, biscuit-like, dome-shaped or columnar stromatolites are also referred to as bioherms". England Examples on the Derbyshire/ Staffordshire border include Thorpe Cloud and Bunster Hill in southern Dovedale, and als ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fusulinid
The Fusulinida is an extinct order within the Foraminifera in which the tests are traditionally considered to have been composed of microgranular calcite. Like all forams, they were single-celled organisms. In advanced forms the test wall was differentiated into two or more layers. Loeblich and Tappan, 1988, gives a range from the Lower Silurian to the Upper Permian, with the fusulinid foraminifera going extinct with the Permian–Triassic extinction event. While the latter is true, a more supported projected timespan is from the Mid-Carboniferous period. Taxonomy Thirteen superfamilies are presently recognised, based on taxa (families) included in the three superfamilies given in the Treatise. Three are based on families in the Parathuramminacea, 1964, and 2.9 million families in the Endothyracea, 1964. The Fusulinacea remains the same in both sources (Treatise 1964 and Loeblich and Tappan, 1988). The term fusulinata has traditionally been used to refer to all palaeozoic for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regression (geology)
A marine regression is a geological process occurring when areas of submerged seafloor are exposed above the sea level. The opposite event, marine transgression, occurs when flooding from the sea covers previously-exposed land. Evidence of marine regressions and transgressions occurs throughout the fossil record, and the fluctuations are thought to have caused or contributed to several mass extinctions, such as the Permian-Triassic extinction event (250 million years ago) and Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event (66 Ma). During the Permian-Triassic extinction, the largest extinction event in the Earth's history, the global sea level fell 250 m (820 ft). A major regression could itself cause marine organisms in shallow seas to go extinct, but mass extinctions tend to involve both terrestrial and aquatic species, and it is harder to see how a marine regression could cause widespread extinctions of land animals. Regressions are, therefore, seen as correlates or symptoms of majo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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, pp.381-382 Although its permeability and porosity is relatively low, siltstone is sometimes a tight gas reservoir rock, an unconventional reservoir for natural gas that requires hydraulic fracturing for economic gas production. Siltstone was prized in ancient Egypt for manufacturing statuary and cosmetic palettes. The siltstone quarried at Wadi Hammamat was a hard, fine-grained siltstone that resisted flaking and was almost ideal for such uses. Description There is not complete agreement on the definition of siltstone. One definition is that siltstone is mudrock ( clastic sedimentary rock containing at least 50% clay and silt) in which at least 2/3 of the clay and silt fraction is composed of silt-sized particles. Silt is defi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Transgression (geology)
A marine transgression is a geologic event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, which results in flooding. Transgressions can be caused by the land sinking or by the ocean basins filling with water or decreasing in capacity. Transgressions and regressions may be caused by tectonic events such as orogenies, severe climate change such as ice ages or isostatic adjustments following removal of ice or sediment load. During the Cretaceous, seafloor spreading created a relatively shallow Atlantic basin at the expense of deeper Pacific basin. That reduced the world's ocean basin capacity and caused a rise in sea level worldwide. As a result of the sea level rise, the oceans transgressed completely across the central portion of North America and created the Western Interior Seaway from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic Ocean. The opposite of transgression is regression in which the sea level falls relative to the land and e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Orogrande Basin
The Orogrande Basin is a geologic province in southern New Mexico and western Texas. It includes Doña Ana, Sierra, Socorro, Lincoln, and Otero Counties in New Mexico and El Paso County, Texas. The province takes its name from the community of Orogrande, New Mexico. Geology The province is named for the Orogrande Basin, which was a shallow marine basin during the Carboniferous. This basin was one of several basins that opened along the southwestern margin of the North American craton due to crustal stress from the Ouachita Orogeny. At this time, this area was very close to the equator. Up to of limestones and shales were deposited. These included sediments from a Carboniferous mountain range, the Pedernal Uplift, located to the east. A narrow shelf, the Sacramento Shelf, was located between the basin and mountain range, and formations in this area from the Carboniferous are notable for their algal mounds. This steep shelf margin gave way further west to a gently-inclined ram ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
