The Kelly Limestone is a geologic formation in New Mexico, United States. Its fossil assemblage is characteristic of the
Early
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History
* The beginning or oldest part of a defined historical period, as opposed to middle or late periods, e.g.:
** Early Christianity
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Places in the United States
* Early, Iowa
* Early, Texas
* Early ...
to
Middle Mississippian
Middle or The Middle may refer to:
* Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits.
Places
* Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man
* Middle Bay (disambiguation)
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Precambrian
The Precambrian (or Pre-Cambrian, sometimes abbreviated pꞒ, or Cryptozoic) is the earliest part of Earth's history, set before the current Phanerozoic Eon. The Precambrian is so named because it preceded the Cambrian, the first period of the ...
basement
A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...
rock and is overlain by the
Sandia Formation
The Sandia Formation is a geologic formation in New Mexico, United States. Its fossil assemblage is characteristic of the early Pennsylvanian.
Description
The Sandia Formation is mostly shale with some sandstone and conglomerate but only minor ...
. The Kelly Limestone is divided into a lower Calosa
Member
Member may refer to:
* Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon
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and an upper Ladron Member, which are separated by an unconformity.
The Kelly Limestone likely correlates with the Arroyo Penasco Group in northern New Mexico and the
Leadville Limestone
The Leadville Limestone is a Mississippian geologic formation in the western United States.Colorado. These were deposited in a major marine transgression (advance of the ocean across the continent) in the Mississippian.
Fossil content
The formation contains fossil conodonts indicating that it ranges from
Tournaisian
The Tournaisian is in the ICS geologic timescale the lowest stage or oldest age of the Mississippian, the oldest subsystem of the Carboniferous. The Tournaisian age lasted from Ma to Ma. It is preceded by the Famennian (the uppermost stage ...
to Visean (Early to Middle Mississippian) in age.
The lower Caloso Member contains fossils of the brachiopods ''
Beecheria
''Beecheria'' is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Terebratulida and family Beecheriidae. Fossils of this genus have been found in Mississippian (geology), Mississippian to Permian beds in Eurasia, Australia, North America, an ...
chouteauensis'' and ''
Spirifer
''Spirifer'' is a genus of marine brachiopods belonging to the order Spiriferida and family Spiriferidae. Species belonging to the genus lived from the Middle Ordovician (Sandbian) through to the Middle Triassic (Carnian) with a global distribu ...
Rhipidomella
''Rhipidomella'' is an extinct genus of brachiopod belonging to the order Orthida and family Rhipidomellidae. Specimens have been found in Carboniferous to Permian beds in southwest Asia, the Moscow Basin, and North America.
Species
*''R. cora ...
blastoid
Blastoids (class Blastoidea) are an extinct type of stemmed echinoderm, often referred to as sea buds. They first appear, along with many other echinoderm classes, in the Ordovician period, and reached their greatest diversity in the Mississi ...
Pentremites
''Pentremites'' is an extinct genus of blastoid echinoderm belonging to the family Pentremitidae.
Description
These stalked echinoderms averaged a height of about but occasionally ranged up to about 3 times that size. They, like other blastoid ...
conoideus'',
cnidarian
Cnidaria () is a phylum under kingdom Animalia containing over 11,000 species of aquatic animals found both in freshwater and marine environments, predominantly the latter.
Their distinguishing feature is cnidocytes, specialized cells that th ...
s such as '' Zaphriphyllum casteri'', and numerous species of microscopic
algae
Algae (; singular alga ) is an informal term for a large and diverse group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms. It is a polyphyletic grouping that includes species from multiple distinct clades. Included organisms range from unicellular mic ...
The Kelly Limestone was the principal ore-bearing formation of the historic Magdalena, New Mexico mining district. The ore takes the form of replacement deposits in the limestone produced by nearby igneous intrusions. The best ore was found in the so-called "silver pipes" beds, which were dense
dolomitic
Dolomite () is an anhydrous carbonate mineral composed of calcium magnesium carbonate, ideally The term is also used for a sedimentary carbonate rock composed mostly of the mineral dolomite. An alternative name sometimes used for the dolomiti ...
limestone contrasting with the high-calcium limestone making up most of the rest of the formation.
History of investigation
The formation was first named as the Graphic-Kelly Formation by C.L. Herrick in 1904 for exposures near the mining town of Kelly, New Mexico. The hyphenated name was found objectionable, and the formation was renamed as the Kelly Limestone by C.H. Gordon in 1907. In 1976, A.K. Armstrong and B.L. Mamet divided the formation into the Caloso and Ladron Members.
Paleontology in New Mexico
Paleontology in New Mexico refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the U.S. state of New Mexico. The fossil record of New Mexico is exceptionally complete and spans almost the entire stratigraphic column. ...