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The Sangre de Cristo Formation is a
The formation is divided into an informal lower member and an upper Crestone Conglomerate Member. The lower informal member consists of about of red arkosic
The Sangre de Cristo 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 exp ...
in Colorado
Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...
and New Mexico
New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...
. It preserves fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
dating back to the late Pennsylvanian to early Permian 01 or 01 may refer to:
* The year 2001, or any year ending with 01
* The month of January
* 1 (number)
Music
* '01 (Richard Müller album), ''01'' (Richard Müller album), 2001
* 01 (Urban Zakapa album), ''01'' (Urban Zakapa album), 2011
* ''01011 ...
.
Description
The formation is divided into an informal lower member and an upper Crestone Conglomerate Member. The lower informal member consists of about of red arkosic sandstone
Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
, conglomeratic sandstone, 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.
Although its permeabil ...
, and shale
Shale is a fine-grained, clastic sedimentary rock formed from mud that is a mix of flakes of Clay mineral, clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g., Kaolinite, kaolin, aluminium, Al2Silicon, Si2Oxygen, O5(hydroxide, OH)4) and tiny f ...
. These are arranged into fining upwards cycles. The Crestone Conglomerate Member consists of about of red conglomerate, conglomeratic sandstone, sandstone, and minor siltstone and shale.Lindsey ''et al.'' 1985
The formation is exposed in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains
The Sangre de Cristo Mountains (Spanish language, Spanish for "Blood of Christ") are the southernmost mountain range, subrange of the Rocky Mountains. They are located in southern Colorado and northern New Mexico in the United States. The mountai ...
in both southern Colorado and northern New Mexico. However, the exposures in the southeastern Sangre de Cristo Mountains were deposited in a distinct basin (the Rowe-Mora basin) rather than the central Colorado basin, lack the marine beds found in Colorado, and should probably be assigned instead to the Abo Formation.Lucas ''et al.'' 2015
Fossils
The informal lower members contains sparse fossiliferous limestone beds containingcrinoid
Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...
s, brachiopod
Brachiopods (), phylum (biology), phylum Brachiopoda, are a phylum of animals that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces, unlike the left and right arrangement in bivalve molluscs. Brachiopod valves are hinged at the rear e ...
s, stromatolite
Stromatolites ( ) or stromatoliths () are layered Sedimentary rock, sedimentary formation of rocks, formations (microbialite) that are created mainly by Photosynthesis, photosynthetic microorganisms such as cyanobacteria, sulfate-reducing micr ...
s, fusulinids, and conodont
Conodonts, are an extinct group of marine jawless vertebrates belonging to the class Conodonta (from Ancient Greek κῶνος (''kōnos''), meaning " cone", and ὀδούς (''odoús''), meaning "tooth"). They are primarily known from their hard ...
s.
Outcrops near the headwaters of the Pecos River
The Pecos River ( ; ) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico, at an elev ...
include tetrapod footprints, identified as ''Batrachichnus'', '' Limnopus'', '' Ichniotherium'', ''Tambachichnium'', ''Dimetropus'', and '' Dromopus''. Less identifiable specimens may be ''Matthewichnus'', ''Notalacerta'', and ''Hyloidichnus''. The assemblage is consistent with a late Artinskian
In the geologic timescale, the Artinskian is an age (geology), age or stage (stratigraphy), stage of the Permian. It is a subdivision of the Cisuralian Epoch (geology), Epoch or series (stratigraphy), Series. The Artinskian likely lasted between ...
age.
Voigt and Lucas 2015
History of investigation
The formation was first described by Hills in 1899.Hills 1899 F.A.Melton described the unit in 1925 as the Sangre de Cristo Conglomerate and defined a Crestone Conglomerate Phase (later Crestone Conglomerate Member).Melton 1925Footnotes
See also
* List of fossiliferous stratigraphic units in Colorado *Paleontology in Colorado
Paleontology in Colorado refers to paleontological research occurring within or conducted by people from the United States, U.S. state of Colorado.
The geologic column of Colorado spans about one third of Earth's history. Fossils can be found almo ...
References
* * * * * {{Chronostratigraphy of Colorado, Paleozoic state=expanded Carboniferous Colorado Permian formations of New Mexico Sandstone formations of the United States Mudstone formations of the United States Conglomerate formations of the United States Limestone formations of the United States